The Washington Post Co. announced Monday it will acquire Foreign Policy, a magazine focused on global economics and politics, according to the company press release posted on TradingMarkets.com.

Foreign Policy, based in Washington, was founded as a quarterly publication in 1970, and later re-launched as a bimonthly magazine in 2000. With its focus on global politics, economics and ideas, it now has readers from more than 160 countries and is printed in nine languages, according to Bloomberg.

According to the deal, Foreign Policy will be part of The Slate Group. Susan Glasser, a longtime Washington Post editor and foreign correspondent, will join the publication as executive editor, according to the company statement posted on Trading Markets.com.

Advertising sales at the Post and Newsweek plunged more than 20 percent in the second quarter, due to the weakening classified ads and falling magazine readership. The Washington Post has gained sales by expanding the Kaplan education services division, which makes up more than 50 percent of its revenue, Bloomberg reported.

According to its Web site, Foreign Policy had a circulation of 108,106 as of December 2006. A six-issue annual subscription costs US$19.95. The magazine sells advertising in its print editions and on its site.

Newspaper advertising spending in the Arab region has spiked 33 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the first half of 2007, according to a report by the Pan Arab Research Center (PARC), Business 24/7 reported Monday.

Overall, print in the region makes up the biggest ad spend share of any media, with 45 percent, a US$1.7 billion ad value for print media in the first half of the year. In the same time last year, ad value was at $1.27 billion.

Print media in the region “has been the main host for advertising. This tradition has been perpetuated and strengthened, as a result of the historical fact that print media was run by the private sector, as opposed to stat-run TV and radio,” Sami Raffoul, president of PARC, stated in the study. “Consequently the print media has evolved very rapidly and has a firm grip on advertising. In most markets it is a ratio of two thirds for print and one third for the rest all combined,” he said, according to Business 24/7.

Television had a 43 percent share of the ad spending in the first half of the year, but it grew at a rate of 19 percent over the same time in 2007, from $1.35 billion last year, to $1.6 billion in 2008, Business 24/7 reported.

As some Associated Press member newspapers criticise the fee structure being implemented next year, a sizable number are still interested in taking advantage of its growing web tools.

According to the Associated Press, 500 newspapers have signed up for AP Member Marketplace, the online system allowing its subscribers to exchange stories, photos and graphics, according to paidContent.

The service, originally unveiled in April, is expected to have some enhancements this week. According to paidContent, 53 papers in Ohio, 45 in Pennsylvania and 26 in Texas have requested for access so far. Moreover, there are already 20 states where at least 10 member newspapers have signed up.

The offer of additional online capabilities is being provided due to tough challenges the AP faces from the Web. Sites like Poltico.com, positioning itself as something of a wire service, targets struggling newspapers as part of its new ad network. The AP, however, with 1,500 members, hopes to maintain its advantage against Poltico and other rivals by serving as a broker for members to share news, paidContent reported.

The London Evening Standard will change its current site name, Thisislondon.co.uk, to Standard.co.uk, beginning today. The rebranding is being done to clarify and house the newspaper's online offerings under one main page, Brand Republic reported Friday.

Thisislondon.co.uk will now be used to house the Evening Standard's entertainment guide.

Standard.co.uk is now home to the newspaper's online news, sports, business, analysis and comments sections. Previously, Standard.co.uk was used for some news content and campaigns, such as when the newspaper promoted drinking tap water instead of bottled water, according to Brand Republic.

Ad sales will continue being done by the digital division at Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Evening Standard, while cross-platform sales will be handled by the newspaper's own display advertising sales team, Brand Republic reported.

The Web site rebranding is aimed to bring a “genuine multi-platform consumer and commercial offering,” Andrew Mullins, the newspaper's managing director, told Brand Republic.

As U.S. newspaper publishing company Media General struggles with paying off debt and a plunge in advertising dollars, it has cut its quarterly dividend to 12 cents per share, down from 23 cents, Reuters reported.

The cut is a “response to the continued weak economic conditions impacting out businesses and industry, and allows cash flow to further reduce our debt,” Marshall Morton, chief executive of the publishing group, said in a statement. Advertisers across the United States are tightening advertising budgets due to the dwindling economy, which experts have predicted will cut ad spend in all sectors.

The idea to slash the dividend came from Harbinger Capital Partners, which has three members sitting on Media General's board, Reuters reported.

Media General's newspapers include the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Tampa Tribune. The company's shares were up 68 cents Thursday, to US$13.19, according to Reuters.

The average online video ad spending per person in the United States has been growing strongly since 2003, according to eMarketer, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

In 2003, ad spending per U.S. online user was at US$1.63, but it reached nearly $2.5 in 2005, and is expected to achieve $8.7 by the end of this year.

In 2011, spending is expected to reach $23.50 per user, according to eMarketer.

The growth rate in 2007 and 2008 is estimated at more than 50 percent, and growth is forecast to remain in the double digits for the following years, according to the World Digital Media Trends 2008 report, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers.

Content-sharing site Digg has obtained funding from Highland Capital Funding (HCF), which it will use for a “major expansion effort,” Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced in his Digg Blog.

The US$28.7 million investment will help Digg expand the site on a global scale, Wired.com reported. Furthermore, the company intends to optimise its recommendation system, to develop category and topic views, as well as to improve content organisation.

“With a new round of funding, we're accelerating many of the programmes that we've been working on over the past several months, including investments in infrastructure, new feature development, international expansion and hiring all the people we need to get there,” Adelson wrote in his blog.

More than half of Digg's 30 million monthly unique users come from outside the United States, which is why the site will be focusing on making itself “more relevant to local tastes, including local languages,” Adelson stated. The world-wide expansion project will begin early next year, he added. Community outreach programmes and more advanced tools and interfaces for publishers will also be a part of the initiative.

HCF's investment may put an end to rumours that the site will be acquired by Google or Microsoft, according to Wired.com.

China's available network addresses are expected to run out in about 830 days, due to the growing rate of demand for Internet connectivity, ChinaTechNews reported Wednesday.

IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) addresses are the standard for most networks in China. However, they are limited and 80 percent of the allocated IP addresses have already been taken, according to the ChinaTechNews article, posted by ZD Net Asia.

The IPv6 network will be used next, once all IPv4 address blocks are assigned to end-users, said Li Kai, international director of IP Business at China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), according to the Inquirer. However, the IPv6 addresses, developed in the United States, are used only for education sites in China, and network operators will have to spend time and money to update their systems for IPv6 usage, ChinaTechNews reported.

CNNIC has begun holding seminars to encourage operators to apply and prepare for a transition to IPv6.

For a previous article on this topic, visit our partner site, EditorsWeblog.org.

Dutch publisher TMG will not buy De Pers, owned by Dutch millionaire Marcel Boekhoorn, Newspaper Innovation reported.

Boekhoorn holds a 5 percent share in TMG, which has recently seen its share price rise.

Although there have been discussions about “joint advertising strategies and planning,” TMG CFO Fred Arp has said he has no interest in “the loss-making paper,” according to Newspaper Innovation.

Broadband households grow in number in Asia, especially in China, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

From 2004 to 2010, China is predicted to remain the top country with the most broadband households, growing from 24 million to 130 million households, while Japan and South Korea follow behind.

In terms of market share, China is expected to gain rapidly within six years, from 40 percent in 2004 to a 60 percent share in 2010. Japan and South Korea; however, used to account for 27 percent and 21 percent, respectively, in 2004, but both are expected to lose ground, to 21 percent for Japan and just 7 percent for South Korea in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Other countries only account for niche shares, according to the World Digital Media Trends 2008 report, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers.

Online digital publisher Zinio has announced that its partnership with top magazine publishers like Bonnier, Hachette Filipacchi and Greenspun for a “free digital subscription giveaway” that urges users to be more concerned about the environment, Brand Republic reported.

The Read Green Initiative gives readers the chance to sign up to receive one of the free 50 million yearly subscriptions to digital editions of nearly 200 publications such as Elle and Woman's Day.

“Our research has shown that one of the main reasons consumers enjoy reading digital magazines is because they feel like they are doing something good for the environment,” said Rich Maggiotto, Zinio.com's president and chief executive, according to Brand Republic. “The Read Green Initiative will support and embrace this consumer interest as well as introduce the public to a medium that responds to their needs, without affecting the bottom line.”

Users may also buy subscriptions to the digital titles and a percentage of the profits are exchanged for “eco-unit credits” that are be used to plant trees around educational institutions like schools and universities, Brand Republic reported.