2005-2014

Advertising is the lifeblood of newspapers, supplying 75 percent to 80 percent of their revenue. So it is not good news for newspapers that many of the nation's biggest newspaper advertisers have problems of their own. Four of the top 10 advertisers, for example, went through mergers in the last two years. All cut advertising afterward. "Those are a lot of punches to absorb, and I think they do...

Looking for a lawyer to get you bundles of cash? You might want to hire the firm that shows stacks of $100s across its ad. "Millions of dollars recovered for accident victims," it reads. Or the one with photographs of the back of an ambulance, wrecked cars and a hospital bed. "We get the compensation you deserve," trumpets this one, in the Verizon yellow pages for Westchester and Putnam counties...

DUBAI, March 25 (Reuters) - An Iraqi militant group which killed an Italian reporter in 2004 said it was watching foreign journalists but would only kill those it considers to be spies for its U.S.-led enemies. Al Jazeera television broadcast an interview on Saturday with a man it described as the spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, who accused the United States of responsibility for the car...

Lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata revealed Friday that Takashi Nishizawa, a freelance journalist who later published a magazine, was the source of what was supposed to be an explosive e-mail showing a cash link between Livedoor Co. and a son of the Liberal Democratic Party secretary general. "I have kept his name secret until now as part of my efforts to protect my source. But once it became clear I was...

Free daily newspapers made significant readership gains in some of Canada's largest cities last year, although new industry figures suggest their quick growth may be levelling off. Data released yesterday by Newspaper Audience Databank Inc. show the audience for free commuter papers in Toronto and Montreal grew faster than paid newspapers. The commuter paper 24 Hours was among the biggest movers...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The family of a Pakistani journalist kidnapped in December said Thursday that they believe he could be in U.S. custody. Hayatullah Khan was abducted at gunpoint in the volatile North Waziristan tribal region Dec. 5 by armed, masked men whom a witness at the time described as dressed like fighters from the ousted Taliban regime of Afghanistan. But Ihsanullah Khan, the victim's...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The rescue of three Western aid workers in Iraq raised hopes among friends and family of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, who has been missing for 11 weeks. "Although their case is unrelated to Jill's, their release gives us new hope that Jill, too, will soon be freed," Carroll's family told The Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper for which she was a...

Gannett Co. Inc., the nation's largest newspaper chain, said yesterday that it was weighing a bid for some of the 12 newspapers the McClatchy Co. wants to sell after its planned acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. this summer. Gannett chief executive officer Craig Dubow said he was taking "a hard look" at the newspapers, but would not name any he particularly wanted during questioning by investors...

NEW Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has lashed out at an investigative journalist who unveiled damaging scandals against her ministers, calling him a "creep". Mrs Clark's attorney-general David Parker resigned from all his portfolios this week after journalist Ian Wishart revealed Mr Parker had filed false declarations to the Companies Office. Wishart's Investigate Magazine also published fresh...

I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying -- it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off. Let's use this as a handy exercise in journalism. What is the unexamined assumption here? That the newspaper business is dying. Is it? In 2005, publicly traded U.S. newspaper publishers reported operating profit margins of 19.2 percent, down from 21 percent in 2004, according to The Wall Street...