AUDIT BUREAU LOOSENS ITS RULES TO INFLATE CIRCULATION NUMBERS

Have you noticed how almost every newspaper, even the dinkiest, now has an electronic edition? There is a reason. Effective last April Fools Day, the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the outfit that reports newspaper circulation, changed its reporting rules. It is now possible through the magic of electronics, for newspapers to count phantom readers of electronic editions as paying customers. That's why so many want you to register. Even so, their numbers stink. Imagine how bad they would be if they counted only people who put down their money for a physical paper!