kirk lapointe's themediamanager.com: how the news business is changing

The twice-annual Canadian newspaper survey, the National Audience Databank  (NADBank for short), arrived this week. It measures readership of newspapers across the country. Not to be confused with the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), which measures actual distribution of paid and free copies of papers, NADBank surveys people on how often they're read a paper or its online site lately. Canadian advertisers prefer to know readership numbers because they tell more about reader behaviour --- how often they read, how long they read, who exactly does read --- instead of simply that a paper was bought or given away.
For those who herald the death of newspapers, bad news: Canadian newspaper readership is actually pretty stable at 11.7 million people a week (it was 11.8 million last year). The data on online usage feels a little light, because data I've seen suggests strong growth in online newspapers the last year or two.
For those who think urbanites are turning to the Web, more bad news: the largest 17 markets are stable and the largest five are quite stable.
The total weekly reach of print and online newspapers is about 78 per cent.
Which is not to say there aren't significant changes in the newspaper industry, just that the freefalling U.S. advertising and circulation conditions aren't taking hold here.
Here is our story on the Vancouver situation. Here is a Media in Canada report on the national newspaper war.

Living in Vancouver grants access to some very interesting people, and someone you see in contemplation at the coffee house regularly is Eckhart Tolle, the live-in-the-moment spiritual leader.
His most visible fan is television's richest woman, Oprah Winfrey, who selected his latest book, A New Earth, as her Oprah Book Club selection in February. She has co-developed a teaching program with Tolle at her site, and all was set for the Monday launch.
But ancient teachings met 21st century technological ceilings.
As Information Week magazine points out, Oprah has had to apologize for the crashed server. Most media would love her problem.
But it is reminiscent of what other old media have found with new media. You have to be mindful of how much traffic you send somewhere. Difficulties ensue when too many people live in the moment.