10/04/07

Blogs, online chats and databases help drive readers to sites, newspapers told

By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Luring new readers means connecting with them on the Internet through blogs, live online chats and interactive databases, industry leaders told newspapers editors Thursday.

Amid a steady decline in newspaper advertising and circulation, building communities of readers through the online experience is essential, said Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor of washingtonpost.com.

"We're in a battle every day for traffic," Brady told the annual conference of the Associated Press Managing Editors. "People are very, very sporadic on how they use the Web and the sites they go to."

Brady said washingtonpost.com has about 80 blogs. Sports and religion blogs have proved popular with readers, he said.

Jennifer Carroll, vice president of new media for the newspaper division of Gannett Co. Inc., said creating online databases is another way papers are attracting readers.

A person, for example, can go online to The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., to explore a database that allows users to search public records from the Federal Emergency Management Agency _ records the paper won access to after a court battle. A user can type in an address and receive information on neighbors, relatives or others who registered for aid after Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004.

The online site for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey has a database for readers that can tell them how much the governor is paid or the price a neighbor paid for his home.
The databases are driving users to newspapers' web sites, Carroll said.

"They're not coming just to look at headlines and leave," she told editors. "They're coming to search and learn through you in ways that nobody else can do."

Also at the conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed support for legislation that would shield reporters from being forced to reveal their sources in some cases in federal court. Pelosi, D-Calif., promised a House vote by the end of the year.

AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll told editors the company is continuing efforts to win the release of AP photographer Bilal Hussein, held by the U.S. military in Iraq since April 2006.

U.S. officials say they have information that links him to insurgent activities, but he has never been charged. The AP has called the allegations unfounded.

"I look forward to the day when I can tell you that he has been released. But that day is not today," Carroll said.

APME is an organization of editors of newspapers served by the AP.

Founded in 1846, the AP is the world's oldest and largest newsgathering organization with 243 bureaus in 97 countries. It provides content to 1,400 U.S. daily newspapers and 5,000 radio and television outlets.
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