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Friday, March 22, 2002 Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Investigative journalist Jake Tapper is joining VH1 News as an on-camera reporter who will host and report VH1's long-form news specials, it was announced by Michael Hirschorn, Senior Vice President, News and Production, VH1. The award-winning former Washington correspondent for the online magazine Salon.com will also cover breaking news stories for VH1 in addition to his investigative reporting on issues in the music and pop culture world. Most recently, Jake Tapper was Washington correspondent for the online magazine Salon.com. · CMR, a provider of strategic advertising and marketing communications information, announced that Tom Robinson has joined CMR and brings the capabilities of Precision Marketing Services, a New York-based marketing consultant firm devoted to the magazine medium, to serve as the leading focus of CMR's magazine division. Tom Robinson, managing director of Precision Marketing Services, will head CMR's newly expanded magazine division as vice president, sales and development. Based in New York, Mr. Robinson will hold responsibility for all business development efforts focused upon the consumer, business-to-business and international magazine sectors. · Hilary A. Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Red Herring Communications, Inc., the publisher of Red Herring magazine, announced promotions among the senior editorial team. Editor Jason Pontin has been appointed editorial director and deputy editor Blaise Zerega has been promoted to editor. As editorial director Pontin, who joined the magazine as editor in 1996, will formulate and execute Red Herring Communications editorial strategy for print, online, and conferences, as well as the development of new editorial offerings. As editor, Zerega assumes responsibility for the execution of the editorial strategy of the magazine and will assume the day-to-day operations. Zerega has been a member of Red Herring's editorial staff since 1998 and most previously served as the deputy editor under Pontin. Zerega and Pontin will each report directly to Schneider. Anthony Perkins, founder and Chairman of Board for Red Herring Communications, will continue in his role as editor-in-chief. Digital Publishing · Adobe Systems announced the public beta availability of Acrobat Reader for Palm OS, version 2.0, a software application that allows mobile professionals and others the flexibility to view Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files on Palm Powered handheld computers. · Roshumba Williams has joined Paramount Domestic Television's Entertainment Tonight as a correspondent, it was announced by Terry Wood, senior vice president of programming for the Division. Ms. Williams will report on film, television, music and fashion for the entertainment newsmagazine. Prior to joining Entertainment Tonight, Ms. Williams has served as a featured VJ at VH1 since 1998. Content Deals · Vault has acquired the TVSpy website and Shoptalk Newsletter. Home of the industry ShopTalk newsletter, the newly relaunched TVSpy provides broadcast professionals insider news and information, as well as career and recruiting tools. TVSpy founder Don Fitzpatric has joined Vault full-time as chairman and editor-in-chief of TVSpy, which is now part of the Vault Insider Career Network. Fitzpatrick continues to work out of San Francisco with overall oversight of TVSpy's operations. · Scholastic, a children's publishing and media company, in collaboration with Major League Baseball Properties and the Major League Baseball Players' Association, announced the production of The Major League Baseball Card Collector's Kit. The kit will be in stores in mid-April in time for the beginning of the 2002 Major League Baseball season. · The CMJ Network has entered into a long-term agreement with Audible Magic, a provider of digital audio identification technology, to provide the music industry with radio airplay tracking information for new and emerging music. The announcement was jointly made by Jay B. Ziskrout, The CMJ Network's VP Business Operations, and Vance Ikezoye, CEO of Audible Magic. CMJ and Audible Magic will monitor college, non-commercial, and a variety of other "early adopter" radio stations with the objective of providing quantitative and qualitative market information to assist in the discovery and development of new and emerging music. CMJ will offer RAM (Real-time Airplay Monitor) data to record labels, retailers, broadcasters, concert promoters, managers and other music industry professionals by integrating it into the company's existing print and online channels. Beta tests for the first RAM reports began in March with 25 college radio stations. Over the next three years, Audible Magic and CMJ plan to expand the program to more than 450 stations nationwide. · IP.com, an online provider of intellectual property defensive publication services, announced that it has reached an agreement with Derwent Information Ltd. (Derwent), a supplier of patent and scientific information. Through this agreement, users of the Derwent website will now be able to conduct prior art searches in IP.com's Prior Art Database, as well as publish their invention disclosures online using IP.com's Web-based publishing tools · Meredith Corporation announced that it has agreed to trade television stations with News Corporation and Fox Television Stations, Inc., and enter into new affiliation agreements with respect to all of Meredith's Fox affiliates. The transaction successfully creates a Meredith duopoly of television stations in Portland, Ore., and a FOX duopoly in Orlando, Fla. Meredith has additional Fox affiliates in Las Vegas, Nev.; Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, S.C., Asheville, N.C.; and Bend, Ore. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, transfers ownership of the Fox-owned-and-operated UPN affiliate in Portland, KPTV-12, to Meredith. Meredith currently owns Portland's KPDX-TV, Fox-49. In return, Meredith transfers ownership of its Orlando Fox affiliate, WOFL-TV, Fox-35, and its Ocala-Gainesville, Fla. affiliate, WOGX-53, to Fox Television Stations. Fox Television Stations currently owns the UPN affiliate, WRBW-65, in Orlando Launches and Redesigns · Primavera Systems, Inc., a provider of project management software, announced the premier issue of its new magazine for project management information and insight: Primavera: Project Success = Business Success. Published quarterly, Primavera magazine will feature the latest news from Primavera, along with articles and columns designed to help readers manage their own projects and bring them to successful completion. Primavera magazine is published in partnership with MedMedia, a division of K.I. Lipton Inc. The premier issue has a circulation of more than 50,000 and is being sent today to a prequalified selection of Primavera's customers and partners in the U.S. and Canada. Primavera will also offer the full content of the magazine online. · Silver Star Foods, Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Silver Star Media Group, Inc., has signed a contract with G.O.A.T., a Muhammad Ali company, to exclusively co-publish the authorized Muhammad Ali Collectible Magazine. The publication will provide in-depth details of the life and accomplishments of the boxing great. · Dow Jones Newsletters and OsterDowJones has introduced two new newsletters: OsterDowJones Cocoa Report and OsterDowJones Essential Coffee. The new weekly publications bring focused news packages to decision-makers in the coffee and cocoa industries. They both include the week's top stories, features, market coverage from key producing regions, and a selection of cash prices. · Encyclopaedia Britannica has introduced Britannica Online School Edition, a new online service for school libraries and classrooms that provides a combination of reference and interactive learning resources. The core of the service is a suite of reference works, including three online encyclopedias that together serve students at all reading levels: the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Student Encyclopedia and Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia. The service also provides a variety of classroom learning materials for grades K-12. The product helps students find information they need for class work and assignments while also giving teachers curriculum materials aimed at improving student performance. Britannica Online School Edition includes 118,000 articles, 22,000 images, and 2,000 video clips. A Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus are also included, as well as a world atlas with detailed maps of 196 countries. · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. also announced that it has acquired an exclusive license to publish and distribute Compton's Encyclopedia in print and CD-ROM from Broderbund LLC and Success Publishing Group. The agreement brings the popular student encyclopedia back to Britannica, which owned Compton's for thirty-two years before selling it in 1993. Miscellaneous · Firehouse magazine, a fire service publication, will dedicate its upcoming April issue to the 343 Fallen Heroes of 9-11. The special issue includes information about the search at Ground Zero with a pictorial of the damage sustained at the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings. The publication will also include exclusive interviews with firefighters, front-line officers and chiefs working on the scene at the World Trade Center before, during and after the collapse with personal stories from many firefighters who were trapped, narrowly escaped or came within inches of death or serious injury. Firehouse magazine's online companion, Firehouse.com, complements this special issue with daily updates, news and photos of 9-11, as well as a comprehensive online database with profiles of all the emergency services victims lost. · MyFamily.com, a genealogy company, announced that its fee-based services offered through Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com have surpassed 600,000 paid subscriptions. · The Free Press announced that its imprint, Wall Street Journal Books, would publish early this summer a hardcover collection of Wall Street Journal articles written by Daniel Pearl, whose senseless murder in Pakistan was decried by people all over the world. Pearl's widow Mariane will write the foreword to the book. Interwoven will be personal anecdotes from The Wall Street Journal colleagues who worked with Pearl on the articles. The Wall Street Journal and the Free Press will donate all of the profits from the book to the Daniel Pearl Memorial Trust established by Dow Jones & Co. for Pearl's widow Mariane Pearl and their child. Wall Street Journal Books is an imprint of the Free Press/Simon & Schuster, Inc. 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 © 1997-2011 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
