Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Ownership and Regulations

Reuters adds social media rules to its handbook

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:33:34 -0600

The surge in social media has benefited journalists globally by offering them a world of information at their fingertips with powerful social networking tools and news aggregator sites. But this opportunity comes along with some risks as well. To lessen these risks, Reuters has added social media guidelines and principles to its handbook, Dean Wright, global editor for ethics, innovation and news standards at Reuters, announced yesterday in the Reuters Blog.

While Reuters embraces social media as a powerful informative tool and encourages its usage among journalists, they must ask permission from managers to use social media in conjunction with their professional lives, MediaGuardian reported.

Asper family bids for Canwest Newspapers

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:04:56 -0600

The Asper family, former controller of Canwest Global Communications Corp., is trying to regain control of the newspaper assets, Bloomberg reported.

The family one of six bidders. Others include B.C. newspaper magnate David Black, Vancouver-based community newspaper publisher Glacier Media Inc. and National Post executive Paul Godfrey, the Globe and Mail reported.

Northcliffe's titles announce merger plan

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:19:41 -0600

Two UK regional papers, Bristol's Western Daily Press and Plymouth's Western Morning News, announced they will merge editors and senior editorial roles, BBC News reported.

The two papers will remain unique, but have only one editor-in-chief. Production will be shared between Plymouth and Bristol, but the reporting teams will remain independent, The Herald reported.

Metro secures tube and bus contract in London

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:57:18 -0600

Morning free paper Metro has secured the contract to distribute in the London Underground and at bus stations, MediaGuardian reported.

As the original 11-year deal will expire on 2 April, the new one will last for seven and a half years. The contract will allow free distribution at 250 tube stations and 14 bus stations in London, from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. Monday to Friday.

Affiliated Media wins approval of bankruptcy plan

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:11:28 -0600

Affiliated Media Inc. has won court approval of its restructuring plan, which will reduce its debt by about 81 percent and eliminate about US$751 million through a debt-for-equity swap, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey, at a hearing Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware, approved the reorganisation plan which will provide lenders a majority of the reorganized company's equity, according to Bloomberg. The company publishes the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and 52 other dailies.

Dow Jones buys out SmartMoney, launches 'Reprint Portal'

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:22:38 -0600

Dow Jones & Co. has acquired the 50 percent of SmartMoney it didn't already own, gaining complete control of the franchise from U.S. publisher Hearst Corp, BtoB Media Business reported yesterday. The brand includes SmartMoney magazine, Smartmoney.com and SmartMoney Custom Solutions, a custom publishing business. Hearst and Dow Jones first partnered on SmartMoney in 1991.

The news and business information group has also launched a new site, called Reprint Portal (reprintportal.com). The new site will take reprint orders for Dow Jones Factivia's content partners. In its beta period, the site offered content from The Associated Press, SourceMedia (a b-to-b publisher) and Dow Jones, according to BtoB.

Associated Newspapers settles legal suit

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:56:24 -0600

Associated Newspapers, the UK newspaper division which houses the Daily Mail, today agreed to pay £25,000 in damages to Sir Michael Parkinson, Media Guardian reported. The Daily Mail published an article in May last year titled "Who's Telling Parkies," which alleged the British talk show host lied about his upbringing and that he was "grossly insensitive" to his elderly uncle.

The newspapers accepted that the allegations made in the article were "entirely false" and will pay damages as well as legal costs, Reuters reported.

Lebedev to pay token pound for the Independent

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:37:21 -0600

Payment of £1 will see the owner of London's Evening Standard and ex KGB agent Alexander Lebedev at the helm of the ailing Independent, the Sunday Times reported yesterday - that's the same price as one copy of the newspaper from any newsstand, and as the token price he paid for the Standard.

Since its launch in 1986 the Independent has lost more than £10m year upon year. Billionaire Lebedev is expected to plunge millions into the operation, trying to resuscitate the publication into generating a sustained profit, although the first move is predicted to be a slashing of the cover price.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Lebedev: Deal on The Independent to close soon

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:20:20 -0600

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev told the Wall Street Journal today he believes UK newspaper The Independent will be in his hands soon. The former KGB agent-turned-banker bought London freesheet the Evening Standard last year.

"As far as I understand most of the problems have been resolved," Lebedev told the WSJ. Independent News and Media PLC is the paper's current owner. He added that both parties are ready for the deal, but that "We haven't yet exchange contracts."

Bloomberg moves into government sector

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:07:02 -0600

Following last week's acquisition of government data and analysis firm Eagle Eye Publishers by Bloomberg LP, rumours that the financial news giant wants to create a Bloomberg Government business to be named "Bgov" seem to be supported, Washington Technology reported.

Bgov would likely focus on the impact of government actions on publicly traded companies. The enterprise is expected to compete with the likes of Congressional Quarterly and would also potentially compete with similar data service providers, like research firms Input and Fedsources.

SEC: Gannett can keep 2011 digital revenues goal secret

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:15:08 -0600

A notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week gives Gannett Co. Inc. permission to withhold its revenue target through the end of 2011. The permission was given on a retroactive basis, and was given because that target has been deemed confidential commercial or financial information under the Freedom of Information Act, Jim Hopkins reported in his Gannett Blog.

The U.S. publisher likely wants to keep this information out of the competitions' hands.

Photo: Chris Saridakis, chief digital officer, Gannett

Microsoft and Yahoo! get approval for search deal from U.S. and E.U.

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:30:01 -0600

Microsoft and Yahoo! have received approval for their search agreement from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union. This will push the search deal aimed at taking share from Google moving forward, Media Post reported.

In a joint announcement Thursday, Microsoft and Yahoo said they will now focus on implementing the deal, which should start in the coming days. Yahoo! will transit its algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft, and become the exclusive relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers worldwide.

Morris Publishing to emerge from bankruptcy in March

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:51:18 -0600

Morris Publishing Group announced today its "pre-packaged" reorganisation plan has been confirmed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, based in Atlanta, Georgia, Editor & Publisher reported today. After its disclosure statement was approved, the U.S. publisher was predicted to begin debt recovery as early as March 1, according to PR Newswire.

PR Newswire suggested that Morris Publishing and its 13 daily newspapers would be reducing debt from around US$418 million to almost $107 million. Affiliates owned and operated by the Morris family will be offering $85 million in financial aid, Reuters reported today.

Newspaper Works: Online strategies paying off with readers

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:49:04 -0600

Newspapers today are multimedia brands that have positioned themselves strategically in the digital landscape, where news is currency and newspapers have a lot of it, according to new research from industry marketing body The Newspaper Works.

"Newspapers have become stronger and more relevant in the digital age with newspaper Web sites complementing print editions and enhancing the relationship between newspaper brands and their readers," the report states. Newspapers Today Part 2 is a follow-up to a previous report, released in 2007 by the industry body for Australian newspaper publishers.

AP content back on Google News

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:57:15 -0600

Google News stopped hosting new Associated Press articles in late December, but quietly began hosting them again yesterday. The Wall Street Journal's Russell Adams was the first to notice.

A Google spokesman told Adams: "We have a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that permits us to host its content on Google properties such as Google News. The licensing agreement is the subject of ongoing discussion so we won't be commenting further at this time."