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Teens define media

Melissa Paredes, a 16-year-old in Lompoc, Calif., maintains a Web site where she posts her own poetry and pictures and shares music. So when she was mourning her stepfather, David Grabowski, earlier this year,
she reflexively channeled her grief into a multimedia tribute. Using images she collected and scanned from photo albums, she created an online slide show, taking visitors on a virtual tour of Grabowski's life -- as a toddler, as a young man, at work. A collage of the photographs, titled "David Bruce Grabowski, 1966-2005," closes the memorial. "It helped me a lot," Melissa said in an instant message, the standard method of communication among millions of American
teenagers who, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, are fast becoming some of the most nimble and prolific creators of digital content online. For all of its poignant catharsis, Melissa's digital eulogy is also a story of the modern teenager. Using the cheap digital tools that now help chronicle the comings and goings of everyday life -- cell phone cameras, iPods,
laptops and user-friendly Web editing software -- teenagers like Melissa are pushing content onto the Internet as naturally as they view it. "At the market level, this means old business models are in upheaval," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project. "At the legal level, this means the definition of property is up for grabs. And at the social level, it means that millions of those inspired to create
have a big new platform with which they shape our culture.
Source: Tom Zeller Jr., The New York Times via CNET news.com

Newspaper execs say circulation declines reflect shift to Web, less discounting

Editors and publishers at some of the newspapers hardest hit by
Monday's FAS-FAX reports say steps need to be taken to maintain
current readers while attracting new ones. But to many, the
circulation declines announced today by the Audit Bureau of
Circulations came as no surprise, given the overall industry trend.

But most say the circulation measurements are incomplete because they
still do not take into account growing Web site activity. Others also
said they had lost circulation deliberately by ending or reducing
discounted programs as their value becomes diminished in the ABC
measurements. "Circulation will continue to drop until there will be a
plateauing, then I expect a rapid decline," said Tom Fiedler,
executive editor of The Miami Herald, noting that he does not expect
circulation to increase during his lifetime, which means newspapers
must focus on the Web as a genuine delivery system. "Newspapers will
become supplemental reading for a very elite audience," he added, and
the online edition "will be where the popular press lives." "We are
well aware of it, that newspapers continue to struggle to reach their
audience," said Anne Gordon, managing editor of The Philadelphia
Inquirer, which suffered an 11,000-copy drop in daily circulation, and
about 30,000 on Sunday. "It's not a surprise." Still, Gordon was among
several who pointed to increasing Web activity as a factor that the
current FAS-FAX measurements do not address. "The Philadelphia
Inquirer has more readers than it has ever had if you factor in the
Web. We have well over one million readers." At the Herald -- which
has experienced a 4.3-percent drop in weekday print circulation since
September 2004 -- Fiedler says he sees a similar corresponding shift
online, where Herald.com has seen an "accelerated increase" of about
30 percent per year: "We are seeing that our readership is not
declining if you include online -- it is actually growing. Source: Joe
Strupp, Editor & Publisher

USATODAY.com - Senior citizen bloggers defy stereotypes

USATODAY.com - Senior citizen bloggers defy stereotypes: "Forget shuffleboard, needlepoint, and bingo. Web logs, usually considered the domain of alienated adolescents and home for screeds from middle-aged pundits, are gaining a foothold as a new leisure-time option for senior citizen"

Newspaper circulation figures show worst slump in years

The Fourth Estate is braced to get more bad news about itself next
week. On Monday, the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its
semiannual figures on circulation -- and they are expected to show
that paying readers continue to disappear at an alarming rate during
the latest six-month period. Challenged by online rivals, a dearth of
younger readers and an advertising downturn, newspapers are suffering
through their worst slump in years. The last ABC figures, which were
released in May, were the worst for the industry in nine years,
showing that average daily circulation had dropped 1.9 percent in the
six months ended March 31 from a year ago. Indications from the
biggest newspaper publishers show many expect similar plunges for the
six months ended in September. Gannett Co., the nation's No. 1
publisher with about 100 papers, says its daily circulation through
Sept. 25, including its publications in the United Kingdom, was down
2.5 percent over year-ago levels. At No. 2 Knight Ridder Inc. -- whose
largest shareholder has called for the sale of the company -- the
daily drop was 2.9 percent. Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago
Tribune and Los Angeles Times, among others, says its circulation as
reported to ABC will be down around 4 percent. That estimate excludes
figures for Newsday, of Long Island, N.Y., which has been censured by
the ABC following a scandal in which it -- along with several other
newspapers -- admitted artificially boosting circulation results. By
mutual agreement, its circulation won't be released on Nov. 7. Not all
chains are expected to report such big drops. Sacramento-based
McClatchy Co. says daily circulation was down 0.7 percent as of
September, to just under 1.4 million copies. But it also expects
circulation for the full year to fall around 1 percent -- ending 20
consecutive years of circulation growth. The Wall Street Journal,
published by Dow Jones & Co., expects circulation to be up slightly,
because of increases in online readership. ABC in recent years has
allowed the inclusion of certain online readers in circulation
figures.
Source: Joseph T. Hallinan, The Wall Street Journal

Is There Profit In Your Digital Photographs? Spy Media Says Yes. - Digital Camera Tracker

Is There Profit In Your Digital Photographs? Spy Media Says Yes. - Digital Camera Tracker "Spy Media International, www.spymedia.com, is the first news photo marketplace for everyone. Spy Media is simple and easy to use, as users can upload and sell electronic photos from their cameras and phones in less than 90 seconds"