Gannett Company’s USA Today is planning to start an electronic edition of their newspaper.  USA Today has the widest circulation of any other newspaper around the nation with 2.11 million copies delivered every weekday.  The newspaper started in 1982.

The electronic version of the newspaper will be available for a monthly fee and will be delivered through e-mail starting August 3.  USA Today publisher David Hunke said that the company is currently seeking alternative ways to make money as the media is dealing with declines in advertising.

Access to the main website will most likely not have a charge anytime in the near future.  The company may even charge for a USA Today iPhone application.

[via Associated Press]

The Politico launched in January 2007 and had a mission to be the ultimate source of presidential campaign coverage. The Politico’s parent company is Capitol News, LLC and is managed by President and CEO, Frederick J. Ryan Jr. The company was started by two journalists who left The Washington Post and since then they have signed a partnership with USA Today. USA Today will publish articles on their website published by The Politico in their Political News section:

As of right now, The Politico is staffed by authors who have previously worked for Time Magazine, The Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal. The Politico will provide 15 articles per week for USA Today.

Quotes about the partnership from those involved:
“I think it’s a plus for the paper. This is a time when a lot of publications are cutting back on their reporting resources, so the idea that we would be adding resources, even indirectly, is a wonderful thing.”
-Kathy Kiely, author of Congress for USA Today

“We need to deepen our coverage online, where there is an expectation of 24-hour timeliness.”
-Kinsey Wilson, Co-Executive Editor of USA Today in response to the new initiative not being a cost-cutting effort, but more of a circulation effort.

[Information Source: NY Times]

Terry Heaton, a former news director and author of the Pomo (Postmodern) Blog wrote today that MySpace.com is planning to get into the social news sector.  This effort potentially means that the company may be looking to compete with Kevin Rose’s Digg.com.

Called MySpace News, the service will launch in the 2nd quarter and would harvest real-time news/blog posts from around the web.  Users would be able to rate, comment, and submit stories through MySpace blogs.

This effort is also an initiative to compete with the revamped USA Today website.  USA Today’s website now features RSS and has an integrated social network that allows users to interact with each other and about different news articles as well.

More of this news to come when MySpace News launches.