Media News

Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Newsfeed via email.

CNN Gave Dobbs $8 Million to Leave (NYP)
CNN gave Lou Dobbs an $8 million severance package to leave. "They wanted him out," according to a source. Dobbs, who a source said had a year and a half to go on his $12 million contract, shocked viewers last Wednesday by announcing he was quitting. AP: Dobbs says his departure from CNN was "amicable."

Comcast's Deal With GE for NBC Universal Could Come This Week (Daily Finance)
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, and General Electric, the giant industrial conglomerate, are finalizing an agreement that would create a new media titan anchored by NBC Universal. The deal would instantly remake the entertainment industry landscape. WSJ: A Comcast-NBC deal would draw lengthy scrutiny in Washington. NYP: Vivendi sets a high bar on NBCU. LAT: Comcast aspires to be a major global communications player.

At Bloomberg, Modest Strategy to Rule the World (NYT)
"We want to be the world's most influential news organization," says Andrew Lack, who oversees Bloomberg's television, radio and dot-com endeavors. Very clear. The most influential. On the planet. It's a goal several other Bloomberg executives have already mentioned to a pair of visitors.

Ashleigh Banfield's Next Stop: ABC News (TVNewser)
Ashleigh Banfield, who made a name for herself earlier in the decade as an anchor/war correspondent on MSNBC, will be joining ABC News. Banfield, who has been an anchor at CourtTV/truTV since 2005, is expected to join ABC News next year.

About Half in U.S. Would Pay for Online News, Study Finds (NYT)
Americans, it turns out, are less willing than people in many other Western countries to pay for their online news. Among regular Internet users in the United States, 48 percent said in a survey, conducted in October by the Boston Consulting Group, that they would pay to read news online.

NBC's Adventurous Foray into Repurposed Local News (NYO)
A newfangled NBC show called Daily Connection is arguably the first show of its kind: a network-produced, "local" news show that is largely created at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City and yet airs in a local news market, several hundred miles away.

Tribune Co. Hopes to Emerge From Bankruptcy by May 31 (Chicago Tribune)
Tribune Co. on Friday asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to give its management team until March 31 to craft a plan to exit Chapter 11 without interference from other parties. If all goes according to plan, Tribune Co. indicated it would emerge from bankruptcy by May 31.

NYO Exec Editor Benson Leaving (Politico)
Josh Benson, executive editor of the New York Observer, will be leaving the paper at the end of the year. Benson said he'll be joining outgoing editor Tom McGeveran on a new venture but declined to get into details because "they're in the middle of talking to a number of parties."

Jon Gosselin Sues TLC, Citing Child Labor Laws (AP)
Jon Gosselin has filed a counter lawsuit against the TLC network, claiming television producers violated Pennsylvania's child labor laws in filming the hit reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8 and are preventing him from working. The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages.

Why News Corp and Murdoch Won't Quit Google (AdAge)
Abbey Klaassen and Nat Ives: Pulling media sites out of Google search results is a bold idea, but there are many reasons to think it's not the future of the Web. And if it's not the future of media companies as a whole, it's probably not even the future of News Corp. Telegraph: Murdoch is reportedly prepared to remove News Corp's content from Google "in months."

Growing Pains at Hulu (Mediaweek)
Hulu is starting to show signs of why it's not easy to run a joint venture between competitors. Recently, the popular video site's various parents have sent mixed messages about Hulu's future business model -- and whether or not it will erect some sort of paid subscription wall.

Google Books: Scan First, Ask Questions Later (BusinessWeek/TechBeat)
In a revision to the Google Books Settlement filed in federal court late Friday night, Google and the Authors Guild made concessions to industry groups, regulators and others who have vocally opposed the plan. But the search giant refuses to budge on one of the agreement's most controversial points.

Miami Herald to Launch Hyperlocal Web Network (E&P)
The Miami Herald is the latest metro daily to join the hyper-local Web world, with plans to start a network of online sites focused on five of its communities before the end of 2009. The sites will be run by local residents or organizations that range from an ex-Herald reporter to a community foundation.

How Memoirs Took Over the Literary World (Salon)
Laura Miller: Has the memoir become the "central form" of our culture, as Ben Yagoda insists in his breezy new consideration of the form, Memoir: A History? What is it about the memoir in its current form that makes it simultaneously so irresistible and so annoying?

New Detroit Daily to Launch (E&P)
Publishers of The Detroit Daily Press said at a news conference Friday that they will launch a third Detroit-area daily through newsstands on Nov. 23, with home delivery to commence a week later. Brothers Mark and Gary Stern plan to distribute 200,000 copies of their first edition in three counties.