Irish River Media group is set to launch four paid-for local newspapers before Christmas, including a competitor against the Meath Chronicle.

According to local sources, the launch of the Meath paper is imminent. It is expected to be a colour tabloid targeting readers between ages 20 and 50, in accordance with the group’s general strategy of tailoring publications to a younger demographic.

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Tribune Company's daily Spanish language newspaper will increase its circulation in the Chicago area by about 40 percent beginning Monday, in response to a rapidly growing Hispanic population.

Hoy will also increase penetration into several of the city's suburbs, while the paper's home-delivered weekly supplement, Fin de Semana, will increase in stages, from 211,000 to 290,000, beginning in October.

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The Czech Publishers Association has announced it will launch an autumn campaign to promote the daily press and help educate advertisers on how to better use daily newspapers for publicity.

The campaign will aim to support publicity performance growth in daily newspapers as well as readership rates, Jiří Hořčica, account manager at the public relations agency Bison & Rose, stated in a press release, according to a Czech Business Weekly article.

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The New York Times online once again beats all other newspaper sites with most unique visitors in August, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

The Times also leads the amount of time spent per person, with an average of almost 24 minutes.

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Merrill Lynch downgraded New York Times Co. and two other newspaper groups Monday, following a recent pattern for analysts covering the industry in a predicament.

Analyst Karl Choi lowered the rating on New York Times to "Sell" from "Neutral." Choi also made the same call for McClatchy Co. and Lee Enterprises Inc.

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The union representing Dow Jones employees has recommended its 2,000 members approve a three-year contract, as long as three percent raises are given each year for newsroom, sales, administration and technical staff, MarketWatch has reported.

Union officials of the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees recommended the deal be approved Sunday, as employees have gone without a contract since January. Under the deal, Dow Jones employees would have to pay more for health care premiums, however.

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The World Association of Newspapers has announced its support for the Swedish publishing community, specifically artist Lars Vilke and Editor Ulf Johansson, of the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper, which published a cartoon portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Death threats have been made against Vilke and Johansson, who published the cartoon to draw attention to threats against freedom of expression in Sweden. Al Qaeda in Iraq has offered a bounty for the murders of the two men.

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