Johnston Press, publisher of The Scotsman and other Edinburgh newspapers, banned access to Facebook, paidContent:UK reported, saying in a memo that more than one-half of its outbound Web traffic went to the social-networking site. But if more than one-half of traffic goes to a single site, shouldn't that highlight its importance?

Several newspapers reversed earlier decisions to cut off Facebook access, as the site has become a valuable tool for reporters. And JP publications even use the social-networking site to send out messages, going so far as to create local pages.

"Will whoever is responsible for this have to get departmental consent every time they update those pages?" paidContent:UK asks.