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Friday, November 22, 2002 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Newsweek Senior Editor Jerry Adler has been named the magazine's science writer, Science and Technology Editor George Hackett announced this week. Most recently, Adler wrote the June 17, 2002 cover story, "The United States of Ebay," and he contributed to the May 13, 2002 cover story on Botox. While at Newsweek, Adler has won several writing awards including a Sidney Hillman Award for a 1987 cover story "Every Parent's Nightmare," where he told of his personal experience as the father of a child with a birth defect. He won a New York Bar Association First Prize award in 1988 for "We the People," (5/25/87), a cover story on the Constitution, and a second place National Headliner Award for outstanding coverage of a Major News Event for the cover story "What Went Wrong?" (2/10/86) about the shuttle disaster. · Source Interlink Companies, a provider of magazine information and sales data, announced its Board of Directors has appointed Marc Fierman, Vice President of Finance, as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Brian Rodgers, Source Interlink's former CFO, has left the company for personal reasons. Fierman, 41, had served as Source Interlink's Vice President of Finance since January 1999. Source Interlink noted it plans to relocate its entire Corporate Finance department, currently based in St. Louis, to its new worldwide headquarters in Bonita Springs, FL, in the first quarter 2003. · National Lampoon announced that Matty Simmons has rejoined the company as Director, National Lampoon Classics. Simmons founded the National Lampoon Company in the late 1960's. Under Simmons, National Lampoon produced the National Lampoon Radio Hour, the Lemmings and National Lampoon live shows, and films, including National Lampoon's Animal House and the National Lampoon's Vacation movies. Currently, Simmons is developing both television and motion picture projects at major studios and will bring a number of projects to the company. · Salem Publishing (formerly CCM Communications) has announced the promotion of Rick Edwards and Roberta Croteau. Rick Edwards, formerly Executive Editor for CCM, is promoted to Associate Publisher Editorial and Operations. Roberta Croteau, formerly Director of CCM Creative Ventures, is promoted to Associate Publisher Marketing and Business Development. Mr. Edwards and Ms. Croteau will report directly to Jim Cumbee, President of Non-Broadcast Media. · BMI President & CEO Frances W. Preston announced Del Bryant has been named Executive Vice President and John Cody has been named Chief Operating Officer at the performing rights organization. Both are newly created positions. Bryant and Cody were Senior Vice President Writer/Publisher Relations & Performing Rights and Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, respectively. · David A. Galloway, retired president and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Torstar Corp., has been elected to the board of directors of The E. W. Scripps Company. Galloway, 59, fills a vacancy created earlier this year when Daniel J. Meyers retired from the board. The Scripps board currently has 12 members. Galloway served as president and chief executive officer of Torstar from 1988 until May 2002. Torstar's businesses include daily and community newspapers, led by The Toronto Star, and Harlequin Enterprises, a publisher of women's fiction. · MediaBay, Inc., a company specializing in spoken audio content, announced that current Board member Carl Wolf has been named Co-Chairman of the Company. At present, Norton Herrick, Company Co-Founder and current Chairman, will remain as Chairman. Mr. Wolf will begin to assume executive responsibilities immediately with the intention of assuming the full responsibilities of Chairman after a period of transition. · The Thomson Corporation announced a series of senior executive appointments. David H. Shaffer, currently president and CEO of Thomson Learning, has been named CEO of Thomson Financial, replacing Patrick J. Tierney, who will be leaving the corporation at the end of the year. Ronald H. Schlosser, president and CEO, Thomson Scientific & Healthcare, has been named president and CEO of Thomson Learning and Robert C. Cullen, president and CEO, Thomson Learning International, has been named president and CEO of Thomson Scientific & Healthcare. Each appointed executive will report directly to Richard J. Harrington, president and CEO of The Thomson Corporation. Digital Publishing · OverDrive announced Digital Library Reserve, an application service for libraries to develop and manage a circulating collection of ebooks, e-magazines, e-newspapers, journals, audio books and other downloadable media for lending to patrons. Libraries using Digital Library Reserve services will be able to integrate digital media into their existing collection from a variety of sources as well as license titles from OverDrive's Content Reserve. Content Reserve is a collection of premium digital books and periodicals from publishers including over 35,000 ebook products from 400 publishers. · Texterity, Inc., a provider of electronic publishing services, announced the availability of an online catalog of Microsoft Reader ebooks. The catalog, which was developed with Microsoft Corporation, is available at mslit.com, and is integrated into the Reader section of microsoft.com. The catalog provides users with the ability to search and display information and book covers for over 15,000 electronic books in the Microsoft Reader format. While viewing a book's details, users may link to third-party webpages where the book may be purchased. Over 1,500 free ebooks are also available on the site, which can be downloaded directly. The site is designed to collect and add new ebook releases on an ongoing basis. · Twenty one L. Ron Hubbard fiction titles will be available in five ebook formats simultaneously by the end of February 2003, it was announced by Galaxy Press. Making what he called a "major commitment to the still-burgeoning ebook marketplace," Galaxy Press president and publisher John Goodwin announced that they are releasing Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth in Microsoft Reader, Rocket eBook, Adobe, MobiPocket and Palm Digital formats." · Extending its reach into the digital market, World Book, Inc., has published a concise version of its 22-volume general reference set for viewing on Palm OS handhelds. Town Compass, LLC has created The World Book Concise Encyclopedia 2003 Palm OS Edition. The 17,000+ entry product operates on the Town Compass DataViewer format for Palm OS. Content Deals · The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. announced it has signed an agreement with the William Morris Agency to expand its brands into new entertainment distribution channels, including television, radio and motion pictures. Working together, Reader's Digest and the William Morris Agency will capitalize on the publisher's assets to create original media programming, movies, cross-promotional marketing opportunities and new businesses. · The New York Times announced that it will launch a Spanish-language supplement of the newspaper on November 23 to appear in the four Mexican daily newspapers owned by Grupo Reforma. The supplements will appear in Spanish and are intended to better serve Grupo Reformas newspaper audiences. The supplements will retain the layout and typography of The New York Times style. They will include news coverage, commentary, color photos and graphics about the United States, world affairs, business, culture and social trends. The supplements will be prepared in New York by a team of editors and designers from The New York Times News Service. · The San Francisco Chronicle has launched a stand-alone weekly wine section. The Chronicle's new Wine section features some of the leading wine writers in the country, said Michael Bauer, Chronicle acting deputy managing editor for features. The Chronicle is conducting a national search for a top-quality wine writer and editor who will match the status of its industry leading staff of food journalists. The new six-to-eight page section will be published on Thursdays. Regular features in the Wine section include coverage of the wine industry and business trends by reporter Carol Emert, a weekly review of tasting rooms; wine reviews and recommendations by a Chronicle wine-tasting panel of experts; wine and food pairings with accompanying recipes; profiles of winemakers and industry leaders; a column on restaurant wine lists and sommeliers as well as a cheese column by award-winning food journalist Janet Fletcher. · The Mad Science Group, creators of the worldwide Mad Science brand of science-based entertainment activities for kids 3-12, and Scholastic, a publisher and distributor of children's books, announced over 1 million copies of the Mad Science series of fictional novels have sold by Scholastic. Based on the success of this program, the series will now launch in retail outlets throughout North America. · MusicNet, a digital music company, and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement that will add UMG's digital music library to the MusicNet service. Under terms of the agreement, UMG will deliver its online catalog of titles to MusicNet to be incorporated into the service. The titles will be offered to consumers through MusicNet's distribution partners, which now include AOL and RealNetworks. MusicNet also announced the acquisition of additional digital music rights and features from BMG. The agreement includes rights related to permanent downloads, CD burning, transfers to portable devices, free trials, and access from multiple computers, among other features. Launches and Redesigns · Commonwealth Business Media, Inc. announced that their weekly publication Canadian Sailings has launched its website. Canadian Sailings is targeted to professionals involved in Canadian shipping activities. In addition to the latest Canadian sailing schedules, the publication features pull-out sections on ports, shipbuilding, world trade surveys, temperature-controlled cargo, air freight, profiles of industry leaders and an annual magazine for the cruise industry entitled Cruise North America. · Reed Electronics Group announced that two of its publications, Electronic News and Electronic Business, are changing formats and frequency. Effective December 9, Electronic News will move to an all digital format. In April 2003, Electronic Business will double its frequency to twice monthly and increase its circulation by 15,000. Miscellaneous · Salem Communications, a radio broadcaster focused on religious and family themes programming, announced the renaming of CCM Communications to Salem Publishing. The name change reflects Salem Publishing's expanded scope and includes Salem Communications' publishing operations, CCM Magazine, Youth Worker, Faith Talk Magazine, Worship Leader, Half Time, and Guideposts for Teens. · Tony Hillerman’s Navajo police novel, Skinwalkers, is coming PBS in a two-hour American Mystery! Special executive-produced by long-time Hillerman fan Robert Redford. Independent filmmaker Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals) directs co-stars Adam Beach (Windtalkers, Smoke Signals) and Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans, Dances with Wolves) as officers Chee and Leaphorn. “Skinwalkers” is the first in a projected series of Hillerman stories on Mystery! and represents a new crime beat for the traditionally British-oriented series. 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 © 1997-2009 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
