Media Roundup: Christian Science Monitor Drops Print Edition, Google Settles Book-Scanning Suit, and More

The Christian Science Monitor goes online only — The five-day-a-week newspaper will cease publishing a print edition and appear only on the web, in an effort to keep its foreign bureaus open while still cutting costs. [Source: The New York Times]

Google settles book-scanning suit with authors — The search giant has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and individual authors over the legality of Google Book Search. The groups will allow Google to expand access to copyrighted books online, and Google will pay a $125 million settlement and develop avenues for future author compensation. [Source: Publishers Weekly]

Profits down for Q3 – Newspaper circulation is down across the board and so are profits at media biggies like Martha Stewart Omnimedia and McGraw-Hill. [Sources: WSJ Online and The New York Times]

Print Media Layoff Watch — The grim news for print media continues with staff cuts at the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Newark’s Star-Ledger, and Doubleday. [Sources: L.A. Observed, MediaWeek, WSJ Online, Media Mob]

What Newspapers Did Wrong – Two media bloggers, Pat Thornton of The Journalism Iconoclast and Ken Doctor of Content Bridges, have similar theories about why newspapers are in so much trouble: They squandered a huge opportunity to invest in online products, and now serious cuts are undermining their authority, which was the key to their brand. [Sources: The Journalism Iconoclast, Content Bridges via Fishbowl NY]