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‘Washington Post’ closes stand-alone book section

Posted January 28, 2009

The Washington Post is the latest major news outlet to change its stand-alone book section. Book World will no longer appear in print, but book coverage will be folded into the Style & Arts and Outlook sections. The last day of Book World in print will be February 15, and then its coverage can be found online.

Previously, outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, NPR, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have decreased or changed book coverage. Now, the and San Francisco Chronicle are the only two major newspapers with a stand-alone books section.

More numbers = more readers?
Jill Dutt, the very brave managing editor for the Financial section of The Washington Post, invited ...
McClellan answers readers questions…
at the Washington Post. Among many interesting comments: Washington: Mr. McClellan, having bee...
Former F-H partner’s I.M. Pei home featured
Former Fleishman-Hillard partner Dan Snyder’s Cleveland Park neighborhood home in Washington, DC, ...
Coyne’s fresh look
O.J. book won’t go away

Filed under: Arts & Entertainment, Media, Web sites

Tags:Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Book Publishing, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post

Zell chats with Tribune reporters about company’s future

Posted July 23, 2008

Tribune Co. CEO, and resident quote machine, Sam Zell detailed the future of his newspaper chain - operator of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and others - during a conference call with reporters on July 23.

Here’s how Tribune’s newspapers covered it:

The Baltimore Sun notes that Zell said he may need to reduce staff by as much as 25% in some newsrooms, and would not directly answer whether he’s planning future sales after that of the Chicago Cubs. Quote: “We’re not interested in trial by torture, not interested in dying by a thousand cuts.”
The Hartford Courant, which expects a 25% newsroom staff cut by 2010, recalls that Zell was applauded by his editorial staff in January for saying that he would resist newsroom cuts. Quote (from January): “I do not believe that anybody can grow a business by reducing the number of employees…It is not our game plan to, in effect, try and figure out how few people we can have run this business.”
Newsday reports that Zell said his to sell the newspaper to Cablevision could close as early as next week. Asked “what went wrong”since he bought the chain, Zell responded: “I don’t know that anybody has a frame of reference on advertising revenue destruction that in effect is as bad as this going all the way back to the Depression.”

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Filed under: Blogs, Media, Web sites

Tags:Baltimore Sun, Cablevision, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Sam Zell, Tribune Co.

Many editors optimistic at increasingly local newspapers

Posted July 22, 2008

Good luck to PR professionals pitching stories with national or international angles.

Among the findings of a study released today by former Los Angeles Times correspondent Tyler Marshall and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, nearly two-thirds of newspapers less foreign news than a year ago and 57% percent of papers are seeing a decline in national news.

However, many editors remain optimistic. More than half of the 259 newsroom chiefs responding to the survey the overall quality of journalism is better than it was three years ago.

OHNO, newspapers also upset with AP
The blogosphere made much ado earlier this month about the Associated Press’ (AP) decision to send...
Magazines of the future could look like…magazines
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Surprise, surprise - newspapers take another hit for being outdated. Slate has accused newspapers o...
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Murdoch: Too much editing at WSJ

Filed under: Media, New Media

Tags:Los Angeles Times, Pew Research Center, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Tyler Marshall

If satire isn’t your thing…The New Yorker isn’t for you

Posted July 15, 2008

If the goal of The New Yorker’s July 21 was to grab attention, it has succeeded – maybe beyond the wildest dreams of the magazine’s editors.

Here’s some reaction to the cover – which depicts, satirically, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and his wife in garb associated with al Qaeda and a 1960s radical leftist group, respectively – from around the Web: Read more »

AA’s next step
A New Yorker "Talk of the Town" piece gave a pretty incriminating evidence about a gay couple bein...
Marketing in a recession (or depression)
From the New Yorker: In the late nineteen-twenties, two companies—Kellogg and Post—dominated th...
Controversial New Yorker issue flying off newsstands
If consumers are truly upset about the July 21 cover of The New Yorker – you know, the one depicti...
This should foster discussion
Circuit City shows it ‘gets’ MAD

Filed under: 2008 Campaign, Blogs, Culture, Media, Politics, Web sites

Tags:Andrew Malcolm, Barack Obama, Black Panthers, Bush Administration, David Remick, Huffington Post, Jeffrey Feldman, John McCain, Los Angeles Times, Michael Scherer, Michelle Obama, Oval Office, Rachel Sklar, Supreme Court, Swampland, The New Yorker, Time, William Rehnquist

Chicago Tribune to cut 80 newsroom positions

Posted July 9, 2008

The Tribune Co. cuts continue. Management of the flagship Chicago Tribune began telling staffers on July 8 that it will cut 80 of the current 578 newsroom positions by the end of next month, as well as at least 13% of pages published per week. The only semblance of a silver lining is that management will only have to trim between 55 and 58 positions because it did not replace other recently departed employees.

Elsewhere at Tribune Co. newspapers, the Baltimore Sun, announced it will eliminate its standalone business section. Last week, the Los Angeles Times disclosed that it will cut 250 jobs.

Zell chats with Tribune reporters about company’s future
Tribune Co. CEO, and resident quote machine, Sam Zell detailed the future of his newspaper chain - o...
Job cuts announced at Tribune’s Baltimore Sun
Another Tribune Co. newspaper will suffer a round of job cuts at least as bad as those announced Jun...
Tribune reporters say newspapers and sports teams don’t mix
If the Tribune Co. follows its sale of Newsday by getting rid of the Chicago Cubs, the newsroom of t...
‘Chicago Tribune’ pitches trades, local media about new daily tabloid
Tribune redesigns start with Orlando Sentinel

Filed under: Blogs, Media, Web sites

Tags:Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Tribune Co.

Academy announces Emmy semi-finalists

Posted June 30, 2008

In other awards news, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the semi-finalists for the Emmys this year. Ten drama and ten comedy shows were listed and the final five nominees will be announced on July 17. According to The TV Column in the Washington Post, the Academy released the list this year, after two years of getting scooped by TheEnvelope.com, run by the LA Times.

Webby finalists
Congratulations to A&R Edelman, Ruder Finn Interactive, PR Dept., Atomic PR, and the various oth...
Addiction wins top Emmy prize
In March, I reported on the communications efforts behind the HBO documentary series The Addiction P...
Ratings up for Oscars
Sunday's Academy Awards pulled in more viewers than last year, according to Nielsen. The show, which...
Sybase down to two finalists
Awards: a recap

Filed under: Announcements, Arts & Entertainment, Awards, Blogs, Media

Tags:Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Emmys, Los Angeles Times

Job cuts announced at Tribune’s Baltimore Sun

Posted June 26, 2008

Another Tribune Co. newspaper will suffer a round of job cuts at least as bad as those announced June 25 at the Hartford Courant.

Baltimore Sun publisher Timothy Ryan told employees that the newspaper, and its community publications, will reduce its workforce through buyouts, layoffs, attrition, and closing open positions. The majority of cuts will occur in the newsroom.

The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, the union representing 400 employees in various departments, told Sun reporter Lorraine Mirabella that 55 to 60 newsroom jobs are on the chopping block.

Meanwhile, the number of job cuts – 57 – at the Courant had to come as a surprise to many staffers, especially since Tribune COO Randy Michaels the newspaper earlier this month, along with the Sun, as two of the company’s more productive outlets. Employees at newspapers that Michaels said were less productive, such as the Los Angeles Times, have to be wondering what’s in store for them.

Chicago Tribune to cut 80 newsroom positions
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Tribune redesigns start with Orlando Sentinel
On Sunday the Orlando Sentinel gave newspaper readers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and other ...
Zell chats with Tribune reporters about company’s future
Tribune Co. CEO, and resident quote machine, Sam Zell detailed the future of his newspaper chain - o...
Meyerson on Zell’s ‘Visigoth’ effect
The incredibly shrinking news industry

Filed under: Media, New Media, Web sites

Tags:Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, Randy Michaels, Timothy Ryan, Tribune Co., Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild

Russert replacement speculation abounds

Posted June 16, 2008

Out of respect for Tim Russert’s family and friends, aren’t hinting at who they’re considering to host Meet the Press, the leading public affairs show that Russert hosted since 1991, after his sudden death last Friday.

Yet speculation abounds among media critics and reporters. Check out the roundup on the next page: Read more »

Yahoo departure fuels more speculation
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Report: Post executive editor search down to Brauchli, Bennett
Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth has narrowed the field of prospective executive editors...
Familiar media faces make Time 100
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WWE, cont’d
AlwaysOn: negatory, re: carcasses

Filed under: Media, New Media, Politics, Public Affairs, Web sites

Tags:Andrew Tyndall, Bill Carter A, Bob Schieffer, CBS, CBS Evening News, Chris Matthews, Chuck TOdd, Countdown, David Gregory, Face the Nation, George Stephanopoulous, Gwen Ifill, Hardball, Jacques Steinberg, Joe Scarborough, Jon Friedman, Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann, Los Angeles Times, MarketWatch, Meet the Press, Michael Calderone, Morning Joe, NBC, NBC Nightly News, PBS, Politico, Scott Collins, The New York Times, This Week, Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw

Meyerson on Zell’s ‘Visigoth’ effect

Posted June 12, 2008

In one of what is sure to be many commentaries on Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell’s planned personnel and content cuts for his 12 newspapers, the Washington Post’s Harold Meyerson compares the real estate mogul’s influence on Los Angeles – home of the Tribune-owned Los Angeles Times – to that of the Bloods, Crips, and Mexican mafia.

However, if PR professionals are wondering how the newspaper landscape will change if major metropolitan dailies enact production-based cuts, Meyerson makes a good point about Tribune’s column-inch-centric method of deciding.

If the [Washington] Post’s Dana Priest and Anne Hull, who spent months uncovering the scandalous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and whose reporting not only won a Pulitzer but caused a shake-up in the Army’s treatment of wounded veterans, had been subjected to the Zellometer productivity index, they’d be prime candidates for termination.

Zell chats with Tribune reporters about company’s future
Tribune Co. CEO, and resident quote machine, Sam Zell detailed the future of his newspaper chain - o...
Tribune Co. renamed - for a day
Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell isn’t just planning to rename Wrigley Field, he’s planning to rename ...
Lark says Dell reorganization to have little effect on PR
Dell’s December 31 announcement that CMO Mark Jarvis will step down from his position during this ...
Financial fallout for lobbyists?
Chicago Tribune publisher to resign

Filed under: Blogs, Journalism 2.0, Media, New Media, Web sites

Tags:Anne Hull, Bloods, Crips, Dana Priest, Harold Meyerson, Los Angeles Times, Mexican mafia, Sam Zell, Tribune Co., Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington Post

‘Washington Post’ closes stand-alone book section

Zell chats with Tribune reporters about company’s future

Many editors optimistic at increasingly local newspapers

If satire isn’t your thing…The New Yorker isn’t for you

Chicago Tribune to cut 80 newsroom positions

Academy announces Emmy semi-finalists

Job cuts announced at Tribune’s Baltimore Sun

Russert replacement speculation abounds

Meyerson on Zell’s ‘Visigoth’ effect

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