Free Republic

An ugly conundrum of journalism is laid bare in a proposal filed last month by a shareholder of the New York Times Co. In it, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, which owns almost 8 percent of the Times' stock, calls for changes in the corporate structure that allows the publisher's family to control the venerable newspaper. Morgan Stanley wants to split the chairman and chief executive titles and eliminate a special class of stock that gives the Sulzberger family a majority vote. "The company's current corporate governance practices deviate from what is widely considered to be best practice," Morgan Stanley says...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Morgan Stanley investment fund is stepping up its confrontation with The New York Times Co. with the submission Wednesday of a shareholder proposal that would urge the company's board to take several steps to "reform" its corporate governance practices. The proposal, if it is approved at the company's next shareholder meeting, would recommend that the board put to a vote the Times' dual-class share structure, which allows the members of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to control the company through a special class of stock. The company has defended its corporate governance practices and noted that any...

Tribune said it was still on track to decide on a restructuring strategy by the end of the year. The Times, meanwhile, downplayed speculation that it was considering a leveraged buyout. The Times, which also owns The Boston Globe and other newspapers, reported a 4.2 percent slump in advertising, while Tribune's newspaper advertising fell 2 percent. The Times was especially hard-hit by continued weakness in its New England properties, anchored by the Globe, where advertising slumped 10 percent. The New England market has been especially hard hit by the consolidation of big retail advertisers such as Filene's, while classified advertising...

CHICAGO The New York Times Co. reported Thursday that its third-quarter 2006 profit from continuing operations plunged 39.2% on costs related to its job cuts and a loss on its sale of its 50% stake in the Discovery Times Channel. Meanwhile, Belo, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, said net income for the quarter fell to $19.2 million, or 19 cents per share, compared to $22.1 million, or 20 cents per share, during the same period last year. At the New York Times Co., 3Q operating profit was down 48% from the same period in 2005 to $20.5 million on...