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2:15 PM UPDATE: I've learned that 100 people are being laid off across "several divisions" of the A&E Television Networks yesterday and today "as a direct result of the merger". It will make those employees feel so much better that management tells me it's "no one in a decision making role." A&E Television Networks in August acquired Lifetime Entertainment, and everything is now owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst and NBC Universal. Big Media = Big Mergers = Big Mistakes.

The historic campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., has offered instruction in journalism for well over a century — but probably never quite like this. On Friday, the twice-yearly Washington and Lee Journalism Ethics Institute will hear from its latest keynote speaker: Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter who triggered the greatest scandal in the newspaper's history. "Getting Jayson Blair obviously was a departure," says Edward Wasserman, the Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee. Indeed. The keynote address is typically reserved for people like Lowell Bergman or Toni Locy, journalists who withstood...

Fortune and Sports Illustrated will be the hardest hit magazines in the mass layoffs that just began at Time Inc. About 40 people will be laid off from Fortune, with Managing Editor Andy Serwer looking to cut roughly 24 from the 80-strong edit staff, insiders said. Although he didn't reveal numbers, in an e-mail to staffers yesterday Serwer asked for volunteers by Nov. 18. Fortune had already said that starting next year it will go from 25 issues to 18. SI will be making similar reductions, a source said. Time Inc. is expected to eventually cut just over 500 jobs....

Newspaper publishers are running out of costs to cut, and they need to show some real ad-revenue gains soon. Executives from major publishing chains have clung to a slight moderation in their ad revenue's year-over-year rate of decline from quarter to quarter this year as a sign of improvement. But that probably has more to do with the mathematics of easing comparisons to last year's economic decline than it does with any actual improvements in this year's ad performance. The reality is that newspapers are suffering severe declines in ad revenue this year on top of the double-digit percentage declines...

The guillotine has begun its descent at Time Inc. Sources at the publishing company (which is part of the same conglomerate as DailyFinance parent AOL) say executives have asked for an emergency meeting with representatives of the Newspaper Guild to discuss job eliminations. A Time Inc. spokeswoman declined to comment, but John Shostrom, chairman of the company's Guild unit, said the meeting will take place "soon." He said it was Time Inc. that called the meeting. "They act, and we react," said Shostrom. "The Guild doesn't lay people off. We just fight back when they make proposals to lay people...

With the noise level rising over consumers possibly paying a fee for TV shows online, now comes a report that iTunes is considering an all-you-can eat $30-a-month TV service. A new subscription service would turn iTunes into a pseudo cable and satellite TV operator -- a company that charges monthly fees for traditional TV/cable networks. The difference is that iTunes service would be sans advertising. Shows would not be distributed via linear networks -- but, as iTunes does now, by program. The story was first reported in AllThingsD.com. Apple's iTunes Stores is the original digital video Internet service, launching with...

The Tribune Newspapers will cease operations on Dec. 31, the parent company Freedom Communications said Monday. Read the company's news release (PDF) Freedom officials made the announcement to Tribune employees Monday morning, citing the economic recession and changes in the newspaper industry that have cause many publications to close and others to file for bankruptcy protection. Freedom, which itself is operating under Chapter 11 reorganization, had been attempting to sell the Tribune, but no acceptable offers have come forward, said Interim Chief Executive Burl Osborne. “We have received a number of inquiries, but none at a level we would remotely...

CBS4 I-Team Investigator Stephen Stock went undercover with other I-Team member to find suspect medical clinics operating in South Florida one step ahead of the law. The grainy, shaky undercover video tape shot by the CBS4 I-Team shows dozens of...........

snip It is not only the demise of big-name papers that should raise concern; the rapid decline of the newspaper industry is playing out quietly, with small, reasonably responsible dailies in cities and rural regions across the country disappearing without widespread notice. Dozens of daily and weekly newspapers have closed this year. Cities that once enjoyed the fruits of newspaper competition (Denver, Seattle) are starving. "Surviving" publications -- and many have filed for bankruptcy -- are cutting reporting staffs to the bone (this month, the New York Times said it would cut 100 more newsroom jobs). International bureaus, statehouse bureaus...

Signaling that worse times are ahead for magazines, Time Inc. is expected to announce next week that it will cut $100 million from costs, including another big round of layoffs. The timing is coordinated with parent company Time Warner’s third-quarter earnings announcement, sources said, scheduled for Wednesday morning. Time Inc., the publisher of titles like Time, Fortune, and People, has already cut costs dramatically: a year ago, it announced it was dismissing 6 percent of its work force, or about 600 people. That was apparently not enough to make up for revenue declines. The $100 million in costs is expected...

Time Inc. is bracing for another round of cutbacks. Sources say the layoffs will be most severe in the division that includes Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Time and Money, and will be carried out before the Thanksgiving break. Since many of the old-line titles at Time Inc. are covered by union contracts with the Newspaper Guild, the company will likely have to offer voluntary buyout options as part of the downsizing. Time is running out if it hopes to complete the layoffs and write off the costs in the fourth quarter. Ann Moore, CEO of Time Inc., personally took over supervision...

[This speech was given on October 24, 2009, at the Birthplace of Economic Theory conference in Salamanca, Spain.]"The web and digital media are to the establishment what the printers were to the scribes." Standup comedian Louis C.K. has a routine called "everything's amazing, nobody's happy." The gag has people on an airplane, sitting on comfy chairs and flying through clouds. They are complaining that the wireless connection is too slow.There is truth here. Capitalism has made everything amazing, and yet everyone these days seems to hate capitalism.Let's leave aside the problem that it takes economic understanding to see cause and...

Jayson Blair, who was at the center of a major journalism scandal as a New York Times reporter in 2003, will be the featured speaker at Washington and Lee University’s 48th Journalism Ethics Institute on Friday, Nov. 6. The title of Blair’s talk is “Lessons Learned.” The public is invited to the presentation at 5:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons. Blair resigned from the Times after an investigation found that he had plagiarized and fabricated major portions of stories that he had written during four years with the Times. Some of the stories that he covered in this manner...

No surprise that Americans are dropping their newspaper subscriptions, as a new batch of numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed yesterday. But before you file this under “death of newspapers”, do ponder this for a second: Declining circulation might not be the worst news in the world. Tough times have forced many papers to rethink their circulation strategies. An obvious conclusion: Much of the money publishers were spending to print and deliver dead trees has gone to waste. New strategy: Print fewer copies, and charge more for the ones you do sell. That’s a tactic, not a strategy,...

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,024,269 -- 0.61% USA TODAY -- 1,900,116 -- (-17.15%) THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 927,851 -- (-7.28%) LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 657,467 -- (-11.05%) THE WASHINGTON POST -- 582,844 -- (-6.40%) DAILY NEWS (NEW YORK) -- 544,167 -- (-13.98%) NEW YORK POST -- 508,042 -- (-18.77%) CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 465,892 -- (-9.72%) HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 384,419 -- (-14.24%) THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 361,480 -- N/A NEWSDAY -- 357,124 -- (-5.40%) THE DENVER POST -- 340,949 -- N/A THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 316,874 -- (-12.30%) STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS -- 304,543 -- (-5.53%) CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -- 275,641...

The latest FAS-FAX for the six months ending Sept. 30 is here in a matter of moments and some numbers are already trickling out. We already know about the massive 17% drop at USA Today and now there's this: Compared to the same six-month period ending September 2008, daily (Monday-Friday) circulation at The New York Times is down 7.2% to 927,851. Sunday fell 2.6% to 1,400,302. Los Angeles Times reported daily is off 11% to 657,467 and 6.7% on Sunday to 983,702. The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than a quarter of its daily circ, down 25.8% to 251,782. Sunday...

Local TV teeters as staff, anchors are axed As a top anchor in Los Angeles, John Beard worked during the heyday of local TV news -- covering earthquakes, riots and the occasional celebrity on the loose. Beard was a familiar presence on L.A. TV screens for 30 years, via lead anchor roles on KNBC and then KTTV. But three decades after arriving on the West Coast from Buffalo, Beard is back where he started, anchoring a morning newscast in that small western New York community. Beard had a great run in the nation's No. 2 market -- but his exit...

Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather urged American news consumers Thursday to take action to address the declining state of the journalism industry. More than 750 Austinites, including students, professors and journalists, attended the fifth annual Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lecture in the Union Ballroom to hear Rather reflect on his more than 60 years as a journalist, including 24 years with CBS Evening News as an anchor and managing editor. “When we speak of the future of journalism, let us fully understand that quality journalism of integrity is currently in decline and in peril,” Rather said. He cited corporatization,...

Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N) magazine division Time Inc plans another round of job cuts as advertising declines erode revenue, a source familiar with the unit said on Thursday. The job cuts at Time Inc -- which publishes Time magazine, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune -- would be at about the same level as the division cut last year, the source said. Time Inc. cut more than 600 positions, or more than 6 percent of its workforce, in that round. The company declined to comment, though a spokesman for Fortune magazine separately said that it plans to shave the number of...

The New York Times Co. said Thursday that it lost $36 million, or 25 cents a share in the third quarter, compared to a loss of $106 million, or 74 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Earnings per share from continuing operations, excluding severance and special items, were 16 cents. Revenue fell 17% to $571 million from $687 million. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated, on average, a loss of 2 cents a share and sales of $576 million.

The White House’s extraordinary assault on the Fox News Channel will end in tears – and not for Rupert Murdoch, Fox’s owner. The Obama administration has embarked on a high-risk strategy of shooting the messenger, in effect blaming its plummeting poll ratings on alleged political bias at the number one 24-hour cable news network. As Anita Dunn, the Mao-quoting White House communications director put it in an interview with The New York Times: “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent. As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t...

You'll be able to watch popular cable television series such as HBO's "Entourage" and AMC's "Mad Men" on your computer by the end of the year without paying extra — as long as you're a Comcast Corp. subscriber watching at home. Comcast will be the first cable TV operator to unlock online access to a slate of valuable cable shows and movies, aiming to replicate what's available on television through video on demand. Time Warner Cable Inc. and others plan to follow as the pay-TV companies look to satisfy growing consumer appetite for online video while preserving subscription revenue. Access...

In case the latest ZenithOptimedia ad-spending forecast wasn't depressing enough, the outlook for newspapers and magazines is especially bad -- even relative to the grim state of advertising in general. Among the gloomy predictions: while overall ad spending is expected to rebound somewhat in 2011, newspapers and magazines will continue to decline due to secular factors, including Internet competition. ZenithOptimedia expects total ad spending in developed markets to drop 9.9% in 2009, followed by a further 2.9% decline in 2010, thanks to continuing structural economic problems. After this, the Zenith forecast has ad spending in developed markets growing 1.5% in...

The New York Times (NYT.N) plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs by the end of the year through buyouts and might resort to layoffs as it reels from the advertising revenue drop that is imperiling U.S. newspapers. The news, delivered in a memo to employees by Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on Monday, comes after the newspaper's workers already took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year and a similar program last year. "When we took our 5 percent pay cuts, it was in the hope that this would fend off the need for more staff cuts...

Cost cutting produced a solidly profitable third quarter for Gannett Co. But the latest financial results for the country's largest newspaper publisher show another big decline in ad revenue. Gannett owns USA Today, more than 80 other newspapers and 23 television stations. Its earnings Monday follow a similar report last week from McClatchy Co., another big newspaper owner that has managed to profit even as its main revenue source withers. Gannett's ad sales in its publishing division dropped 28 percent from a year ago. That follows a 32 percent decline in the second quarter and a 34 percent decline in...

<p>TEL AVIV – President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled," White House Communications Director Anita Dunn disclosed to the Dominican government at a videotaped conference.</p>

(HITPIECE ALERT) http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59F5GX20091017SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its ferocious price cutting into new markets as the economy shows hints of recovery.

The NYT is calling Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of the Washington Post, a liar. The NYT has reported this morning -- in a brief, buried "postscript" in the corrections column -- that it now has evidence that Brauchli lied last July when he told the NYT that he didn't know the paper's controversial corporate-sponsored dinner parties would be off-the-record. The NYT doesn't state flatly that Brauchli lied. But the juxtaposition of the two Brauchli statements in the postscript make clear the NYT's position that he misrepresented the truth in interviews with the NYT. [UPDATE: In an email to The...

Can you do journalism and not be a "journalist"? Do people declared "journalists" get special speech and press rights that other American citizens do not enjoy? Can anyone enjoy the right to free speech and free publication, even if that individual is not a full-time professional reporter? These are some of the important legal questions that American politicians and bureaucrats must confront now that the Internet has made possible for people other than employees of major media companies to reach large and widespread audiences. In recent weeks, federal officials seems to be favoring a view that certain individuals enjoy more...

Some things to ponder in the wake of today's news that the New York Times Co. won't be selling the Boston Globe after all (Herald story here, Globe story here, entire memo to follow): 1. Given the speed with which the Times Co. decided to reject the bids assembled by Steve Taylor and Platinum, it seems--at least from the outside--like not a lot of deliberation was required. When did the Times Co. make up its mind not to sell? And what was the determing factor? 2. The elimination of lifetime job guarantees earlier this year paved the way for some...

One year ago, the Newhouses were threatening to close down their treasured jewel, The Star-Ledger, unless the paper’s union made a series of concessions, which included cutting the newsroom by 40 percent. They got what they wanted, and it seemed like things could go back to normal, albeit with fewer deckhands on the ship. Yet on Monday, George Arwady, the publisher of the The Star-Ledger, wrote in a memo to staff that “the revenue situation at our newspaper has worsened this year, and we expect a further significant revenue decline next year.” Now, the paper needs to cut 50 more...

What’s one of the biggest names in magazine publishing worth? These days, maybe $5 million, plus debt. That’s the high end of the range Bloomberg will be paying for BusinessWeek, reports BusinessWeek, which has done an excellent job of covering its sale. Can’t call this one a surprise, as Bloomberg has reportedly been the lead bidder for some time now. BusinessWeek employees spent most of the day waiting for an announcement to that effect, and finally heard one, via Bloomberg’s wire service, shortly after 5 pm EDT. Shortly after, BusinessWeek Editor Stephen J. Adler gathered his troops for an informal...

The Newark Star-Ledger, the Newhouse-owned newspaper where 150 newsroom staffers took buyouts last year, is about to suffer even deeper cuts. According to a memo sent to out by publisher George Awady (see below), executives will be seeking another round of buyouts, and if that doesn’t work, involuntary layoffs. For many years, the Newhouse newspapers kept unions at bay by promising lifetime employment, but the implosion of the industry has swept those promises into the dustbin of history. The newspaper, long admired for its comprehensive coverage of the chronically corrupt northern New Jersey region it covers, did manage to lure...

Over the weekend, White House communications director Anita Dunn announced the official beginning of the Obama administration's war with Fox News. Of course, the battle has been openly brewing for months now. Even during the campaign, Obama's team gave up on sending surrogates to the network. "It was beyond diminishing returns," Dunn told the New York Times. "It was no returns." But now the war is out in the open. "We're going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent," she told the paper. "As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we...

For media, this is the best of times and the worst. The best because the cost to publish news, make a video or distribute a song has never been lower. But also the worst because it's hard to find a company, new or old media, that has emerged with a sustainable business model. Consumers are left wondering how much longer their favorite sources of news and entertainment will be around. The most recent stark contrast was between the $1 billion valuation for pre-revenue startup Twitter and the shutdown of the iconic Gourmet magazine. A new book provocatively entitled "The Curse...

When the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases the latest numbers on Oct. 26, it will show that USA Today's circulation fell 17% to 1.88 million for the six months ending September 2009, a drop of about 390,000 copies. The decline could also threaten USA Today’s position as the No. 1 newspaper in the country by circulation. To put that in perspective, the reduction of copies represents roughly the entire daily circulation of The Arizona Republic the 10th largest paper in the U.S. as of spring. The loss was an expected one at the Nation's Newspaper, which implemented a price increase...

After months of speculation, the carnage came to Condé Nast earlier this week. The company, one of the nation's three biggest magazine publishers, announced it would close four magazines, including Gourmet, one of the industry's most iconic publications. A NEWSWEEK analysis of industry data provides new evidence of the financial toll that drove that decision: based on estimates of publishing data, Condé Nast could see its ad revenue drop by $1 billion in 2009. Through August, ad dollars already have plunged by about $600 million from the similar eight-month period in 2008 when revenues also were depressed. Of Condé Nast's...

But, alas, it's not viewers returning to broadcast Typically, the cable networks see their ratings rise in the summer as they roll out new and returning original series, at a time when the broadcast networks are running either repeats or reality series, with their ratings well down from the regular season. But how does cable fare when the broadcast networks break out their new shows in the fall? It's an interesting question, and at first glance it would appear they’re suffering as viewers swing back over to broadcast, where there are a number of new shows that could become breakout...

The most recent six-month period for measuring newspaper circulation ended last Wednesday. It takes a month or so to assemble the results, so watch for actual numbers around Halloween. I'm sticking my neck out only a little in predicting they will be a veritable house of horrors. Here's why this six-month period is likely be be even worse than the period ended March 31, which saw average losses of 7 percent daily and 5.3 percent Sunday compared to the same period in 2008: This is the first six-month period likely to show the full effect of the recession on customers...

The chairman of Universal Pictures Marc Shmuger and David Linde, have been ousted from the studio, in the latest sign that parent General Electric Co. has tired of disappointing results at much of its NBC Universal entertainment arm. After three and a half years, Shmuger and Linde have been replaced by Adam Fogelson, who had been Universal's head of marketing, according to Universal. Production president Donna Langley will serve as co-chairwoman, reporting to Fogelson. The move comes at a time when GE is in talks with Comcast Corp. about selling a 51% stake in NBC Universal to the cable operator....

In France, in order to reverse the trend that, from one generation to the next, young people are less likely to read newspapers, free subscriptions (with strings) are being tried successfully. According to the World Association of Newspapers' recent report on the French government's decision to give free, one-day-a-week newspaper subscriptions to every 18- to 24-year old in the country as a way to encourage newspaper reading and civic participation, the publishers say it works, though the free giveaway is not the only factor.

A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world's largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits. As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles. The move comes as major film studios are reeling from declines in revenue from DVD sales as cash-strapped consumers turn to low-cost rental services and digital downloads for home movies. "We think the new strategy implies Wal-Mart no longer sees DVDs and Blu-ray...

A deal to merge General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal into a new joint venture with Comcast Corp.'s cable networks might solve pressing needs for both companies. But a number of financial and legal issues still hang over the talks, which are still at an early stage. While both sides hope to complete a deal, people familiar with the matter give the transaction "50-50" odds of coming together. In the deal under discussion, Comcast would contribute cash and its cable networks to NBC Universal for a 51% stake in the expanded company. NBC Universal would borrow money that would be turned...

Because conservatism is bipartisan, that's why the media chooses to rig polling based on party affiliation instead. Watch: Gallup Poll #1 . Gallup Poll #2 . Battleground Poll The numbers vary, but it's abundantly clear that conservatives outnumber liberals. But democrats out number republicans What this means is that people more readily identify with the ideals of conservatism, than they do with "the conservative party".(I put that in quotes because the republicans have been at war with conservatives for quite a few years now) It also means that people more readily identify with the democrat party than they do with...

Brian Roberts built Comcast Corp. into the world's largest cable company by being a visionary who has kept the company on the vanguard of phone, broadband and television technology. But his strategies indicate he's still worried that the Internet could one day become one of the leading forms of television distribution. That is one reason why he is determined to buy more cable channels and other content -- a strategy that has moved him from his failed effort to take over Walt Disney Co. in 2004 to his current interest in buying a piece of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal....

Cable giant Comcast Corp. is weighing a potential deal involving General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, according to people familiar with the matter, adding intrigue to the fate of the movie-and-television company. Comcast has held talks with GE, which owns 80% of NBC Universal, according to the people. It isn't clear if the discussions will lead anywhere. The future of NBC Universal has been the subject of speculation for weeks, as French conglomerate Vivendi SA mulls possibilities for its 20% stake. Each year, Vivendi has an option to force a sale of its stake to GE or to public investors. As...

IAB figures show that of the total £1.75bn spent on internet advertising, £1.05bn, or 60%, was spent on search advertising on websites including Google. The UK has become the first major economy where advertisers spend more on internet advertising than on television advertising, with a record £1.75bn online spend in the first six months of the year. The milestone marks a watershed for the embattled TV industry, the leading ad medium in the UK for almost half a century. It has taken the internet little more than a decade to become the biggest advertising sector in the UK. UK advertisers...

More than two years after Dan Rather filed a $70-million lawsuit against CBS for breach of contract and fraud, a New York Supreme Court appellate division has tossed out his claim. The ruling, handed down today, dismissed Rather's claims that CBS News broke his contract and committed fraud by sidelining him in the wake of a controversial story he reported about President George W. Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air Guard. The anchor alleged that CBS sought to curtail reporting on the story because of pressure from its then-parent company, Viacom. But in its ruling, the appeals panel found...

Nobody in their right mind believes the future of the news business involves paper and ink rather than pixels on a screen. We all know where the news business is headed, and what's more, we've known it for at least a decade. So why on earth are people talking about a bailout for newspapers? Why is President Obama saying he'd consider it? Why is Congress holding hearings and considering "The Newspaper Revitalization Act" in a bid to save these ailing old rags with tax breaks and other handouts? It's like introducing legislation to save horse-drawn carriages, or steam engines, or...

A three-month McKinsey & Company project advising the publisher how to reduce costs is drawing to a close, and several magazines have been told to cut about 25 percent from their budgets. The company’s editors and publishers have already been under pressure to reduce costs this year, as advertising has plunged, and Condé Nast has closed two magazines in 2009, Domino and Condé Nast Portfolio. But cost-cutting at Condé Nast is not quite like cost-cutting at other publishers. For example, on Oct. 13, the men’s magazine GQ will host a party in Washington to promote its list of powerful capital...