The Mail Online is the umbrella site for United Kingdom newspaper, the Daily Mail and features a mix of news, celebrity and controversy. It has become the highest circulating UK newspaper online. It marks a rising trend with online newspapers becoming “category plays,” targeting sectors of the market, such as entertainment, news, video or business. The modern newspaper website can now include everything from bingo games to nearly full blown television reporting.

Circulation figures show that global unique users of Mail Online have doubled since May 2007. The site overtook telegraph.co.uk and guardian.co.uk in May to become the UK’s most popular national newspaper site, with 18.7 million unique users – a 100% year-on-year growth and a 3.7% increase over April. Celebrity and sensation are likely to have been the key to Mail Online’s growth.

Celebrity and entertainment stories are increasingly international but of little use if they can’t be sold to advertisers. Mail Online had 5,090,981 users from the UK, who can be served by UK advertising, or 27.2% of its audience. This is the lowest UK audience for any national newspaper site. Broadsheet sites like this are carrying what are known as “link-bait” stories that editors know will get traffic because they are sensational or funny. Hollywood gossip site TMZ.com has more than 10.2 million users.

The Associated Press is arranging a meeting with members of the blogging community to set rules for how their content is used online after an “interaction” between the AP and the Drudge Retort over usage. The AP had sent a letter to the Drudge Retort – part of the larger Drudge Report group – demanding that they take down seven stories that heavily referenced AP stories. On Saturday, they sent a follow-up letter dropping the request and apologizing for the “heavy handed letter.”

Vice president and strategy director of the AP said that they were going to rethink their policy towards bloggers. The apology was issued in response to a number of well-known bloggers criticizing the AP’s policy. The AP plans to hold a meeting with Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association in order to create standards for online use of AP stories by bloggers. The Drudge Retort links out to news sources and traces comment numbers that give people an idea of the popularity of various stories.

The AP wants to control how their information is used because they are paid by newspapers and other sources for providing news that bloggers grab for free. The print industry continues to shrink but they are trying to reach out to the online world as the AP is attempting to do.

In a time when information can be accessed at any time and faster than the print media, newspapers need to change with the times and reconsider their content. The definition of news is changing around the world as young people view things like sports, fashion, music, and movies as news. For example, in India, the content is changing to accommodate younger readers, their needs and concerns.

One solution may be involving young readers in order to compete with speedier forms of information and news communication. The newspaper industry in Sri Lanka is struggling to compete against a lot of faster and more proactive media which has led to cuts in media spending by business. While the advertising budgets have been trimmed due to economic reasons and rising costs, companies have more options in using a reduced budget instead of relying on newspapers alone.

Indian newspapers have distinct editions where readers can access information on local issues and are expanding dramatically and reducing their cover prices because they find when circulation increases advertisers are willing to pay higher rates. Every big media group in India is becoming a multi-media group as it derives a lot of interactive possibilities from getting the same news and putting it on television, radio and newspapers.

During the first quarter of 2008, the print media industry in South Africa is under serious strain because of rising inflation and interest rates, political uncertainty, load shedding and high prices of material, and the tightening of credit. Recently released figures show that daily newspapers have struggled while weeklies seem to be doing well. Weekend titles are static with several holding their circulation with aggressive increases in third party bulk activity. Circulation is up for the community and free newspapers mostly due to new entrants.

This performance is due to an increase in input costs, rising printing costs and postal rates, and the desire to right size. Consumer magazines continue to experience difficult times despite efforts to consolidate circulation. Print orders are being more closely monitored by publishers due to economic pressures.

The declining local economic climate has only added to the print industry’s problems with competition coming from other media offerings and platforms. An emphasis has been placed on the importance of circulation figures – the hard currency of the print industry. Most publishers would prefer an additional revenue stream of copy sales and subscriptions.

A digital publishing solution provider, NewsStand, based in Austin, was selected by PressTerra, based out of Miami, to provide electronic publishing strategies for various leading international newspapers. PressTerra is leading a global contract printing and distribution company that allows publishers to reprint all over the world. It plans to use NewsStand to develop electronic editions and customized portals that will feature multi-national news and events for certain markets. For example, PressTerra reprints The Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Wall Street Journal Asia, and The Washington Post for distribution at various locations across the globe.

PressTerra will offer NewsStand’s services and technologies to well known newspapers. These technologies enable publishers to expand access to electronic editions of newspapers. The system is built on eEdition Library software, a customized platform that integrates with newspaper websites, electronic editions, and print-specific content. NewsStand delivers digital content and delivery solutions to hundreds of magazines and newspaper titles as well as book publishers in more than 120 countries.