Surprised to be in an Apple ad campaign

Apple’s new iPhone has Christopher Percy Collier’s name written all over it. Literally.

A former freelance travel writer published in the New York Times, Mr. Collier’s byline is in a screenshot of the newspaper’s website now being used in Apple’s national marketing campaign for the iPad and the iPhone 4.

Mr. Collier is one of several people nationwide surprised to be included in the image used to promote Apple’s new devices in television commercials, national newspapers, retail stores, Apple’s website and onstage during CEO Steve Jobs’ recent keynote address.

Periodical table of newspapers showcases a dying science

Presenting the Periodical Table of Newspapers, a chart that showcases the top 100 American newspapers of the day by symbol, and ranks by circulation.

Some might say the most important elements in a democracy are the free press, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

Christmas reveals nation’s most religious daily newspapers

Though religious expression may remain undercover for the majority of the year, nothing brings faith to the front pages of the nation’s newspapers like Christmas Day.

While most editors, publishers and designers tend to keep their respective daily newspapers politically correct for the holiday, some use the season as a reason to celebrate and proclaim the history of the holiday, the birth of Jesus Christ.

The gallery of Christmas Day front pages at Newseum.org provided just such a glimpse on the morning of December 25th, showing off a stark contrast between Claus and Christ.

The majority of Christmas issues promote local good deeds, giving, Christmas events and parties, and cute Santa appearances. Some newspapers use columnists or guest writers to tell the nativity story in their own unique way.

But the eleven papers mentioned below are the only ones that proclaimed Christ’s birth of their own accord, without help from the community. Nearly all of the papers are based in towns East of the Mississippi River.

Take a look at the nation’s most religious daily newspapers:

Newsopoly: Newspaper Monopoly is the fastest way to become a media mogul

You could be the next Rupert Murdoch.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning and controlling American media, Newsopoly makes it possible and affordable. It’s the first news Monopoly game.

Deal with real pressures like declining ad revenue while snapping up utilities that make news viral like Facebook and Twitter. Magazines, newspapers, television stations… it’s all up for grabs.

Stealing newspapers in a social media age

Only the old issues (on the bottom) remain.

In less than an hour, 1,550 copies of Lee University’s student newspaper, the Lee Clarion, were stolen from campus newsstands this past April. Not to be outdone, the newspaper’s editors utilized social media to redistribute the issue to students and lead the investigation into who stole the papers and why.

My cell phone rang. Always such the interruption.

It was the web designer calling to resign. Not exactly the most comforting call to receive in the middle of an editorial board meeting for the most important issue of the year.

One of the perks of being managing editor is getting to pause meetings at any time and this was one of those times. I excused myself from the makeshift board room and answered the phone.

“I heard you’re doing a story about the Greek clubs; is that true?” he asked. I confirmed the information and he continued, ending on what might have been a threatening note, “If you run the story, I won’t work for you,” and pausing just long enough to allow me to back down.

I thanked him for informing me of his decision and we ended the call.

The Top Ten Most Social Newspapers: 2009

It’s a new world; one where the old media must merge with new media to survive and thrive. It’s important for newspapers to get with the social program by sharing, messaging, interacting, etc. That’s why we’ve assembled a list of the year’s most social American newspapers.

To determine which newspapers deserve to be on the list, we determined to focus on a newspaper’s central social media accounts only, leaving out additional accounts that may cater to specific sections or star writers. We analyzed the number of Twitter followers, tweets, and Facebook fans, combining the data together to form one ranking number. If the newspaper gave social media a prime presence on its homepage, it gained three or five bonus points, depending on the prominence given.

So without further ado: