RUST COMMENTARY: NEWSPAPERS LEAD IN ONLINE SERVICES; READERSHIP, CIRCULATION GROW

In recent conversations, I've found that few people know that NEWSPAPERS lead other media in electronic and online services.

* More than 500 North American daily newspapers (including the Southeast Missourian) have launched online services (as of March 1, 1997), including web sites and partnerships with consumer online companies.

* Ninety-five of the top 100 newspapers by circulation have online products.

* More than 60 percent of the daily newspapers on the web have circulations under 30,000.

* More than 65 percent of those newspapers on the web offer online classified products (including the Southeast Missourian).

Another generally unknown fact is that DAILY morning delivery and SUNDAY circulations are at all-time HIGHS.

And the most rapidly growing segment of the newspaper industry, measured by circulation increases, are the community and weekly newspapers of which we are in the process of acquiring 6 more to go with the 5 purchased Aug. 1.

Possibly the best weeklies for their size in the nation are the DYERSBURG NEWS and NEWBERN TENNESSEAN (both in Tennessee) published by JON RUST.

He's been asked to speak at numerous national and group meetings. He's learned and earned his knowledge the old-fashioned way -- by just doing it!

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Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself to do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned, and however early a person's training begins, it is probably the last lesson a person learns thoroughly. -- Thomas Huxley

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Traditionally, we have estimated the number of newspaper readers per paper at 2.3. Then we found out that surveys uncovered a bona fide pass-along percentage of up to 14 percent MORE readers ... hidden readers, secret readers. Accordingly, we started estimating the number of readers at 2.75 per paper ... although this is still very, very conservative.

And now, the Newspaper Association of American's Market and Business Analysis Department has calculated the RPC (readers per copy) for 25 of the nation's newspapers.

And we're STILL way too conservative.

No matter that TV is out there plus the Internet and a zillion radio stations. People are still reading papers, and there are even more of them doing so today.

The average number of readers per paper is 3.03. This figure does NOT count the pass-along factor.

So, if we use the average number of 3.03 readers per paper, that means that the Southeast Missourian's daily number of readers on Sunday -- PAID only -- is 63,630. Add in the PLUS issue, and it's 90,900.

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STEVE FORBES'S original thinking continues to make one think deeper when better economic understanding is necessary. He recently commented as follows on what he calls the POISON PROPOSAL:

"For the moment, congressional Republicans have dropped the idea of readjusting the consumer price index. They shouldn't go near this notion again; it's fallacious, economically and politically.

"Some economists assert that the CPI overstates increases in the cost of living. Trouble is, these worthies ignore the fact that the CPI leaves out two of the biggest cost-of-living items: income taxes and payroll taxes.

"Taxes aren't a cost of living?

"American families pay more for these exactions than they do for housing, clothing and food combined. If anything, this index should be adjusted upward.

"Arbitrarily

"Arbitrarily hacking the CPI downward, as too many Washington politicos seem eager to do, would not only cut Social Security benefits, but also raise income taxes by some tens of billions of dollars over the next decade, because these levies have been adjusted for inflation since the mid-1980s."

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The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. -- Unknown

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CLINTON ACTIVIST now top man at CNN: For several years persons who watch CNN closely have wondered whether those initials should stand for "Clinton News Network," rather than the Cable News Network, as claimed by founder and former owner Ted Turner. CNN is consistent: It seldom meets a Clinton scandal story that it considers fit to cover, and many of its correspondents don't even bother to conceal their feelings that such things as the Senate hearings on Democrat finance abuses are not worth their precious time.

Now, if it be possible, CNN seems headed for an even more partisan stance in favor of the Clinton Administration. That is the message we read into the appointment of Rick Kaplan, a longtime executive at ABC News, to the newly created position of president of CNN/USA. The former CNN boss, Tom Johnson, continues at titular head of CNN, but our friends in the network's Atlanta headquarters tell us that Kaplan is now top dog.

Why should this interest -- and concern -- Americans who get their news from CNN? The reason is simple: Rick Kaplan, as an executive of ABC News, is a certified "Friend of Bill" who has a documented history of using his position to help his buddy.

Kaplan offers no apologies for his friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, which extends back for more than a decade. He cheerfully tells interviewers that he has slept in the Lincoln Bedroom without giving a multi-thousand buck contribution.

Why should he? Kaplan has given Clinton something far more valuable than money-the advice of a skilled media professional as well as kid-glove treatment on programs he controlled.

One of many examples was documented in "Strange Bedfellows," by Tom Rosenstiel, former media critic for the Los Angeles Times. According to Rosenstiel, Rick first came to Clinton's aid when the Gennifer Flowers sex scandal erupted during the 1992 New Hampshire primaries. Kaplan coached Clinton on how to handle himself during an interview on the CBS news show "60 Minutes" that most political observers credit with saving Clinton's neck. Rather odd, we think, for someone who takes ABC's money to give advice to a candidate, much less one appearing on a competitive network's news show.

Kaplan again crossed the line when Clinton was having trouble convincing skeptical New Yorkers that he was smarter than the mythical "southern bubba." He arranged for Clinton to be interviewed on the popular Don Imus radio show and to present himself as a guy who was equally at home in Flatbush, N.Y., and Fayetteville, Ark. Kaplan helped Clinton write pithy lines tailored for the Imus audience. A camera crew from "Nightline," of which he was executive producer, taped the interview for use on the popular late night program.

Journalist Laureen Hobbs wrote in Spy Magazine, "So an ABC News executive helped arrange Clinton's appearance, then briefed the candidate and possibly wrote his lines, and ABC's 'Nightline' covered the interview as news."

Kaplan's biggest boost came when he helped Clinton wiggle out of the draft-dodging scandal. Retired army officer Clint Jones, formerly a ROTC adviser at the University of Arkansas, gave ABC News a letter in which young Bill Clinton explained why he had broken his promise to enroll in the ROTC in return for a draft deferment. Clinton made plain his hatred for the military and said that the only reason he considered military service was to preserve his political viability.

Jones turned over the letter on a Sunday, with the understanding ABC would use it immediately. Instead, Kaplan alerted Clinton and sat on the story for three days. Kaplan got Clinton on "Nightline" on Wednesday night, giving the glib Clinton a chance to put the best possible spin on his anti-military letter. He was hurt, but his candidacy was saved from disaster.

So what is happening at CNN? For beginners, a very big mistake. Time Warner, which acquired control of CNN from founder Ted Turner two years ago, says it brought in Kaplan to concentrate on breaking news, and to boost viewership. CNN's average Nielsen rating for the second quarter of 1997 was the equivalent of only about 284,000 homes nationwide, the lowest 24 hour rating in its 17-year history. CNN executives have been quoted as saying they "pray for another O.J. trial," so that more people will watch the network.

Making CNN even more Clinton-friendly is unlikely to increase viewership. In July, we got many complaining calls about CNN's failure to cover the Senate hearings on campaign finance abuses. Intelligent coverage of these hearings when they resume in September would give CNN the boost it needs. For a news operation, the way to attract new viewers should be covering more news-not putting the operation in the hands of a man with a record of actively promoting Bill Clinton. -- Accuracy in Media

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The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. -- Dolly Parton

~Gary Rust is president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.