ABSTRACT
After Ann Landers wrote her last words, of wisdom and otherwise, in June 2002, there was much speculation about who or what would emerge as the next Ann Landers. "Dear Abby," under the guidance of Jeanne Phillips, was still going strong and, indeed, her syndicate reports that between 350 and 400 papers that had carried the "Ann Landers" feature had switched their allegiance to "Dear Abby." Although "Dear Abby" has emerged as the most widely read and most widely syndicated newspaper advice column, it is still too early to tell if another generalist will challenge Abby's newspaper dominance. It may be that the days of Fairfax versus Dix and Landers versus Van Buren, because of generally decreasing newspaper business, will be impossible to replicate. The most innovative interaction between syndicated materials and newspaper-owned-and-operated Websites is the way in which these online versions of newspapers serve as '"overflow'" space for columns truncated or skipped altogether because of daily newspaper space restraints.
