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EU wants to ban 'sexist' TV commercials Adverts which use sex to sell or promote gender stereotypes could be banned by the EU. By Chris Irvine MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes. This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY. Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned. The new rules...

Media Mob has learned that The New York Times will make an announcement later today that it plans to cut the number of sections it has in the paper during some days of the week and it will fold in the Metro Section and Sports section into other sections of the newspaper. According to newsroom sources, the Metro Section is moving into the A-section and the Sports section will move into the Business section for some portion of the week. The move is being made to save money on printing. According to one newsroom source, neither metro editor Joe Sexton...

Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko Date/Time: 9/5/2008 8:51:46 AM Title: Houston Chronicle to cut staff Posted By: Jim Romenesko Memo to Houston Chronicle staffers Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 8:01 AM Subject: Message from Jack Sweeney Dear Chronicle Colleague: It has been a difficult year for our industry and the Houston Chronicle. Revenues are down, considerably, with major expense items like newsprint showing unprecedented increases over the past twelve months. Unfortunately, as we complete our 2009 Budget Plan, prospects for a turnaround in these critical areas are not evident. Consequently, we will be initiating a job reduction program over the...

Dallas-based newspaper company A.H. Belo Corporation, which owns The Dallas Morning News, will cut more than 80 employees in addition to the 413 who will leave through a recent voluntary severance offer, the company said Thursday. About 50 of the involuntary job losses will occur at The News, with about 30 coming at The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., and an unspecified number at The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. The company anticipates completing the cuts in mid- to late October. Of the 413 employees taking the voluntary buyout, 270 came from The News. snip

NEW YORK The Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner, two New York Times Co. newspapers in Florida that announced last month that they will share resources, will also be shedding some staffers. The Gainesville Sun reports that 22 news positions will be eliminated, and as many as 15 Ocala news staffers will help staff a joint news and copy desk operation in Gainesville. Both papers are in the process of undergoing redesigns. They plan to share copy desks, design, layouts, and pagination. Gainesville is about 50 miles north of Ocala. Both papers have roughly the same average daily circulation, with the...

For the third time in five months, the Charlotte Observer, amid a slumping economy and changing media landscape, is cutting jobs through voluntary buyouts – and layoffs, if necessary. Publisher Ann Caulkins said the Carolinas' largest newspaper aims to eliminate more than 9 percent of its workforce, roughly 75 positions, with a nearly companywide buyout offer. The reductions are to be completed Oct. 3. “The economy is really, really tough,” Caulkins told the newsroom this morning. In June, the paper announced plans to eliminate 123 positions, about 11 percent of its workforce, as part of sweeping cuts across its parent...

The nine people convicted in the Newsday circulation scandal were each sentenced Friday to 5 years' probation and up to $125,000 in fines, escaping potential restitution totaling $5.9 million and up to 20 years in prison. Those sentenced - in what federal prosecutors said was the end of their investigation - included Louis Sito, a former top Newsday executive who ran the newspaper's day-to-day business operations, and Robert Brennan, former vice president of circulation. Sito also served as vice president of Hispanic media at Tribune Co., which owned Newsday and the Spanish language Hoy, also implicated in the scandal. The...

RALEIGH - The News & Observer this morning offered voluntary buyouts to about 320 employees -- including all full-timers in the newsroom -- as the newspaper continues to contend with slumping advertising. The number of people affected represents roughly 40 percent of workers at The News & Observer Publishing Co., which also owns community publications such as The Herald in Smithfield and The Cary News. Publisher Orage Quarles III said the company expects "a relatively small percentage" of those offered buyouts to actually apply for them. The company might limit the number of applications accepted, he said, though he did...

U.S. newsprint demand continued to decline at double-digit rates in July, but exports are helping give the market some support, according to data released last week by the Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC). Newsprint consumption by U.S. daily newspapers dropped 15.7% in July vs a year ago, bringing the year-to-date total to 3.176 million tonnes, down 14.0% from the first seven months of 2008. Some of the drop in July was due to last July having one additional Sunday. However, year-to-date last year and this year had the same number of Sundays. Sunday newspapers tend to be heavier than...

Brian Williams says "there are real concerns the Portland Press Herald might not be around much longer ... another victim of the web and our changing times." Watch Janet Shamlian's report. || Earlier: Press Herald publisher says closing of paper not likely.

So-called ambush ads are typically reserved for Web-savvy marketers such as General Motors and AT&T. The newest believer: a 71-year-old presidential candidate. Sen. Barack Obama appears to many people to be running a far more tech-wise campaign than his opponent, with his use of text messages to announce his vice-presidential candidate and the creation of his own vibrant social network, My.BarackObama.com. But Sen. John McCain is in some ways outsmarting Sen. Obama when it comes to Internet marketing. One example: As of Wednesday, a Google search for "Joe Biden" or even just "Biden" resulted in a prominently displayed ad labeled...

On first blush, NBC's Beijing Olympics promotion for its other TV shows has come in underwhelming. "Deal or No Deal"--back from a two-week layoff due to the Olympic coverage--lost 18% of its prime-time ratings to a Nielsen preliminary 2.8 number among 18-49 viewers. Last year's season average was a 3.4 rating. Also underwhelming for most of the networks on Monday night were their respective ratings concerning coverage of the Democratic National Convention. NBC was tops among the big three networks for their 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. coverage, with a 1.5 rating. CBS earned a 0.9 number, and ABC took...

The New York Times Co. (NYT) said Tuesday that its advertising revenue for July fell 16.2%. Total revenue from continuing operations decreased 10.1% compared to the year-earlier period, while circulation revenue slipped 0.5%. The newspaper publisher said ad revenue from About Group grew 14.6% during the month. Shares of New York Times closed Monday at $12.88.

The Bee offered voluntary buyouts to the majority of its full-time employees today and hinted that another round of layoffs is possible as well. The buyouts represent the latest round of cost cutting at The Bee, which is facing a big slump in advertising revenue. Two months ago the newspaper eliminated 86 jobs as part of an across-the-board layoff ordered by its parent, The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento. McClatchy imposed a companywide wage freeze two weeks ago. But Bee executives said today they needed to make more cuts. The economic downturn has deepened and The Bee, like the rest of...

Web site advertising is often reasonable, and it is the way that many sites earn enough money to deliver their content. ...There are unfortunately advertisers that abuse the privilege of access to people’s computers by pushing ads–usually Shockwave Flash–with excessive bandwidth utilization that slows even DSL Internet connections noticeably. (We banned Doubleclick.net from our computer eight or nine years ago, when we were still using a dial-up connection, because it kept refreshing its banner ads.) Other ads superimpose themselves over the page content, and have no button on which to click to close them. Still others vibrate or jiggle back...

Last week news industry consultant Vin Crosbie published part 1 of a thoughtful, pointed essay: Transforming American Newspapers. (UPDATE: Part 2 is now available, too.) This is must-read material. Here's Crosbie's stunning prediction, with which I agree: "More than half of the 1,439 daily newspapers in the U.S. won't exist in print, e-paper, or Web formats by the end of next decade. They will go out of business. The few national dailies... will have diminished but continuing existences via the Web and e-paper, but not in print. The first dailies to expire will be the regional dailies, which have already...

Firm launches bottled water - from the same source as taps Last updated at 23:20pm on 23.08.08  Cambridge Water's new product comes from the same aquifer as its tap supply For years, utility companies have told us that we are wasting our money buying mineral water.But now a firm which makes millions from selling tap water has started marketing bottled mineral water – from the same underground source.The parent company of Cambridge Water has invested £10million in a bottling plant above a chalk aquifer.The new company, Iceni Waters, has already struck deals with stores including Tesco, Morrisons and the...

Gannett Co. Inc., bedeviled by plunging classified advertising, reported a 12.3 percent decline to $546.4 million in revenue for July compared to a year ago. A 25.2 percent decline in classified advertising sales reduced publishing revenue 16.7 percent to $340 million. Real estate classified revenue was 37.9 percent lower, employment classified revenue was down 29.1 percent and automotive classified revenue declined 21.1 percent. Broadcast revenue declined 6.1 percent to $61 million while a 4.2 percent decline in paid daily newspaper subscribers reduced circulation revenue by 2.6 percent $108.7 million. The latest figures from the Mclean, Va.-based media giant, the nation’s...

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned. Of the seven states — including Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota — Florida and Virginia are considered key battlegrounds this year. Obama’s decision to stop advertising in those states is raising eyebrows.

Something's happening here, in the newspaper industry, and as the old Baby Boomer anthem goes, what it is ain't exactly clear. Faced with an unprecedented crisis that combines cyclical turbulence with metastasizing digital technology that steals away revenue and readers at an alarming and seemingly accelerating rate (while offering newspapers only stingy payoffs), publishers and editors everywhere have thrown away their rule books — and, to find their way in this new and alien environment, are ready to implement previously unthinkable changes. Or are they? Ask any two industry observers and you'll get at least three views on whether the...

At least four more daily papers are planning to drop the Associated Press in the wake of new rates being announced, including The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash, which is trying to cut ties without the required two-year notice. "Our lawyers think that we don’t have to wait two years," said Steve Smith, Spokesman-Review editor. "By the end of this week, we will have nailed down all of the things we have to do to replace AP." AP contract rules require a two-year notice before service can be dropped. Smith said his paper would like to cut ties completely within 30...

Shares of The McClatchy Co. dropped almost 6 percent in early-morning trading Wednesday, after the newspaper publisher announced another month of disappointing revenue. The Sacramento-based company — publisher of The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald and 28 other daily newspapers — reported $167.8 million in revenue last month, a 16.4 percent decline from the $200.7 million for the same quarter a year ago. Advertising revenue plummeted 19.3 percent to $136.8 million from a year ago. Classified advertising, especially for employment and real estate, tumbled 29.5 percent from a year ago, while national ad sales plunged 20.2 percent for the same...

The Post Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho -- one of the newspapers that initially defended the Associated Press’ new controversial rate structure -- has given notice that it will drop the news service in two years in protest of the arrangement. In a letter sent Friday to AP President Tom Curley, Post Register Publisher Roger Plothow informed the news cooperative of the decision, stating, “Given the AP’s historical inflexibility (particularly when it comes to small, independent newspapers), I fear the implications of what I’m about to write, but I can’t think of another option. I wish to give notice of...

General Motors Corp., pushing to speed up cost cuts after a $15.5 billion second-quarter loss, said it will halt its sponsorship of the movie industry's Academy Awards and television's Emmy Awards after at least a decade. "With the current business challenges and the tightening of budgets, we decided to focus our promotional dollars on activities that reach the most customers and get us the most return on investment," Kelly Cusinato, a spokeswoman for the Detroit-based automaker, said Monday in an interview.

The always-interesting results of the biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press were released Sunday afternoon. Findings on TV news and online-only news produced a few surprises (follow to come), but on the newspaper front the indications were mainly negative, especially on the print front, but also in some aspects of newspapers on the Web. Namely: while more young people are indeed reading newspapers online, their total readership, print and Web combined, has not grown in two years. This survey was conducted by telephone from April 30 to June 1 among 3,612...

From: Kern, Gerould W. Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 1:02 PM To: zzCTC.ALLEDITORIAL Subject: Today's Chicago Tribune newsroom staff departures To the staff: Today is a difficult day in the Chicago Tribune newsroom as we are completing the second part of our reduction in force. Colleagues who are leaving today gave many years of service to this newspaper and forged lasting friendships and associations here. Endings are never easy. We thank them for their dedication and contributions to the success of the Chicago Tribune over their careers. We wish them only the best in the future. On July 25, Bob...

Updated at 11:44 a.m. ET on Aug. 14: The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., is among the first newspapers reporting layoffs on Thursday. Earlier: A Maryland publisher told employees late Wednesday afternoon that Gannett is eliminating 1,000 newspaper jobs, or about 3% of the troubled newspaper division's workforce -- and that about 600 employees are being laid off, a Gannett Blog reader says. The reader provided a copy of a memo that Daily Times Publisher Rick Jensen e-mailed about 4 p.m. today at the paper in Salisbury. "Across Gannett’s Community Publishing division, about 1,000 positions will be eliminated -- about 3%...

Privately held Tribune Co. Wednesday reported a $4.5 billion loss in the second quarter, largely on a charge reflecting a decrease in the value of its assets, and said advertising revenue at its newspapers dropped 15%. Tribune has endured numerous financial difficulties since it was acquired by real-estate developer Sam Zell in an $8.2 billion deal that took the business private. The financing of his transaction involved the creation of an employee stock program that has incurred a significant amount of debt. The company lost $4.53 billion in the latest three months, including a $3.8 billion charge on a decrease...

New York Times Co. shares slumped Tuesday after an analyst suggested in a media report that the company may need to cut its dividend to avoid a "junk" credit rating. The newspaper publisher's stock dropped 72 cents, or 5 percent, to $13.37 in afternoon trading. In the past year it has ranged from $12.08 to $22.95. Last year, the company raised its quarterly dividend 31 percent to 23 cents, which costs it more than $100 million a year in payments to shareholders. New York Times Co. has seen revenue contract in recent quarters, which crimps cash available for operations and...

The Lexington Herald-Leader on Monday offered a voluntary buyout program to its full-time employees. Noting that the newspaper industry's traditional business model is undergoing dramatic change, Publisher Timothy M. Kelly said in a memo to employees that “the economy continues to worsen, and we must make the painful choice to reduce expenses further.” Kelly said it is premature to set a target for the number of buyouts or to say whether layoffs will follow if a certain number of employees fail to leave voluntarily. “We may limit the number of voluntary applications we accept given business needs or to ensure...

The flight of advertising dollars to the Internet is one explanation for the pain felt by traditional media. Another culprit that is increasingly to blame is Detroit. For all the discussion of new media’s role in hurting profits and revenues at traditional media outlets — newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio — the sharp downturn in the auto industry is another big culprit, and is taking an increasing toll on the advertising revenue generated by the media. In the first quarter alone, the auto industry spent $414 million less on advertising than in last year’s first quarter, according to TNS...

One-time industry supernova GateHouse Media Inc. broke apart its business model Friday, suspending its rich dividend indefinitely, taking emergency action to stay within its loan covenants, and reporting a $429.7 million second-quarter loss that includes a big goodwill impairment charge to reflect its cratering stock price and falling cash flow. GateHouse went public in the fall of 2006 with a pitch to Wall Street of ensuring high stock prices by aggressively acquiring small-town monopoly newspapers and using the free cash flow to pay out dividends unusually high for a newspaper company. Friday, the Fairport, N.Y.-based publisher of 97 dailies essentially...

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram announced Wednesday that several employees have been laid off and that there will be changes to the layout of the paper in an effort to cut costs. Out of about 400 employees, two union employees lost their jobs, as did an undisclosed number of managers, company officials said. The number of layoffs was far less than initially expected because of employees who volunteered to take time off without pay. "We were able to save a number of positions," said Charles Cochrane, president of Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Press Herald/Telegram and two...

Time Warner Inc. reported Wednesday that second-quarter net income dropped 26% on declining profits from its AOL and publishing arms. The New York-based media company (TWX) earned $792 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $1.07 billion, or 28 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Excluding one-time items, it would have earned 24 cents a share. Revenue rose 5% to $11.98 billion. Analysts had been expecting a profit of 24 cents a share on revenue of $11.5 billion, according to a FactSet Research survey. snip In publishing, revenue fell 6% to $1.2 billion as an advertising revenue drop...

Eight months after becoming the only local daily in the city, Gannett Co.'s Cincinnati Enquirer is seeking to buy out 50 staffers. In an e-mail to employees Monday, Publisher Margaret Buchanan said the paper is looking to make the reductions among non-union employees. "If this voluntary offer doesn't result in a sufficient number of volunteers, or if in the future, economic conditions worsen, it may be necessary to consider layoffs," Buchanan wrote. On offer is two weeks of salary for every year of service plus health benefits for a period of up to 52 weeks. The offer expires Aug. 15,...

In another blow to the local newspaper industry, the San Francisco Chronicle just announced 125 employees will be cut through voluntary buyouts. The buyouts, which will effect all departments and include management, will be officially offered on Monday, August 4. The buyout packages will be similar to those offered to employees last year. They include two weeks pay per year of service, with a minimum of 4 weeks and a maximum of 52 weeks. Last year, the Chronicle laid off about 100 employees of which about 70 were members of the Northern California Media Workers Guild. "They're cutting deep into...

Gannett Co. Inc., which last month warned it would be taking a big non-cash write-down in goodwill and other impairment, said in a regulatory filing the charge amounted to $2.8 billion pre-tax, and $2.5 billion after taxes. In mid-July, Gannett had issued a preliminary financial statement for its second-quarter, reporting earnings per share of $1.02 compared with $1.24 per share in the year-ago quarter. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gannett adjusted that to a Q2 2008 loss of $2,290.8 million or $10.03 per share from continuing operations, including the impairment charges. The year-ago earnings of...

Washington PostCo. on Friday reported a net loss for the second quarter, as growth in the education and cable divisions failed to offset steep advertising revenue declines at its namesake newspaper and Newsweek. The company posted a loss of $2.7 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $68.8 million for the same period last year. The results reflect a charge of $87.4 million mostly related to the 231 Washington Post employees who accepted buyouts offered in the spring. The advertising revenue picture at the Post has darkened as the newspaper industry continues to get battered by the dual...

The Star-Ledger today announced a large-scale buyout to all non-union workers with the goal of reducing the staff by at least 200 employees. Publisher George E. Arwady said if 200 employees don't agree to the buyout and if the paper cannot reach agreements with unions representing drivers and mailers meant to reduce costs, the paper will be sold. He said the deadline for reaching both of those targets was Oct. 1. The offer comes at a time when the newspaper industry is reeling from plunging advertising revenues linked to a troubled economy and sea changes in the way information is...

A local group that includes former Sen. William S. Cohen signs a letter of intent with Blethen Maine Newspapers. By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer July 31, 2008 A former Maine senator, two well-known Maine businessmen and a longtime newspaperman with ties to the state are working to acquire Blethen Maine Newspapers, which includes the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. Frank Blethen, chairman of Blethen Maine Newspapers, announced Wednesday that the company has signed a letter of intent with a group called Maine Media Investments. The agreement provides a limited, exclusive time period to negotiate terms of a sale. Those negotiations...

The turnaround maven should have seen the problems ahead in the newspaper industry. His blind side may have cost Tribune Co. its very life "It's the deal from hell," says Sam Zell, never one to mince words. "And it will continue to be the deal from hell until we turn it around." Zell is talking, of course, about his $8.5 billion purchase of Tribune Co. in December 2007, a tran­saction that's shaping up to be one of the most disastrous the media world has ever seen. Zell is a real estate tycoon, and his plush office reflects his decades of...

Viacom Inc., reporting a 6% drop in second-quarter net income, signaled a sharp slowdown in cable television advertising and said its younger-skewing networks, such as MTV and VH1, were being particularly hard hit. The results, the first from a major media company this quarter, suggest that the economic downturn is hurting national television advertising more aggressively than previously thought. Local advertising has felt the pain of the economic slowdown most acutely, with newspapers and radio hardest hit. Viacom had warned that its domestic advertising growth would slow to 3% to 4%, from an original forecast of 7%. But Viacom Chief...

"The decision to close followed the direction of our clients, the editors of our papers," says Linda Fibich, editor and Washington bureau chief. "They felt they could not afford to pay for a central Washington bureau at a time when they were steering all available resources to local coverage back at home." The service was founded in 1961.

A. H. Belo Corporation said Monday it would cut 14 percent of its workforce, reduce other costs and explore selling some of its real estate, as the Dallas-based newspaper company announced its second quarterly loss in a row. The company will make voluntary severance offers this week to employees at three of its daily newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News , with the goal of completing the process by mid-September. The company aims to shed 500 full-time equivalent positions, and will make involuntary layoffs if it does not reach that goal. Those cuts and others are expected to lower costs...

The National Football League, signaling a major shift in strategy, will stream live broadcasts of Sunday-night football games beginning in September, making the contests widely available on the Internet for the first time. For much of its history, the NFL has kept a tight grip on the rights to its games and the use of its images. But with more consumers, particularly younger viewers, turning to their computers for entertainment, the NFL wants to steer the nation's most popular television sport into the digital age. "We are taking a big leap here," said Steve Bornstein, chief executive of the NFL...

On Wednesday, New York Times Co. (NYT) reported disappointing second-quarter earnings, and on Thursday the stock continued in its steep descent. At the end of trading it stood at 12.48, or virtually half the price it commanded one year ago. This part of the story is unsurprising, given how the Street is slamming any newspaper stock. What's startling is something else: If you back out much of the rest of the company's portfolio, you arrive at a surprisingly teeny valuation for the vaunted New York Times itself, despite all the respect the brand commands. At its current $12.48 stock price—down...

SAN DIEGO – The parent company of The San Diego Union-Tribune announced Thursday that it has hired an investment banker to look into the possible sale of the company. Copley Press engaged the New York-based investment banking firm Evercore Partners, which also represented the publishing company in the sale of newspapers it owned in Los Angeles and in the Midwest in 2006 and 2007. In a statement, The Copley Press, Inc., cited the tough times in the newspaper industry as its motivation in deciding to explore the company's strategic options. “The last couple of years have been a difficult period...

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co (MNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a more than 40 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as advertising revenue plunged, but shares shot up 5 percent after the company said it still will be able to pay its debt. The results, along with EW Scripps Co (SSP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Lee Enterprises Inc (LEE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which also reported financial results on Thursday, are the latest sign that a weak economy and fundamental changes in how people get their news continue to hammer U.S. newspaper publishers. McClatchy, publisher...

The lenders who financed Avista Capital Partners’ 2007 acquisition of the Star Tribune now want out of the deal, and are seeking a buyer for their debt package, originally worth more than $400 million. Credit Suisse and Royal Bank of Scotland have hired Lazard Ltd., a Wall Street financial adviser, to put the debt package on the market. Two local executives, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said local business leaders have been approached with offers to purchase the debt. Neither the banks nor their representatives would confirm that there is an effort to sell the debt. But...

Real estate mogul Sam Zell, who took control of media giant Tribune Co. about six months ago, defended yesterday the staffing and page cuts under way at The Sun and its other newspapers as necessary in the worst advertising climate in decades. In a conference call with Tribune Co. reporters, Zell said reducing staff by as much as 25 percent in some newsrooms and shrinking and redesigning the company's newspapers were the only options to ensure short-term survival and to allow a longer-term reinvention of the American newspaper. "We're looking at some of the worst advertising numbers in the history...