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I hadn't seen the new Miami Herald website until I noticed a mention at South Florida Daily Blog . Yep, the site is easier to navigate for sure, much closer to what seems to becoming the standard site layout for newspaper front pages, rather like the NY Times. Says Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal, about the makeover and the site : Online readers of MiamiHerald.com have skyrocketed in the past year, making this the leading website for news and information in South Florida... So, my question is, is the Herald online readership 'skyrocketing' because of the content and layout, or is it because in the last couple years bloggers like Rick of South Florida Daily Blog have been heavily linking to the best stories that readers might not have found -- or looked for -- on the site on their own?

This memo has been forwarded, I suppose, to lots of people, but luckily, one of them was Bob Norman, who posted it on his Daily Pulp blog: the list of 42 newsroom staffers who are leaving the Miami Herald, with commentary on several of the long-timers from Manny Garcia. Included, three of the few remaining library staff. Not needed, now that archiving's being offshored to India..... So sad. (Oh, and speaking of the Pulp and layoffs, it is just stunning to read the comments on the post about layoffs at the Palm Beach Post from last week. Apparently it was linked on Drudge, and neanderthals from around the country decided to use the post as a vehicle to proclaim their hatred of 'liberal, left-wing, commie socialist' journalists. How depressing.)

Hmm. This is why I stopped doing my Miami Herald blog two years ago when they dropped my post-retirement freelance contract. Things must be different now, since Brayden Simms , who announced his own layoff in a column, says he's being paid to blog -- on life after layoff. It's not news, since Gawker and The Guardian , among others, have linked to Brayden's blog. But I just noticed a mention on Daily Pulp , who says: ...hey, if you're gonna fire a guy, might as well exploit him on his way out. ... Still a little weird and shameless on the newspaper's part.

I've been following the coverage of the announced layoffs at the Miami Herald , of course, and am struck by a few things: The first online version of the story, which I read right away, didn't include this part: (those leaving)...include 12 newsroom supervisors, five in the International Edition, two copy editors, three reporters, four designers and layout specialists, two on the state desk, two critics, two photographers and six in archiving and calendar. Archiving, calendar and the International Edition will be outsourced to workers in India. I'm not sure, but this may be a first. I haven't heard of another paper outsourcing library functions (the calendar staff was in the library, too). More on the Herald, of course, at Herald Watch . More at Daily Pulp . And there's good stuff at Random Pixels , where names are named here and here . I'm quite sad to hear about Phil Long, 40-year Herald employee who was my phone buddy for years when he was out on a story so...

It's really good news to see ProPublica go live. It's the new independent investigative reporting site started by former Wall St. Journal editor Paul Steiger, and has been eagerly anticipated. In just a few minutes of looking around I'm impressed with the twice-daily Breaking on the Web update links to new investigative stories, a good place to get caught up on the news. I found links here to a couple interesting stories I didn't seen scrolling several other news sites. The original postings look interesting too. Editor and Publisher has more . And for really Goodnews, check out this "Google News" page . Click on any story and get the explanation of why this exists. But just browsing this fake Google News page will make you smile. It's the news of the world as it should be. Think there's no racism in this presidential race? Jeff Fecke at Shakesville is collecting attacks and subtle digs on Obama . Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof comments . Also on this ...

In all the blogging and commenting this morning about last night's speeches, one stands out for me. In The Moderate Voice , by Pete Abel: Three images from last night’s TV coverage will stay with me for years. 1. McCain’s reptitious, ill-timed, and creepier-than-usual grin … like the Cheshire cat on sedatives. 2. Clinton’s defiant smirk, as her NYC supporters shouted “Denver, Denver, Denver.” 3. Obama mouthing to Michelle after his speech, “How’d I do?” — and her apparent response, “Good. Real Good.” Says Abel: ...if Americans truly do vote more on gut than on reason, then these images suggest (already) who will win in November … in a landslide. On the news research front, Al Tompkins had links to a couple new tools in his 'dozen things I'm diggin'' sidebar, things that can answer one of the most frustrating questions asked of news researchers: how big is it, and how many swimming pools/football fields/Empire State Buildings will it fill? From Nikon, Universcale ...

Over the weekend, a few things have caught my eye and I wonder what they mean: At HeraldWatch , there's a rumor that the Miami Herald may be getting ready to lay off 230 people . Not surprising, but sad anyway. Things aren't good at newspapers these days. The Herald recently had some buyouts and lost long time senior reporter Martin Merzer, photographer Nuri Vallbona, and business writer Susana Barciela, among others. I guess it wasn't enough. Even more disturbing to a former Herald library employee, there was an earlier posting reporting on a memo from editor Anders Gyllenhaal suggesting the library functions may be outsourced . ( Update :) a new blog, Papercuts , is tracking newspaper layoffs. There was such a thing several months back is this the same one? (Via Buzzmachine.) ( Update: ) More on the Miami Herald from Random Pixels , who has been keeping an eye on editing on the Web site, and other Herald matters. Lots of interesting discussion going on about the future...

Nice to see that the Miami Herald's editor Anders Gyllenhaal had a hand in the awarding of a special Pulitzer Prize to Bob Dylan , as a former Minnesota editor..... And, of course, great huge congratulations to the Washington Post's Gene Weingarten , who once was the editor of the Herald's long-gone Tropic magazine....although I never read the story that won the Pulitzer because the concept bothered me a bit.....but I had a dream about Gene last night: I called him 'Uncle Gene' and congratulated him. Hmm.