What the media commentators are saying

Roy Greenslade writes in the Guardian on the latest troubles for the New York Times.Whilst recognising that this is the first time the paper has been in trouble

The difference this time is fear about its survival as an independent, family-owned institution

and that

the growing fear that the paper that has been controlled since 1896 by a single family - the Sulzberger-Ochs dynasty - may fall into corporate hands and thereby lose the independence that has enabled its journalism to thrive

Steven Glover looks at another media dynasty in the Indpendent and asks

Newspapers are dead or dying, we are told. Why, then, is Rupert Murdoch, the most successful media proprietor in the world, investing £650m in state-of-the-art presses to print the Sunday Times, Sun, Times and News of the World?

In the same paper Newsnight Editor Peter Baron is interviewed and defends the shows biggest attraction

"Jeremy's got a toolbox of a whole range of different styles. Some interviews are looking for information, some are reflective, some are chewing the fat, and some are clearly putting people on the spot. We know from our research that viewers want us to be dogged in getting the answers to the questions. Jeremy is so appreciated because he's looking for the answers and is supernaturally talented at asking the questions that the viewer wants asked at the moment they want it asked. The idea that interviewing is default aggressive is a caricature."

And the Guardian interviews the controller of BBC 2,Owen Gibson, who tells the paper

"It's not a job I've ever aspired to or seen myself doing. It's been fascinating and a real honour. But I've never wavered in that

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