Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Media News

Billionaires and Broadsheets
It was just a market anomaly—the kind which opportunity is made from—that newspapers were suddenly worth much less to mere mortal shareholders than they were to a new, assertive, patriarchal class of multi-billionaires.

More Layoffs -- This Time in Ad Department -- Hit Philly Papers
Less than a week after about 70 newsroom employees were laid off at the Philadelphia Inquirer, at least 34 advertising positions - including 16 part-timers - are being cut today at Philadelphia Newspapers, which handles business operations for the Inquirer and Daily News.

Tribune deal speculation pointing to management
As the auction for Tribune Co. winds down to its Jan. 17 bid deadline, a key question emerging from the situation is what role, if any, Tribune Co. management will play in a possible deal for the company.The question gained new currency on Thursday, when two foundations with close ties to the company announced they had hired New York's Blackstone Group to advise them as they consider alternatives for their combined 13.1 percent stake in Tribune stock.

Who will the journalistic competition poach while the Tribune Co. fiddles?
Journalists jump from paper to paper all the time, so who knows why they left. But it's undeniable that the Tribune Co.'s endless demands for staff cuts—which ultimately forced Editor John Carroll and his successor, Dean Baquet, to exit—have created a dangerous atmosphere of uncertainty in the newsroom.

Blogger-media distrust comes to a head in Iraq
A running six-week battle between bloggers and the Associated Press over the wire service's report of sectarian violence in Iraq has ended — for now. The feud, which got plenty of traffic on the Web but very little coverage in mainstream news outlets, came to an abrupt halt Thursday.

ABC Radio silences Web site of KSFO critic
The blogosphere is buzzing about the news that ABC Radio, owner of conservative KSFO-AM 560, has succeeded in shutting down the Web site of a liberal blogger who was critical of the station.

ABC/Disney unable to suppress bloggers
But, as MediaPost Online Media Daily observed, the blogosphere united over the weekend and made sure that Spocko's audio files were available on a number of other sites. "[L]ess than 48 hours after Spocko's case was brought to light on the progressive news blog The Daily Kos, several new Web hosts, including YouTube, Blogintegrity and Firedoglake, stepped up to provide access to audio files from KSFO.

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