The author is a San Francisco newspaper consultant and writer.
Personnel represents the primary cost, with capital equipment a secondary concern.
Publishers bent on establishing, evaluating, updating or economizing on their new-media line items face a variety of choices. Not all publishers will make the same picks, but most will pose a standard set of questions. Companies such as Central Newspapers Inc. in Indianapolis, The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento, and Scripps Howard Inc. of Cincinnati maintain central data centers to handle their papers' Internet services. InfiNet LLC of Norfolk, Va., straddles that category and the next, plus adds a twist or two of its own. In addition, InfiNet markets hosting and access services to other newspapers as a general Internet service provider, reflecting a second buyer's option.