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Wednesday, August 15, 2001 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Content Deals | Digital Publishing | People Launches and Redesigns | Movie Business · Reader's Digest magazine has named Jacqueline Leo Vice President and U.S. Editor-in-Chief. Leo joins Reader's Digest from Meredith Interactive, where she served as Vice President of Editorial Operations, Sales and Marketing. The appointment was made by Eric Schrier, Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. According to Schrier, Leo will focus her attention on the flagship magazine, increasing its impact and visibility. She will also help establish new editorial franchises built off of the Reader's Digest brand. · Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, professor of poultry science at Mississippi State University and a 30-year veteran of the poultry processing industry, has joined Poultry magazine as its new Executive Editor, effective immediately. In this role, Dr. Thaxton will advise on editorial content and direction, review contributed articles, write expert commentaries and represent the magazine at industry events. · Avon Products, Inc. has appointed Deborah I. Fine to lead the company's entry into a new business for teenage girls. Ms. Fine joins Avon effective September 4 as President, Teen Business, reporting to Andrea Jung, Avon's chief xecutive officer. In the newly created position, Ms. Fine, age 41, will be responsible for defining, developing and leading Avon's entry into the teen market. The new operation will be global in scale and focus on the needs and interests of teenage girls, including beauty and related products. Avon plans to launch the new business in early 2003. Ms. Fine has served in various senior executive positions at Conde Nast Publications. Most recently, Ms. Fine was vice president and publisher of Glamour Magazine from 1999-2001. · Sam Rosenwasser has been named president and general manager of WTSP-TV, the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. This is part of a restructuring and an expansion of his duties as a senior vice president of Gannett Television. Rosenwasser will replace Noreen Parker, whose future plans have not yet been announced. · Ardyth ``Ardy'' Diercks has been named president and general manager of W*USA-TV, the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. This is part of a restructuring and an expansion of her duties as a senior vice president of Gannett Television. Diercks will replace Dick Reingold, who has resigned to assemble a Washington-based group to acquire medium and small market stations. · Technology Review, MIT's technology magazine, has announced the appointment of Dean Grant to the position of Southeastern Advertising Manager. He will be responsible for print and online advertising sales for the award-winning magazine and its companion website, technologyreview.com. Mr.Grant will be based at the magazine's New York office, reporting to Mason Wells, New York Advertising Director. Mr. Grant was formerly Senior Sales Manager at Business 2.0 and prior to that, an Account Manager at Money Magazine. · CMP Media's TechWeb, has announced that award-winning technology writer, editor, and website builder Fredric Paul, formerly a CNET executive editor, has taken the helm as the site's executive editor. Paul brings more than 20 years of experience developing print and online content that helps individuals and enterprises understand and use technology. He replaces former director of editorial operations Aaron Fischer who leaves TechWeb to pursue his own Web consulting company. Paul will be responsible for TechWeb's content and day-to-day operations. Paul will report to Mike Azzara, Director of Content Development for CMP's BTG. TechWeb was recently re-launched to consolidate online content from multiple CMP Media Business Technology Group (BTG) publications, including InformationWeek.com, InternetWeek.com, and NetworkComputing.com. · Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing North America (VUIPNA) announced that Tom Petit has been named Vice President of Console. A 20-year veteran of the interactive entertainment industry, Petit will be responsible for developing and overseeing VUIPNA's console strategies for the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft platforms. He will report to Philip W. O'Neil, Senior Vice President of Sales, VUIPNA. · R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company has formed a new consolidated business -- R.R. Donnelley Print Solutions -- and promoted Ronald E. Daly to president. Reporting to chairman, president and chief executive officer William L. Davis, Daly is now responsible for the domestic business of the company's Book Publishing Services, Core Commercial Print, Specialized Publishing Services and Telecommunications businesses. R.R. Donnelley Print Solutions also includes Telecommunications' European business. Daly, 54, joined R.R. Donnelley in 1964 and has led the Telecommunications unit since 1995. · Dr. A. Blanton Godfrey was recently named founding editor of the Six Sigma Forum Magazine, a new quarterly publication offered by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Dr. Godfrey is currently dean of the College of Textiles and Joseph D. Moore Professor of textile and apparel management technology at North Carolina State University. The Six Sigma Forum Magazine will be the flagship publication of ASQ's new Six Sigma Forum. · Ziff Davis Media announced that James D. Dunning, Jr. has been replaced as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Avy Stein will serve as interim Chairman and CEO until a permanent replacement is appointed. Stein is a member of Ziff Davis Media's board of directors and a founding partner of Willis Stein & Partners, which acquired Ziff Davis Publishing from Ziff-Davis Inc. in April 2000. The company has engaged executive recruiting firm SpencerStuart to assist in its search for a permanent replacement. Digital Publishing · News Limited, the Australian arm of The News Corporation, and NewsStand, Inc., an Internet delivery provider, announced an agreement under which NewsStand, Inc. will serve as the global Internet circulation distributor for Australia's leading national newspaper, The Australian. Other News Limited publications will follow later. The Internet delivery comprises the entire newspaper -- text, headlines, color photographs, graphics, advertisements, insets and magazines. Readers access the publication by downloading it from the Internet to their personal computers. Content Deals · Cahners Business Information, a provider of business-to-business information and a member of the Reed Elsevier plc group, announced that it signed an agreement to sell Cahners Travel Group to Boston, Mass.-based Boston Ventures, an equity firm focusing on media and entertainment. As previously announced, Cahners is selling its travel properties as part of its ongoing effort to focus growth in strategic market sectors. It is expected that this deal will close in September. · Hungry Minds, Inc. is teaming with Yahoo! to provide content on My Yahoo!, the Yahoo! personalized home page service. Under the terms of the distribution agreement, Hungry Minds' free Dummies Daily email newsletters will become a primary source of content for the Daily Tips on My Yahoo!. Dummies Daily will initially provide information in 30 categories, from technology to a variety of lifestyle topics, such as travel, cooking and pet care. The For Dummies branding will be featured on My Yahoo! pages and will appear when users select to view the For Dummies content. Several links will drive traffic to the hungryminds.com bookstore and other Hungry Minds branded sites, including dummies.com, frommers.com and cliffsnotes.com. · Prodigy Communications Corporation and ScreamingMedia Inc. announced an agreement for ScreamingMedia to provide content to Prodigy's online services. ScreamingMedia will deliver custom content direct to Prodigy's members including business, careers, entertainment, technology, real estate, Spanish content and more from its global digital content network. Prodigy will use ScreamingMedia's Editorial Services in which specific, dedicated editors will choose the precise content needed for every channel category. In addition, Prodigy members will receive direct feeds from sources such as the Associated Press through ScreamingMedia's network. Launches and Redesigns · Modern Times Group MTG, an international media group, announced that Metro, a daily morning newspaper in Sweden, is now available on Viasat's digital television platform. Viasat's 486,000 digital subscribers in the Nordic region are able to access Metro Digital and the entire content of the Metro newspaper on their TV sets using their remote controls. · The Coriolis Group, LLC, a leading IT industry publisher and elearning company, Wednesday announced the launch of its new On Site technical reference series, designed to guide intermediate to advanced IT professionals through key projects with a focus on planning, deployment, configuration and troubleshooting, with visual tools and diagrams that help get systems up and running quickly. The first title in the series, now available, is Windows 2000 Professional On Site, with three more titles coming in September and others to follow. · Showtime Networks has announced that following a year's worth of strategic review, design enhancements and technical efforts, Showtime is relaunching its SHO.com website with a new look that further emphasizes the network's ``No Limits'' branding efforts. SHO.com will continue to focus on on-air programming and will continue to facilitate online communities. The site's redesign also adds features such as personalized daily programming guides, an online screening room, and updates existing features such as tell-a-friend and celebrity chat information. The new online screening room allows users to access streaming video clips from other Showtime websites, including episode teasers of Showtime Original Series such as Queer as Folk, The Chris Isaak Show, Soul Food and Resurrection Blvd. The sites also provides a forum for viewers to give feedback to the network and discuss issues with each other. · The TransMedia Group announced it would launch an online publication this September called DietarySupplementNews.com. The weekly Internet newsletter will be aimed at both consumers and the sprawling nutritional supplement industry and will report on the latest developments in nutrition, diet, fitness and alternative healthcare. Movie Business · Miramax Films announced its acquisition of the film rights to Allison Pearson's first novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, based on her popular weekly newspaper columns in the UK's Daily Telegraph. The announcement was made by Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. The book will be published in 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf in the US and in the UK by Chatto & Windus, a division of Random House. Pearson, who was named Interviewer of the Year at this year's British Press Awards, provides a fictional account, both humorous and moving, of the day-to-day life of Kate Reddy, a successful investment banker who struggles to balance her demanding job with an equally demanding role as a mother. Pearson is a columnist for the London Evening Standard, chief feature writer for the Daily Telegraph Magazine and appears regularly on TV and radio. · Miramax Films has also reached a multi-picture agreement with Oscar Nominated screen-writer Robert Nelson Jacobs to adapt David Liss' novel Conspiracy of Paper and to write and executive produce additional projects for Miramax, it was announced by Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. This agreement extends the previous multi-picture pact between Jacobs and the film company. Conspiracy of Paper is a thriller set against the very beginnings of the stock exchange in 1720s London. The film will reunite Jacobs with director Lasse Hallstrom and producer Leslie Holleran, the creative forces behind Miramax's Academy Award nominated Chocolat. The trio also collaborated on Miramax's upcoming release of The Shipping News, adapted from E. Annie Proulx's best-selling novel and starring Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, and Cate Blanchett. Jacobs is currently scripting two other feature films for Miramax including Solomon Grundy and The Water Horse. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
