http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/deathwatch/ en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:14:47 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415382/posts US Approved Flight 253 Passenger List, Source Says Mark Hosenball American security agencies reviewed the passenger list for Northwest Airlines flight 253 before it left Amsterdam for Detroit on Christmas day and informed the airline that the flight was cleared to take off for the U.S., a Dutch government spokeswoman tells NEWSWEEK. Judith Sluyter, spokeswoman for the NCTB, the office of Holland's national counter-terrorism coordinator, said that before Flight 253 left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, the passenger list was transmitted in full to U.S. authorities for review. Under procedures negotiated between the United States and various foreign countries, U.S. agencies --... Newsweek http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415382/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:14:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396281/posts BY JOHN LAIRD THE COLUMBIAN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Tea party patrons, rejoice! Unite! Or for some of you, I suppose, to arms! Your grass-roots movement has gained such momentum as to warrant a national blue-ribbon, round-table, fact-finding, rootin' tootin' hoedown! The first National Tea Party Convention is set for Feb. 4-6 at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center. For details, visit the Web site www.nationalteapartyconvention.com. Hurry, and get an early discount on registration: $558.95 (excluding hotel) to show up and protest excessive spending by the government. Headline speakers will include the electrifying and eloquent Sarah Palin, a renowned expert... The columbian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396281/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:15:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2369357/posts VANITY Fair yesterday took some of the deepest staff cuts at Condé Nast, but Editor Graydon Carter didn't deliver the bad news himself. Although Carter was said to have been at his restaurant, The Monkey Bar, Wednesday night, he was a no show in the office yesterday because he had jetted off on a vacation yesterday morning. Vanity Fair's layoffs were said to be in the double-digit range, and hit as high as senior editors and as low as fact checkers, and were deep, in part, because Carter largely ignored the edict to chop 5 percent late last year. New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2369357/posts#comment Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:50:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2366141/posts The New York Times reports today that the paper will cut 8 percent of its newsroom staff, or around 100 people by the end of 2009. Currently, the New York Times employs 1,250 staff members in the news department. The media company is planning to offer buyouts to both union and non-union staff and will need to implement layoffs if they can’t get enough people to participate in the buyout offer. TechCrunch.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2366141/posts#comment Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:37:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339176/posts The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows. Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media’s performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. That percentage had fallen sharply by the late 1990s and has remained low over the last... The Pew Research Center http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339176/posts#comment Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:44:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2332570/posts Visiting Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo (L) shakes hands with Fidel Castro, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, in Havana on Thursday. China Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2332570/posts#comment Sat, 5 Sep 2009 00:52:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2330323/posts More than $10bn in advertising disappeared from US media markets in the first six months of this year, according to new data that show intense pressure on media owners and ad agencies as they search for other business models. Preliminary figures from Nielsen show a 15.4 per cent year-on-year decline in US advertising revenues, the largest drop for any period in the decade since the marketing and media measurement group began compiling such reports. The study showed sharp differences in the behaviour of different media and product categories, with cable television the only medium on which ad spend increased, up... Financial Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2330323/posts#comment Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:36:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328315/posts Freedom could file bankruptcy this week - source * Freedom has reached agreements with lenders - report (Recasts; adds new sourcing) PHILADELPHIA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Freedom Communications Inc, owner of the Orange County Register newspaper, is expected to file for bankruptcy this week, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. Freedom, which has been majority owned for more than 70 years by the Hoiles family, has reached agreements with its lenders to restructure its debts, according to a report in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. The lenders include JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), SunTrust and Union... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328315/posts#comment Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:48:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2322753/posts A new picture of Fidel Castro has been published in a state-run newspaper, apparently showing Cuba's ailing former leader in much better health. The photograph in Juventud Rebelde, the Communist Youth newspaper, showed Mr Castro talking to Ecuador's left-wing president, Rafael Correa. Mr Castro, 83, was dressed more smartly than in other recent photos, wearing a white shirt rather than a tracksuit. He has not been seen in public since undergoing an operation in 2006. Mr Castro stepped down and his younger brother, Raul, took over his various offices. bbc http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2322753/posts#comment Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:14:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271987/posts The recent cases of a right-to-life extremist accused of killing an abortion doctor in Kansas and an elderly white supremacist accused in the fatal shooting of a Holocaust museum guard in Washington, D.C., match warnings in the report. It concluded individuals with white supremacist views, acting as so-called lone wolves, pose the most significant domestic terrorism threat because they are difficult for law enforcement to detect before they commit crimes. Right-wing extremism is not a liberal figment of the imagination. As the DHS report and recent incidents make clear, it is a growing threat and a valid concern for federal... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2271987/posts#comment Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:15:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2252654/posts I'm not going to complain about the latest price increases announced by the Boston Globe, since I'm on the record as believing that newspapers can and should charge a lot more for their print editions. But does it have to be so confusing? (snip) Over at the Boston Phoenix, Adam Reilly, ponders moving to online-only, and asks whether his readers will pay the higher price. My answer: I couldn't rely solely on Boston.com, the Globe's free Web site, because its ad servers are miserably slow. It's fine for reading a few stories, but not the whole paper. (snip) In such... Media Nation Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2252654/posts#comment Sun, 17 May 2009 15:06:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2243740/posts The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks. After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law. The move could amount to a negotiating ploy to extract further concessions from the Globe's unions, since the notice does not require the Times Co.... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2243740/posts#comment Mon, 4 May 2009 13:31:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2238666/posts USA TODAY -- 2,113,725 – (-7.46%) WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,082,189 -- 0.61% NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,039,031 -- (-3.55%) L.A. TIMES -- 723,181 -- (-6.55%) WASHINGTON POST -- 665,383 -- (-1.16%) NEW YOK DAILY NEWS -- 602,857 -- (-14.26%) NEW YORK POST -- 558,140 -- (-20.55%) CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 501,202 -- (-7.47%) HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 425,138 -- (-13.96%) ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 389,701 -- (-5.72%) DENVER POST (02/28/2009 to 03/31/2009) -- 371,728 -- N/A NEWSDAY -- 368,194 -- (-3.01%) DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 331,907 -- (-9.88%) MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE -- 320,076 -- (-0.71%) CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -- 312,141 -- (-0.04%) SAN FRANCISCO... Editor and Publisher http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2238666/posts#comment Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:01:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226940/posts William Dean Singleton, a newspaper publisher and chairman of the Associated Press, speaks for many of his comrades when he says online news aggregators are making him "mad as hell and we are not going to take it any more." Singleton and his colleagues threaten legal action against Web sites like Google, Drudge Report, Huffington Post and Digg -- the sites that have been linking to their newspaper stories without paying. But their righteous indignation is misplaced. Forget that these aggregators push vast amounts of traffic to their sites and readers to stories that would otherwise disappear without a trace.... MarketWatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226940/posts#comment Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:26:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226503/posts Uproar over 'news story' ad on front page of LA Times April 10, 2009 WASHINGTON (AFP) – An advertisement dressed up as a news story on the front page of the Los Angeles Times has reporters at the newspaper fuming and the publisher defending the move. The advertisement, for the NBC television series "Southland," appeared on page one of the Times on Thursday. Although it was labelled "advertisement," the ad resembled a news story complete with a bold-type headline. According to the blog MediaMemo, more than 100 staffers at the newspaper signed a petition protesting the appearance of the fake... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2226503/posts#comment Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:30:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2224825/posts Bank of America has sued The Columbian Publishing Co., the parent company of Vancouver's daily newspaper, to recover $15.4 million in unpaid debts and interest. The bank also seeks to foreclose on the newspaper's current headquarters through a sheriff's sale. The bank's suit, filed Monday in Clark County Superior Court, says The Columbian Publishing Co. has defaulted on $14.5 million it borrowed for working capital between 2006 and 2007. The company owes $498,419 more under a separate agreement tied to interest rate changes, according to the suit and bank spokeswoman Shirley Norton. As part of a 2006 loan, The Columbian... The Oregonian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2224825/posts#comment Wed, 8 Apr 2009 14:06:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218958/posts ~ EXCERPT ~ CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — The company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times and 58 other newspapers and online sites said Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218958/posts#comment Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:43:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2210189/posts I Diddit http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2210189/posts#comment Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:29:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207709/posts SEATTLE - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has chronicled the news of the city since logs slid down its steep streets to the harbor and miners caroused in its bars before heading north to Alaska's gold fields, will print its final edition Tuesday. Yahoo Tech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207709/posts#comment Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:11:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2202438/posts NEW YORK — The New York Times [NYT] Co. has sold 21 floors of its headquarters building near New York’s Times Square. The sale to investment firm W.P. Carey & Co. is for $225 million. The newspaper had said in January that it was in talks with Carey for such a deal. Like other publishers, it has been seeking different ways for raising cash to pay off debt as sales of advertising decline. It suspended its dividend in February. Bostonhearld.com via AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2202438/posts#comment Mon, 9 Mar 2009 13:44:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201697/posts Obama will use spring summit to bring Cuba in from the coldUS companies are queuing up as the president moves to ease restrictions on travel and trade, raising hopes of warmer relations and an end to the embargo Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent The Observer, Sunday 8 March 2009 President Barack Obama is poised to offer an olive branch to Cuba in an effort to repair the US's tattered reputation in Latin America. The White House has moved to ease some travel and trade restrictions as a cautious first step towards better ties with Havana, raising hopes of an eventual... Guardian.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201697/posts#comment Sun, 8 Mar 2009 03:48:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2199498/posts HAVANA – The ouster of Cuba's two most prominent younger leaders leaves more doubt than ever about who will guide the country once the Castro brothers and their gray-haired revolutionary contemporaries are gone. President Raul Castro is 77. His hand-picked No. 2, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, is a year his senior. And there are no obvious next-generation successors in the ranks of mostly obscure communist party officials, military officers and bureaucrats who were suddenly promoted this week in Cuba's largest leadership shake-up in decades. "This is the old guard, most of them are very traditional hard-liners," said Uva de Aragon,... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2199498/posts#comment Thu, 5 Mar 2009 02:12:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197911/posts It was announced this evening that the Philadelphia "Daily News" soon would no longer publish as an independent newspaper, but instead would begin printing as a separate "edition" of the Philadelphia "Inquirer". Both papers are owned by the same parent company which announced only last week that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In doing so the company insisted that the filing was only to reduce its debt load, and that current operations were financially strong for both papers - - - maybe not....... Philadelphia Channel 6 (ABC) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197911/posts#comment Tue, 3 Mar 2009 05:33:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197588/posts HAVANA – President Raul Castro abruptly removed some of Cuba's most powerful officials Monday, putting a personal stamp on the government in the biggest shakeup since he took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro a year ago. The changes replaced some key Fidel loyalists, including the longtime foreign minister and the secretary of the Council of State, with men closer to Raul. They also reduced the enormous powers of a vice president credited with saving Cuba's economy after the fall of the Soviet Union. But analysts saw no immediate indication that the changes are related to hopes for closer... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197588/posts#comment Mon, 2 Mar 2009 22:32:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197153/posts NEW HAVEN, Conn. — As sharp revenue reductions put the future of many U.S. newspapers in doubt, one idea gaining attention is the conversion of newspapers into tax-exempt nonprofits supported by large endowments. Although viewed by many as a long shot at best, such a radical change could be a savior for the industry and its vital role in a democracy. That's why the endowment model is drawing renewed attention as newspapers impose massive layoffs, scale back home delivery and make other drastic cuts to counter plunging advertising revenue amid a recession that has compounded struggles from the migration of... Fox News / AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2197153/posts#comment Mon, 2 Mar 2009 12:29:39 GMT