The Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Newspaper Association of America, and Scarborough Research have developed Audience-FAX, a new measurement that combines newspaper circulation, readership and online audience, Editor & Publisher reports. In a conference call, industry leaders said that the new metric calls attention to the "full reach" of newspapers at a time when much of the media attention is on the decline of newspaper sales. More than 200 daily papers are participating in the Audience-FAX program.

Continue ReadingWeb Audience Metric Provides Hope to Declining Circ Dailies

The AAN member bi-weekly has been named the recipient of this year's Molly Ivins "Give 'Em Hell" Award from the Project, which promotes racial, social, and economic justice through education and litigation. "[The Observer] covers stories crucial to the public interest and provokes dialog that promotes democratic participation and open government, in pursuit of a vision of Texas where education, justice, and material progress are available to all," the Project says in a statement.

Continue ReadingThe Texas Observer Recognized by Texas Civil Rights Project

As we mentioned yesterday, Tom Robbins' decision to make public the tapes that led to the dismissal of a FBI mob trial was not an easy one for him to make. In today's New York Times, he explains further his decision to break his pledge of confidentiality to star witness Linda Schiro. He tells the Times he came forward, rather than his colleague Jerry Capeci, because Capeci's entire career hinges on writing about the mob. "I don't face the same kind of jeopardy," Robbins says. "Jerry spends his life reporting on people who commit murders. The last thing in the world he wants to do is to be brought to the stand and asked about his sources." Capeci says the pair felt comfortable breaking their pledge of confidentiality since Schiro had broken it herself by testifying. "It wasn't a question of hurting her by violating the confidentiality," he says. "She had already discussed the material that she told us in confidence."

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Writer’s Tapes Put Confidentiality in the Spotlight