News

In its main feature (subscription-only), the newspaper industry trade publication focuses on the intense competition alternative newspapers now face from new products launched by daily newspapers. "All kinds of competition have been muscling in a market niche that the alternatives have had to themselves for a long time," Washington City Paper editor Erik Wemple tells E&P. On top of burgeoning web competition, he adds, "now everybody is doing free distribution, and listings-driven publications." A shorter piece (also subscription-only) looks at consolidation in the alt-weekly biz, with a special focus on its affect on national advertising.

Ken Silverstein's undercover story focused on Washington lobbyists who represent oppressive foreign governments. Michael Sigman hopes to bring it to the silver screen, according to Variety Magazine's Wilshire and Washington. Silverstein posed as an executive for an energy firm interested in exploiting natural gas reserves in Turkmenistan, which is led by a dictatorial regime. Several K Street firms pitched their services and described how they would spin U.S. officials and journalists to promote favorable policies and news coverage for the Turkmen regime. "It's bad enough to be a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, but some of these guys are mass murderers," Sigman tells Variety.

It's an open question, reports Associated Press, after talking to several real estate executives who say they are moving more of their advertising online. "For our agents, newspapers are an old standby," says Abby Lee, director of regional advertising for a major real estate franchisor. "With younger agents, there’s a trend of going online. There’s a realization that’s where they need to be." Newspaper publishers need to move more aggressively to hold on to real estate advertising, argues Charlie Diederich, the director of marketing and advertising at the Newspaper Association of America. "We’ve got to improve both our print but especially our online products ... so consumers will continue to come to us first so we can deliver that audience to the professional realtor," Diederich tells AP.