News Habits & Media

Many of those in the blogosphere see themselves as watchdogs arrayed against an insular political establishment dominated by consultants, interests groups, and the mainstream media. But with bloggers taking an increasingly active role in some of the key 2006 political races, are they sacrificing that independence to become part of the system they decry?

Earlier this year, a research team led by a Harvard professor unveiled a strategy to help reverse the revenue and circulation ills of the newspaper industry and encourage it to reinvent itself. Some publications have reported early success in adopting the plan that asks readers: “What do you hire a newspaper to do for you?”

Despite all the problems plaguing the newspaper industry, a new survey reveals that 2005 was the best year since 1999 for college grads with a print journalism degree to land jobs in their field. Thanks to the economic health of local papers and the old media’s transition to cyberspace, a degree in journalism is still a pretty good ticket to a first paycheck.

In what could become a high-stakes legal battle, a world renowned professor claims he was defamed in an Aug. 28 New Yorker story about the skirmish over assigning credit for a major mathematics breakthrough. While the magazine stands by its story, the professor is threatening litigation if he doesn’t get an apology and retraction.

The long-stable world of evening network news looks a bit jostled just three week's into Katie Couric's tenure in the CBS Evening News anchor chair. She may not be in first place anymore but compared to other anchor debuts, Couric has at least temporarily disrupted the long-consistent one, two, three finish among NBC, ABC, and CBS. Is it a long-term change or just a ripple?

On a typical day in August, 26 million Americans were using the internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections.

Faced with declining circulation and softening ad pages the big newsweeklies are shaking things up. Both Time and Newsweek recently appointed new editors, and the former is changing its publication day and possibly pruning circulation. Are they in the midst of a mere tweaking, or is it the beginning of a major reinvention?

In the media business, there’s a raging debate about the accuracy of the numbers that purport to track visitors to the major news web sites. But some analysts say that when it comes to the economics of the Internet, the traditional reliance on audience size may just not be that important to advertisers.

America’s alternative weeklies may have once conjured up coverage of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. But as the papers themselves reach middle age, survey numbers show their readers have aged with them—getting married and having kids—which poses a serious challenge: younger upstart publications could steal their readers and advertisers.

When the planes struck New York and Washington 5 years ago today, they altered the course of the news people get as well. According to new numbers from ADT Research, viewers of network evening newscasts have gotten a beefed up diet of war and terror since then while seeing big decreases in coverage of domestic issues, from crime to technology.