Posted on 01/01/2006 10:15:30 AM PST by Grampa Dave
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Media stocks ended the last day of 2005 trading pretty much flat as shares of all the big conglomerates stalled.
NWSNWS16.61, -0.06, -0.4%) , Disney (DIS: Walt Disney Company (The) (Holding Company) News, chart, profile Last: 23.97-0.20-0.83%
DISDIS23.97, -0.20, -0.8%) and Time Warner (TWX: time warner inc com News, chart, profile Last: 17.44-0.04-0.23%
TWXTWX17.44, -0.04, -0.2%) ended down less than 1%, while Viacom (VIA: viacom inc cl a News, chart, profile Last: 32.76+0.34+1.05%
VIAVIA32.76, +0.34, +1.0%) was up slightly.
The four will end the year lower than where they started it. Time Warner is down 10.3% over the past 52 weeks; Viacom is off 11.7%; News Corp. is down 13.5%; and Disney has given up 13.8%.
But that isn't a patch on the valuation drops at some big newspaper companies:
The New York Times (NYT: New York Times Company News, chart, profile Last: 26.45+0.01+0.04%
NYT abd TRB have surrendered 35.2% and 28.42, respectively, since the end of 2004.
Dow Jones, (DJ: dow jones & co inc com), parent of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report, is off 17.6%
In an interview with the Times of London, Martin Sorrell the chief executive of advertising agency holding company WPP warned that while global ad spending should be up in 2006 with the help of worldwide sporting events and U.S. midterm elections, it could be a tough year for the industry in some spots.
Shares of WPP Group (UK:WPP: news, chart, profile) were down in London as were those of both its American rivals, Omnicom (OMC: and Interpublic (IPG:
William Spain is a MarketWatch staff writer in Chicago.
The decline of the MSM in stock price value, power and ability to lie and sway the gullible continues with their downward spiral.
thx for the ping, dave...
In Northern California, the big left wing newspapers are losing paid subscribers every day and ad $'s.
More and more so called local newspapers are basically replayers of news from other sites.
Our local rag fired its editor and publisher about 2 years ago. They were from the Pravda school of lies and left wing PR. Their mindset has switched from uber left to middle of the road and they even recommened GW for reelection in 2004. They have a hand full of good local reporters and writers. They still have contracts with some really vile Political Cartoonists, however, they now have a few conservative Political Cartoonists.
Our local radio stations were sold out a few years ago. Their local news is next to nothing. We have had earthquakes and floods, and they have run their cookie cutter programs instead of reporting what has happened or is happening. This is forcing some radio advertisers to use the local daily rag.
We never watch news on the local tv stations which are based in Gay Frisco unless there is something happening up here. The Fox channel and channel 4, the former NBC channel do a good job in covering local bad news and disasters. Seldom does PC creep in on their local coverages.
You are welcome, and the good news continues.
Our local newspaper is growing!
Politically, what the Rigth has offered has been seen to work.
The media opposed it, and has been seen to be wrong.
The media persists in supporting the losing side of history.
The public more and more abandons MSM, and gets news from other sources.
The public more and more receives confirmation that MSM was lying to them.
Public support for MSM declines ever more rapidly.
Public support for the Right increases ever more rapidly.
If the Dems cannot come back in 2006 and 2008, then I think a new party will be formed. The Dems will be done. But the Left will have lot control of the media, which was its best weapon in the US throughout the 20th century.
A Schadenfreude moment.
"Our local newspaper is growing!"
Has it been doing the correct things in reporting and editorials?
The libs think it's too conservative and the conservatives think it's too liberal.
I'm in total agreement with your comments below:
"I suspect we have passed a tipping point.
Politically, what the Right has offered has been seen to work.
The media opposed it, and has been seen to be wrong.
The media persists in supporting the losing side of history.
The public more and more abandons MSM, and gets news from other sources.
The public more and more receives confirmation that MSM was lying to them.
Public support for MSM declines ever more rapidly.
Public support for the Right increases ever more rapidly.
If the Dems cannot come back in 2006 and 2008, then I think a new party will be formed. The Dems will be done. But the Left will have lost control of the media, which was its best weapon in the US throughout the 20th century."
Decades ago, when I was working on my MBA, one of the professors addressed how to recognize a company in the process of destroying itself and becoming a footnote of losers in the history books.
He said that a vicious cycle often started when their growth ran into competition or demand for their product/service started to significantly fall.
Their usual response was to continue and intensify what they had been doing instead of honestly evaluating what caused their market share drop and loss in stock value.
When that failed, they would trot out the same old dog and pony tricks with maybe a new name. It was the same old dog and pony tricks that got them into their downward spiral.
This would continue until as good employees left leaving only the hanging on weeds. Customers stopped buying their goods or services
Upper management would continue this vicious downward spiral until the company went bankrupt or was bought out. If it was bought out, the new owners would fire most of the worthless and often dangerous weeds. Failure to do that by the new controlling company could result in their failure down the road if the left over weeds got any power in the new company.
A Schadenfreude moment.
A great and significant Schadenfreude moment!
It almost seems quaint, doesn't it?
Yup!...Kinda like a Buggy-whip...
Thanks G.D. Happy New Year. Thanks for the best news I have hear in a long time.
The only reason to buy most newspapers is to line bird cages or light fires with.
But we haven't had a bird for many years, since our parakeet died, and we have more than enough junk mail and egg cartons to light the fire very nicely.
I can't think of any good reasons for the existence of newspapers except to drain fried okra and wash windows.
Whay will William Spain be saying on 1/1/07? How far will these stocks drop during this year?
Does anyone know how the owners of Texas Monthly are doing?
The MSM has suffered a corrosion of credibility and is clearly in a state of decline yet is oblivious to the connection between the two.
The NYT is taking the rest of the lemings over the cliff with it.
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