FC: More on Newsbytes R.I.P.

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Newsbytes.com now redirects to the Washington Post tech section. It looks 
like not only are the old newsbytes.com links dead, but that as Brian says 
below, the content is not searchable on washingtonpost.com.

From a former Newsbytesian: "There are no Newsbytes reporters left. The DC 
crew that was with Newsbytes moved over to Washtech about a month ago, and 
the rest of us were laid off. Newsbytes is not only offline, it is 
effectively dead. Its only remnant will be in name only, as I understand 
it, and that will be only as a brand for whatever WPNI does with its online 
syndication products from here on out." --Declan]

---

Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:37:45 -0400
To: declan () well com
From: Brian McWilliams <brian () pc-radio com>
Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P.

Hi Declan,

I'm biased, but I think it's a loss for the Net that *nearly two decades* 
of Newsbytes articles will be inaccessible once the site is shut down 
(sometime tonight I'm told).

As I understand it, the Newsbytes content will only be available from 
LexisNexis.

Google currently has a lot of Newsbytes pages in its cache, but Archive.org 
reports that it was kept out by a robots.txt file.

My memory may be faulty, but I can't recall a comparable destruction of 
Internet-based information.

Brian

---

Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:32:53 -0400
To: declan () well com
From: Doug Isenberg <disenberg () gigalaw com>
Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P.

        A burning question: Will The Washington Post now archive the 
previously published Newsbytes articles, as IDG did when it bought some of 
The Industry Standard's assets (and resurrected 
http://www.thestandard.com)?  It'd be a shame to lose so much wonderful 
tech news history.  Newsbytes may be gone, but its excellent and 
comprehensive reporting should not be forgotten.

        A little more background to add to the story you shared, from The 
Wall Street Journal on May 17 
(http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1021653697982741080,00.html):

"WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary of the 
Washington Post Co., is consolidating its online technology news operations 
under the TechNews.com (www.technews.com) Web site, a strategy shift that 
comes amid an advertising recession that has forced many new media 
operations to cut costs....

"The company is de-emphasizing existing Washington Post.Newsweek 
Interactive sites WashTech.com and NewsBytes.com in favor of TechNews.com, 
which will include technology news and policy reports from Washington Post 
reporters, original content from online writers and content from other 
Washington Post Co. sources....

"...NewsBytes stories will continue to be syndicated to newspapers and Web 
sites, but the NewsByte.com [sic] Web site will shut down."

Doug Isenberg, Esq.
Editor & Publisher, GigaLaw.com
FREE daily Internet law news via e-mail!  Subscribe today at 
http://www.GigaLaw.com/news

---

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1499399

MAY 23, 2002
Washingtonpost.com Folds Newsbytes Unit
Site Consolidates Technology News

By Carl Sullivan

NEW YORK -- Updated at 12:35 p.m. EST

Washingtonpost.com is closing Newsbytes, the tech news service founded way 
back in 1983 and purchased by the Washington Post Co. in 1997.

Three Washington-area Newsbytes reporters will work for a new section, 
TechNews.com, scheduled to launch June 3, according to 
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive spokesman Don Marshall. Five other 
full-time employees, including founder and Editor-in-Chief Wendy Woods, 
will be laid off as of May 31. Some independent contractors for Newsbytes 
will also lose their positions.

[...]

---

Date: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 13:11:30 +1000
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Reply-To: ncochrane () theage fairfax com au
Organization: The Age newspaper
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P.

Hi Declan

Very sad indeed.

We have been subscribed to Newsbytes from the beginning, and this really 
hurts all those downstream publications as well. It effectively cuts off 
our eyes and ears in the US. And because Newsbytes also syndicated stories 
from elsewhere in the world, including Australia, it means US tech coverage 
will become even more parochial than it is already.

Newsbytes was the only tech wire service worth a damn. We regularly wet 
ourselves laughing at some of the stuff that crawls onto many of the other, 
more general wires.

But I guess if Newsbytes was not making money, a paper can't be expected to 
be a charity case.

I hope the Newsbytes reporters will be able to find jobs elsewhere within 
Washington Post.

cheers

Nathan

--

Nathan Cochrane
Deputy IT Editor
:Next:
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.next.theage.com.au


---


Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:55:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Miguel Danielson <mcd () pair com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
cc: <politech () politechbot com>
Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P.

Declan-

What a bummer.  Of course, I might add that the Berkman Center for
Internet and Society has recently launched its own Internet Law news and
policy portal:

http://grep.law.harvard.edu

I hope you will invite your readers to our new site and help us create a
community-driven source for Internet law news, information, and most of
all, discussion.

Regards,

Miguel Danielson
Project Leader
grep.law.harvard.edu

P.S. I also note the outstanding LawMeme project at Yale Law School
(http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/)

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