Depending on how you look at it, this is either the most exhilarating time in the history of the news media or the most depressing.

Because of the way most people consume news — a bite of Internet news, a nibble of television, a newspaper for a Sunday meal, with various all-day snacking on blogs, magazines and word of mouth — it's almost impossible for one news organization to do everything a reader or viewer wants or needs.

That's abundantly clear in the media business, where daily newspaper circulation and television network news viewership is in a free-fall as readers migrate over to the Internet. We don't need bargain-basement media stock prices, and wholesale acquisitions of newspapers and television and radio stations (plus the resulting job cuts) to remind us that this is one of the most challenging times in our industry.

Fortunately for The Advertiser, we have loyal readers and advertisers who have helped us buck this downward trend. A readership survey from earlier this year shows that the number of readers who have picked us up once over a seven-day period has increased by 37,835 in the past two years, giving us penetration (the number of newspapers as a percentage of households) of 73 percent in this market. At the same time, typical weekday readership is up 54,586, a market penetration of 51 percent; typical Sunday readership is up 23,570, a penetration rate of 58 percent. Readership of our newspaper is nearly three people per copy.

These readership trends are noteworthy for us because they represent gains from two years ago: The weekday penetration rate is up seven percentage points while the Sunday number is up two points.

While these numbers please us, we also know that a daily local newspaper is just one way to reach our audience. Our Web site, honoluluadvertiser.com, continues to grow, as have our community newspapers and other custom publications such as magazines and special sections. Taken together, these formats allow us to reach 84 percent of all adults over a seven-day period and 88 percent over a 30-day period.

Still, there's much more to do. Our chief responsibility is to make sure our newspaper has the most local news coverage of any media outlet, and that we are first and fastest to any big story. Our newspaper should be credible, fair and provide the depth and analysis you want. If it doesn't stack up, you should call me and we'll see what we can do.

While we know that there is a large base of readers who will remain daily newspaper readers, we also realize that a growing number of our customers prefer to receive their news on the Internet, on their cell phones, their PDAs, or whatever technology they choose. Some like our selection of community newspapers like Windward People or Ka Nupepa People or magazines like Homescape or Living in Paradise or specialty publications like the Pennysaver or Buy & Sell. The way we see it, everything we collect is information, and how we choose to provide it depends on how you want it delivered.

So how do we build on our strengths? By expanding into the worlds of video and audio. By tapping into more digital news and providing more database material such as calendar listings. By connecting with our community with more blogs, forums and chats. By upholding our public-service responsibilities and providing more local news than ever.

Starting tonight, The Advertiser becomes a 24/7 newsroom. We'll be providing news headlines throughout the night and adding to our healthy list of headlines throughout the day. We will increase our number of videos, photo galleries and slideshows as well as blogs that will allow you greater interaction with our bloggers.

For more community news — more of the neighborhood news you enjoy — we are rolling out our first three community Web sites for Hawai'i Kai, Kapolei and Kailua.

The sites are virtual communities that have news from your town, including schools and sports and community events and calendar listings and blogs, much of it driven by readers. Take a sneak peek by going to www.myadvertiser.com, and tell me what you think. We welcome your submissions of photos, news releases, community events, even video that you'd like to share.

Don't believe what you read: Newspapers are not dying; they're changing for the better.