I spent over a year at two leading newspapers recently, launching both of their new sites. I would strongly disagree they don't know what their doing, in terms

I spent over a year at two leading newspapers recently, launching both of their new sites. I would strongly disagree they don't know what their doing, in terms of commercial partnerships, cross promotional ideas and monetization of content you'll actually find that most media agencies follow their lead. Of course mistakes will be made along the way (as others have rightfully pointed out), but its a massive challenge. Lets Summarize newspapers, they produce original content at cost (writers, editors, designers, photos (getty etc) offices and everything else, they try to achieve top rankings in SERPS (SEO, Analysts) and then go out and try to get money from advertisers (sales execs, ad networks, managers etc) whilst competing with hundreds of other companies offering views at lower rates to sell the number of eyes that look at that content at a competitive price. Most newspapers are barely breaking even, so give them a bit of slack for at least trying new methods and ideas.