|
|
writenews.com
|
Friday, February 14, 2002 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Tom Redburn, an assistant business editor of The New York Times, has been appointed the newspaper's technology editor. The appointment was announced by Howell Raines, executive editor. In his new post, Mr. Redburn will oversee reporting and editing of technology news coverage for all sections of The Times. He succeeds Richard J. Meislin, who has been appointed editor of news surveys and election analysis. The appointments will take place after a brief transition. Mr. Redburn, 52, has been an assistant business editor since 1997. · Bill Nasshan, a partner with Cincinnati management consulting firm The Partnering Group, has been named senior vice president, trade books, at Borders Group, Inc. effective Feb. 17. With nearly 30 years of retail experience, Nasshan has been consulting for the past 18 months with Borders Group as The Partnering Group has been assisting the company and its vendors understand and implement the category management process. · Commonwealth Business Media, Inc. has announced the appointment of William Black to the position of Vice President, Strategic Planning & Operations. Black's professional background includes over twenty years of experience in strategic and operational planning with a strong focus on corporate acquisition and growth. He has worked on major acquisition and strategic issues for American Express, Bertelsmann, Callaway Golf, Simon & Schuster, R. R. Donnelly, Pearson, McGraw-Hill and other major companies in the media and information industry. · Jason E. Klein has been named president and CEO of the Newspaper National Network, a for-profit, limited liability partnership between 23 major publishing companies and the Newspaper Association of America, John F. Sturm, NAA president and CEO announced today. Klein replaces NNN President and General Manager Nicholas Cannistraro Jr., who retired on Dec. 31. Klein's appointment is effective Feb. 24. An experienced media and marketing executive, Klein, 42, is the former president and CEO of Times Mirror Magazines and Time4 Media. · Creative Artists Agency (CAA) announced that Christy Haubegger, visionary founder and former CEO and publisher of Latina magazine, has joined CAA to provide clients expert insight on Hispanic-related initiatives. Numbering 37 million, and increasing nearly 60% in the last decade, the U.S. Hispanic market is the nation's fastest-growing consumer market. Haubegger will offer CAA Marketing clients expertise in this area, and on building effective entertainment marketing programs targeted to this audience. Haubegger will also provide insight to CAA's motion picture, television and music clients in order to help movies, shows, or tours better appeal to a broad and changing audience · NYTimes.com has announced the launch of "Dispatches," a new weekly report from Michael R. Gordon, chief military correspondent of The New York Times. The column will be published each Tuesday on NYTimes.com as part of the website's expanding coverage of national security issues. It will appear in the site's International and Washington sections as well as a special Dispatches Web page featuring an archive of Mr. Gordon's recent articles, television appearances and documentaries. Mr. Gordon is the senior military correspondent for The New York Times and has covered military, diplomatic and national security issues for more than 20 years. · Outside The Classroom, a provider of online health education programs, announced that it has named David A. Copithorne to the new position of Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Copithorne most recently was CEO of Porter Novelli International, one of the world's largest public relations firms. At Outside The Classroom he will be responsible for guiding the company's entry into new markets, driving the growth of its current products and customer base, and managing its corporate and financial communications. · Harvard Business Review announced that Karen Dillon has been named deputy editor of the magazine, reporting to Thomas A. Stewart, HBR's editor. She was most recently the deputy editor of Inc. magazine. The magazine also announced that Nicholas G. Carr, currently executive editor for HBR, will become editor-at-large. Sarah Cliffe, currently executive editor, will remain in that role. As deputy editor, Dillon will work closely with Stewart and Cliffe and will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the magazine, including scheduling, editorial pipeline management, and issue planning. She will also oversee HBR's derivative products. In his new role of editor-at-large, Nick Carr will be responsible for acquiring, editing, and writing articles for the magazine. Sarah Cliffe will work with the senior editorial staff on article development and editing and with Stewart on editorial policy and strategy. · Penton Media, Inc., a business-to-business media company, announced the promotion of Preston Vice to chief financial officer. Vice, 54, served as Penton's vice president of finance from 1982 to 1989, when he was named a senior vice president of the Company. Vice had been serving as interim CFO since May of 2002 following the departure of former CFO Joseph G. NeCastro. Vice held financial management positions at Pittway Corporation, Penton's former parent company, from 1974 to 1979, then transferred to Penton in 1979 as director of finance. Prior to joining Pittway, he worked in public accounting for four years at the former Coopers & Lybrand. Vice's responsibilities as CFO include financial management and planning, public reporting and investor relations. · MSNBC.com, a news website, has hired two senior marketing experts to expand the company's cross media advertising efforts. Mary Paris, former director of business development at NBC, joins MSNBC.com as Director of Cross Media Sales. Paris will oversee MSNBC.com's media ad sales and branding across MSNBC and NBC, in cooperation with MSN. MSNBC.com also has hired ad sales veteran and entrepreneur Thomas Bosco as Regional Sales Director for the East and Midwest. Bosco, founder of personal finance site Compare Credit Cards Online, has nearly 10 years of cross media ad sales experience. · Publishing Group of America (PGA), a Franklin, Tennessee-based media company that publishes American Profile magazine, has announced that Dick Porter, president of American Profile magazine and senior vice president of publishing for PGA, has been named the Company's Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The Company also announced that Stephen Duggan has been named PGA's Chief Operating Officer and will retain his role as Chief Financial Officer as well. American Profile, published in five regional editions, was launched in April 2000 and has a circulation of more than 4.5 million. L. Daniel Hammond, previously PGA's chief executive officer, has left the company. Prior to joining PGA in 2002, Dick Porter served as publisher for TV Guide Magazine, Reader's Digest and Prevention Magazine. Most recently, he was executive vice president of interactive marketing sales for AOL Time Warner. · Primedia's Consumer Guide division announced that Gary W. Austin, (49), has been promoted to president from chief operating officer. In his new position, Mr. Austin will be responsible for the Consumer Guides division's interface with electronic media, start-ups and publication acquisitions, while continuing to oversee the sales organization. He will report to Bob Metz, chief executive officer of Consumer Guides. Primedia's Consumer Guides division is a vertically integrated provider of information regarding apartments and homes through its HPC Publications, which produces 112 publications; HPCi, which oversees numerous Internet sites including ApartmentGuide.com, NewHomeOnline.com and RealEstate.com; and Distributech, a free publications distribution business. Prior to coming to HPC, Mr. Austin spent ten years with Eurpac, Inc., an international brokerage company based in Greenwich, Connecticut. · Tribune Company has named veteran broadcast executive Steve Carver as vice president/general manager of WATL-TV (WB36), in Atlanta, Georgia. Carver is currently regional vice president for Tribune Television, and vice president and general manager of WGN-AM Radio in Chicago. The company also announced that Mark Krieschen, director of sales at the radio station, will succeed Carver as vice president and general manager. Both will assume their new duties immediately. · Marinus N. Henny has been appointed Vice Chairman of Universal Music Group (UMG), it was announced by Doug Morris, Chairman and CEO, UMG. Mr. Henny will join Zach Horowitz, President and COO, and Jorgen Larsen, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music International, in UMG's Office of the Chairman, each of whom report to Mr. Morris. Mr. Henny joined UMG in April 2000 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He will retain the Chief Financial Officer position. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sony Corporation of America, the U.S. parent company of Sony Electronics, Sony Music and Sony Pictures. Prior to joining Sony, he was a partner at the independent accounting firm of Price Waterhouse. · ProQuest Company, a provider of information solutions and content to the library, education, automotive and powersports markets, announced the appointment of Alfred De Seta to the position of president, ProQuest Education, reporting to Alan Aldworth, president and chief executive officer. Mr. De Seta has extensive experience leading and profitably growing educational publishing businesses. He served as group president at WRC Media Inc. and senior vice president at Primedia Inc., where he was president and CEO of the Primedia Reference division. · Classic Media, the New York-based family entertainment company that is home to Underdog, Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Casper the Friendly Ghost, has appointed industry veteran and former AOL Time Warner executive, Robert Friedman, as its President. Eric Ellenbogen, Chairman and CEO of Classic Media made the announcement today. In his new position, Mr. Friedman will oversee Classic Media's portfolio of family-oriented properties, which include the former UPA, Harvey Entertainment and Golden Books entertainment libraries. He will also spearhead the integrated marketing, licensing and promotional opportunities across all media including feature film, television and home video. · Starz Encore Group LLC (Starz Encore) announced that Dan Kendall has joined the company as division vice president, DIRECTV. Kendall will be responsible for growing the distribution relationship with DIRECTV, Starz Encore's 2nd largest distribution account. Kendall will be based in Starz Encore's El Segundo, California office. Kendall comes to Starz Encore from iBlast, Inc., a joint venture of several broadcast companies, including Cox and Tribune, where he served as vice president, network distribution. Prior to that, Kendall spent eleven years with the Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) in various sales and marketing positions. His most recent role at Fox was as vice president, network distribution and cable operations in Los Angeles. · Peter Barnes, a journalist and news executive, has joined Hearst-Argyle Television as bureau chief of its Washington, DC, bureau. The appointment, effective March 3, was announced by David J. Barrett, president and chief executive officer of Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., and Fred I. Young, Hearst-Argyle senior vice president of news. Barnes succeeds Gary Griffith, the longtime bureau chief and veteran journalist who retired in December. · TechBooks chairman and co-founder Rakesh Gupta announced that Ranjit Singh, former president and chief executive officer of Reliacast, Inc., has joined TechBooks as chief executive officer. Singh, who joined the company’s board of directors in May 2002, succeeds Thomas F. Cunningham, who had served as TechBooks’ chief executive officer for the last three years. As a TechBooks board member, Singh has been actively involved in formulating the strategic direction of the company and positioning it for continued growth, according to Gupta. Content Deals · To better meet the diverse needs of its customer base, Pulte Homes, Inc. announced today the launch of its new Spanish language website. The new website is at espanol.pulte.com. · CanWest Global Communications Corp. announced that it has completed its sale of newspapers and related assets in Southern Ontario to Osprey Media Holdings Inc. for a cash price of $193.5 million. The proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce the Company's senior debt. Properties being sold to Osprey include four daily newspapers - St. Catharines Standard, Brantford Expositor, Niagara Falls Review and The Welland Tribune - and a number of weekly newspapers, shoppers and other publications. As with the newspapers sold to GTC last summer, Osprey's newspapers will continue to contribute to and receive news and editorial content from CanWest News Service and Infomart, and be represented in their national advertising sales by CanWest Media Sales. · NIIT, a provider of elearning and knowledge solutions, announced that it has acquired CognitiveArts, a provider of elearning and knowledge solutions for large corporations. The CognitiveArts approach accelerates employee productivity by focusing on the critical few mistakes that cause the greatest financial impact. · Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products announced a partnership to develop and distribute television, print, video, interactive and related merchandise based on Zhima Jie, the Chinese version of Sesame Street. The multi-media early learning initiative will run for an initial period of five years. The partnership will seek local and global partners to support the creation of three new seasons of television with a total of 195 episodes of Zhima Jie. The goal is to begin airing the first season in 2004. Sesame Workshop will oversee content and the production of the series. · Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), a developer and publisher of video games, and Swedish developer Digital Illusions, C.E. (DICE) have announced a strategic investment and long-term publishing agreement for video games made by DICE studios. EA has purchased a minority interest in DICE and licensed the worldwide publishing rights for future products developed by DICE. In 2002, DICE and EA partnered to release Battlefield 1942. The online multi-player game is in distribution in more than 36 countries and has shipped more than 900,000 games to date. In January 2003, EA released a Battlefield 1942 expansion pack titled Battlefield: The Road to ome, with all new content to accompany the original game. Launches and Redesigns · iMakeNews, a major provider of marketing solutions for businesses, has announced the launch of its Weblog management or 'blogging' service, DirectBlog. Through DirectBlog, organizations will be able to publish and email customized and personalized Weblogs to segmented groups. DirectBlog will be available to companies and iMakeNews' reseller network in April 2003. · Tyrannosaurus Press has announced its new SF&F webzine The Illuminata, available monthly at TyrannosaurusPress.com. The Illuminata offers articles, book and movie reviews, fiction, and writing opportunities for the SF&F enthusiast. · NYTimes.com announced that it is launching New York Style, a free weekly email newsletter focusing on the best that New York has to offer in shopping, food, entertainment, entertaining and trends. Users may sign up for the newsletter at www.nytimes.com/email. Delivered every Wednesday afternoon, New York Style highlights content from various sections of The New York Times including Sunday Styles, Arts & Leisure, Dining In/Dining Out, The City and the House & Home sections. · Soccer Development of America, announced that it has partnered with Covalent Media, Inc. to introduce 90:00 Minutes Soccer Magazine's new Website: 90soccer.com. · Aviation Week has unveiled its first issue of ATM Global, a weekly publication covering the air traffic management marketplace. ATM Global will deliver twice as much news as the publication it replaces, the bi-weekly ATC Market Report. It will make its debut to the industry at the ATC Maastricht conference in the Netherlands. · The Bond Buyer, a daily newspaper serving the municipal bond industry, has announced the relaunch of The Bond Buyer Online. The website was reorganized to allow easier navigation and faster access to needed information. Today's Top Stories are placed in the center of the Home Page for higher visibility. · Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the kick off of its Grammy Digital Download program. As part of the program, U.S. consumers -- for the first time in history -- can preview and purchase a wide range of UMG Grammy-nominated artists' music for 99 cents per individual track/$9.99 per album through retail and music websites. Some of the Grammy-nominated artists featured in UMG's digital download program include Ashanti, Mary J. Blige, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Eminem, India.Arie, Jay-Z, Johnny Cash, Juanes, Lee Ann Womack, Lucinda Williams, Natalie Cole, Nelly, No Doubt, Nickelback, Sheryl Crow, Vanessa Carlton, Willie Nelson and U2, among others. · Kaplan Professional, a division of Kaplan, Inc., has announced the formation of Dearborn Publishing, a new business unit focused on meeting the educational and training needs of its institutional and corporate customers. Comprised of three existing Dearborn businesses -- Dearborn Real Estate Education, Dearborn Trade Publishing and Dearborn Home Inspection -- the new unit will combine and build upon Kaplan Professional's existing portfolio of products and services to real estate schools, two and four year colleges, retail trade and the corporate market. This includes education and training materials for real estate professionals, consumer titles in business, finance and real estate, and home inspection education materials and curricula. Roy Lipner, currently Senior Vice President and General Manager, Dearborn Real Estate Education, will head up the new unit as President, Dearborn Publishing. Miscellaneous · Broadview Press, which prints almost all of its books on acid-free paper, has decided to go a step further, and print the vast majority of Broadview books on paper stocks that include a significant component of post-consumer fibre -- with the exception of a very few titles where special considerations regarding format or illustrations make this impracticable. New Broadview titles will in future carry an ecologo, and include a notice affirming that the book has been printed on acid-free stock comprising a substantial portion of post-consumer fibre. Broadview is an internationally-oriented, Canadian-based publisher of books aimed at the university and college textbook market. · Scholastic Inc. announced that J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will have a first printing of 6. 8 million copies. To be released on June 21, 2003, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is over 255,000 words, 38 chapters and approximately 896 pages, compared to J.K.Rowling's previous book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which was over 19l,000 words, 37 chapters and 752 pages in hardcover. Scholastic set a suggested retail price of $29.99 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. · iUniverse, a provider of self-publishing services, announced that two books recently published through iUniverse have been selected for book club distribution. The titles are: A Maid for All Seasons by Devlin O'Neill, available through the Doubleday Book Club and the Venus Book Club and My Life as a Girl by Leslie, available through the Venus Book Club. 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. |
