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NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY

McClatchy 2Q earnings plunge but ad slump eases

Michael Liedtke - The Associated Press - 30 Jul 2010

McClatchy Co.'s second-quarter earnings plunged as the newspaper publisher shouldered higher costs on its debt to buy more time to recover from a bedeviling ad slump.

Thomson Reuters Q2 profit slips 8%

Andrew Vanacore - The Associated Press - 30 Jul 2010

News and information provider Thomson Reuters Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net income fell 8% on weakness in its legal and markets divisions. The company is still recovering from last year's economic downturn, which put a crimp in budgets at many of the law firms and financial institutions that it counts as customers.


Study: Newspapers sink below internet and TV as information sources

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

Newspapers continue to be seen as less important at their primary job -- being sources of information -- according to the latest edition of the nine-year-old Digital Future Project from the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

How WikiLeaks is changing the news power structure

Steve Myers - Poynter Online - 29 Jul 2010

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange has figured out that on the Internet, being homeless means you don't have to play by anybody's rules.

Extra! Extra!   from the Guild Reporter


MORE NEWS OF THE INDUSTRY

Stockton Record says paywall a success so far

Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

The Record figured it would lose half its viewership online and unique users, but has lost just between 30 and 35% of its page views and only a quarter of its unique users.

Zell's not the bad guy In Tribune Co.'s collapse

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 29 Jul 2010

The exhaustive report of the independent examiner in Tribune Co.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case doesn't name names when it charges the 2007 going-private deal may very well have been a "fraudulent conveyance," that is, so overloaded with debt that the Chicago media giant was insolvent from day one.

News flash! Circulation up 1042%!

Ken Doctor - Newsonomics - 28 Jul 2010

Wow. If the multi-platform strategy -- newspapers, online editions, replica e-editions, iPad editions, smartphone editions, holographic ones to come -- works, we'll see circulation reports unlike those ever reported. That's because ABC, the industry's Audit Bureau of Circulations, has loosened its counting standards yet again.

Circ accounts for nearly 30% of total revenue at Dallas Morning News parent A.H. Belo

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 27 Jul 2010

Circ is really pulling its weight at A.H. Belo Corp. In a conference call with analysts Monday afternoon, Belo executives said revenue from circulation now accounts for 29.2% of total revenue, principally a result of higher subscription prices at its flagship Dallas Morning News.

Judge to Conrad Black: No Canada for you

The Associated Press - 27 Jul 2010

A federal judge ordered Conrad Black to surrender his passport Friday, meaning the former media mogul can't return to his home in Canada now that he's free on $2 million bond.

On Gannett's plans to create five centralized design centers

Jonathon Berlin - Society for News Design - 27 Jul 2010

After Gannett recently announced plans to create five centralized centers to handle most of the design demands at its community newspapers, the Society for News Design responded with an open letter on the value of design.

Douchebag or douche bag?

Lori Fradkin - The Awl - 24 Jul 2010

I never had a personal investment in that space between the words, but as part of my job, it was my duty to point out that it should exist. It was a job that suited my tendency to worry about details, but one that also forced me to engage in unexpectedly absurd conversations.

New York Times Co. Q2 profit doubles as revenue turns positive

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 23 Jul 2010

The New York Times Co. became the first big newspaper publisher to report top-line growth in its second-quarter results, with total revenue increasing 1.2% from a year ago.

In suprise, FCC defends loosened newspaper cross-ownership rules -- but Copps vows tighter ban

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 22 Jul 2010

In a surprise move, the Democrat-controlled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wednesday defended changes to media cross-ownership rules adopted in the George W. Bush administration that loosened somewhat the ban on same-market common ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station.

Conrad Black released from prison on $2 million bond

The Associated Press - 22 Jul 2010

Conrad Black walked out of a federal prison in Coleman, Fla., Wednesday afternoon after 28 months of incarceration. Earlier in the day, a federal judge set bond at $2 million, ruling that the former media mogul can't leave the continental United States and must return to a Chicago courtroom to receive further conditions of his release.

KQED expands local news, integrates media

Sam Whiting - The San Francisco Chronicle - 21 Jul 2010

KQED Public Media will increase its local news content and integrate radio and online formats starting today when 10 newscasts are added to 88.5 FM and made instantly available in audio on kqednews.org.

Help-wanted classified revenue actually turns positive as Lee Enterprises swings to Q3 profit

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 21 Jul 2010

Lee Enterprises Inc. reported a profit for its third fiscal quarter ended June 27 on ad revenue that remained stubbornly on the decline even as it improved from the year-ago quarter.

Judge OKs settlement to change Charleston newspaper JOA

Mark Fitzgerald - Editor & Publisher - 21 Jul 2010

A federal judge granted final approval to changes to the Charleston, W.Va., joint operating agreement (JOA) that is intended to bolster the Charleston Daily Mail.

First Amendment defenders 'must sometimes share their foxhole with scoundrels'

Andy Zipser - The Guild Reporter - 20 Jul 2010

The Newspaper Guild-CWA is among 22 media groups that have signed onto a "friend of the court" brief supporting the Westboro Baptist Church's right to picket service members' funerals, offensive picket signs and vituperative outbursts notwithstanding.

Guild, CWA, NABET argue against relaxing of media ownership rules

The Guild Reporter - 20 Jul 2010

The Newspaper Guild, CWA and NABET formally entered the debate over media concentration this week with a joint submission to the Federal Communications Commission, which is conducting a quadrennial review of its media ownership rules.

Going Long

Rem Rieder - American Journalism Review - 17 Jul 2010

It's important to remember that the era of digital journalism is still in its very early stages. It's going to evolve dramatically over the years. That means that many of the truths about online news that we hold to be self-evident aren't written in stone, etched in granite or ready to be taken to the bank.

Gannett's whimper & bang show strategies plainly in flux

Ken Doctor - Newsonomics - 17 Jul 2010

Gannett's second quarter announcements: A whimper and a bang. The whimper comes from its tepid revenue data. The bang from its coincident statement that it is joining its newspaper colleagues in the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium.


Eric Skiff

The Newsonomics of the dead cat bounce

Ken Doctor - Nieman Journalism Lab - 16 Jul 2010

The season's upon us, as newspaper and media companies announce their second-quarter earnings. At least some of the companies will announce: fewer than used to a couple of years ago, as Tribune has gone private (and banko), metros like Philly and Minneapolis have moved to private hands, MediaNews releases less information than it used to, and Dow Jones' results are less decipherable, aggregated within News Corp. news division results.

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