Obama 'Newspapers' `Draw BIG Bucks ONLINE!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:54 pm

They say that print media is a dying industry. And, indeed, monies from subscriptions and advertisements for newspapers and magazines have been steadily declining over the past decade. However, when it comes to memoribilia, a crisp sheet of newsprint will beat out a browser screenshot every time. Accordingly, Tuesday's historic election of Barack Obama as the first ever black President of the United States caused a major run on newspapers across the country - especially those in major metropolitan areas.

Savvy capitalist were quick to cash in on the moment, with Obama-bilia of all sorts popping up for sale online. One hot ticket was a front page of Wednesday's New York Times. In one instance the paper sold of $265 on eBay.

In Washington, DC there were reports that unscrupulous capitalists were paying for one paper from street corner vending machines, but taking the entire stack, then selling the papers for 10 bucks a pop.

"A newspaper has a very historic, commemorative feel to it. More than anything, it's about having this to pass on to their children and grandchildren," said Julia Wallace, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Atlanta paper initially printed an additional 55,000 copies to supplement its weekday press run of 375,000. But heavy sales forced the paper to print 150,000 more copies to meet demand.

Though print was a hot item yesterday, paper execs report that Websites were still the main outlet of information for most readers. According to the LA Times, several papers reported online editions drew record traffic, including the Washington Post, which topped its previous high of 15.2 million daily page views.