WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

AFP reports:

The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that it expects to become the largest US newspaper by weekday circulation when the latest figures are released, leapfrogging USA Today.

According to Editor and Publisher magazine, Audit Bureau of Circulations figures to be published on October 26 will show that USA Today’s circulation fell 17 percent to 1.88 million for the six months ending in September.

The Journal, with a total circulation of just over two million, said that would make the News Corp.-owned newspaper the largest in the country by weekday circulation

USA Today would still remain number one in terms of total print circulation because the Journal’s total circulation includes nearly 356,000 subscribers to its website, it said.

(Murdoch by Vince Natale/NYT)

Final leaks:

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., said he is looking to reshape MySpace into an “entertainment portal.”

In the late-night bar at the Sun Valley Lodge, from which the press was banned, most of the discussions were around the issue of free versus paid content.

Television studio executives do not want to repeat the experience of their colleagues in the hard-hit newspaper and music businesses, and are worried that consumers will expect TV shows, movies and all professional programing to be free.

“The notion that there are synergies between content and distribution has been dispelled,” says Tuna Amobi, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

“You’re not going to see a Comcast Corp trying to merge with a Disney anymore.”

Facebook’s active users doubled in eight months to top 200 million in April and U.S. visitors to Twitter surged 83 percent that month over March, according to comScore.

Internet entrepreneur Marc Andreessen and others have criticized MySpace under News Corp for focusing too much on selling ads and not enough on innovation.

Via Reuters.