By John Hudson, The Atlantic Wire
On Tuesday, Hal Varian, Google’s top economist, delivered a keynote address on the economics of the newspaper industry. He’s a notable expert on the subject, in part because of his access to Google News traffic statistics and online ad revenues. Overall, Varian found that print publishing costs are untenable, and argued that newspapers don’t do enough to engage readers. While some are dismiss the ideas as less-than-groundbreaking, others are taking his advice in earnest.
