Analysts predict that political advertising in 2004 could total $1.3 billion. But will any of those ads find their way into AAN papers? Alt-weeklies should work now to identify candidates "who will be in close races that will require heavy spending right up to Election Day," John Morrison writes in AdRap, published by the Alternative Weekly Network. Advocacy groups can be good prospects for print, he writes, pointing to News & Review CEO/President Jeff vonKaenel's success in selling ads to the Sierra Club and American Civil Liberties Union.

Continue ReadingAlternative Newsweeklies Pursue Elusive Political Advertising

MediaDailyNews' index of newspaper ad revenues rose to $1.28 billion last month, compared with $1.24 billion a year ago. Ad revenue growth was led by Pulitzer Inc., which rose 8 percent to $28.1 million; McClatchy, up 5 percent to $79.7 million; and Gannett, up 6 percent to $373.6 million. The rest of the sector saw slight increases with the exception of Journal Communications Inc., the publisher of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and other newspapers, whose ad revenue fell 2 percent last month compared to January 2003.

Continue ReadingDailies Report Uptick in January Ad Revenues
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In a speech in Little Rock, Ark., President Bush used Sara McBee as an example of a doctor who stopped delivering babies because of rising insurance costs that were a "direct result of too many junk lawsuits." What he didn't mention is that McBee is the subject of a malpractice suit for allegedly making delivery-room mistakes that led to an infant's profound brain damage. The child's family is upset because they felt the president's remarks suggested that theirs is a frivolous lawsuit, Doug Smith reports for the Arkansas Times.

Continue ReadingFamily Hurt by Bush’s Implication about Their Malpractice Suit

With an ad in Parade magazine on Sunday, the American Heart Association will begin its first-ever paid advertising campaign, a $36 million, three-year effort to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke. The group hopes that writing checks will help deliver its message more effectively compared with donated advertising, which often translates into "far from prime time."

Continue ReadingNon-Profit Begins Paid Marketing
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In December, Gov. Jeb Bush dedicated Lawtey Correctional Institute as the state's first "faith-based," government-run prison in the country, Jeffrey C. Billman reports for Orlando Weekly. "I can't think of a better place to reflect on the love of our Lord Jesus than to be here at Lawtey Correctional," said the Catholic governor. On a visit to the medium-security prison, Billman attends a revival, observes the temporary segregation of Muslim inmates and interviews some nervous, unhappy inmates.

Continue ReadingFlorida Prison Tries to Turn Inmates into Better Souls

With gains across all major media, U.S. ad spending grew 5.1% in 2003 versus 2002, according to a report released Thursday by Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Local magazines had by far the strongest growth, followed by local newspapers and national magazines. Jeff King, managing director of the Nielsen Media Research unit, said the ad climate grew "steadily each quarter throughout 2003." He said that while the last year's growth rate may be difficult to sustain, Nielsen expects healthy ad revenue to continue this year on the strength of political advertising and Summer Olympics ads. First-quarter 2003 started with a slight 1.5% gain. That more than doubled in the second quarter to 3.6% and had jumped to 7.4% by the fourth quarter.

Continue ReadingReport: Ad Spending Jumps
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U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski worked in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans during the year leading up to the war. The same week the U.S. invaded Iraq, she retired so she could speak openly about what she says she observed: "a neoconservative coup, a hijacking of the Pentagon." Kwiatkowski tells L.A. Weekly's Marc Cooper the search for weapons of mass destruction was a façade—"they didn't expect to find anything"—and offers three motives for the war that never became part of the Republican Administration's spin.

Continue ReadingRetired Regional Analyst Discloses Motives for War in Iraq

The deal reminds Nashville Scene writer Matt Pulle of the arrangement Village Voice Media and New Times Media made in October 2002 to each close a paper that competed in a market dominated by the other. That plan threw the Justice Department into a snit. In a surprise move Monday, Gannett traded its only sizable Georgia paper, The Times in Gainesville, to Morris Multimedia in exchange for two small papers in Tennessee. Gannett also acquired two weeklies in Tennessee's Rutherford County. "While the swap of several small newspapers is hardly Comcast buying Disney, it marks the crowning achievement in Gannett's stranglehold of the Middle Tennessee area," Pulle writes.

Continue ReadingGannett Swaps Papers with Georgia Media Chain

Echo Boomers like to be in control, don't trust advertising in any media, and are hip to hype, according to new findings by market research firm Yankelovich. The children of the Baby Boom generation, ages 12 to 24, present a unique opportunity for marketers and media agencies if they strive to understand the development of their mindset.

Continue ReadingEcho Boomers Distrust Advertising