It would not seem to be the moment to start another newspaper, but in Italy they've gone ahead and done it. Il Fatto Quotidiano came out today and by 8 am (their time) it was already sold out.Apparently journalist Marco Travaglio (inset) believes the report of the death of newspapers is somewhat exaggerated (I must stop ripping off from Mark Twain). So he and a group of like-minded (read: anti-Berlusconi) folks decided to set up a new national daily. At a time when our own President Obama is proposing government aid for the print press (a sort of journalistic bailout), the people at the new paper are refusing government aid (the norm in Italy) so as to avoid conflicts of interest.
Il fatto will have both a hard copy and an online presence. The first edition is available in pdf on the pre-publication blog, but I haven't been able to access it yet. Looking forward to taking a peek.
