Media News

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

Jupitermedia Buys mediabistro.com for $23 Million (NYT)
Laurel Touby turned her popular cocktail parties into a high-traffic Web site for job-seeking media and creative professionals. Yesterday, she sold mediabistro.com, the company that sprang from those mixers, for $23 million. The Jupitermedia Corporation, an Internet research company that also sells photos and art, agreed to pay $20 million in cash and an additional $3 million over two years for the company.

Dow Jones Board Reaches Deal With Murdoch (NYT)
After months of back-and-forth negotiations, the board of Dow Jones voted last night in favor of recommending a tentative deal to sell the publisher of The Wall Street Journal for $5 billion to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The final decision will be made by Dow Jones's fractious controlling family, the Bancrofts, which could still seek to scuttle the sale. NYO: The vigil over the Bancrofts begins. AdAge: Murdoch's deal for the WSJ could be an opportunity for rivals. UPI: Dow Jones firings predicted under Murdoch.

PBS Leads Nominations for News Emmys (LAT)
PBS led the field yesterday when nominations were announced for the 28th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. The noncommercial network received 22 citations, compared with 19 for CBS, 15 for ABC and 14 for NBC. PBS' nominations included five for Nature, four for POV and three each for American Experience and Nova. B&C: CBS led the pack of commercial networks mainly based on 12 nominations received by 60 Minutes.

Cosmo Guy Tells All (NYP)
A former Cosmopolitan writer is hopping mad after an article he wrote in the July issue of Maxim blasting the advice offered in women's magazines ran his byline as "Anonymous." Ostensibly, Michael Callahan's name was removed to give the article an added sense of intrigue, as if it were written by a whistleblower shedding light on the shadowy world of women's mags.

Survey Finds More People Watch TV Online (B&C)
More consumers are accessing television and movies online. An estimated 81 million of the 129 million people who access the Internet via a broadband connection watched TV or movies online, according to a new study from Nielsen. The findings represent a 16 percent jump in broadband consumption in six months (from 70 million people in September 2006).

Gibson Gives ABC's Spirits and Ratings a Boost (LAT)
If the events of the last two years had unfolded differently, Charles Gibson would already be three weeks into retirement, readying for a trip this fall with his wife to Australia and New Zealand. Instead, the 64-year-old newsman is helming the year's top-rated network evening broadcast, whose steady audience gains have drawn attention from some unexpected quarters.

This Will Only Hoyt A Little … (NYO)
During the run-up to the war in Iraq, Clark Hoyt's Knight Ridder bureau in Washington won awards and press notices for its reporting on the administration's handling of the growing Iraq crisis and the war that followed. Now that Hoyt is on board as The New York Times' third public editor, it seems as though that the business of covering Iraq is the top priority of the bureau.

Potter Book Launch on Sabbath Angers Israeli Lawmakers (AP via USAT)
The synchronized worldwide launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows falls at 2:01 a.m. local time this Saturday — on the Jewish Sabbath, when Israeli law requires most businesses to close. Many bookstores are planning to launch the book on time anyway. That has drawn fire from Orthodox Jewish lawmakers, who threatened to fine any store that opens Saturday.

Meredith, Version 2.0 (AdAge)
Since Stephen Lacy became president-CEO a year ago, he has expanded Meredith's capabilities and reimagined its priorities. So far he has overseen the acquisition of three interactive ad agencies and, just in June, the health search engine Healia. The company bought one magazine, the hip do-it-yourself book ReadyMade, then closed another one, long-struggling Child.

Updating Your Portfolio (Reuters via LAT)
The main U.S. newspaper auditing group said Tuesday that it would begin tallying online readership as well as print-edition circulation in a boost to an industry where advertising sales have suffered from a migration of readers to the Web. The Audit Bureau of Circulations said it would release newspapers' print, online and combined readership figures.

PlanetOut to Cut Staff in Restructuring (AP via Forbes)
lanetOut Inc. said Tuesday its board approved a restructuring plan that will reduce the company's total work force by about 15 percent, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The online media and entertainment company, which focuses on the gay and lesbian community, is planning to close its international offices in Buenos Aires and London to streamline reduce expenses.

Wall Street Novel Bear-ly Fiction (Page Six)
Is the main character of Doug Stumpf's Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy a thinly disguised tale based on accused pervy billionaire Jeffrey Epstein? The novel, which centers around rogue trader "Jeff Steed" and an insider-trading scandal at the fictitious firm of Medved, Morningstar & Bigelow, reminds some readers of Epstein and his departure from Bear Stearns in the early 1980s.

Oprah to Raise Money for Obama (AP)
Forget the girl of YouTube videos. The real Obama girl is doing her part for the candidate. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey plans to hold a Sept. 8 fundraiser for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama at her palatial estate near Santa Barbara, Calif., according to campaign spokesman Dan Pfeiffer.

Tim Russert Follows His Own Compass, Too (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: If you really want to get an impression of the 57-year-old Russert, understand his affection for "Cool Hand Luke," the classic Paul Newman film from 1967. "It's my favorite movie," a grinning Russert told me. "I've seen it 50 times." He explained: "It tells the story of the consummate outsider who had an instinct for people and followed his own compass."

In China, TV Nets Love Foreign Faces (CSM)
If you've got the looks, the talent, and the Mandarin, forget Hollywood — the Chinese entertainment industry wants you. And even if you're a foreigner in China who doesn't have any of those things, don't worry. You've got a decent chance of getting on television, anyway.