Currently, 90 percent of all Japanese citizens own a mobile phone, and four out of 10 mobile owners use them to access the Internet, giving Japan the world's largest mobile Internet population, eMarketer announced Friday.

The group's Japan Online Overview estimates that the number of Internet users in Japan reached 89.1 million in 2007.

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Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen wrote in what the newspaper described as “an unusually blunt internal memo,” that the publication is facing its “most difficult and painful downsizing” in history, the result of print revenue losses that are expected to reach $33 million for 2007 and 2008.

Blethen also blamed the downturn of advertising revenue shifting to the Internet, writing that “with the company at bare bones, these cuts will hurt deeply going into 2008 and the remainder of the decade.”

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Sixty percent of the shares of Metro's Czech edition was sold Dec. 21 to competitor Mafra, owned by German publisher Rheinische Post.

Metro will be operated under a trademark license, and will be merged in the near future with Mafra’s free paper Metropolitni Expres.

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Teenagers and children who are nearly teens are all “digital natives,” but their digital media use differs between the two groups, a new study by the Nielsen Company has discovered.

“Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens,” found that five percent of children ages eight to 12 access the Internet over their mobile phones each month, but spend less time surfing online than teens.

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The long-running LVMH-Les Echos deal came to an end this week, as LVMH officially took control of the leading French financial paper and agreed to sell the number two paper, La Tribune.

LVMH and Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, signed the final agreement on Christmas Eve, transferring Les Echos to the luxury goods group for €240 million.

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Male journalists are making most of the key editorial decisions at newspapers and broadcast media across Britain, while women are overwhelmingly underrepresented in the country's national newsrooms, a survey by the Fawcett Society has found.

Two out of every 17, or 12 percent, of top national daily and Sunday newspaper editors are women, while all 17 deputy editors surveyed were men and one in 10 opinion editors were female. And while on-air journalists appeared to be evenly balanced between men and women, those in power behind the scenes are mostly men, according to the survey.

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Family-controlled Freedom Communications Inc. has postponed plans to buy two minority partners, Blackstone Group LP and Providence Equity Partners, due to weak credit markets.

Freedom, which owns the Orange County (California) Register, had planned to spend more than $500 million to buy back Blackstone and Providence's 45 percent stake, according to people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

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Advertising the Simpsons Movie DVD release, Metro Canada's English-language editions ran a special wrap-ad last week that included a separate front page and three page special.

The ad, called the Springfield Shopper, resembled an average local American newspaper and looked like the daily newspaper in the Simpsons' home town of Springfield.

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Brazilian metro daily Folha de Londrina, which is published in the Parana state, is using net-linx’ nxAdvertising system for back-office advertising management, including 30 remote users spread over 12 locations and web users, according to net-linx.

The system offers the daily a single-vendor solution for advertising, production, ad make-up and Internet, and has been integrated with many of the paper’s web verticals. Multi-buy packages allow users to schedule cross-media XML ads, and a self serve module in VRUM (the automotive ad vertical) allows customers to book their own ads, published either on-line in VRUM, in print or in both.

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Canada-based Transcontinental Media has acquired two newspapers in the past week.

The media group acquired L'Autre Voix, which serves 13,500 households in Quebec's Côte-de-Beaupré region, on Friday. Last Thursday, Transcontinental bought acquired Italian-language weekly Corriere Italiano, which serves the Italian-speaking community in Montreal.

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The Internet is the fastest growing in terms of ad spending of all the media in U.S. throughout 2011, according to eMarketer’s estimates.

The U.S. online ad spending in 2006, grew with a nearly 35 percent, while the growth rate dropped to 26.8 percent this year. Although it is dropping and stabilised by 2011, the annual online growth still exceeds 10 percent and tops those of all other media.

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U.S. local free daily The Eureka Reporter, published in Humbolt County, Calif., will move from a seven to a five-day schedule in 2008. The Monday and Tuesday editions will be dropped due to low ad sales on those days.

In addition, comics and the weekly TV-book will be dropped. However, it is introducing a new website next week, providing the online version of the paper.

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Badoo, a social networking website which allows users to pay to be popular while banning all advertising, is going to launch in the UK market.

Though Badoo is now a relatively unknown brand, Google rated it on the second spot on its "fastest rising" list – only behind the iPhone and even ahead of Facebook.

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Media consumption worldwide has increased in hours, and since the 90’s, digital media has grown dramatically, and will outperform the traditional and become the mainstream, according to a study from Carat.

In the beginning of the last century, the average media consumption per week was merely about 10 hours; most of which was spent in print media. In 1980, the weekly media consumption worldwide was up to more than 50 hours, and exceeded 60 hours in 2000. It is expected to grow and achieve nearly 90 hours per week by 2020.

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The latest report out of Britain's Office of Communications shows the United Kingdom is ahead of most other countries in Europe when it comes to use of digital media.

The “International Communications Market” report also covers France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States and Japan, and is designed to give international comparisons for the United Kingdom, according to an eMarketer report.

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The television audience in China climbed to 1.205 billion people in 2007, an increase of 90 million people since 2002, and double the size it was in 1987, a survey released in Beijing has revealed.

According to a survey initiated by the China Central Television Station and conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, about 99.89 percent of households in China own televisions.

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Canadian group Transcontinental Media has acquired L'Autre Voix, a community newspaper serving 13,500 households in the east Quebec. The amount of this deal was undisclosed.

With this acquisition, Transcontinental Media has 172 community publications across Canada in total, with about 250 million copies annually.

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37 percent, or 47.5 million of the U.S. adult online population, surf on social networking sites at least once a month this year. That figure is expected to grow to 49 percent, or 85.1 million, in 2011, according to eMarketer.

eMarketer Senior Analyst Debra Aho Willianson is quite optimistic about the social network market, ”The continued growth of social networking seems assured, unless teens stop social networking as they become adults.”

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Television delivered by Internet protocol – IPTV, will be used in 38.4 million homes worldwide by 2012, according to a newly released Informa Telecoms & Media's report.

IPTV subscriptions and video-on-demand are expected to bring in $14.7 billion revenues globally by 2012, up from $1.5 billion in 2006.

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Oh Yeon Ho, a South Korean journalist and owner of the world's largest citizen journalism Web site plants to launch the site, OhmyNews.com, in Europe, Telegraph.co.uk reported Friday.

Ho said he is currently “in talks with a European partner to launch an OhmyNews site in Europe.”

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Although Britain leads Europe in Internet penetration, e-commerce revenues and online advertising, Germany has the largest online population, a role that is setting the country up to shape Europe's online future, according to an eMarketer report released Friday.

“While consumers and advertisers in Britain were generally quick to explore the benefits and potential of the online channel, many Germans – and German businesses – took time to warm to the Web,” eMarketer stated.

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Free dailies around the world saw a 13 percent rise in circulation in 2007 – almost the slowest ever, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday.

Total free daily circulation reached 42 million this year, but growth was in nearly its slowest year. In 1996, free dailies only grew 8 percent, while 2003 saw growth of only 10 percent.

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Le Monde's top editor and two senior managers walked off the job following a dispute with the editorial staff, which is also the newspaper's largest shareholder.

Eric Fottorino, the editor-in-chief; Pierre Jeantet, chairman; and Bruno Patino, deputy chairman, made up the executive board of the most well-known French daily paper.

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According to estimates made by Understanding & Solutions, the global online video market will have a retail value of over US $3.8 billion by 2011.

The United States had the most developed online video market so far, although online video revenue for the country is only expected to reach US $280 million this year, representing one percent of the total home video market, the research company reported.

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Telegraph.co.uk gained more than 1.6 million new users in November, it's busiest month ever, and recorded traffic growth of more than 100 percent year-on-year.

Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic figures, published Thursday, show the Telegraph Media Group Web site had 12,800,627 unique users in November, climbing past its rival, Times Online, for the first time.

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Cell phones, desktop computers and digital cameras are the most common digital devices Americans own, according to a survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project.

According to Pew, 73 percent of Americans have cell phones, while 68 percent and 55 percent own desktops and digital cameras, respectively. On the other hands, laptops, iPods or other MP3 players, and Blackberrys are relatively rarely owned – only 30 percent of respondents said that they have laptop computers, while merely 20 and 13 percent said they own iPod/MP3 players or a Blackberry.

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As Sam Zell's $8.2 billion deal to privatise Tribune Co. nears its completion, shares in the media group dropped sharply Wednesday on reports bankers are getting cold feet.

Shares of Tribune plummeted as much as 6 percent in early trading Wednesday. As the noon hour approached, it was trading at $31.92, down 1.39, or 4.17 percent from its opening.

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Network18 and Jagran Prakashan, publisher of the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, have announced they will embark on an equal joint venture initiative in the business print market.

The two will launch a Hindi business daily for the Indian market in 2008, to be followed by other Indian language dailies that focus on economics and finance.

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The chief executives of Media General Inc. and Gannett Co. lobbied the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to obtain waivers to rules that limit broadcast and newspaper ownership in the same markets.

The FCC approved the waivers Tuesday, which allow Media General to continue running newspapers and TV stations in four markets in the southeast United States, and also allow Gannett to keep assets in Phoenix, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

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The Washington Post Co. will raise the newsstand price of its flagship daily to 50 cents, up from 35 cents, to begin Dec. 31, the Washington Business Journal reported Thursday.

The price increase of the Washington Post is due to decreases in advertising and circulation, the Journal report stated.

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Transcontinental Media announced Thursday is has acquired Italian-language weekly newspaper Corriere Italiano, which serves the Italian-speaking community in Montreal.

Following the acquisition, Canada-based Transcontinental now owns 171 community publications across the country; however, this is the first newspaper to be published in a language other than English or French.

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As online companies dominate local ad markets, newspaper publishers are scrambling to modify the way they sell ads, a move that may have come a bit too late.

In the United States, McClatchy is reconstructing its commission and incentive packages to better compensate staff for online sales. Gannett, on the other hand, operates 50 mom-centric social-networking sites around the U.S. in order to boost online revenue through the "hyper-localized" sites. Other publishers, such as Lee Enterprises and Media General, are relaunching sales of local online ads.

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The Internet audience in the United Kingdom is changing, with older generations claiming a larger share of the online population, Nielsen Online revealed Tuesday.

The age make-up of those surfing the web over the past year has shifted, with the number of 25-year-olds decreasing from 29 to 25 percent, a relative drop of 16 percent. At the same time, those age 55 and over have increased their share from 16 percent to 19 percent, a relative increase of 22 percent. Overall, the average age of a UK Internet user has risen from 35.7 to 37.9, Nielsen data shows.

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Independent News & Media said Wednesday it would acquire Irish regional newspaper, the Sligo Champion.

The Ireland-based group, which has operations in Ireland, Britain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India, did not disclose the amount of the deal.

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An abandoned elementary school 90 minutes outside Seoul has been transformed into the new Citizen Journalism School by OhmyNews, AsiaMedia reported Tuesday.

The school will focus on teaching students about user-generated content and citizen journalism, and is designed to hold more than 60,000 citizen reporters.

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Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons will step down from his post at the end of the year, immediately after Chicago businessman Sam Zell takes over the company, the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune-owned newspaper, reported late Tuesday.

The official announcement was made Wednesday, and the handoff to Zell, who will take the company private in the $8.2 billion deal, is expected to go through this week, pending approval from Tribune's investment banks, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

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The latest monthly revenue figures from U.S. publishers the New York Times Company and Media General show both companies seeing double-digit growth. The New York Times Company saw revenue data slightly above the publisher's peers, while Media General underwent struggles in print, but saw double-digit growth for its interactive unit.

At the same time, two other major U.S. newspaper publishers, Gannett and McClatchy, seem to be experiencing more hurt by classified ad revenue reductions, paidContent reported

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Jorn Barger coined the term “weblog” 10 years ago to describe his Robot Wisdom site, in which he logged interesting Web sites. A decade later, blog monitoring site Technorati is currently tracking more than 70 million weblogs, including everything from personal online diaries to breaking news sections of online newspapers.

Barger became the first official weblogger on Dec. 17, 1997, and in 1998, the blogosphere still only consisted of about 23 sites. In 1999, the idea began to grow, and the word “blog” began to be used as a shortened form of “weblog.”

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Members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to overturn a ban and allow broadcasters in the 20 largest media markets in the nation to also own a newspaper.

Despite pressure from both sides of Congress to delay the vote, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was able to push it through. Martin and two other Republicans voted in favour of overturning the 32-year-old ban, while the two Democrats on the commission voted against it.

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The government of Zimbabwe has agreed to open Zimbabwe's media to foreign owners, although foreign journalists will continue to be barred from working in the country permanently.

South African President Thabo Mbeki helped to broker the changes to the Public Order and Security Act, stringent security and media laws that critics say helped entrench Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's rule.

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The single-copy price of the weekday Chicago Tribune will increase to 75 cents from 50 cents, beginning New Year's Eve.

The Tribune said the price increase, the first in more than 15 years, is necessary due to "cost escalations" over the long period.

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Russian media group Obyedinyonniye Media announced Friday that it would stop publishing its weekly newspaper, Moskovskiye Novosti, on Jan 1.

Obyedinyonniye Media, owned by Israeli-Russian businessman Arkady Gaidamak, also has other media assets including the radio station Business FM.

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In the next three years, residents of Hong Kong will be able to access the Internet everywhere they go – at the park, on a bus or at the city's harbor.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta) is making two additional radio spectrum portions available for broadband wireless access via WiMax, as well as 3.5G for mobile phone users, to be rolled out over the next three years, The Straits Times reported Monday.

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Conrad Black's right-hand man in the former Hollinger newspaper empire and former Chicago Sun-Times publisher was sentenced Tuesday to 29 months in prison for his role aiding Black in stealing millions of dollars from Hollinger shareholders

David Radler had pleased guilty to fraud and testified against Black in return for a lighter sentence.

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The Sun-Times Media Group (STMG) announced Friday its board of directors had approved management's plan to reduce operating costs by US $50 million in the first half of 2008. The announcement came just three days after K Capital Partners LLC, the group's second-largest shareholder, demanded even further cost-cutting measures be taken.

STMG partly gave in to demands that its top executives and board directors take their 2008 compensation entirely in cash instead of stock.

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In an attempt to generate outdoor advertising revenues, London's Evening Standard and regional newspaper group Newsquest are launching campaigns on new digital billboards.

The Evening Standard has installed 30 of the 32-inch outdoor screens, called “Extra!” units, in Evening Standard sales booths near areas of major foot traffic in London, such as at Euston and Waterloo stations.

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Metro Poland published a special issue produced by bloggers last week, Newspaper Innovation reported Monday.

Agora SA's newspaper created MetroBLOX, in cooperation with the online community site Blox.pl.

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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is on track to preside over a long-awaited final vote by the FCC on cross-media ownership rules Tuesday, as long as U.S. lawmakers do not stop him at the last minute.

Martin has been waiting for nearly a year for the final vote on the new media ownership rule that, if passed, would eliminate a ban that does not allow a broadcaster to own a newspaper in the same city in the 20 largest markets in the United States, with some exceptions.

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U.S. adults who read newspapers at an early age tend to be more civically active, according to new research from the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

NAA found that about 75 percent of U.S. adults who read newspapers in school as teenagers donated money to a civic group last year, compared with 51 percent of those who did not read newspapers as teens.

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According to new Spanish readership data from AIMC / EGM, 20 Minutos is the most read paper in Spain, beating sports paper Marca and quality paid paper El Pais.

Free dailies Qué!, Metro and ADN follow behind in the fourth, fifth and sixth place.

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India Today's new digital division, which will assimilate the group's print and television content for online and mobile platforms, will launch in early 2008, agencyfaqs! reported Monday.

India Today Group Digital will incorporate all of the media group's individual sites, such as India Today, Prevention, Money Today, Men's Health and Business Today.

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Independent News and Media Group's Chief Operating Officer Gavin O'Reilly is attacking the intentions and track record of telecoms billionaire Denis O'Brien, who built up his stake in the group to 14.5 percent last week.

O'Reilly, also president of the World Association of Newspapers and son of INM Chief Executive Anthony O'Reilly, told The Sunday Business Post that O'Brien is critical of the media group because “he is hostile to the editorial coverage of him in titles owned by the Independent.”

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As News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch finally achieved ownership of Dow Jones & Co. and its flagship paper the Wall Street Journal Thursday, he later visited the Dow Jones head office and, standing atop four boxes of copying paper, reassured journalists that the “tremendous values” at Dow Jones will be preserved under new ownership.

“If anything, you will find us trying to set a higher bar,” he said, according to a report by The Australian.

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Kerry Group, controlled by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok, will make a mandatory offer for South China Morning Post, the largest English-language paper in Hong Kong.

The group, which has businesses in property, logistics and hotels, is obliged to make the offer after Kerry Media added its stake in Hong Kong-listed SCMP Group to 40.4 percent last month.

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Independent News & Media Chief Executive Anthony O'Reilly has raised his personal stake in the newspaper publisher to 26.12 percent, while Irish telecoms billionaire Denis O'Brien has built up his stake to 14.5 percent.

In a statement Thursday O'Reilly announced he bought another 1 million shares (0.12 percent stake) at €2.156 per share. Before Monday, O'Brien owned just over 12 percent of the company, but in the past few days, he has spent €40 million on shares.

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Global newspaper ad expenditures will achieve US $129.2 million this year, and keep on growing with a single digit ACGR in the next two year, and will reach nearly US $140 million in 2009, according to the 2007 World Press Trend released by World Association of Newspapers.

Since 1994, newspaper ad spending has grown slowly each year, except for in 2001 and 2002, and increased over 55 percent in total.

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Reporting slight advertising revenues Thursday, Trinity Mirror warned the ad market will continue to be volatile through to 2008.

Core revenues for the five months through the end of November increased by 2.1 percent from last year, according to the group, which owns the Daily Mirror and about 200 regional titles. The first half of 2007, however, saw a 1.5 percent decline.

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The Daily Telegraph agreed Friday to pay “substantial” damages to movie star Nicole Kidman, for stating she preferred another fragrance to Chanel no. 5, the perfume she is paid to promote.

The Telegraph's Spy column last month stated Kidman had said her favourite perfume was Jo Malone's White Jasmine and Mint, and that she had been “dabbing it on whenever she had a moment” while promoting her new film, The Golden Compass, in London, MediaGuardian reported Friday.

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Rupert Murdoch will celebrate his News Corporation's takeover of Dow Jones & Co. with a massive $2 million advertising campaign to appear in newspapers around the globe tomorrow.

“Today the greatest brand in financial journalism joins up with the world's most restless global media company,” the ad will state, according to a report by MediaGuardian today.

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The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is standing firm against pressure from U.S. lawmakers who want him to delay the vote next week on the new media ownership rule that, if passed, would eliminate a ban that does not allow a broadcaster to own a newspaper in the same city in the 20 largest markets in the United States.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and four of his commissioners were questioned today at an oversight hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee.

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Manchester Business, Crain’s new weekly business newspaper for Manchester, will launch its first issue in print and online on Monday.

The 32-page paper, owned by American publisher Crain Communications, will have an initial, controlled print of 15,000 copies, and another 3,000 will be available on newsstands across the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. Cover price is set at £2.

The paper will come out again on 7 January, 14 January, and become weekly from 4 February.

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Bebo is collaborating with Facebook on an application development platform which works across both sites.

Web developers and businesses now can build their own small Web tools for Bebo using a set of code offered by the site.

According to the deal, Bebo's Open Application Platform is compatible with the code used on Facebook, meaning that applications built for one only needs minor changes to work on the other.

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The new fund-raising association Press and Pluralism will be launched Wednesday in France to allow individual and group investors to donate to press companies.

For the past five years, daily newspaper publishers and global news magazine publishers in the country have been requesting this type of funding system.

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Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures is foregoing a traditional theatre release to experiment with online film release for its new film, “Jackass 2.5.”

The new film will be available only on Blockbuster's Web site, allowing viewers to watch the free streaming video, and make it available to buy on DVD beginning Dec. 26.

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Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter announced Wednesday it has launched the first “newspaper” mobile phone in the world, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday.

The mobile gives subscribers free, direct access to the paper's Web site.

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Journalists across Pakistan observed International Human Rights Day, called by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), by holding rallies, demonstrations and seminars against the curbs on media and the announcements of two anti-press laws.

Rallies were held in different parts of the country, including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Faisalabad, Sukkur and Quetta. Lawyers, members of the civil society and students also took part and expressed solidarity with the PFUJ against the media curbs.

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Venezuelan regional daily Correo del Caroní announced Tuesday it would cease publication due to government restrictions preventing the company from purchasing U.S. dollars to import paper from Chile.

The daily paper elaborated in a press release that it would stop publication "as the government of President Hugo Chávez has denied U.S. dollars to Dipalca, which is known to be (a) corporation importing the Chilean newsprint paper we have used exclusively to print this newspaper for years."

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YouTube's ad revenue-sharing programme is evolving, as the video-sharing site announced it will open up its “partner programme.”

Last May, Google-owned YouTube began sharing in ad revenue with only a select group of users. The site is now opening up the programme, making it possible for users in Canada and the United States to compete for revenue from advertisements that run with its content, paidContent reported Tuesday.

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The Nation Multimedia Group announced Wednesday it will begin publishing a free English-language daily tabloid in 2008.

Xpress, Thailand's first free English-language daily, will target younger readers, and will begin publication in March, the group's chairman, Thanachai Threerapattanavong said in a statement.

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Total advertising spending in the U.S. was almost flat for the first nine months this year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Ad expenditures were up a bit for 0.2 percent to US $108.2 billion compared to the same period in 2006. Ad spending grew 1.3 percent in Q3.

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Free business paper E15 was launched in Prague last month, the latest addition to the city's increasing number of freesheets.

Published by top Czech publishing house Mlada Fronta, E15 is distributed directly to businesses, hotels, office parks, universities and government buildings, as well as being available at train stations and in the airport.

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Metro is advancing its focus on digital, launching its first mobile service and two new online portals.

Associated Newspapers-owned Metro will feed the print edition's national news and entertainment content into Metro Mobile for online-capable mobile phones. The two online portals will centre around user-generated and music content, and is backed by a six-figure investment, Brand Republic reported Tuesday.

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Local online advertising spending will surge 48 percent next year to $12.6 billion, driven by paid search and video advertising, according to a new study from Borrell Associates.

Spending on local search will double to $5 billion, while online video will triple to $1.3 billion, according to Borrell Associates, also a partner of the World Association of Newspapers. Although an economic slowdown is expected to continue next year, Borrell’s forecast for 2008 exceeds the estimated 44 percent growth for local media in 2007.

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