http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/dbm/ en-us Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:17:30 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420609/posts How can we develop new media to produce nuanced discourse and solid recommendations for our politicians? There's no doubt the two-centuries-old business model in which we journalists paid our way by scribbling on the back of adverts, collecting pence from citizens who wanted to read it, has collapsed. As journalists, we find that grim. But, as citizens, we sometimes seem to like the idea that journalism is in trouble. We are liberated from the dictates of a trade that's spent the last two decades retreating from servicing our basic civic needs, systematically shredding its right to mediate our public discourse,... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420609/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jan 2010 16:17:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420178/posts It has been a very, very tough year to be in the newspaper business. Newspapers got squeezed by a lack of advertising dollars during the worst recession in recent memory, they cut hundreds of staff members and continued to fight paid-circulation declines that have been gradually snowballing for decades. In some cases, papers stopped publishing as frequently as they used to, and in other cases, they shut their doors for good. The bleak spirit of 2009 can perhaps best be summed up by the CanMediaLayoffs page on Twitter, which provides frequent updates on what it terms "the changing media industry... CTV http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2420178/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 21:09:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419489/posts 2009 by the numbers As of Dec. 31, 2009. Data will continue to be updated as I get new information. 584 Number of newspapers that laid off employees in 2009. Does not include corporate/non-newspaper specific layoffs (Associated Press, Dow Jones Co., Gannett Co. Inc., GateHouse Media News Service, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy Interactive, Media General Washington bureau and Sun Newspapers). 40.7 Average number of newspaper layoffs per day, including weekends and holidays. In 2008, 44 newspaper employees were laid off each day. 153 Number of “unknown” layoff posts. Assuming each entry results in 1 layoff, the 2009 layoff total would be... Paper Cuts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419489/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 14:54:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412310/posts Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest. "Death panels." The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page. Her assertion — that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care —... St. Petersburg Times/Politifacts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412310/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:19:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419219/posts As the media landscape continues to skew to online from print, more news outlets may feel financial pressure to test just how much readers care about professional credentials. Looking into the media furor over swine flu last spring, I interviewed a UCLA epidemiologist, who told me it was best to assume "a posture of humility" in trying to assess how deadly the H1N1 virus would be. "This is a virus we haven't seen before," said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley. "We don't really know what will happen." I've thought often in recent months about those words, which just as easily might be... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419219/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 23:28:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418345/posts Newspapers had a nice run from the 1970s to the 1990s. Unfortunately, as this chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes clear -- by way of Marketwatch -- it's over. Newspaper employment has utterly collapsed in the last 15 years, with employment numbers now around where they were in the mid-1950s. The good news: It's a great opportunity. The next decade will give birth to new forms of reporting, more in tune with today's technology and news consumption habits. Silicon Valley Insider http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418345/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:18:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417719/posts Some of the worst defeats for newspapers in 2009 came in online advertising. Although a relatively small part of the business, the industry posted smaller percentage revenue declines than print ads. Newspapers' losses revealed the hollowness of preceding years double-digit growth, which were built almost entirely on online classifieds chained to print listings and supported by a bubble economy. In the middle years of this decade, newspaper publishers proudly pointed to quarterly year-over-year growth rates of 30% to 40% in online revenues -- matching, and at times even exceeding, the growth rate of online advertising in general. As print revenues... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417719/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:51:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416952/posts Less than a year ago, during yet another public discussion about the future of traditional media, I said that it seemed extremely unlikely that, for instance, Newsweek would last another five years, provoking guffaws among blogger types and stout denials from the magazine (i.e. a minor kerfuffle). Newsweek and its parent, the Washington Post Co., announced yesterday a significant cut in its rate base, a further round of buyouts and layoffs, and a plan to make an already anorexic magazine even thinner. The Washington Post Co., for good measure, added its own bad news and bleak outlook. My prediction about... Newser.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416952/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:19:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416910/posts 2009 took a toll among traditional media companies, with a record number of bankruptcies among newspaper publishers. Some are set to continue into 2010, despite assurances from top executives that they would be resolved before year's end. The biggest ongoing newspaper bankruptcy is Tribune Co.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which celebrated its first anniversary on Dec. 8, two years after the ill-fated deal engineered by Sam Zell to take the company private as an employee-owned business at a cost of $8.8 billion. As chairman and CEO, Zell came to rue his role in the highly leveraged deal, which gave new... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416910/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:21:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416309/posts The nation's top 100 media companies eked out 0.8% revenue growth in 2008, but reported revenue for top media firms in the first half of 2009 fell 4.3% from a year ago, according to Ad Age's analysis. For the nation's 100 Leading Media Companies, revenue growth in 2008 was the lowest since 1991, and 2009 is set to show the first decline since Ad Age began ranking media firms in 1981. Remarkably, 11 of 2008's Media 100 firms filed for bankruptcy over the past year, crushed in most cases by shrinking revenue and debt loads taken on during the blind... Advertising Age http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416309/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:17:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2413303/posts The entertainment media’s treatment of Sarah Palin and her family has been abhorrent. Like their biased and unjust hard news media brethren, entertainment outlets have gone out of their way to tarnish Palin’s image. While tabloids, semi-legitimate entertainment programs and celebrities issue incessant praise for President Obama and his leftist policies, Palin is showered with insults and inappropriate slurs. And let’s not forget the ongoing insensitive questioning about the birth of her special needs son, Trig. Since the end of the 2008 campaign, some of the most glaring examples of the entertainment media’s obsession with anti-Palin coverage have centered on... Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2413303/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:52:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413041/posts The situation is dire when a 7.7% drop looks good. And that's where monthly magazines are in January, according to Media Industry Newsletter, which recently released ad page figures for the coming month's issues of about 115 monthlies. Of the 115 monthlies tracked by MIN in January, over half (62, or 54%) saw ad pages decline compared to January 2009. What's more, the losses were fairly top-heavy. While 17 of these titles (15% of the total), posted relatively modest declines of less than 10%, 15 (13%) experienced drops of 10%-20% and 30 (26%) tumbled over 20%. It's also noteworthy that... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413041/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:34:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412330/posts The advertising hits just keep on coming for TV stations, networks and programmers -- and not in a good way. Overall, broadcast television ad revenues were down 22.6% to $8.8 billion in the third quarter, versus the same time period a year ago, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. Local TV stations slipped 28.1% to $3.1 billion, with network TV off 21.5% to $4.7 billion. The best news came with syndicated TV, which dropped a modest 7.2% to $1.0 billion. The period was particularly rough compared to the broader nine-month period in 2009 to date, per TVB. Over this... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412330/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:39:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409446/posts CNN will finish 2009 behind MSNBC in prime-time ratings, the first time CNN has ever trailed a competitor other than the Fox News Channel over a full calendar year. That finish had been expected. In recent months, CNN, which continues to stand behind its policy of steering clear of the opinion-based shows that draw large prime-time audiences for its competitors, has also trailed its own sister network, HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN has frequently finished fourth in the news channel category. CNN will finish the fourth quarter of 2009 in fourth place — another first — and with two weeks... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409446/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:10:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409216/posts It's a "pretty grim atmosphere" over at the Times today, when layoffs are coming down from on high as the paper tries to reach the 100-person editorial cut it announced earlier this fall. While 74 staff members took the buyout, that left 26 to go. Layoffs have been ongoing all day, sources tell us, with the unlucky few people called upstairs out of the newsroom — where now people are "standing around in clumps and obviously talking about everything." Here's the list of names that we know so far who have gotten the ax, and their departments: Eric Konigsberg —... New York Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409216/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:37:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409003/posts The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018. Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses. BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop. "I suspect what has happened in recent years has... http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004054045 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409003/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:48:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408311/posts General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the February Olympics. GE is "counting on a tough economy around the Olympics," Immelt said. "It's just a tough time for an event like that," he said, referring to the Olympics as a "no-margin" business. NBCU would post an operating profit increase in 2010, Immelt said, but the Winter Olympics will instead bring a decrease. Speaking on other matters at an annual investor conference, Immelt declined to predict when the government may approve the proposed NBCU joint venture with Comcast. But he expressed... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408311/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:55:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408273/posts Paper taking donations for Web content This holiday season, you have several options of where to donate your money: Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, soup kitchens. But have you considered the Miami Herald? It's not quite a charity case yet, but the paper of record in the Magic City is accepting handouts if you have any spare change. Starting today, users of the Herald's Web edition can make donations to the paper on each story. A link at the bottom of each story directs users to "Support ongoing news coverage on Miamiherald.com." Through the link, you can pay any amount... NBC6 Miami http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408273/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:14:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405329/posts New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller and Chairman/Publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger are both gearing up to play the Grinch who stole Christmas and lay off a couple dozen staffers. That didn't keep them from stopping by the paper's front-page conference room Tuesday night, where the latest round of downsized journalists had gathered for a final goodbye. Neither addressed the crowd, but instead milled around and made small talk, according to one of the disappeared. The employees, who had accepted buyout packages, left the company by yesterday, many with two years of severance. The two executives will be making hard... New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405329/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:46:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404630/posts Today, we announced that Nielsen Business Media has reached an agreement with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a new company formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, including Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media Holdings has also agreed to acquire our Film Expo business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows. In addition, we’ve made the decision to cease operations for Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews. This move... Poynter Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404630/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:19:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403970/posts The Internet's already drawn plenty of business away from newspapers. But a new study says social networks and online memorials are now putting pressure on the institution of the newspaper obituary. The Northwestern University study says newspapers are still the most popular way to communicate news of a death. But study co-author Ian Monroe warns obituaries could move onto the Web as classified ads have done. The study notes that Baby Boomers are at a stage where they take a greater interest in obituaries. And so the study recommends that newspaper publishers avoid reducing space or staff devoted to obituaries.... Chcago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2403970/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:36:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402816/posts Falling home video revenue is decreasing jobs, film prod'n A regional economic group estimates that dollar DVD rentals from Redbox and others has cost the entertainment industry $1 billion and that the "ripple effect" will cost hundreds of millions more. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. study said the nationwide declines in home video revenue will cause an additional $500 million in losses as more than 9,000 related job cuts wipe out almost $400 million in wages, primarily in Southern California. The dramatic assessment comes amid growing popularity among recession-wracked consumers of ultracheap disc rentals offered by Redbox and... The Hollywood Reporter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402816/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:32:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401958/posts From Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Center, NBC brought Milton Berle, Jack Parr and Johnny Carson into the nation’s living rooms, then broadcast local news to New York City for decades. Last Thursday, it was a stage for a cable takeover as Comcast announced a plan to acquire NBC Universal. There, in Studio 6B, a town hall meeting for NBC employees opened with Jeff Zucker, the NBC Universal chief executive, introducing “our new friends from Philadelphia,” and closed with a formal welcome to the Comcast family by Ralph Roberts, the cable operator’s 89-year-old patriarch. Mr. Roberts received a standing ovation.... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401958/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 13:27:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400873/posts The New York Times on Friday said it probably will have to lay off newsroom employees, because it doesn't expect to get enough people to volunteer for buyouts. The paper in October announced plans to shed 100 jobs from its 1,250-person newsroom and said it hoped to achieve the reductions entirely through buyouts. Employees were told they had until Dec. 7 to decide whether to take the offer and that the paper would resort to layoffs if too few people volunteered. "We will not know until [Monday] how many Guild and excluded employees have opted to take buyouts, but it... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400873/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 12:26:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400015/posts As she prepared her daughter for college, Anne Sweeney insisted that a television be among the dorm room accessories. “Mom, you don’t understand. I don’t need it,” her 19-year-old responded, saying she could watch whatever she wanted on her computer, at no charge. That flustered Ms. Sweeney, who happens to be the president of the Disney-ABC Television Group. “You’re going to have a television if I have to nail it to your wall,” she told her daughter, according to comments she made at a Reuters event this week. “You have to have one.” But she does not, actually. For 60... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400015/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:26:10 GMT