Third U.S. Metro paper opens today in NYC

Newspapers have been published in New York City since 1725. But the first free paper, amNewYork, started seven months ago on October 10. Today the second free daily started. Metro New York is part of the Swedish chain of more than 50 papers which includes editions in Philadelphia, Boston and Toronto. Like amNewYork, Metro will be circulated on subway platforms, on the streets and through news racks. In the past seven months, amNewYork's circulation has jumped from 150,000 to 209,000 (audited). Publisher Russel Pergament says that since the audit, the circulation is up to 221,000 copies a day. Metro has got a long way to go. Both papers will be striving to reach the 18- to 34-year-old reader who has largely stopped reading newspapers and is coveted by advertisers. Metro New York's publisher is Henry Scott, who launched the NY Times's @times, a site on America Online.

Dallas: AM Journal closes, Quick wins

The war between free dailies in Dallas has ended after five months. The A.M. Journal Express, started November 12 by Jeremy Halbreich and his American Consolidated Media, published its last issue yesterday, April 30. When plans for the A.M. Journal Express were revealed in September, Belo's Dallas Morning News swiftly created its own free daily newspaper, called Quick, which hit the streets two weeks earlier than the Journal Express. The Dallas Business Journal says Halbreich's investors decided to pull the plug. The Journal had 26 staffers who will reportedly be offered jobs within American Consolidated Media. Halbreich complained in the Dallas media about "overly hostile" actions by the Morning News that included confrontations with A.M. Journal's distributors and threats against advertisers. Meanwhile, the Morning News says Quick is gaining acceptance with readers as it grows.