Here's the October 18, 2004 update regarding the Mail & Jobs Coalition.

PaperGate -- SEC Investigates

The Securities and Exchange Commission is raising questions with regard to newspaper circulation practices, Several leading publishers, including the The New York Times Company, Knight Ridder, Dow Jones, Gannett, McClatchy and The Washington Post Company, have been contacted by the federal agency. According to The New York Times:

"One person involved in the inquiry emphasized that none of the companies contacted were considered to have done anything wrong or to be a target. Instead, the commission was seeking, at least initially, to mount a fact-finding effort on behalf of investors who use circulation figures as one measure of the relative health of publicly held newspaper companies. Such figures are also used to set advertising rates.

"Confidence in the accuracy of those figures has been shaken in recent months, after Newsday, Hoy, The Dallas Morning News and The Chicago Sun-Times revealed that they had overstated their circulations by tens of thousands of copies each day. The parent companies of these papers have since set aside more than $130 million to reimburse advertisers." (S.E.C. Inquiry on Circulation at Newspapers Said to Widen, October 13, 2004)

• Will corporate chairman and directors personally vouch for the accuracy of circulation figures?
  

• Were investors plainly told about revised circulation definitions? Such definitions were changed in 2001 so that papers sold with as much as a 75 percent discount could be included in "paid" circulation figures. Prior to 2001, papers with a discount of 51 percent or more could not be counted in circulation claims.
  

• Have investors been plainly told that newspapers may elect to ignore up to 40 days of low distribution each year when computing circulation figures?
  

• Is Hollinger International correct when it stated in an October 5th news release that "the term "shifting returns" is the practice of accounting for a number of returned newspapers on elimination days or on days that otherwise may not be as important to advertisers, rather than on days they are  actually returned. Shifting returns is believed to be a common practice in competitive newspaper markets, although it is not permissible under ABC rules."  (Emphasis ours)
  

"The industry's image lags reality. Mail is viewed as a dying communications medium used by a remaining few "unwired" individuals. That unreconstructed view of mail is just plain wrong. In the United States alone, the mailing industry generates $900 billion in revenue, drives more than 8 percent of the GDP and accounts for more than 9 million jobs." Micheal Critelli, chairman/CEO of Pitney Bowes Inc. (DM Views: Growing Global Mail: Opportunities and Obstacles, October 11, 2004)

"Dean raised most of his $40 million via the Internet in small donations. And Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), who bested Dean for the Democratic nomination, has raised roughly seven times as much as President Bush in small contributions over the Internet. The Democratic National Committee is also spewing out more direct-mail solicitations this year than it did in the entire 1990s. 'Kerry is building a massive grass-roots army of contributors through the Internet and direct mail,' Viguerie said." (Liberal Praise Drawn From Unlikely Source, October 18, 2004)

"The big three classified verticals – employment, automotive and real estate – move steadily online at the expense of print advertising. But that’s not all. Merchandise advertising – which generated roughly $2 billion in sales for U.S. daily papers in 2003 – is also moving out of print to online marketplaces. Most notably, it’s moving to EBay.com and to Craigslist.org.

"Two-thirds of the newspaper executives we asked said EBay and Craigslist – specifically – have had a “major” or “moderate” impact on their merchandise ad sales. In a survey sponsored by the auction and e-commerce ASP CityXpress, we asked execs at 36 U.S. newspapers of all sizes whether they perceived these online marketplaces as a threat, and if so, what they proposed to do about it.

"Many newspaper executives, we found, are finally thinking outside the rubber band: Since a growing number of consumers are buying and selling via online auction, more newspapers are willing to provide continuous auction services. Some newspapers have products or plans in place, and many more execs are giving it serious thought."

While KSL has recently been recognized for superior reporting by the Society for Professional Journalists, KSL's report on mail and pornography offers little of value to viewers. (Family Upset About Pornographic Ad in Mail, October 16, 2004)

According to your story, "advertisements flood our mailboxes daily...and usually we toss them to the trash." The truth is that advertisers will spend more than $50 billion this year marketing through the mails -- more than will be spent on newspapers. Would advertisers spend so much money on a medium to which the public does not respond?

The report uses the term "junk mail" to describe advertising mail. The term "junk mail" is simply a slur.  According to The Washington Post, "magazines and newspapers have been at war with advertising mailers for a long time -- ever since the mailers began siphoning ad dollars away from publications. Indeed, newspaper editorialists invented the term 'junk mail' in the early 1950s."

Does it matter to KSL that 23,164 people in Utah's First Congressional District -- the district where you're located -- have jobs related to the mailstream? If KSL thinks there should be less mail, who should reduce their mail volume? Local businesses? Politicians. Religious groups? Charities? Which local post offices would KSL like to close?

Most importantly, the story does not explain what citizens can do when they feel the mailstream has been violated. Contact your local postmaster. The Postal Service has strict rules regarding what can and cannot be sent through the mailstream, a strong postal inspection service and serious penalties for those who violate the law.

In fairness why not tell viewers the rest of the story -- both on the air and on your website? And why not update your style manual? "Junk mail" is not a substitute for ad mail, advertising mail or direct mail.

Readers of the Dallas Morning News are hardly well served by the new repetition of old slurs. Use of the term "junk mail" as a substitute for "direct mail" is neither accurate nor fair. No less important, readers need to ask if the term "junk mail" represents an institutional conflict-of-interest. (See: "Currency examiners have cash to spare," October 17, 2004)

The term "junk mail" emerged decades ago as a way for newspaper publishers to push their business interests. As The Washington Post explains, "newspapers have been at war with advertising mailers for a long time -- ever since the mailers began siphoning ad dollars away from publications. Indeed, newspaper editorialists invented the term 'junk mail' in the early 1950s."

Readers need to ask: What's the difference between an ad sent through the mails and the very same ad, on the very same paper, from the very same advertiser when inserted into a newspaper?

If the Dallas Morning News believes there should be less mail, then who should mail less? Local businesses? Religious congregations? Politicians? Which local post offices would you close?

In the 24th Congressional District where the Morning News is located there are 20,409 jobs related to the mailstream. If there's less mail there will be fewer jobs in your community, something no one with common sense should favor.

The time has come for the Dallas Morning News to update its style manual. After all, the world has changed a lot in 50 years. Today there's room for both newspapers and mail -- so can't we all just get along?