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Report: Nielsen Mags Set to be Sold to Who's Who's Finkelstein (The Wrap)
The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek -- which all have been struggling mightily in the past year -- are set to be sold by Nielsen to James Finkelstein's News Communications Inc., owner of Who's Who publications and the D.C.-based trade, The Hill.
Zucker to Head New NBCU-Comcast Venture (Reuters)
Comcast Corp. and General Electric Co. have agreed to make NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker the head of their proposed joint venture, but the structure of a new board is still being negotiated. The two sides have been in talks to reach a deal that would give Comcast a 51 percent stake in the NBC Universal venture.
Ex-NY Post Editor Sues Paper, Claims Racism, Sexism (Reuters)
A former New York Post editor has sued the newspaper and its parent, News Corp., saying she was fired after complaining about sexism and racism, including a cartoon that appeared to liken U.S. President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. Huffington Post: Read the complaint.
Letterman Extortion Suspect's Lawyer Seeks Dismissal (CNN)
CBS producer Joe Halderman, who is accused of trying to extort $2 million from Late Show host David Letterman, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, where his attorney claimed that he was just trying to sell Letterman a screenplay. NYP: CBS has cut off the 48 Hours producer's paychecks, changing his status to suspended-without-pay effective two weeks ago. TVNewser: "Only one, maybe two" staffers at 48 Hours Mystery have contributed to the reported $100,000 defense fund for suspended 48 producer Joe Halderman, says Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of the CBS newsmagazine.
NBC Loss With Leno Nobody's Gain as Viewers Vanish (Bloomberg)
NBC's exit from scripted series to air The Jay Leno Show weeknights at 10 p.m. has left 1.82 million young viewers up for grabs, and CBS and ABC have let most of them slip away six weeks into the television season. NYT/Media Decoder: On Monday Leno again hit just a 1.2 national rating -- his lowest number to date -- in the 18-49 year-old age group.
The Last Magazine Standing (NYO)
Magazines are shrinking -- smaller staffs, fewer writers, fewer stories written per writer, fewer words for each story -- but The New Yorker continues to look, remarkably, about the same as it did five years ago, even as its parent company has cut hundreds of jobs and folded a handful of titles in the past few weeks.
Hearst May Have $1 Billion Pot of Money to Spend (NYP)
Hearst Corp., is sitting on a $1 billion war chest, insiders say -- one reason it has tapped an investment banker as its new chief financial officer. Mitchell Scherzer, it was announced Monday, will replace retiring senior vice president Ronald Doerfler.
AOL Cuts About 100 Staffers (Mediaweek)
AOL laid off roughly 100 employees yesterday. But the layoffs are not part of a much larger restructuring that the embattled Web company is planning for either later this year or early next year, according to sources.
Why Did Anita Dunn Step Down As White House Communications Director? (PRNewser)
The role in the Obama administration with the highest level of turnover is that of communications director. As news broke Tuesday that interim communications director Anita Dunn would be stepping down, the question remains: Why? Several scenarios have been tossed around.
Philadelphia Newspapers' Lenders Dealt Setback (WSJ)
A federal judge has reversed a ruling that would have allowed Philadelphia Newspapers LLC's lenders to bid the more than $300 million they are owed at a coming auction for the newspaper company. Unless they are willing to pay cash, the lenders are now blocked from participating.
Online Ads Are Booming -- If They're Attached to a Video (NYT)
At a time when other categories of advertising dollars are shrinking, video ads are booming. News sites are adding more video inventory to keep pace with the demands of advertisers, and benefiting from the higher cost-per-thousands, or C.P.M.'s, that ads on those videos command.
Poll Results: The Crowd is Pessimistic About Newspaper Paywalls (BayNewser)
With all the hubbub going on these days about paywalls, the mediabistro.com blogs decided to crowdsource a prediction as to whether these new payment systems would bring salvation to struggling newspapers -- or spell their doom. Sixty-five percent think it'll be the beginning of the end.
The Magazine Whisperer (The Daily Beast)
Fabien Baron has redesigned some of the most famous publications in the world, including Harper's Bazaar and French Vogue. Here he talks to Jacob Bernstein about reinventing Andy Warhol's Interview and doing a new book with Madonna.
Wolff: Murdoch Denies Existence of Internet (Newser)
Michael Wolff: It is quite possible that Rupert Murdoch doesn't realize -- and can't fathom -- that removing News Corp.'s newspapers from Google means that, in the largest part of the information market, they would cease to count, cease to be a factor, that their absence would not register as a hole. Slate: If it were in News Corp.'s economic interests to dig an Internet moat around its newspaper properties, Murdoch would have already done it rather than talk about it, writes Jack Shafer.
The Case for (Smart) Government Support of Journalism (CJR)
Editorial: We are not in favor of a bailout for the newspaper business, and we certainly don't support subsidies that would simply prop up the status quo. But it seems increasingly clear that sustaining the kind of accountability journalism that our society needs will require some creative help from Uncle Sam.
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