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Friday, September 28, 2001 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced the appointment of Robert F. Callahan to the position of Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Callahan, who was most recently president of ABC Broadcast Group, has more than 20 years experience in the media business. Callahan's appointment is effective October 1. Callahan spent five years at The Walt Disney Company, most recently serving as president of the ABC Broadcast Group. · USA Video Interactive Corp. has reached an agreement with Daniel E. Kinnaman under which Mr. Kinnaman has joined USVO as its Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing as of September 25, 2001. As Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Mr. Kinnaman will formulate and direct the sales and marketing strategy of USVO's StreamHQ applications and deployments worldwide. Most recently, Mr. Kinnaman was the Executive Vice President and Group Publisher for Professional Media Group LLC. · Ann McDaniel has been elected vice president-human resources of The Washington Post Company. McDaniel, 45, had been senior director of human resources for the company since January 2001. She succeeds Beverly R. Keil, who is retiring. In addition to her human resources responsibilities, McDaniel will oversee The Gazette, a Washington Post Company subsidiary that publishes community newspapers in Maryland, and Post Newsweek Tech Media Group, which publishes trade periodicals and presents trade shows for government and business technology markets. Before joining the corporate office of The Washington Post Company, McDaniel held various editorial positions at Newsweek for 17 years. · Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. announced that Darla D. Moore has joined the company's Board of Directors. Ms. Moore is a partner in Rainwater, Inc., a private investment firm. Rainwater, Inc. has primarily engaged in the founding and building of major companies in the health care service, oil service, natural gas, insurance, and real estate industries. · Congressional Quarterly Inc. (CQ), a political news source, announced the appointment of Keith A. White, 36, to the newly-created position of general manager. White will report to CQ President and Publisher Robert W. Merry. White will have accountability for all business operations of the core CQ enterprise-everything except the books publishing unit called CQ Press. White's jurisdiction will include marketing, circulation sales, advertising sales, product development, and financial services. · AOL Time Warner Inc. announced the appointment of Susan Brophy as the company's senior vice president for domestic policy, effective October 1. Reporting to Robert M. Kimmitt, AOL Time Warner's executive vice president for global and strategic policy, Ms. Brophy will serve as head of the company's Washington, D.C. office and oversee AOL Time Warner's domestic policy agenda. · United Business Media announced the appointment of Jonathan Newcomb as a non-Executive Director of the Company. Jonathan Newcomb is Chairman and CEO of Simon & Schuster, a US consumer book publisher and a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. He joined the Simon & Schuster Group in 1989 and his previous positions include President of the Professional Group and President and COO Simon & Schuster; he was promoted to his current position in 1994. Prior to Joining Simon & Schuster, Mr Newcomb held senior management positions in McGraw Hill, Standard & Poors and Dun & Bradstreet. · Scholastic Inc. a children's book publisher, has named David Krishock as President of the Scholastic Book Fairs. The announcement was made by Barbara Marcus, President of Scholastic Books to whom Mr. Krishock will report. David Krishock is succeeding David Yun, who is retiring after l3 years at Scholastic Book Fairs. · MyFamily.com Inc. has appointed Tom Stockham as the company's president and chief executive officer. MyFamily.com offers online family history information through premium services and online subscription offerings. In his new role Stockham will be responsible for the direction, overall financial performance and all operational functions of the company. · Knight Ridder announced the appointment of Lou Heldman, publisher of the (State College, Pa.) Centre Daily Times, as president and publisher of The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle effective Jan. 1, 2002. He replaces Peter Pitz, who is retiring. Heldman, 52, has been publisher of the Centre Daily Times since 1996. He was executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat from 1991 to 1996. Digital Publishing · McGraw-Hill Trade is offering to the public -- free of charge -- the newly released ebook for The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide to Healing, Recovery, and Growth by Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D. Dr. Schiraldi has taught stress management at the Pentagon. The ebook will be available Friday, September 28 from the following retailers: Amazon, McGraw-Hill eBookstore, Palm Digital Media and the Adobe eBookstore. Participating wholesalers who will carry the ebook include LightningSource, OverDrive ContentReserve, and Reciprocal. The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook will be available in Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader, Microsoft Reader, and Peanut Press Reader for handheld devices. The ebook was instantly produced to meet consumer demands in a joint effort between McGraw-Hill, NetLibrary, OverDrive and Content Directions, Inc. · E-Book Systems, Inc. and Intermedia Organizer, Inc. announced that the FlipAlbum product and Intermedia Organizer's iO will integrate to organize media and publishing software in the FlipBook format. In addition to this product integration, the companies will partner on marketing and sales efforts. · Microsoft made the new Microsoft Reader 2.0 available for preview at Seybold San Francisco 2001. The new version enables content on both Pocket PC 2002 devices and Windows-based PCs and laptops. Microsoft Reader allows up to four activations for mobile users, enabling people to share the same ebook on as many as four devices, such as a desktop PC at work or at home, a laptop and a Pocket PC. Other features include a user interface redesign, simplified and enhanced navigation, and new text-to-speech accessibility support. The new software will be offered free in early October for Windows-based PCs and laptops and included on all new Pocket PC 2002 devices. · ContentGuard, Inc., a provider of Digital Rights Management (DRM) Rights Language technology and OverDrive, a provider of ebook software services, announced a strategic alliance designed to augment the Rights Management solutions already offered by OverDrive through the use of XrML (eXtensible rights Markup Language). Under the terms of the agreement, OverDrive and ContentGuard will work together to deploy XrML into the authoring and conversion workflows already supported by the tools and services currently marketed by OverDrive. In addition, the two companies intend to partner on marketing their Digital Rights Management capabilities in the ePublishing arena. Content Deals · StartupJournal.com announced an agreement with Yahoo! Inc. to provide select entrepreneurial and franchising content on Yahoo! Small Business. Through the agreement, StartupJournal.com will provide Yahoo! Small Business users with business-related news and information from industry gurus, small business experts and corporate executives. In addition, StartupJournal.com will provide feature articles covering topics such as franchising, startup basics, technology and ecommerce, human resources, sales and marketing, legal and government, and finance. · Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a licensing agent for text reproduction rights, and CMP Media LLC announced that Rightslink, CCC's digital rights management solution, has been chosen for CMP Media's online publications, and will launch soon with InformationWeek.com and NetworkComputing.com. CMP Media will use Rightslink to instantly license the use of copyrighted articles over the Web, including delivery of the content itself directly to customers. · Media merchant bank and private equity investor Veronis Suhler has taken a majority interest in Xtreme Information Ltd, a UK-based business information services company that monitors television and print advertising, news, and advertising expenditures on a global basis. VS&A Communications Partners III, Veronis Suhler's private equity affiliate, has made the principal investment in Xtreme, taking a majority stake as part of a management buyout. Xtreme co-founder and CEO John Gordon will remain in place as the company's chief executive. Launches and Redesigns · Tthe Society of Professional Journalists has unveiled its newly enhanced website with features for journalists, students, the public and SPJ members. Some of the new features include: a media job bank, daily news about the media industry, an online version of SPJ's Quill Magazine, and SPJ members-only features. · Scholastic, a children's publishing and media company, launched News Zone Radio, a weekly Internet radio program for students in grades 3-8. A new 10-minute show can be heard each Monday via the Internet from the News Zone pages of Scholastic.com. Scholastic News Zone Radio can be used either at home or in school, by parents and teachers, to stimulate discussions with children on current news topics. · Amazon.com has launched the Amazon.com Travel store, featuring booking services and travel status information from Expedia, a travel and customer service provider. The store also offers discounted travel through Hotwire, cruise vacations through National Leisure Group's The Vacation Store, and thousands of travel-related items from Amazon.com stores. · Total Movie & Entertainment, a U.S. magazine with a free DVD offered in every issue, has relaunched at magazine stands nationwide. The latest issue provides movie and DVD reviews, interviews with filmmakers and stars, inside looks at special effects, and a free DVD in each issue. This issue's free DVD includes trailers, music videos, interviews, video articles and a feature-length presentation of George Romero's classic Night of The Living Dead. · The Motley Fool, Inc., has launched TMF Money Advisor, an online and offline service to help individuals make informed decisions about their money. The Motley Fool is joined in this new service by DirectAdvice, Inc., a developer of online financial planning and advice systems, and The Ayco Company, L.P., a company providing fee-based financial counseling. Miscellaneous · The Online Publishers Association (OPA) announced that Bankrate.com, Slate.com, Space.com and weather.com have joined OPA as charter members, expanding its current membership to 16. Elizabeth DeMarse, president and CEO of Bankrate, Scott Moore, publisher of Slate.com, John C. Ferrara, president and CEO of SPACE.com, and Debora Wilson, president and CEO of weather.com, will serve as representatives to OPA. · William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced that it has finalized a multi-book agreement with bestselling author Dale Brown. William Morrow has acquired world-English rights to publish Brown's next two hardcover novels, the first of which will be published in Spring 2003. HarperCollins UK, which currently publishes Brown, will publish the books in the U.K. In addition, William Morrow has secured the North American rights to four mass-market originals in Brown's Dreamland series. The deal was negotiated with Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group and Michael Morrison, Executive Vice President and Publisher of the Morrow/Avon division at HarperCollins. Henry Ferris, Executive Editor at Morrow/Avon, will serve as Brown's editor. · Salon Media Group, Inc., a new media company, announced that it has secured a second phase of new financing, totaling approximately $750,000 from four additional investors, led by Michael Fuchs, former head of Home Box Office (HBO) and Wasserstein Adelson Ventures LP, an existing Salon investor. This new cash infusion brings Salon's total financing round, completed on September 13, 2001 to approximately $3.25 million, consisting of 15 investors. Fuchs will join Salon's Board of Directors. Salon.com has been struggling financially and endured layoffs and salary reducations in 2001. · The New York Times announced that its Sunday Styles section will be distributed nationally beginning Sunday, September 30. The section is currently available in the Northeast only. · Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) and American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) have announced that they are moving the annual magazine conference to New York City October 21-23. The announcement was made by Nina Link, President and CEO, MPA and Cathleen P. Black, President, Hearst Magazines. Formerly scheduled for Phoenix, Arizona on October 21-24, the executive board of the MPA cited the economy and the events of September 11 as reasons for publishers and editors to be close to the center of the magazine and advertising communities at this time. · Adventive, a provider of email discussion list for business professionals, is switching to a fee-based subscription model. 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