Bundling is beautiful for newspapers. Since April 1, 2009, new rules for counting circulation have turned some newspapers from losing to gaining, even in a market where the print community is getting thrashed. Instead of selling more copies every day, these publications are counting online visits, as long as they are from paying subscribers – for either protected portions of the website or digital replica editions.

The new auditing standards, which affect USA Today, a Gannet (GCI) property, and News Corp's (NWS) Wall Street Journal, among others, often allow newspapers that bundle print and digital editions to count the subscriber twice. According to a report by the Associated Press, the new rule is preventing circulation from looking as bad as it really may be.

Is it a sign of the apocalypse when newspapers nationwide continue to see declining revenues and employee layoffs while more and more traffic for information (news, entertainment, weather, etc.) shifts to the Internet? Not really. It's just a sign of the times as modes of information transfer continue to change, but a breakneck speeds these days instead of decades.

Horseback couriers used to exchange news with villages and towns, taking weeks to get the information transferred by horseback. Then came the automated printing press and overnight air-based distribution, which made sure news on all subjects -- bad and good -- was delivered hours after the fact. Now, the Internet makes it possible for real-time news and information transfer. As soon as it happens, citizens with cameraphones, bloggers and journalists are on top of it, instantly. No more waiting.

What could possibly compete with this insatiable need for instant information gratification? Newspapers, while quaint, can't really do this. Publishers and newspaper owners clearly have agendas with editorials and other content, left and right. But if that's the only game in town, you're stuck with it. Not so for the Internet. On the Internet, information comes to you the way you want it -- with or without an agenda -- with the content you want, not that someone wants you to have.

Is the consumer in control? More and more, that answer is becoming a sturdy yes -- and the newspaper industry is learning this the hard way as it keeps trying to maintain an archaic status quo.