Newspapers Applaud Decline in Print Sales?!

"Why Some Big Newspapers Applaud Some Declines in Circulation" is a headline I thought I would NEVER see. After all, newspapers have, until now, only been in print. However, the Internet is indeed a catalyst for change.

This article showed the deep connection between advertising and newspaper sustainability. Insert advertisers look to target groups of people in a certain zip code, not people from many different areas. Consequently, newspapers such as The Dallas Morning News, have begun to limit their distribution radius.

Newspapers have stopped using traditional forms of winning customers- cold calling, advertising and offering promotional discounts. Most of these readers terminate their subscription after the discount ends, making them hard to maintain. Advertisers are not willing to invest in these people either.

The rest of the article can be found here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407E7DC1430F932A35753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

Silly String Can Save Lives!

Novelty stories are one type of story journalists look for. I found a particularly bizarre story in the New York Times yesterday.

Silly String, a popular party favor, is being sent to one American soldier in Iraq. Silly String can detect invisible bomb tripwires and potentially save lives. Marcelle Shriver, the boy's mother, set up a project to collect the product and has sent more than 80,000 cans to Iraq. Just for Kicks, the company who produces Silly String, has even donated some to Shriver. However, the company refused to say exactly how many cans were donated or how Shriver's campaign has helped revenues.

The rest of the article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/business/22silly.html?_r=1&oref=slogin