Newspaper industry trying to pull a fast one.

Media: So this news came out yesterday.

Newspaper executives have complained for years that the yardstick used to measure audience -- paid print circulation -- was unfair especially when compared to the likes of television and radio. Those media have always touted audience share to advertisers so why shouldn't newspapers? Finally after years of debate, the industry is moving towards tracking its total audience which encompasses all its products (especially online viewership) -- not just how many people plunk down some coins for the newspaper. The change will be reflected next Monday, when the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases numbers for more than 700 daily newspapers throughout the country. The push to herald total audience is coming not a moment too soon since paid circulation continues on a downward slide. According to industry sources speaking to E&P, daily circulation for reporting papers in the six-month FAS-FAX period ending September is down about 2.5% while Sunday is expected to fall 3.5%. Those types of declines -- in the 2% and 3% range -- have been occurring as far back as the March 2005 period. ...When the FAS-FAX comes out next Monday, ABC will introduce the "audience FAX" where about 200 papers are providing the organization with not only circulation data, but print readership, online readership, unduplicated market reach, and monthly unique users. Daily and Sunday circulation will be a part of the report as well but the audience FAX is the first step in what will most likely be many more to emphasize total audience. Even the Newspaper Association of America, which usually tallies FAS-FAX in order to show how much circulation has gone down (or up) as a top line number, will not crunch the overall industry data for the six-month period ending September 2007.

Massaging the numbers would be an understatement. Tv/Radio are different in regards to online because in both cases you watch or listen for a period of time. Newspaper sites people are clicking around looking for things of interest and much harder to be distracted or car about ads. Trying to lump all those numbers to reach an average ad or bundle rate isn't going to fool anyone.