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Dealmaker, New York Owner Bruce Wasserstein Dies at 61 (WSJ)
Bruce Wasserstein, who helped define an era of aggressive Wall Street deal makers, died at 61 years old. His passing triggers a search for new leadership at Lazard Ltd., the 120-year-old investment firm he led, as well as at New York. NYT: "He had always been interested in journalism, an interest sharpened by being on the receiving end of it," New York editor Adam Moss said. "But he never used it to wield influence the way other powerful men would have, never tried to plant a story, never complained about anything we published." New York/Daily Intel: "New York could not have had a more perfect owner than Bruce. In every possible way, he will be missed." NYO: New York is owned by a family trust, and Wasserstein's children, according to reports, include Ben, Pam, Scoop, Jack, and Dash. Could one of them potentially assume the job of owning New York? NYP: Despite Wasserstein's personal attachment to New York, many think the money-losing magazine will eventually be sold. Sources say the magazine might end up in the hands of a group of insiders, or another wealthy investor.
Limbaugh Dropped From Group Seeking to Buy Rams (AP)
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a bid led by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts, but Checketts said that Limbaugh's participation had complicated the effort. TVNewser: Hours before his participation as a limited partner in a group vying to buy the St. Louis Rams was dropped, Rush Limbaugh decried his critics, including members of the cable news media.
Times Co. Decides Against Selling Globe (Boston Globe)
The New York Times Co. said it has decided not to sell the Boston Globe, saying the paper's financial performance had "significantly improved." The company had been exploring a sale of New England's largest newspaper and had received two bids to buy the Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
WSJ Takes Top Spot Among Daily Papers (E&P)
The Wall Street Journal announced its daily circulation rose modestly for the six months ending September 2009, a year-over-year increase of 0.6 percent to 2,024,269 copies. With the steep losses at USA Today this year, the Journal is now the top-circulating U.S. daily.
Bloomberg's Pearlstine: Buying BusinessWeek Matches Need -- And Desire (PaidContent)
"The more we thought about it, the more we looked into it, the more we saw the opportunity to invest in a weekly magazine about global business -- and that in doing so we could differentiate ourselves from what is typically thought of as competition for Bloomberg," says Bloomberg LP chief content officer Norm Pearlstine. NYP: Bloomberg LP's top brass met with the staff of BusinessWeek yesterday, reiterating a pledge that there will be "no mass layoffs." That hasn't stopped speculation that most of BusinessWeek's upper management will soon be looking for jobs. The Big Money: James Ledbetter thinks the real motivation behind Bloomberg's buy is Businessweek.com, which gets over five million uniques a month.
Redstone to Sell $1 Billion in CBS and Viacom Shares (NYT)
Yesterday, National Amusements, the Redstone family movie theater company that also serves as a vehicle to control Viacom and CBS, said it would sell nearly $1 billion worth of shares in the two media companies to pay down its large debt load, $500 million of which is due at the end of October.
New Rule Bans Some Afghanistan Casualty Photos (PDN)
The U.S. military in eastern Afghanistan recently changed its media embed rules to ban pictures of troops killed in the war. "Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action," says a ground rules document issued September 15 by Regional Command East.
Condé Cuts Hit Vogue (AllThingsDigital/Media Memo)
As expected, Condé Nast executives are swinging the layoff ax around the fabled magazine publisher. Yesterday's cuts were at Vogue, where at least six people have been let go. There will be more to come at the publisher.
Thomson Reuters to Buy Business Commentary Site (NYT)
Thomson Reuters has struck a deal to buy Breakingviews.com, the business commentary site that produces columns for The New York Times and several other newspapers around the world, the two companies announced Wednesday.
Nick Trautwein Is New Senior Editor at The New Yorker (NYO)
Nick Trautwein, an editor at Penguin Press, has just been hired as a senior editor at The New Yorker. He is replacing Emily Eakin, who is leaving the magazine for medical reasons. The New Yorker had to get a green light from the higher-ups at Condé Nast to fill the position since there is a hiring freeze, and it was granted.
Investigative Reporting in the Web Era (McKinsey/What Matters)
Paul Steiger: The destruction of the business model newspapers once depended on and the resultant shrinkage and even shuttering of papers around the country are robbing the American people of an important bulwark of our democracy.
Rolling Stone's Obama Cover Wins ASME Prize (FishbowlNY)
At the Magazine Publishers of America's Magazine Innovation Summit, ASME President David Willey announced the winners of its best cover of the year contest in 10 categories. The overall winner this year was Rolling Stone's cover featuring Barack Obama, which also won for the Best Obama cover category.
The Beast of New Journalism (FT)
When Tina Brown turned her back on magazines a year ago to launch a Web site called The Daily Beast, some scoffed in the media world. One year on, Brown can point to a top 10 position on Technorati's ranking of influential blogs, ahead of TMZ.com and Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish.
Walter Isaacson Doesn't Pay for Content -- Why Should You? (The Wrap)
There were plenty among the 400-plus media industry executives gathered at the Magazine Innovation Summit in New York on Tuesday echoing a suddenly popular battle cry: it's time for consumers to pay for the content magazines put online. But do those same executives pay themselves? The Wrap: Netflix founder to magazine publishers: "I'm your worst fear." The Wrap: "We could sell the movie rights to the McKinsey study," said Condé Nast group president David Carey.
McSweeney's Next Incarnation: An Old-Fashioned Broadsheet (NYT/ArtsBeat)
McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the 11-year-old literary journal, is known for experimenting with both content and packaging. Next month it will publish, of all things, a newspaper. That is, McSweeney's No. 33 is to be in the form of a daily broadsheet -- a big, old-fashioned broadsheet.
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