With the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference this week, publishing insiders were abuzz with ideas for monetizing news and covering the election. Here are the media and publishing stories on our radar this week:

• Nearly 300 US newspapers now charging for access on websites, smartphones and tablets: Roughly 300 newspapers around the country have launched “metered pay walls,” where readers can view a certain number of free articles per month before being asked to sign up for a digital subscription. This article discusses the economics behind this strategy.
• What Obama told journalists at AP lunch: During the ASNE conference this week, President Obama delivered a speech to journalists at the AP lunch and encouraged reporters to put political debates into a historical context.
• Burrell: Local Web Ad Rev to Rise 21% in ’12: On Tuesday, Borrell Associates released a report showing that local online advertising could surpass newspaper advertising in 2013. Local online ads are expected to grow 21.3% this year.
• Next Issue Media launches with all-you-can-read pricing model: Five major magazine publishers have teamed up with Next Issue Media, which launched its Android app this week. The app gives magazine readers access to “all you can read” newstand magazines for a monthly subscription price, similar to Netflix or Hulu. Venture Beat reports that the app will be available on the iPad later this year.
• Groundbreaking black NY journalist Gil Noble dies: We were saddened to hear that Gil Noble, host of WABC-TV’s public affairs program, Like It Is, died yesterday at age 80. In addition to interviewing public figures like Nelson Mandela and Jesse Jackson, Noble created documentaries on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and W.E.B. Du Bois.