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Common wisdom says theres no future in print newspapers and that the rest of the country is fed up with Wall Street. But both propositions fall flat in the case of the Wall Street Journal (NSDQ:NWS - News) Sunday edition.

Since 1999, a version of the newspaper favored by New York financial titans has become a quiet hit in dozens of smaller papers across the land, including the Jackson Citizen Patriot and the Kalamazoo Gazette. The local papers publish two to four pages every weekend of original customized content from Wall Street Journal writers that cover business and personal finance issues.

WSJ Sunday editor, David Crook, says the content carries the same sophistication as the Journals regular fare but targets a different demographic.

We ask the writers to take out a zero. The readers may not have $50,000 but they do have $5,000.

The partnership program, which the Journal says reaches more than 7 million readers through 62 newspapers, provides the publishers with easy-to-load content.

Many local papers also partner with the Journal in a program to share money from national advertisers. Crook says revenue from Wall Street Journal Sunday is growing even though circulation has peaked, and that the program is a way to introduce the brand to millions of new readers.

The weekend pairing of Wall Street and Main Street appears to be a perfect marriage save for one hitchthe Journal has cold feet when it comes to digital. For now, the Journal will not provide its partners with digital copy for their websites. We need to grow our digital base as much as they need it, explained Crook.

The decision is a disappointment to people like Todd Benoit, Director of News and New Media at the Bangor Daily News. He says that the Journals weekend pages offer hard-to-get content at a very fair price to the newspapers aging readers, but that there is digital demand too.

Tell them we would love to get the online version, said Benoit.

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Why The Wall Street Journal Isn't Adding Digital To Its Sunday Edition

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/19/2012 12:01:00 AM The growing popularity of accessing news on mobile devices, online and social media is increasing the consumption and demand for news content, according to the newly released 2012 State of the News Media report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence (PEJ) in Journalism.

But news organizations are still struggling to make money off these digital distribution platforms, in part because tech giants are capturing a significant portion of the money being spent, with five tech companies grabbing 68% of all digital ad revenue, the study reports, citing researcher from eMarketer.

In addition, growing digital consumption and increases in digital revenue are still not making up for loses in traditional revenue. The PEJ study found increased audiences for online, network TV, local TV, audio, and cable TV, with magazines remaining fairly constant and newspapers seeing declines. But it also concluded that rising audiences for network TV and local TV did not translate into increased revenue.

In fact, revenue declined for both network TV (down 3.7%) and local TV (down 6.7%). PEJ noted that on-air ad revenue for local TV grew in 2011 but was still 10% lower than it was in 2007 and that on-air ads still accounted for 85% of the total revenue.

"Our analysis suggests that news is becoming more important and pervasive part of people's lives," PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel noted in a statement announcing Pew's ninth annual look at the state of the news media. "But it remains unclear who will benefit economically from this growing appetite for news."

The new study contains extensive data on the spread of digital media and consumption of news on digital devices, including new national surveys on how news is consumed on different devices and the impact of social media.

Both the surveys and outside data cited in the report found that digital delivery and the growing popularity of smart phones and tablets was driving increased consumption of news.

Citing data from the mobile analytics firm Localytics the study argues that people were using "mobile devices for news more often and for longer sessions" and that mobile users "may be getting more news more often."

Overall monthly unique users at the top news sites grew by 17% in 2011, according to data cited from Nielsen Online. Most of these major news sites (17 of 25) are still run by legacy news organizations.

Growing digital consumption has also boosted both online and mobile ad markets. The study notes that online advertising grew by 23% in 2011. One segment of the online ad pie, display advertising grew by 24% bounce in 2011 to $12.4 billion, according to data from eMarketer cited in the report.

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Pew: News Orgs Still Struggle With Digital Revenue

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/19/2012 12:01:00 AM The growing popularity of accessing news on mobile devices, online and social media is increasing the consumption and demand for news content, according to the newly released 2012 State of the News Media report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence (PEJ) in Journalism.

But news organizations are still struggling to make money off these digital distribution platforms, in part because tech giants are capturing a significant portion of the money being spent, with five tech companies grabbing 68% of all digital ad revenue, the study reports, citing researcher from eMarketer.

In addition, growing digital consumption and increases in digital revenue are still not making up for loses in traditional revenue. The PEJ study found increased audiences for online, network TV, local TV, audio, and cable TV, with magazines remaining fairly constant and newspapers seeing declines. But it also concluded that rising audiences for network TV and local TV did not translate into increased revenue.

In fact, revenue declined for both network TV (down 3.7%) and local TV (down 6.7%). PEJ noted that on-air ad revenue for local TV grew in 2011 but was still 10% lower than it was in 2007 and that on-air ads still accounted for 85% of the total revenue.

"Our analysis suggests that news is becoming more important and pervasive part of people's lives," PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel noted in a statement announcing Pew's ninth annual look at the state of the news media. "But it remains unclear who will benefit economically from this growing appetite for news."

The new study contains extensive data on the spread of digital media and consumption of news on digital devices, including new national surveys on how news is consumed on different devices and the impact of social media.

Both the surveys and outside data cited in the report found that digital delivery and the growing popularity of smart phones and tablets was driving increased consumption of news.

Citing data from the mobile analytics firm Localytics the study argues that people were using "mobile devices for news more often and for longer sessions" and that mobile users "may be getting more news more often."

Overall monthly unique users at the top news sites grew by 17% in 2011, according to data cited from Nielsen Online. Most of these major news sites (17 of 25) are still run by legacy news organizations.

Growing digital consumption has also boosted both online and mobile ad markets. The study notes that online advertising grew by 23% in 2011. One segment of the online ad pie, display advertising grew by 24% bounce in 2011 to $12.4 billion, according to data from eMarketer cited in the report.

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PEJ: News Orgs Still Struggle With Digital Revenue

DECATUR When David Lanterman took over ownership of the Lincoln Theater 4 in January 2011, he knew changes were coming and not just to the 90-year-old movie house.

Aside from cosmetic work to refurbish the building, his greatest task as owner has been one that is facing all operators of small, independent theaters: the movie industrys switch to digital film and projection equipment. But even though he knew the switch was coming, that doesnt mean the $70,000-per-screen conversion costs were any easier to bear.

We knew that the switch was coming, but it gained so much speed in the last year that it forced us to make it happen much sooner than I initially expected, said Lanterman, who resides in Lincoln. I thought we would have a good three years or so, but there was more pressure than expected. It wont be possible to run a theater on only 35 mm in a few years as more and more films are released on digital. Youre going to have to change or close. And many will close, especially the small places.

The outlook is the same for independent theaters all over Central Illinois and, by extension, around the country. Many simply dont have the funds necessary to make the initial investment to acquire the digital film equipment. Others, such as the Lincoln Theater 4, have made the transition successfully and hope to recoup their investment in the next few years through compensation programs with studios and digital equipment companies.

Lantermans theater began all-digital shows March 2.

The case of the Lincoln Theater 4 is particularly unusual, however, as the buildings four screens already had been outfitted with digital equipment when he took over, but he was unable to assume the lease on these projectors from the previous owner. Instead, the theater returned to older 35 mm projectors that were fortunately still on hand until Lanterman could afford to bring back the digital equipment.

I couldnt have even bought the digital equipment they had here if I wanted to, so we had to wait, he said. Were able to do it now because of our community support, which has been beyond even what I was hoping it would be. The people have a sense of ownership, a realization that this is our theater. Our attendance is up around 25 percent from what it was at last year.

Not all small theaters have the resources to make the initial conversion, however. Some, such as the one-screen Onarga Theatre, are turning to their customer base in hopes of raising the entire $65,000 needed to stay in business. If the ongoing fundraiser fails, then another small town will lose its theater, leaving customers to drive 30 or 45 minutes to larger cities such as Champaign or Kankakee to see a movie at a national chain. And yet, owner Randy Lizzio is optimistic.

I think it can succeed, and the amount of money we raise will continue to slowly rise, said the Onarga Theatre manager of four years. Were going to keep chipping away at the total and hosting fundraisers. I know our meter doesnt look too good right now, but you never know how things will change.

The meter Lizzio refers to represents the path to the necessary $65,000, and can be viewed at the Onarga Theatre website. Currently sitting at about $3,000, its a daunting hurdle for film lovers in the small town to overcome, especially given that Lizzio refuses to raise ticket prices from the $5 range or increase the cost of concessions.

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Cost to go from reel to digital may close some smaller movie theaters

There are tens of millions of e-book lovers, and their ranks are sure to be boosted by the latest iPad along with improved Kindles, Nooks and their rivals.

My sister, a retired fourth-grade teacher, has finally succumbed; Dorothy reads faster by enlarging the words on her tablet. And my wife favors e-books when she stretches out in bed. Clearly, the time has come for a well-stocked national digital library system, not to replace brick-and-mortar libraries but to augment them.

In the 1990s, William F. Buckley Jr. my political opposite wrote two columns supporting my basic vision. He even recommended it to Newt Gingrich. Years later, we still lack a coherent national e-library strategy. (Last week, seven patrons of the Lexington Public Library were waiting for seven copies of the e-book of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer's novel. In this case, because of legal restrictions and related technical precautions, a digital copy is just like a paper copy only one library patron may check it out at a time.)

Through greater purchasing clout, a national digital library system could give taxpayers far more for their money, adding to the inherent economies of e-books. A first step could be a foundation-financed buyout of OverDrive, the current e-book supplier for many libraries, if the owners agreed.

Frustratingly, Washington does not grasp the full potential of a national digital library system truly serving the masses. In effect, at least unofficially, President Barack Obama's administration has farmed out the issue to a group hosted at the president's old law school, the Harvard-based Digital Public Library of America initiative.

Ideally, its talented people can come up with a well-crafted online strategy to help public libraries and others encourage family literacy, mitigate the fourth-grade reading slump, distribute appropriate text and multimedia content to help upgrade our work force, and stimulate the brains of the millions of baby boomers who soon will be retiring (some, like my wife, with serious mobility limitations). Not one current school librarian or other K-12 educator sits on the 17-member steering committee.

And yet, the national digital library issue is in many ways a K-12, job- preparation and anti-poverty opportunity in disguise. Studies show a strong connection between children's academic achievement and access to books at home.

E-books are just swarms of invisible electrons, but children still could notice them. Librarians and teachers, for example, could post drawings of scenes from e-books on the walls, and they could talk up appropriate local titles mentioning people and landmarks known to the students.

And "recreational reading," whether the electronic or paper variety, could help nudge children and parents toward the more serious variety, and build skills and knowledge of many kinds. Many academics, alas, look down on popular-level books.

This is partly why we need two tightly intertwined but separate national digital library systems, ultimately one academic and one public. Both could be universally accessible to Americans and ideally others, and with plenty of shared content. Separate systems would help avoid or reduce clashes over such issues as scholarly monographs versus best-sellers.

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Commentary: A national digital library system is long overdue