Media Audit

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has announced that it will only publish three days per week — Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday — starting in the fall. Under a new company, the NOLA Media Group, the paper will focus its energies on digital.

The company frames the news as progress; the company is doing this to keep up with the new wired New Orleans news consumer. But it does acknowledge that “upheaval” in the newspaper industry contributed to the decision. And there will be layoffs.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Facebook Camera! But, Facebook just bought Instagram. What does it all mean? What’s the media saying about it? Everything. Nothing. Whatever. Our analysis in seven sentences:

Feed, camera, roll, tap tap, “like,” and comment.

Facebook has learned a lot from Instagram but it still may not really know what it’s doing with Instagram.

It’s both better and worse than Instagram at the same time.

Facebook is hanging on to iOS and this makes you feel “like you’re not missing anything.”

Facebook Camera is winning.

Instagram is for foodies and rappers, but it’s not a “niche” thing. Facebook Camera is for everyone else.

[Video via]

Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Caller will be giving away a gun every week until Election Day (November 6), an abhorrent promotional stunt to increase subscribers and, no doubt, drum up some attention.

The website is giving away a FMK9C1, which comes in three colors, is engraved with the Bill of Rights, and, of course, was made in America. That works out to 25 guns.

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ABC News will launch a nine-week hour-long program called Good Afternoon America, an extension of GMA, starting July 9. Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer will host with special appearance by other GMA newscasters. The show will air at 2 p.m. ET.

And NBC News anchor and TODAY show weekend anchor Amy Robach has moved toABC News.

The magazine cover takes on renewed significance. [via AdWeek]

Katie Couric at the University of Virginia commencement: ““Some said I lacked ‘gravitas,’ which I’ve since decided is Latin for ‘testicles.’” [via TVNewser]

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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has purchased 63 newspapers from Media General, a $142 million deal that includes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Winston-Salem Journal. Berkshire Hathaway isn’t new to the newspaper business. It already owns Buffalo News (New York), has a stake in the Washington Post, and owns the Omaha World-Herald.

Berkshire Hathaway has also extended a $445 million loan/line of credit to Media General, which could lead to a 20 percent stake in the company. Media General still owns its Tampa, FL papers, including the Tampa Tribune.

“In towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper,” Buffett said. But he’s also looking at the bottom line. With the diminished sale price, Berkshire Hathaway could also make a pretty penny on his investment.

One analyst, Barry Lucas from Gabelli & Co, says the deal is “certainly in keeping with the type of financial transaction Warren’s known for.”

Berkshire Hathaway is also the parent company for news distribution company Business Wire.

After last week’s much-discussed TIME magazine breastfeeding cover, Newsweek tries to drum up some chatter with this week’s cover, declaring President Obama the first gay President.

After being pulled from the schedule for the rest of May, newsmagazine Rock Center with Brian Williams is on the fall schedule. [via]

Us Weekly is coming to the iPad.

Rebekah Brooks, former CEO of the British division of News Corp, will find out tomorrow if she will face charges related to the phone hacking scandal.

TV broadcasters are taking on the new Barry Diller-backed Aereo service, which would bring televisions stations to paying customers. New York magazine has a big feature about Diller and Aereo this week.

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The TIME magazine cover of 26-year-old mom Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her three-year-old son has sparked literally hundreds of media stories discussing both the photo itself and the issue it addresses “attachment parenting.” But unlike so many other public conversations, this one appears to be generating actual discussion rather than devolving into vitriol and backlash.

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The New York Times started a new biweekly video series today, all about street style. The premiere episode profiles Fort Greene, Brooklyn. [h/t]

Separately, the Times has debuted ads to up its thriving digital subscriber numbers. And some of its reporters appear in a video urging the paper to settle a contract dispute with staffers.

Tom Brokaw thinks the White House Correspondents Dinner is too much of a “glittering event.” Fox News’ Ed Henry, who is also the president of the White House Correspondents Association isn’t opposed to change.

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Among the 6,000-plus pages of documents that were gathered during the operation that killed Osama bin Laden is a letter from al-Qaida spokesperson Adam Gadahn written in January 2011 in which he goes into a detailed assessment of American media outlets.

“As for the neutrality of CNN in English, it seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others (except Fox News of course),” Gadahan writes to an unknown recipient. The letter was one of many released by the Combating Terrorism Center yesterday.

He goes on to say that MSNBC “may be” objective, but he’s bothered by the network’s decision to fire Keith Olbermann and Octavia Nasser for expressing their opinions; 60 Minutes has a good reputation; and ABC could be “one of the best channels” because it heavily promoted an interview with “the Shaykh.”

The letter continues:

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Everyone knows about the upfronts, which typically give broadcasters the chance to speak with media buyers about all the ad spots they should be purchasing. However, the proliferation of digital has shined a renewed spotlight on the ”NewFront.”

NBCUniversal has announced a ton of new digital content for everything from the Golf Channel, CNBC, and The Weather Channel to Daily Candy, Today.com, and Fandango. The digital offerings have positioned a digital ad buy and the traditional broadcast ad purchase as an integrated investment. NBCU’s NewFront event (coverage here and here) had celebs in moderation and did away with screenings, but there were tons of announcements made about some of the new options available.

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