Entrants have just over two weeks to submit ideas on how to use digital experiments to transform community news in the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight News Challenge, a contest awarding as much as $5 million for innovative ideas.

Although 2007 is the contest's second year, it is the first for international entries. The deadline is October 15.

The goal of the Knight News Challenge is to use news and information delivered digitally to “enhance physical communities and improve the lives of people where they live, work and vote,” according to a statement on the foundation's Web site. “Nothing is too far out to qualify ... the contest is open to community-minded innovators worldwide, from software designers to journalists to citizens and students of any age.”

The challenge “hopes to discover innovative ways of using cyberspace to bring communities together,” Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, said in a statement.

Winning entries must meet three criteria:

1) Use of digital media

2) Delivery of news or information on a shared basis

3) Delivery of that news needs to be to a geographically defined community

Most entries are open to all and must share the software and knowledge created, but there is a category for commercial applications.

Some editions of The West Australian are so heavy that home delivering them is becoming an occupational health and safety hazard.

“Newsagents are not meant to be throwing papers that weigh more than 600g and they're throwing papers weighing 1.2kg,” Rayma Creswell, Australian Newsagents' Federation chief executive, told the Australian, according to an article Thursday.

The paper's weight is one of the issues the ANF wants to discuss with publisher West Australian Newspapers.

Creswell said one way to fix the problem is to split large papers into more sections.

“We're not saying 'create a paper that is specifically designed for us,' but we're saying it is an issue,” she told the Australian.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave the ANF permission to bargain on behalf of about 380 newsagents for the West Australian, despite Western Australian Newspapers, the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores and the Queensland Newsagents Federation objecting.

“We don't have any problem with the ANF contributing ideas, but we're not seeing them as a collective bargaining agent,” Ken Steinke, Western Australian Newspapers, chief executive told the Australian. “We have individual contracts with individual distributors ... We start from a different premise (than the ANF): what is in the best interests of our customers. We wouldn't do anything that would see costs increase to our customers or our services decrease.”

The Walt Disney Company's $350 million purchase of Club Penguin signifies a new focus for marketers and media companies to target kids and teens online.

"For marketers trying reach kids and teens on social networking sites, there is a new game in town: virtual worlds," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Kids and Teens: Virtual Worlds Open New Universe.

Club Penguin is one of the fastest growing virtual worlds for children. As of August 2007, its registered users exceeded 12 million and paid subscribers were over 700,000, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

"Of course, virtual worlds are not new, but the level of development activity, venture capital investment and consumer interest in virtual worlds is unprecedented," Williamson told eMarketer.

eMarketer estimates 41.5 percent of children between three to 11 will use the Internet at least once a month in 2007, which represents 14.9 million children online, rising to an estimated 16.6 million in 2011.

Among teens, the Internet is even more prevalent. eMarketer estimates 76.4 percent will go online at least once a month in 2007, rising to 87.1 percent by 2011.

Overall, children and teens make up 18.2 percent of all U.S. online users.

The Guardian's union chapel voted almost unanimously Thursday to initiate a formal dispute procedure with management over pay and conditions, the Guardian reported.

About 180 of the Guardian's union chapel voted for the motion, no one voted against it and there were a few abstentions. The vote authorised the National Union of Journalists' Chapel to prepare for a strike ballot, as well as organise a meeting between NUJ national officials and Guardian management and hold a meeting with Acas, an employment dispute prevention organisation.

Guardian staffers are disputing shift patterns, length of the work week, availability of journalists to work across print and web, the proposed replacement of the no compulsory redundancies clause and the implementation of a single house agreement to cover journalists on the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Unlimited Web site, according to a Guardian report.

Guardian News and Media management has offered the staff a two-year, 4.8 percent inflation-only pay deal, which the chapel motion said was the worst attack on working conditions “in a generation,” the report stated.

The debate over whether an EU regulatory body for European telecom markets should be created is heating up.

In a joint letter to the EU commission, economic ministry representatives from Germany, France, England, Spain and Sweden, as well as a state ministry representative of Luxembourg, announced their opposition to such a European super authority, stating there is no need for “institutional reform,” according to Heise Online.

The proposal is expected to be presented Nov. 13.

EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said she will resort to regulatory intervention to increase competition in telecom markets if necessary, and is considering creating an EU regulatory body and unbundling major telecom firms.

However, not all EU members agree with Reding, and members of the commission officially say there is an ongoing debate on the subject, Heise Online reported.

The letter, which was also sent to the German press agency, states that the authority of current regulators should be fully enforced first. Those signing the letter also stated their willingness to support efforts to open the market further.

Nielsen//NetRatings is advancing in its full audit by the Media Rating Council, which is currently reviewing the patented Nielsen//NetRatings desktop meter and data transmittal processes, the media and market research group announced Wednesday.

“Nielsen//NetRatings has always been committed to measurement quality and transparency, and we welcome the opportunity to have our methodology and patented technologies validated by a respected third party like the MRC,” Manish Bhatia, president of global services and U.S. sales for Nielsen Online stated in a press release.

The group also stated is has begun work on research studies “demonstrating the effectiveness of certain aspects of (MRC) methodology which, as an accreditation service, the MRC has not previously seen or evaluated,” due to the how new Internet audience measurement is.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau announced last week that Nielsen and comScore Media Metrix had both completed their pre-audits, and were moving into the next auditing and accreditation stages.

At that time, comScore was reviewing the MRC's report and proposal for a full audit, but had not yet committed to a timeline.

Newsstands in Seoul could be eliminated by the end of 2009.

The Seoul city government announced last week it has revised regulations on commercial installations on roads, which affects newsstands, kiosks, shoe-repair shops and others, and will go into effect in mid-November if the city council approves the revisions, The Korea Times reported over the weekend.

The revisions state that those owning more than 100 million won (US$108,589 or 76,861 euro) worth of property will not be allowed to receive new licenses for newsstands or to renew their existing licenses. People in absolute poverty will be given a temporary two-year license, but will have to discontinue their businesses by the end of 2009, The Korea Times reported.

The licensing system began in the 1980s when the government tried to give the poor more financial support. Yet, among Seoul's 3,236 kiosk owners, 28 have more than 600 million won worth of real estate and 116 of them owned more than two houses as of February.

Only 736, or 22 percent of kiosk owners, were in financial distress, the Times stated in the article, which did not mention if distribution points will be added elsewhere.

Most marketers worldwide use e-mails in their campaigns, according to a new survey conducted by McKinsey.

This study surveyed 311 marketing executives globally, and found that 83 percent used e-mails, ahead of display ads (73 percent), and paid search (63 percent).

McKinsey also asked about the future of online marketing. By 2010, the Web is generally considered part of the first two stages of the buyer's decision-making process — product awareness and information gathering — for most consumers.

More than 25 percent of respondents planned to increase their e-mail spending in the next three years, but plans to increase spending on e-mails mean they may lose some budget to paid search and other tactics.

E-mail marketing is also prevalent in the United States. Nearly 73 percent of U.S. marketers in a Penton Media Custom Research study said that e-mail was one of their online and mobile tactics.

Newsletters were also popular, picked by at least 60 percent of U.S. marketers, while banner ads, online promotions and blogs still lagged behind.

More details about the e-mail marketing report can be found here.

With the help of online initiatives, Gannett Company Inc. is recapturing revenues that used to be a given for newspapers.

The company's online assets shows Gannett, whose flagship newspaper is USA Today, has extended its operation beyond newspaper Web sites, to bring in revenue from areas that once used to be newspaper turf only, such as classifieds.

For example, Gannett owns Classified Ventures, in partnership with Belo Corporation, The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.

To read more on this topic, visit our partner site, Editorsweblog.org.

Microsoft Corp. is looking to invest in Facebook Inc., which would value the online hotshot at $10 billion or more, according to a report published Monday.

Microsoft is holding preliminary discussions that could culminate in a $300 million to $500 million investment in the social-networking site, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources who are familiar with the matter.

In exchange for the investment, Microsoft would receive up to a five percent stake in privately-held Facebook, which has previously raised about $41 million from venture capitalists and other individual investors.

Facebook refused to comment on the news, and said the report is merely "rumor and speculation."

An outright sale of Facebook also seems unlikely. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's 23-year-old co-founder and chief executive, has many times expressed his desire to remain independent. He turned down a $1 billion acquisition offer from Yahoo Inc. last year.

Facebook has been exploring whether to raise more money from venture capitalists to help expand its current payroll of roughly 300 employees and finance other parts of its ambitious expansion plans.

With annual revenues over $100 million, Facebook is believed to be a strong candidate for an initial public offering in 2008 or 2009.

Analysts said if the talks with Microsoft heat up, it could draw Google Inc. onto the negotiating table, too.

Nearly a year after the curtains closed for racing and sports newspaper the Sportsman, a new national racing paper is expected to launch October 20 in England.

Racing Ahead Weekend will be edited by former Sun racing reporter Stephen Mullen, who said the new weekly is aiming to avoid the Sportsman's fate, which closed when it ran out of funds after only seven months of publishing, the Guardian reported Tuesday.

“The paper is not trying to take on the Racing Post like the Sportsman - we are interested primarily in the betting side of racing,” Mullen is quoted as saying by the Guardian. “There's still a huge appetite for papers, especially in racing. The audience we are looking at is more a betting shop audience.”

The paper is linked to the independent monthly magazine Racing Ahead, which Mullen launched in 2004. It will compete with the Racing Post, which is currently being sold by Trinity Mirror. Racing Ahead Weekend will cost £1, 50 pence less than the Post.

The Guardian reported the niche weekly is setting its sights on sales between 20,000 and 30,000 copies. National distribution will be handled by Express Newspapers.