Media News

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J.P. Morgan Is Nation's No. 1 Publisher (NYP)
Thanks to the sagging economy, which has cratered several media giants leaving the lender in the driver's seat, J.P. Morgan now holds sway over Readers Digest, Source Interlink Media, and American Media Inc. -- which have combined revenues of about $5.04 billion. That's more than Time Inc.

More Advertisers Bolt Glenn Beck (AP)
A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox, and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Glenn Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. AdAge: Could Glenn Beck be killing off an entire cable genre?

Tribune Completes Sale of Cubs for $845 Million (Chicago Sun-Times)
Tribune Co. at last made it official Friday -- it has sold the Cubs to the Ricketts family. The company said the deal was for $845 million and has Tribune holding on to a five percent ownership stake. The sale includes Wrigley Field and Tribune's 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Dow Jones Weighs Sale of Stock-Index Operation (WSJ)
Dow Jones & Co. has been sounding out potential buyers for the company's stock-market indexing business, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that could result in the sale of the storied Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Slate Kills 'Today's Papers,' Introduces New News Aggregator (Slate)
David Plotz: The heart of "The Slatest" is the Slate Dozen: A list of the 12 most important news stories, blog entries, magazine features, and Web videos of the moment. The Slate Dozen is published three times a day during the week: at 7 a.m., at noon, and at 5 p.m.

Sun-Times Media Group Nearly 'Administratively Insolvent' (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago's Sun-Times Media Group Inc. burned through another $3.8 million in cash in July, draining its dwindling reserves and turning up the heat on management's attempts to sell the company out of bankruptcy court.

Hallmark Channel Facing Major Problems (NYP)
Although Hallmark Channel is known for uplifting family fare, its own story could have a less happy ending. Crown Media Holdings, the network's parent, is undergoing a painful process of restructuring its balance sheet at the same time the channel is attempting to revamp its family-oriented programming.

Facebook Plans to Boost Staff 50 Percent This Year, Zuckerberg Says (Bloomberg)
Facebook Inc. plans to expand its staff by as much as 50 percent this year as it benefits from a surplus of engineers amid the recession, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said. The Web site, which has 1,000 employees, will build its workforce at a slower pace than typical startups, Zuckerberg said.

New York Observer Starts a Paper on Real Estate (NYT)
The Commercial Observer, a weekly newspaper on the commercial real estate market in New York City, will be published starting Sept. 15. The project combines two elements -- a niche topic and a local focus -- that analysts say have become central to success in a deeply troubled newspaper industry.

Journalists Left Out of the Health Care Debate (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: The debate over health-care reform has severely tested the media's ability to untangle a complex story. In many ways, news organizations have risen to the occasion; in others they have become agents of distortion. But even when they report the facts, they have had trouble influencing public opinion.

Dowd: Is Anna Wintour Human? (NYT)
Maureen Dowd: [Anna Wintour is] a sacred monster, an embodiment of the highest standard of style, and we don't expect our monsters to be nice. She dresses down one editor for "sameness," deems a Sienna Miller cover photo too toothy, and tells designers they should "edit" and be more exciting.

Mark Zuckerberg: The Post-Content King as Future of Media (AdAge)
Simon Dumenco: There will continue to be assorted corporate operators of piecemeal digital-media properties, and guys like Nick Denton of Gawker Media on the indie-entrepreneurial side who will live well. But the "Citizen Kane"-esque information baron of our collective imagination is done for.

Is ESPN The Mag Committing 'Publishing Suicide'? (The Wrap)
Dylan Stableford: ESPN The Magazine is offering its two million subscribers the chance to extend their subscriptions for a year for $1. What ESPN is doing here gives the impression -- to mix sports metaphors -- of a desperate, Hail Mary heave at the buzzer.

CPMs Are Set for a Rebound -- With Niches (MIN)
Steve Smith: Adify is reporting that CPMs in some vertical categories -- namely sports, real estate, and entertainment -- are bucking the conventional wisdom about dropping digital ad rates. CPMs on real-estate advertising have improved over 100 percent between late last year and second-quarter 2009.

Revolving Door Newsletter: Marie Claire Accessorizes With New Staff (mediabistro.com)
Marie Claire has hired Amanda Hearst as associate market editor, where she'll report to Nina Garcia. Additionally, Taylor Tomasi, previously accessories director at Teen Vogue, joins Joanna Coles' publication as style and accessories director.