Steve Outing posted a column Monday on Poynter.org grading newspaper Web sites  on their use of video, blogs, interactive classified ads and other interactive elements. For newspapers' Web site progress, he gives a B-.

Outing’s conclusions were not optimistic. “We've got some industry leaders doing outstanding work -- but often instituting change more slowly than is required for an industry that is being challenged to remain relevant to today's information consumers. And we've got too many newspapers with websites that are far behind the leaders, missing even some obvious fundamentals,” he writes. (See Outing's 2006 year-end analysis for details.)

But Outing isn't entirely pessimistic, either. He notes that most newspaper execs are working toward solving the "big problem" of transitioning to online while keeping print going at least until the online side starts pulling more of the newsrooms' financial weight. Some execs came to the digital media party a bit late (and not fashionably so) and arguably should have made more digital efforts in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

But now that those late-coming execs are on board, they're making big, quick strides to enter the digital era. The newspaper industry doesn't deserve an "A for effort" in digital media, but B- seems a bit harsh.

Comment here or e-mail me me at beth.lawton@naa.org with your grades in Outing's areas of video, blogging, classfieds and interactive (you can give separate grades for each).  We'll revisit this in late December.