Will video be atop the new media foodchain?

A video-oriented blog talks to an expert and finds, surprise, video will dominate new media. "REELSE, the Online Video Marketer's Guide," posts an interview with Rick Calvert, founder of the Blogworld conference, and quotes Calvert as saying that video is the top of the media foodchain so it will obviously be atop the new video foodchain. Interesting take, although as a word person I still think video is going to need lots of words. After all, there are lots of words on TV newscasts already, and I have yet to see video online without lots of words surrounding it. Is video a great tool? Sure. Maybe the best tool? Possibly. But, in a vacuum, video doesn't exist.

Media companies forming parnerships with universities

Coming soon to the news media near you -- the media company + university hyperlocal news site.

According to Emedia Vitals, an online newsletter, several media companies are forming partnerships with local universities. One of the more aggressive, AOL's Patch, is building its Milwaukee news site. Haven't heard of any attempts to tie up with a local university.

Behind newspaper circulation numbers

AdAge takes a look at newspaper circulation trends (decline is slowing, it says), but says you need to go below the easy numbers to figure out what's going on. The insight, I see, is a quote from John Strum, who heads the National Newspaper Association: "What counts is that newspaper companies continue to retain their most loyal and engaged readers even as they increase print circulation pricing to rebalance their revenue streams." That means that newspapers continue to raise prices, and are working to hold readership. They are are working to build new readership using targeted methods.