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Friday, March 15, 2002 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Primedia, Inc., a targeted media company, announced that magazine publishing industry veteran Ellen Abramowitz, 43, has been appointed publisher of Seventeen magazine. In her new position, Ms. Abramowitz will oversee all aspects of Seventeen's advertising sales and marketing. Ms. Abramowitz will work closely with Diane DePaul, 38, who was recently promoted to associate publisher of the magazine. Ms. Abramowitz will report directly to Linda Platzner, president and group publisher of the Primedia Magazines Teen Sales and Marketing unit. · 101communications announced that Sheryl Katz has been promoted to the new position of Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer and General Counsel. 101communications is an integrated media company targeting information technology professionals. Katz has been with 101 since its founding in 1998, most recently serving as Vice President, Information Technology and General Counsel. In her new role, she will be responsible for web development, the company's e-product strategy, the IT systems and staff and, in her role as general counsel, all legal needs of the company. · HarperCollins Publishers announced that publishing industry veteran and journalist Maureen O'Brien will join the company's Morrow/Avon division as an executive editor on April 1. O'Brien will specialize in the acquisition of commercial nonfiction and fiction projects for the entire division, and will report directly to Morrow/Avon Publisher and Executive Vice President, Michael Morrison. Formerly with Hyperion, O'Brien acquired works by such authors as Bill Cosby, Liz Smith, Malachy McCourt, Bobby Flay, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Gladys Knight, Rickie Lee Jones, Edward Burns, Loretta Lynn and Faith Popcorn. She also edited the PBS companion volume, The Irish in America, and the official 30-year retrospective of the award-winning Sesame Street television series, entitled Sesame Street: Unpaved. As a journalist, O'Brien is widely known for having worked at Publishers Weekly as a long-time news editor and creator of the magazine's "Hot Deals" column. She is also a veteran of the New York Post, where she created the newspaper's "Media Ink" column. · The Boston Globe announced that it has named Gregory L. Thornton as Senior Vice President of Employee Relations and Operations -- effective March 18, 2002. Thornton, who currently handles all of the newspaper's labor relations issues and serves as the newspaper's chief negotiator in labor matters, will assume additional duties overseeing all production responsibilities, including the Globe's pressroom and mailroom operations, and plant management. He will report to the Globe's President, Richard J. Daniels. Vice President of Production, Michael A. Ide, will report to Thornton in his new role. · IDT Corporation has unveiled its strategic plan for its Ventures division and announced that the unit will change its name to IDT Media. The company also announced the appointment of a veteran media executive as the new CEO of IDT Media. To help implement IDT Media's strategic plan, Mitch Burg, former President/COO of The Media Edge, has been named CEO of the division. · McGraw-Hill Education has announced the creation of a new position, senior vice president, Public and Government Affairs. The new position reflects the company's commitment to ensuring that McGraw-Hill Education's activities are aligned with the evolving marketplace, which includes increased emphasis on education and accountability at the federal and state levels and the recently passed "No Child Left Behind Act." Roger R. Rogalin has been appointed to the new position. He will report to Robert E. Evanson, president of McGraw-Hill Education. For the last five years, Mr. Rogalin has been president of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Julie McGee, president of Basal and Test Publishing, will assume direct responsibility for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill until a successor is named. In his new position, Mr. Rogalin will direct communications, government affairs, and community relations for McGraw-Hill Education and all of its individual units. · The New York Times announced that Roger Cohen, acting foreign editor, has been named foreign editor effective immediately. Mr. Cohen, 46, was named acting foreign editor for The New York Times on September 10, 2001, having been named deputy foreign editor the prior month. He previously served as bureau chief of the newspaper's Berlin bureau since September 1998. He had been a correspondent in its Paris bureau from June 1995 to August 1998, the Times's Balkan bureau chief based in Zagreb from April 1994 to June 1995 and its European economic correspondent based in Paris from January 1992 to April 1994. Before that, he had been a media reporter since joining The Times in January 1990. · Tribune Interactive, Inc. and Le Monde Interactif have joined the Online Publishers Association as its two newest members, expanding its current membership to 19. The OPA also announced that Le Monde will be assuming a primary role in expanding the organization's activities in Europe. David D. Hiller, president of Tribune Interactive, and Bruno Patino, CEO and publisher of Le Monde Interactif, will serve as representatives to OPA and were elected to the Board. · Fashion Wire Daily, a syndicated newswire service dedicated to fashion, beauty, and celebrity style, announced the appointment of Lynn Krominga as chief executive officer. In her new role, which is effective immediately, Krominga will oversee all operations of the company. Krominga has extensive experience in corporate management, most recently at Revlon where she held a number of senior positions including executive vice president of Business Development, founder and president of the Licensing Division, and chief legal counsel worldwide. · John Sykes has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Infinity Radio operations of Viacom Inc., it was announced by Mel Karmazin, President and Chief Operating Officer of Viacom. Mr. Sykes was formerly President of VH1 and CMT: Country Music Television, a 24-hour country music channel. Both networks are part of Viacom's MTV Networks Group. · Books 24x7, a subsidiary of SkillSoft Corp. and the developer of online referenceware for IT and business professionals, announced that R. Scott Doan will join the company as director of library sales. Doan has been active in digital library initiatives over the past seven years and has worked with organizations such as the American Library Association, the Public Library Association, the Canadian Library Association and the International Federation of Library Associations. He will lead the company's sales and marketing activities for public, private, and academic research libraries. Digital Publishing · Texterity, Inc., a provider of electronic publishing services, announced its closing of $2.7 million in Series A financing. The capital enables Texterity to increase investment in technology development and expand its sales and marketing activities. Brook Venture Fund and Venture Capital Fund of New England ("VCFNE") were the lead investors. Texterity offers TextCafe, an ebook conversion and logistics service, and is expanding into additional markets including financial publishing and wireless information delivery. Texterity recently introduced the E-Galley service, which enables publishers to distribute pre-production books to reviewers, bookstores, libraries, and other customers and partners. Texterity also announced that it is providing conversion and validation services for Baker & Taylor's ED(TM) system. · The Online Publishers Association (OPA) announced that Tribune Interactive, Inc. and Le Monde Interactif have joined as its two newest members, expanding its current membership to 19. The OPA also announced that Le Monde will be assuming a primary role in expanding the organization's activities in Europe. David D. Hiller, president of Tribune Interactive, and Bruno Patino, CEO and publisher of Le Monde Interactif, will serve as representatives to OPA and were elected to the Board. · Lightning Source Inc., a provider of digital content management solutions to the book industry and Amazon.co.uk, have expanded their digital services partnership, with the introduction of a direct print-on-demand and fulfillment arrangement. When Amazon.co.uk customers place an order for a book that is in the Lightning Source Digital Library, Lightning Source will print the titles "on demand". Once ordered, the books will be printed and sent by Lightning Source direct to the Amazon.co.uk Milton Keynes Distribution Centre for shipment to customers. Content Deals · Knowledge@Wharton, an online research and business analysis journal published by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, announced that its content soon will be available to Spanish and Portuguese speaking readers around the world through a collaboration with Universia.net, a scholarly Web portal with more than 450 partner universities in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. As part of the agreement with Universia.net, Knowledge@Wharton will collaborate to create an Internet-based service to distribute business and education content from Wharton as well as from Universia.net's partner institutions. The content will be presented in English, Spanish, and eventually Portuguese, and will be supported by Universia.net and corporate sponsorships. The site, which will be launched in the fall of 2002, will provide articles and research papers in its database from existing Knowledge@Wharton content as well as articles uniquely created for the collaboration. · MediaBay, Inc., a provider of spoken audio products, announced that its Radio Spirits subsidiary -- a distributor of classic radio programs -- has obtained exclusive rights to the entire catalogue of The Abbott & Costello Program. Abbott & Costello were one of the greatest comedy teams in the history of show business and their hilarious bantering, was perfectly suited to radio. · Dolan Media Company said it had acquired the Colorado Springs Daily Transcript from the Bernheim family, owners of the Pioneer Printing & Publishing Co. The Daily Transcript is a 95-year-old business-oriented court and commercial newspaper. The announcement was made jointly by James P. Dolan, president and chief executive of Dolan Media, and John Bernheim, president of Pioneer Printing & Publishing Co. Dolan said operations of The Daily Transcript would be merged with Dolan Media's existing Colorado Springs Business Journal and Pueblo Business Journal. Daily newspaper operations will move to existing business journal offices at 31 E. Platte Ave. in downtown Colorado Springs and the Transcript will remain a five-day-a-week daily newspaper. Launches and Redesigns · CMP Media LLC announced that Dr. Dobb's Journal magazine is now being published in Spain under a licensing agreement with MKM Publicaciones S.A. Serving the needs of software developers and development managers, Dr. Dobb's Journal has a US monthly circulation of 120,195 readers. In addition to the print edition, Dr. Dobb's Journal supports the software-development community with websites and information tools such as CD-ROMs. Dr. Dobb's Journal Espana will carry Dr. Dobb's Journal U.S. articles, along with local editorial and information on the Spanish language software-development market. Frequency will be monthly with a launch date of March 11, 2002, and with a controlled circulation of 15,000. The publication will also be available via newsstands. · Scholastic Inc., a children's publishing and media company, announced this week the launch of its online store for teachers in grades K-8. The online store will offer over 2,000 products from Scholastic, Tom Snyder Productions, Educational Insights and Grolier including professional books, teaching resources, supplementary materials and leveled books, organized by grade, curriculum, theme and specialty areas. · The Sporting News and Trivia Shootout.com LLC, a producer of interactive trivia games, has announced the launch of a new beat the clock trivia game available on the Internet through sportingnews.com as well as triviashootout.com. · Mondo Times is a new worldwide media guide covering over 13,000 media outlets in 211 countries, organized by location and topic. Mondo Times also allows visitors to rate the quality and political orientation of every media outlet, and share their views about the media outlet's performance (or lack thereof). Miscellaneous · Salon Media Group, Inc. announced that Adobe Systems Incorporated, a software company, has made an additional investment in the company totaling $500,000. This new investment by Adobe brings Salon's most recent financings -- including those completed in September 2001 -- to approximately $3.75 million. Adobe was one of Salon's original investors in 1995 and has participated in three previous rounds of financing. · Authors Brandon massey, Jon F. Merz, and Scott Nicholson have teamed up to offer the free ebook New Voices From Kensington. The trio will have first novels published by Kensington Books this year. The Adobe PDF book contains an exclusive short story, article, and novel excerpt from each, with an introduction by Douglas Clegg. To download the ebook, visit http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/ebook.htm. 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. |
