Results tagged “media”

Since Rupert Murdoch reportedly has an "Ahab-like obsession" to destroy the NY Times and is rolling out a New York region section in the Wall Street Journal, the Times is apparently leaving nothing to chance. The Observer reports that Journal arts reporter Kate Taylor quit and is joining the Times: "Up until [Thursday], two sources said that Ms. Taylor was in the office making phone calls and sourcing up in anticipation of the New York section's launch next month. The Times, which has been under a hiring freeze for years, is clearly sending The Journal a signal by poaching one of its earliest hires." However, Times cultural editor Jon Landman claims the paper was interested in Taylor for "some time... You can't have too many good reporters." But one WSJ source said, "People here are fucking furious. She knows all the plans." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW]: Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has never liked the New York Times. In fact, ever since the Times editorialized against his bid to purchase the Wall Street Journal, Murdoch has had "an Ahab-like obsession" with destroying the Gray Lady, according to New York Magazine. And next month he hopes to plunge the final, fatal harpoon into her heart. more ›

A day after the New York Times Co. shocked skeptics by revealing it actually turned a profit last year, it appears there might be more layoffs at Gray Lady. The Wrap reports that despite the paper's seemingly improving economic state, when asked whether there will be staff cuts in 2010 chief financial officer James Follo responded: "I think we would expect that to be the case, yes." It's not clear whether or not the cuts will be in the newsroom, which last year lost popular writers including Jennifer 8. Lee to buyouts, and others including trend piece extraordinaire Allen Salkin to layoffs. The paper is expected to introduce a controversial paywall on its website in 2010.
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Attention journalism fans: The New York Times Co. actually made money last year. And that's even before everyone started refreshing nytimes.com every five minutes in hopes the "bombshell" Paterson story would drop. The Times reports that a slight fourth quarter uptick allowed the company to turn a "modest profit" of $19.9 million in 2009, after losing $57.8 million in 2008. more ›

The free ride's over (again) at the New York Times website. As expected, the Gray Lady's going to start making bitches pay for her services on the side of the information superhighway. Today the Times announced the details on its upcoming website pay wall; starting in 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month, then they'll be required to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. (Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.) According to this article on the Times website (copied and pasted below for you to read for free), the whole fate of the paper is riding on this one: more ›

After suspicious pasta salad (allegedly) took out fifteen New York Times employees who ate it in the paper's cafeteria, The Daily Finance had the bright idea to peruse the health inspection records of the Gray Lady's fancy office eatery. While the cafeteria's most recent inspection resulted in 10 violation points (lower than the city-wide average of 14 points), it's a horse of a different putrid color over at their printing plant in Queens. In February of last year it was cited for "evidence of roaches or live roaches in food and/or non-food areas," "conditions conducive to vermin" and improperly installed or maintained plumbing, earning it 18 violation points. That's not enough to shut it down, but apparently the Times thinks that's good enough for their blue collar workers. more ›

After threatening to pull its stations—and programs like the Sugar Bowl and American Idol— from Time Warner cable systems at the stroke of New Year's and then remaining on air while it extended talks, News Corp. has come to an agreement with Time Warner Cable over subscriber fees. However, neither side would disclose the terms of the agreement. more ›

It's a New Year's miracle: While News Corp. threatened to pull its stations from Time Warner Cable systems during subscriber fee negotiations at midnight, Fox remained on air. It turned out that two media behemoths agreed to extend talks. The Wall Street Journal reports they have "avert[ed] any programming disruptions for cable subscribers for the time being." more ›

Citadel Broadcasting, which syndicates Don Imus's radio show, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. The NY Times reports it did so "after agreeing to turn over control of the company to its creditors in exchange for reducing its debt. The filing by the company, which owns 224 stations across the country... was not unexpected but does reflect the troubles plaguing the radio industry amid steep declines in advertising revenue and big debt loads." The AP adds that Citadel also owns KABC-AM in Los Angeles, WLS-AM in Chicago, WABC-AM and WPLJ-FM in New York and KGO-AM in San Francisco and that "Citadel's WABC is home to several syndicated hosts, including Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Scarborough and Mark Levin." more ›

After months of talks, cable giant Comcast has made a deal with General Electric for NBC. According to the NY Times, "The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51 percent and G.E. owning 49 percent. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion. For now, the network will remain NBC Universal, but ultimately Comcast could decide to change the name." Fun facts: GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt and other execs "intend" to keep their offices at 30 Rock and want the GE logo to remain at the top of the building. more ›

After Adam Lambert's racy, same-sex kiss-and-simulated blow job performance on the American Music Awards, Good Morning America cancelled the singer's performance on the morning show. But now it turns out that GMA is welcoming admitted, convicted girlfriend-beater Chris Brown to the program next week. more ›

Sure, Rupert Murdoch wants people to pay for his content, but now he's definitely considering upping the ante. From the Media Decoder: "News Corporation...has engaged in early stage discussions with Microsoft about a pact to get paid from Microsoft to remove its news content from Google’s search engine... The Financial Times first reported on the discussions, which involve Microsoft possibly paying News Corporation to index its content on Microsoft’s search engine, Bing. The development has the potential that the newspaper industry could finally find a way to make online news lucrative." Wired, though, thinks it could be disaster. more ›

Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul-juggernaut, is going to end her successful daytime talk show when her 25th season ends on September 9, 2011. She will be making the announcement on her program today. As for her future, the NY Times says she's expected to "concentrate on the forthcoming cable channel that will bear her name... The move represents an enormous bet — that her popularity and golden touch with programming can sustain an entire cable channel and that she’ll remain a central cultural figure even without the mass exposure of broadcast television every day." more ›

According to a report from City Comptroller Bill Thompson's office, NYC has lost 30,000 jobs in "information services"—aka fields like traditional publishing, broadcasting and new media. According to the Post, "Thompson issued a report saying the industry -- one of New York's traditional leaders -- provided 192,300 jobs in September 2000. Two months ago, the number was down to 161,500." And the chief economist in the comptroller's office said, "The scary part of this is that not all of this is due to the recession." more ›

Last night, former CNN personality Lou Dobbs appeared on Bill O'Reilly Fox News program to discuss his departure from the cable news network. Dobbs blamed the new guy in the White House—and how CNN doesn't want to rock the boat, "You know, I discern more of a difference between then, which was under the Bush administration whom I was criticizing, and now, when it is the Obama administration and an entirely different tone was taken." more ›

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs resigned last night, telling the audience, "Over the past six months it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us, and some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible...." more ›

The Observer has compiled a list to compile a masthead for the New Yorker's massive staff, though noting, "Keep in mind that because of the unique, internal logic of the magazine, job titles are a strange thing—someone who may be a staff writer may have only contributed a single piece in the last few years." Gawker did some counting: "Total Number of 'Critics': 11; Total Number of Staff Writers: 66(!); Total Number of 'Editors' of One Sort or Another: 31..." The New Yorker has been generally exempt from Conde Nast's cost-cutting. more ›

New York magazine's feature on NY Times business reporter/Dealbook blogger/all-around wunderkind Andrew Ross Sorkin reports, "Sources say he earns $250,000, including a bonus that is based, in part, on the financial performance of the various DealBook properties (Sorkin disputes the number, but won’t be more specific). He is among the highest-paid staffers at the paper." Gawker, which is waiting for a comment from Sorkin, reads it this way: "Sounds an awful lot like a pageview bonus to us. Which is an ugly practice that distorts news judgment and induces reporters to chase down attention-grabbing and salacious gossip rather than substantive information and is the province of unscrupulous blogs that are killing journalism. And also the New York Times, apparently." more ›

In reporting its parent company's $35.6 million third quarter loss, the NY Times notes that it "collect[ed] more from readers than from advertisers, in an industry where advertising traditionally outweighed circulation in revenue by at least three to one. At the company’s New York Times Media Group, which includes The Times and The International Herald Tribune, circulation revenue reached $175.2 million in the third quarter, while ad revenue dropped to $164.5 million." Earlier this week, the Times announced 100 newsroom positions would be slashed. more ›

The New York Times announced today that it will cut 100 newsroom jobs—about 8 percent of the total—by year's end. In a memo to the news room, executive editor Bill Keller said, "Like you, I yearn for the day when we can do our jobs without looking over our shoulders for economic thunderstorms." Employees already took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year, which was intended to avoid layoffs. more ›

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters that the "Balloon" Boy incident of October 15, 2009 that riveted the world was a just a big ploy for attention (mission accomplished!), "It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show." He also said Richard and Mayumi Heene "put on a very good show for us, and we bought it." more ›

On Wednesday, Lazard Freres chief Bruce Wasserstein died, leaving questions about the fate of New York magazine. Wasserstein bought the magazine in 2003 for $55 million and an expert suspects he "invested much more money along the way. [If his heirs were to sell, they] would probably want a minimum of $75 million to $100 million." Even though "money-losing media vanity ownership is usually the exclusive preserve of the mature rich, not their progeny," Gawker wonders if his family will be less inclined to sell since they'll get an automatic $188 million payout from Lazard. more ›

Is the media frenzy over the balloon boy stunt making you sick? You're not the only one! Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene are very busy pimping themselves out to the networks, and they're not about to let their li'l star's stomach virus stand in the way of their precious 15 minutes. This morning Falcon—the six-year-old boy who was hiding in the attic while America was voyeuristically titillated worried sick that he was in a runaway helium balloon—vomited twice on two different talk shows this morning, just like a pussified wus. Here's the Today Show spew, at 5:50 in: more ›

The Daily News is so pumped about the first game of the ALCS that it put CC Sabathia on the front page—however, there's an unfortunately placed PC Richards sticker on the front page as well. more ›

After looking for bids since July, the NY Times Co. has decided not to sell the Boston Globe. The NY Times reports, "The Globe did not draw high bids, and the company chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said last month that the paper’s finances had improved enough that the company no longer believed it had to sell if the offers were not attractive enough." more ›

The New York Times thinks so; the company's own payment rules bar execs from getting over $3 million in bonuses and 400,000 stock options. Yet publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and CEO Janet Robinson have both been paid under a plan that allows for $3.5 million in bonuses and over half a million stock options. Maybe that seems a tad excessive, but it's been a stressful year for the Times execs, what with all the staff cuts and ad losses they've sustained, so leave Pinch alone! more ›

Everyone loves to "Keep fucking that chicken!" Well, at least say the bizarre yet irresistible catch phrase coined by WNYW Fox 5 anchor Ernie Anastos. If it's not Jon Stewart being jealous that Anastos got to use it first, then it's the Reverend Al Sharpton guessing that term's meaning. The Reverend told City Room, "It could be a kind of phrase: ‘Well, keep doing what you are doing. Keep going after it.' Even if you are tired or distracted, keep on doing that chicken, that kind of thing." We don't think fatigue or distraction will ever keep us from saying "Keep fucking that chicken!" (and then giggling for a few minutes). more ›

ABC has announced that Charlie Gibson will retire in January, to be replaced by Diane Sawyer as anchor of the ABC World News evening broadcast. The two had worked together closely since reviving Good Morning America in 1998; Gibson left that program in 2006 to take over ABC World News after Bob Woodruff was injured in Iraq and the network decided to replace his co-anchor, Elizabeth Vargas. Sawyer has long sought the anchor chair, so this must be exciting for her, though ABC now has some big shoes to fill at GMA. In email to his staff, Gibson wrote, "I love this news department, and all who work in it, to the depths of my soul... I have received much comment, and quite a few emails and letters referring to the signoff Eddie Pinder convinced me to use—wishing that everyone has had a good day. But the proudest part for me has been saying '...for all of us at ABC News...', since those words signify in my mind that I have been in a position to speak for an entire news department that I consider second to none." And, after the jump, video of a very giddy Sawyer the day after President Obama's inauguration: more ›

Governor Paterson was back at the scene of the crime today, attempting to wipe the slate clean and put the lid on what has been a disastrous campaign on his part of critiquing the "orchestrated" treatment of him from the media and how it illustrates that we are not in a postracial society. Paterson returned to the Errol Louis's radio show where he first made the remarks last week. Today he said, "I was wrong to get into an assessment of how the media views me. I do not think that race has anything to do with my poll numbers anything to do with my political issues in this day, and shouldn’t have said it. Straight out." more ›

After Governor Paterson has accused the media of racism as it details his political problems, more and more people are telling Paterson to stop. First it was President Obama—of course Paterson didn't pay any heed to that, later saying, "Part of what I feel is that one very successful minority is permissible, but when you see too many success stories, then some people get nervous,"—and other politicians and commentators. Now it's former NYC mayor David Dinkins, who says, "Definitely he should get off the racist thing. Right or wrong, it’s a fight you sure can’t win." more ›