Dallas Morning News Newspaper

Most newspapers have built their long-term growth strategies around the Internet. But a Santa Monica company is betting that an old piece of new technology, the CD-ROM, will help papers bridge the gap to the digital age. In recent months, IMedia International Inc. has reached agreement with two of the nation's largest newspapers to distribute within their Sunday editions CDs chock-full of movie previews, music samples, video games, comics, celebrity interviews and advertisements.

Media company Belo Corp. on Thursday said it overstated its circulation numbers at the Dallas Morning News, making it the latest newspaper company to disclose inflated distribution numbers. Belo, which also owns the Press-Enterprise in Riverside and 19 television stations, said the Dallas newspaper would report a greater-than-expected decline in its September circulation figures. It also said the newspaper's vice president of operations in charge of circulation had resigned.

The story of Timothy J. McVeigh's alleged confession to the Oklahoma City bombing may have made its way onto the airwaves with today's cyberspeed--the story broke on the Dallas Morning News' Web site--but the issues it raises are as old as democracy. In short, the story has put a new strain on the traditional American conflict between a free press and a fair trial.

Timothy J. McVeigh's lawyer acknowledged Monday that his files contain a report in which his client claimed responsibility for the Oklahoma City bombing, but attorney Stephen Jones flatly and angrily denied that it is a confession, as portrayed last week by a Dallas newspaper. Instead, Jones asserted that the report is part of the defense team's internal work product and is "not a legitimate defense document."