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Tonight on the NewsHour, media correspondent Terence Smith looks at two relatively new free papers in the nation's capitol -- the Examiner and Express -- to explore how each paper plans to reach new readers and prove that "freebies" are a viable and profitable enterprise. He also looks at the effect that freebies may have on well-established dailies such as The Washington Post.
There is a new kind of newspaper war under way -- freely distributed newspapers or "freebies” are popping up in cities across the country and hawkers can’t seem to give the papers away fast enough.
As the circulation of most traditional newspapers is falling steadily, publishers are trying to capture the disaffected or non-newspaper readers by producing these free papers, supported solely by advertising.
If these "freebies" succeed as a business model, they have the potential of turning the traditional concept of paying for newspapers on its head.
Tonight on the NewsHour, media correspondent Terence Smith looks at two relatively new free papers in the nation's capitol -- the Examiner and Express -- to explore how each paper plans to reach new readers and prove that "freebies" are a viable and profitable enterprise. He also looks at the effect that freebies may have on well-established dailies such as The Washington Post.
Visit http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media after 9 p.m. Eastern time for more information on this segment