To combat the loss of readers to the web, a story in the International Herald Tribune says an increasing number of newspapers, especially in Europe, are going to a free distribution model. Quoting from the article, Piet Bakker, Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Amsterdam, said "Almost all over Europe, you see circulation going down for paid newspapers. At the same time, the economy is improving, helping the advertising market. Free newspapers are seen as the best way to take advantage of this. Meanwhile papers that continue to charge are trying to offset reader and advertiser loss by cutting jobs. Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani told Editor & Publisher magazine "the newspaper industry's ad revenue is barely moving - up 0.5% so far in 2006 - but circulation continues to drop so newspaper publishers will likely reduce costs by eliminating more workers." The continuing flight of ad money from old media to the Internet is a primary factor in the escalation of prices for domains with traffic.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/...iness/free.php
http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm