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Friday, January 24, 2003 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Cathy Cavender, former editor-in-chief of Rosie magazine, has joined the staff of the soon-to-be-launched Lifetime magazine as deputy editor. Sally Koslow, editor-in-chief of Lifetime, made the announcement. In addition, several other new staffers will be rounding out the editorial launch team. Lifetime magazine is a new women's title slated to debut in spring 2003 as a bimonthly with a rate base of 500,000. The magazine is a joint venture between Hearst and The Walt Disney Company, who together own Lifetime Entertainment Services. Before heading up the launch of Rosie, where she was editor-in-chief from December 2000 until June 2002, Cathy Cavender was editor of TV Guide's Celebrity Dish. Before that, Cavender held executive editor positions at McCall's and Seventeen, and has also worked at YM, Redbook and Mademoiselle. · Steven Drace, Publishing Director of Electronic Business and Electronic News, has announced the appointment of Adrian Mello as Editor in Chief of Electronic Business magazine. Mello joins the company with 20 years experience as a business-to-business journalist, editor, and media consultant and has held the position of Editor in Chief positions at Macworld, Upside, and Line56. · The New York Times announced that Richard Wooldridge, president and COO of The International Herald Tribune (IHT), will assume the business leadership of the IHT effective immediately. Mr. Wooldridge will report to Janet L. Robinson, senior vice president of newspaper operations for The New York Times Company and president and general manager of The New York Times newspaper. · The Hollywood Reporter has opened a bureau in Miami and selected veteran journalist Deborah Wilker as its chief, editor Howard Burns announced. Wilker is charged with covering breaking entertainment news from Florida and throughout the Southeast. She will also be a regular contributor to THR East, the Reporter's electronic edition that's distributed daily via email throughout the East Coast. The Miami Bureau joins the Hollywood Reporter's East Coast offices in New York and Washington, D.C. · International Data Group (IDG), a technology media company, has announced the appointment of Kevin McKean to CEO and editorial director of InfoWorld Media Group. In his new post, McKean will be responsible for the management of the company's print publication, InfoWorld, as well as its online operations, research, and events. McKean brings more than 28 years of publishing and editorial experience to InfoWorld, most recently serving as vice president and editorial director of IDG's PC World, where he was responsible for the editorial direction of PC World magazine, as well as the pcworld.com website. · The New York Times announced that William P. McDonald, acting editor of the Arts & Leisure section, has been named deputy culture editor effective March 1. Jodi Kantor, the current New York editor of Slate, the online magazine, will become editor of Arts & Leisure. Both Mr. McDonald and Ms. Kantor will report to Mr. Erlanger. · LexisNexis, a provider of legal, news and business information services, announced that Wendy Beecham will join the company as Senior Vice President, Enterprise & Library. A publishing executive formerly with The Thomson Corporation in London, UK, Ms. Beecham will be based in Bethesda, MD, USA, with an office in the company's Dayton, OH, USA headquarters. Most recently, Ms. Beecham was Managing Director for Thomson's Sweet and Maxwell Group. In addition, she has held positions with Predicasts, Information Access Company (now Gale), UMI (now part of ProQuest) and AT&T. · Borders announced the appointment of Ted Beilman as category director of cafe, effective immediately. His responsibilities will include the procurement of ingredient and packaging requirements for all of Borders' cafes; identification and testing of new product opportunities with existing and new supply partners; management of the cafe marketing calendar; and management of the cafe's distribution system. Beilman comes to Borders Group from his recent position as vice president of business development at Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels, Inc. · Peter Keramidas has been appointed to the position of Executive Vice President, Programming, Showtime Networks Inc., it was announced by Jerry Offsay, President of Programming for Showtime Networks Inc. In his new position, Keramidas will add program distribution responsibilities to his existing duties of strategic planning and content development. Keramidas will now be responsible for finding financial partners for the network's original series and original movie production as well as the exploitation of the company's film library. Most recently, Keramidas served as Senior Vice President, Programming and New Media Content for Showtime. · Nick Motu has been named vice president of Publishing and Educational Services for the Hazelden Foundation, a publisher of materials for people impacted by substance abuse and addiction. Prior to joining Hazelden, Motu worked in the magazine publishing business and in marketing management for ReliaStar and St. Paul Companies in Minnesota. In his new position, Motu is responsible for the overall management of Publishing and Educational Services, the arm of Hazelden that provides educational materials on addiction and recovery, as well as various prevention resources and training and consultation services. · Cadmus Communications Corporation has announced the formation of the Publisher Services Group and the appointment of executive leaders. Stephen E. Hare, formerly the executive vice president and chief financial officer, has been promoted to president of the Publisher Services Group. This group consists of the Company's scientific, technical and medical ("STM") services, special interest magazines and professional books and directories businesses, and represents approximately 90% of the Company's revenues. In addition, Paul K. Suijk has joined the Company as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Prior to joining Comdial in 2000, Mr. Suijk served as senior vice president and corporate treasurer with Danka Business Systems, PLC from 1997 to 1999. · Daniel A. Greenspun, Greenspun Media Group (GMG) president, has announced the appointment of Michael T. Carr as vice president of business development for GMG. Carr's main responsibilities will be to launch a new publication that will drive more tourism and increase visitor frequency to Las Vegas and explore new revenue opportunities through current GMG entities. Carr will report directly to Phillip C. Peckman, chief operating officer of the Greenspun Corporation. Carr brings over 20 years of publishing experience to GMG, most recently as president of publishing for Playboy. · SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, has announced its slate of officers for 2003, with new leadership at the helm. The group serves more than 800 journalists of South Asian origin across the U.S. and Canada. S. Mitra Kalita, who joins the staff of the Washington Post in February, was elected the group's president for a one-year term. Deepti Hajela, an Associated Press newswoman, was elected vice president and convention chair. John Laxmi, a New York-based freelance journalist, was named treasurer and Nina Mehta, a freelance writer and book critic, was name secretary. For the first time, the president and more than a quarter of the Board members live outside New York City -- a reflection of the organization's growing national presence. · USA Interactive announced that Thomas L. Cardella has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Precision Response Corporation ("PRC"). Mr. Cardella reports to John Pleasants, President, Information & Services, USA Interactive. Previously, Mr. Cardella was President of Access Direct, a subsidiary of PRC, which he formed in October 1995, and its sister company, Hancock Information Group. · Chris Booker has joined Paramount Domestic Television's Entertainment Tonight as a correspondent, it was announced by Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of Entertainment Tonight. In his new capacity, "Booker," as he is known in the New York media world, will report on film, television, music and fashion. Currently the host of a daily radio show on K-ROCK in New York, Booker is also the host of MTV's 120 Minutes, The Return of the Rock and regularly reports on music news for MTV2. A native of West Virginia, Booker will be based out of New York and will travel as necessary for key interviews, and retain his duties at K-ROCK, MTV and MTV2. · MSNBC.com, announced that Glenn Reynolds, who has carved out his own niche in cyberspace with his independent Weblog, InstaPundit, has joined the MSNBC.com family of Weblogs at weblogs.msnbc.com. Weblogs are personal online journals, written in hypertext, with links to other sites. Reynolds, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee, has published opinion and editorial commentary in several of the nation's leading newspapers and has drawn national attention with InstaPundit's views on politics and new technology. Digital Publishing · Ballantine & Company, Inc. released the first two QuickTopics ebooks in its Finance Series Understanding Financial Statements. Each QuickTopics is a short ebook that provides interactive and compact information on a key business topic. Both ebooks can be updated annually through a free download from Ballantine & Company so that the content stays relevant. They are available for download from the Ballantine's website. Content Deals · Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and NBC Enterprises jointly announced that they have agreed to extend their international distribution agreement for an additional four years. Under the enhanced agreement, MGM will continue to provide distribution services for all NBC Studios programming across all territories outside of North America through the 2007-2008 television season. The announcement was made by Jim Griffiths, President, MGM Worldwide Television Distribution, Ed Wilson, President, NBC Enterprises and Jerry Petry, Executive Vice President, NBC Enterprises. MGM will continue to handle the international sales and distribution of all of NBC's current and future programming, including this season's series Boomtown, American Dreams and Hidden Hills, as well as the forthcoming drama Kingpin, the prime-time favorites Will & Grace and Crossing Jordan, and the hit daytime drama Passions. NBC Enterprises will continue to represent NBC News, NBC Sports, first-run syndicated programs, latenight and formats. · American Media, Inc. and Evercore Partners announced that they have completed the acquisition of Weider Publications, Inc. and its related properties for $350 million. Weider Publications is comprised of seven magazines including: Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Men's Fitness, Shape, Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health. · Briefing.com, a provider of market commentary and analysis, announced that Reuters, the global news, information and technology group, has added Briefing.com's commentary to its newly relaunched financial news site. · Warner Bros. Consumer Products has announced an exclusive co-publishing agreement with Electronic Arts to produce, market and distribute Looney Tunes: Back In Action, a video game to be released on multiple platforms day and date with the upcoming live action feature film starring the Looney Tunes characters. The partnership marks the first time Warner Bros. Consumer Products has partnered to co-publish a video game title. UK-based Warthog is developing the game based on the film, which will debut in November 2003. · Billboard Music Group, a division of VNU Business Media, has entered into an exclusive agreement with PromoSquad, which entitles Billboard, Airplay Monitor, and other VNU Business Media vehicles to publish data from PromoSquad, a song-research company. PromoSquad, spearheaded by respected radio consultant Guy Zapoleon and veteran radio promotion executive Rick Bisceglia, uses market research techniques to predict the success of new music releases. · Activision, Inc. and DreamWorks SKG have jointly announced a strategic multi-year, multi-property publishing agreement that grants Activision the exclusive interactive rights to publish games based on DreamWorks' three upcoming computer-animated feature films: Sharkslayer, Madagascar, and Over the Hedge. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision has acquired the rights to develop and publish games for the console, hand-held and PC platforms. The announcement follows Activision's agreement with TDK Mediactive to co-develop and co-publish games based on DreamWorks' upcoming theatrical sequel to Shrek. Launches and Redesigns · Intelligent Enterprise, a publication dedicated to the strategic business applications that turn information into intelligence, has launched IntelligentBPM.com, an online community for business and IT professionals managing business performance management (BPM) projects. The site offers industry news, online features, resource guides, and abstracts of new BPM research . · R.R. Bowker, a publisher of bibliographic information, has announced the introduction of the Ulrich's Serials Analysis System, a new management tool for library professionals who need to identify, analyze, evaluate and report on their libraries' print and electronic serials holdings. The Ulrich's Serials Analysis System brings together the library's serials holdings and the multiple layers of subject coverage and content from the Ulrich's Periodicals Directory database and Bowker's ulrichsweb.com. · Investor's Business Daily (IBD) has announced plans for a first-quarter worldwide launch of its latest product, eIBD. Available for download at investors.com, eIBD is the electronic version of the daily business and financial newspaper in its entirety While eIBD is an independent product from Investor's Business Daily's traditional print product, its subscribers also receive access to the subscriber-only areas of investors.com that include screening, chart services and analytical tools, as well as the IBD article archives dating back to 1998. · Insight Media, a market research firm with a focus on the projection industry, has launched a new newsletter called Projection Monthly. The subscription-based newsletter will cover the global projection supply chain, finished products (front and rear, professional and consumer), as well as the distribution channel. Editorial coverage will include projection component news (microdisplay devices, optics, engines, lamps, electronics, screens, illumination devices, etc.) as well as finished projection products (business projectors, video cubes, rear-projection TVs, home theater, digital cinema). In addition, PM will cover strategic news from projection component and system integrators, business developments and financial news. Miscellaneous · Associated Press reporters, writers and photographers will be taking their bylines off stories this week to support their union's call for fair health care coverage. It's the second time this month that journalists at the world's largest news organization, members of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, will be participating in a byline boycott. Journalists at AP are fighting to maintain quality journalism at the AP -- where turnover remains a serious obstacle to attracting and retaining talented staff. The AP has told staffers that health insurance premiums could increase by as much as 40 percent, which effectively could wipe out proposed wage increases. · Teoma has unveiled Teoma 2.0, the next generation of its Web search engine. Teoma uses its Subject-Specific Popularity(SM) to improve search results. Building on this community-based technology, the Company said the Teoma 2.0 advancements include significantly improved relevance, powerful new search tools and advanced search functionalities. Teoma is owned and operated by Ask Jeeves, Inc. · The syndicated daily TV show Ask Rita, starring comedian Rita Rudner, has begun production prior to its January 27th launch in key markets across the country. The show features a panel of celebrities lightheartedly attempting to solve personal problems submitted by members of the public. Rita Rudner describes it as "a show in which I meddle in the lives of people I have never met. We handpick a crack team of celebrities who know nothing and aren't afraid to share it. We won't feel your pain, but we will point at it." 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. |
