Former media baron Conrad Black began his six and a half year sentence today at Coleman federal correctional complex in Florida, the Guardian reported Monday.

Black, 63, once stood at the helm of Hollinger International, controlling some of the most influential newspapers in the world. He had a fortune estimated at £136 million, and owned more than 200 newspapers at the height of his career, including the Jerusalem Post, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Telegraph titles in Britain.

More

The Gauteng and Free State editions of Media24's Afrikaans tabloid Son will close, as growth outlooks don't look promising, the Daily Dispatch reported Monday.

Closing the editions “was based on a combination of market- related factors, including the increasingly weaker growth prospects that these editions faced under tighter economic conditions,” according to a Media24 statement.

More

London-based publisher Pearson announced it is confident it will have “another good year,” following its full-year results that came out above market expectations, Thomson Financial reported Monday.

However, the company, which owns the Financial Times and Penguin Books, saw its share price fall due to concerns about its U.S.-based education publishing business. As of this morning, shares were down 20 pence (3 percent), valuing Pearson at £5.21 billion.

More

The deadline for New York Times newsroom employees to accept buyouts is Tuesday, in an attempt by the newspaper to shrink the newsroom by 100 positions. The buyouts, however, are viewed by some inside The Times as “a victory of sorts,” Portfolio.com reported Monday.

The business side of the newspaper has “taken a majority of the hits so far, while the newsroom has stayed untouched,” an unnamed source close to business management at The Times told Portfolio.

More

Mobile music applications are one of the fastest growing mobile services, according to results of a global survey by TNS Global Technology.

In 2007, the use of mp3 players on mobile phones increased 78 percent; listening to the radio on mobile phones was up 140 percent.

More

The U.S. newspaper industry continues to suffer, as advertising declines have dragged profits down and resulted in more job cuts.

The Washington Post Co. said fourth-quarter profit dropped 13 percent, mostly due to declining print ad sales and costs to reorganise some units such as Kaplan education group, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.

More

YouTube will launch a live video service later this year, according to reports by Industry blogs TechCrunch and NewTeeVee late last week.

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen verified the news during a conversation with Pop17 videoblogger Sarah Meyers.

More

As different types of media lose advertising shares to online, the share of television advertising budgets worldwide will remain the same through 2012, media research firm Screen Digest announced, according to Brand Republic.

Money will be diverted from print, radio and cinema budgets to online and digital television over the next five years, the firm stated in its global forecast.

More