Tilting Away From Print

The Wall Street Journal is shifting it’s center of gravity away from print in the wake of Peter Kann’s ouster. Kann’s replacement, Richard Zannino, has big plans:

One of the things he stresses is the importance of making the Journal’s content available via every imaginable outlet, whether it is the Internet or handheld devices like iPods and BlackBerries. Part of Zannino’s strategy may be to abolish the publisher’s job at the print edition of the Journal. “I think the future structure for us will have to be more of an uber — Wall Street Journal franchise publisher who’ll look after readers and advertisers regardless of what channel they come in,” he says.

WSJ “abolishes” the job of print publisher. Can abolishing the print publication be far behind?

(The WSJ brand will survive because it’s one of the few that people trust enough to pay for — they may not always pay for it, but they will likely continue to trust it more than 10,000 bloggers blogging on business.)

Scripps is finding new life in the online shopping comparison racket with the purchase of Shopzilla.

If that’s not enough for print publishers still stuck in the print rut, check out the confessional accounting from Fast Company/Inc — a $10 million loss. Print publishing is an astonishingly good way to lose money.