The LA Times Building

The latest newspaper to announce grand plans for the web, the LA Times will make LAtimes.com its primary vehicle for breaking news 24 hours a day, according to MediaPost.

LA Times editor James O'Shea outlined a plan calling for a total integration of print and online reporters, who were previously separate. Furthermore, the paper will implement a mandatory "crash course" in web journalism, thought by newly appointed "innovation editor" and former business editor Russ Stanton.

By constantly updating the website, O'Shea hopes to make the paper competitive against online news aggregators like Google and online classifieds like Craigslist. O'Shea admitted that the paper had fallen "woefully behind" in the shift to online journalism.

For example, in 2004, automotive print advertising in the paper totaled $102 million, while for 2006 that number had dropped woefully to just $55 million. And because it lacks a strong web infrastructure, the paper is losing more in print than it's recouping online.