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Newspaper biz, like icebergs, is cracking up Comparing newspapers to a cataclysmic meltdown of polar icecaps may strike some as hyperbolic. On the other hand, there's little doubt that a fundamental restructuring of the business, now well underway, soon could result in something only vaguely recognizable as a "newspaper" industry. (Español) Cut loose in India, reporter sues, wins A labor court in New Delhi, India, has set a precedent by ruling that foreign reporters working for companies with a base in India are governed by Indian labor laws. Currying favor in Memphis Outsourcing isn't funny. But it's better to laugh than cry, and the Memphis Guild made lots of people smile when we hit the sidewalk March 12 posing as sleazy company travel agents. NLRB lawyers green-light union-busting shuffle The National Labor Relations Board has taken another giant step back from enforcing employees' rights to workplace representation, accepting a legal interpretation that strips recognition of Guild bargaining rights from 130 members in the San Francisco Bay Area. Future of 'old media': stuck to the web? As the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, there are many print journalists who are wondering if the newspaper newsroom has any future - or a future they want to be a part of.
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News of the industry A Landscape Of Giants Louis Hau, Forbes 09 May 2008 When it comes to debates about media consolidation, it's hard not to get the sense that the horse has long since bolted from the barn. Take a look around. Giants dominate the landscape. Which may explain why Capitol Hill is gearing up for yet another battle over a Federal Communications Commission decision last December to loosen restrictions on the ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market.
Appeals Court Delays Hearing Tribune’s Waiver Challenge John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable 09 May 2008 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has decided to put off hearing Tribune's challenge of the Federal Communications Commission's decision to grant it waivers to complete the deal to sell the company to investor Sam Zell. The court decided to hold off on hearing the Tribune challenge, or a motion by media activists to dismiss, until the FCC rules on a petition by those activists to reconsider its decision to approve the deal.
Why Big Media Needs Propaganda to Survive Megan Tady, Common Dreams 09 May 2008 The mainstream media are as likely to report on Pentagon propaganda -- and thus, themselves -- as President Bush is likely to cede that "mission accomplished" was poor phrasing. That is, it ain’t ever gonna happen. To avoid being duped, we need to understand not just why the mainstream media are mum on this scandal, but how they created the scandal in the first place. Just how does propaganda creep unnoticed into everyday reporting?
Court questions contempt order against ex-reporter USA Today 09 May 2008 Federal appeals court judges on Friday questioned whether a contempt order against a reporter who refused to identify her sources went too far, noting that lawyers for former Army scientist Steven Hatfill have asked for a trial date anyway. Former USA TODAY reporter Toni Locy is appealing a judge's order requiring her to pay up to $5,000 a day out of her own pocket until she gives up her sources.
Scripps Takes Next Step Towards Spinning Off Newspapers Editor & Publisher 09 May 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co. took another formal step towards spinning its newspaper business into a separate company, announcing Friday that its board of directors had approved the plan. The separation is expected to take place July 1. Scripps shareholders will get a tax-free distribution of stock in the new company, called Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., and will continue to own shares in E.W. Scripps, which will operate the newspapers. Tax gains lift Tribune Co. to first-quarter profit James P. Miller, Chicago Tribune 09 May 2008 Tribune Co. reported a big first-quarter profit, thanks to a mammoth tax gain the Chicago media concern recorded in connection with the leveraged buyout by which it went private at the end of 2007. Without that artificial boost from the tax change, the company swung to a loss, as interest payments soared to service Tribune's heavy load of buyout-related debt. |
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Sami al-Haj is a free man today, after having been imprisoned by the U.S. military for more than six years. His crime: journalism. Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs. The principal target these past seven years has been Al-Jazeera. Unions should be required to make public more details of their internal finances, the Labor Department said Thursday as it proposed new changes to union disclosure forms. Federal officials are proposing a more detailed form, and penalizing small unions who get into trouble with the law by prohibiting them from filing a simple form. The proposed changes will be printed on Monday in the Federal Register.
Even with countless media outlets available these days, a Sunday New York Times cover story could always be counted on to send a jolt through the television news cycle. But apparently that’s no longer the case. Indeed, reporter David Barstow’s 7,600-word investigation about ex-military talking heads--often with direct ties to contractors--parroting Defense Department talking points on the air, has been noticeably absent from television airwaves. The Daily Show aims at more than comedy. In its choice of topics, its use of news footage to deconstruct the manipulations by public figures and its tendency toward pointed satire over playing just for laughs, The Daily Show performs a function that is close to journalistic in nature -- getting people to think critically about the public square. In that sense, it is a variation of the tradition of Russell Baker, Art Hoppe, Art Buchwald and H.L. Mencken. Toni Locy was always a good, tough-nosed journalist, always in high heels and high spirits. She is now in danger of becoming a very broke and incarcerated journalist. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., wants to bankrupt her and throw her in jail because she won't give up her sources. The legal fatwa against Toni Locy is arbitrary and Orwellian, and if successful will make reporters even less likely to keep an eye on the government. The Sun-Times Media Group (STMG) expects its Class A shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to be de-listed. The company said in an announcement yesterday that it does not intend to appeal, and that it expects to move trading of the stock to the OTC Bulletin Board once it gets kicked off the Big Board. Over the last 15 years, at least 500 journalists were killed directly because of their work. But in less than 15 percent of cases have the perpetrators been brought to justice, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Murder is used by states as the ultimate form of censorship, and the more these cases go unpunished, the more the press is silenced. New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller told his staff today to expect a "small number of layoffs." Keller would not disclose the number or the people who are on the list. Two months ago, the Times said it needed to reduce its newsroom staff by 100 positions and offered voluntary buyouts. Not enough employees took the buyout so the paper will have to resort to layoffs. Robert Battista, who for five years chaired the National Labor Relations Board, told a U.S. House-Senate joint hearing in December he doesn't believe the primary purpose of the National Labor Relations Act is to promote collective bargaining. Now he can put that belief openly into practice: he's joining the notorious union-busting firm of Littler Mendelson. The Lexington Herald-Leader is looking to trim its staff of 385 full-time employees by 4 percent through a voluntary buyout program, but is leaving the door open for layoffs if fewer than 4 percent take the voluntary buyout. In March the Herald-Leader announced it was shutting down its internal ad design and outsourcing the jobs to an Illinois company with design centers in India and the Philippines. The owner of the Star Tribune has informed investors that it has written down the value of its $100 million investment in the newspaper by 75 percent to reflect deteriorating conditions since the purchase in March 2007. But the owner, New York's Avista Capital Partners, also denied a recent report in the New York Post that the Star Tribune may file for bankruptcy. |
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