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Friday, April 11, 2003 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Jim Nelson has been named Editor-in-Chief of GQ, it was announced by James Truman, Editorial Director of Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Mr. Nelson's appointment follows the announcement last month of Art Cooper's retirement after two decades as the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. Mr. Nelson has been an editor at GQ for six years. He joined the magazine as a senior editor in June, 1997; in June of last year he became co-Executive Editor. During his tenure at the magazine, he has worked as both a writer and an editor. · Scholastic Inc. has announced the appointment of Joe Reynolds as President of Scholastic Library Publishing. Mr. Reynolds will report directly to Scholastic's Chairman, CEO and President, Richard Robinson. Most recently, Mr. Reynolds was President and CEO of Proquest Information and Learning. He has created two education companies: bigchalk.com, a k-l2 education and online database company; and XanEdu, a custom publisher and elearning provider focused on the post-secondary education markets. · The San Francisco Chronicle announced that Linda Murphy has been hired as editor of the paper's new weekly Wine section. In addition to editing the weekly section, Murphy will write features and a column, and is responsible for a three-person Wine staff. She begins April 1. Murphy has been a regular contributor to The Chronicle's Wine and Food sections since May 2002. Her stories have also appeared in Food & Wine magazine, The Wine News and Decanter magazine (London). From 1999 to 2001, she was the managing editor of WineToday.com, the New York Times' international wine website; prior to that, she directed communications programs for eight years for wine companies in California, Oregon, Washington state, Australia and New Zealand. · International Data Group (IDG), a technology media company, announced the appointment of Colin Crawford to vice president of new business development and operations. In his new position, Crawford will identify, evaluate, and recommend new business opportunities, handle strategic acquisitions and alliances for IDG, and coordinate operations between IDG business units to share best practices and promote new growth. Most recently, Crawford was president and CEO of Mac Publishing, L.L.C., where he was responsible for the strategic management and business development of the Macworld magazine and several online sites including Macworld.com, MacCentral.com, and the Macworld Product Finder. In his new role, Crawford will retain responsibility for IDG's strategic relationship with Apple, with which he has been closely involved since 1987. Crawford will remain on the Board of Mac Publishing, and will work closely with the Macworld magazine management team as it assigns a new business leader. · Dow Jones & Company announced that Scott D. Schulman, 40, has been appointed senior vice president, sales and marketing of The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Schulman was previously president of Dow Jones' Consumer Electronic Publishing division. Todd Larsen, 37, currently vice president and general manager of the Consumer Electronic Publishing division, will become president of the unit. Mr. Schulman replaces Paul C. Atkinson who is leaving the company to pursue other interests. In his new role, Mr. Schulman will be responsible for The Wall Street Journal's global advertising, marketing and sales efforts. He will report to Karen Elliott House, senior vice president of Dow Jones and global publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Larsen will report to L. Gordon Crovitz, senior vice president of Dow Jones and president of the Electronic Publishing group. · The Associated Press Board of Directors announced Friday that Tom Curley, president and publisher of USA Today, would succeed Louis D. Boccardi as president and chief executive officer, effective June 1. Burl Osborne, chairman of the AP board of directors and publisher emeritus of The Dallas Morning News, said Curley, who is 54, would move to AP headquarters in New York in a few weeks. Boccardi is 65, and will retire after 18 years as leader of AP's worldwide operations, half of his 36-year AP career. Curley will be the 12th person to lead the AP since its founding in 1848. · Ron Solleveld have been named Senior Vice President/International, it was announced by BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston. Solleveld joined the performing rights organization in July of last year. In his new position, he will oversee all of BMI's international activities, particularly the company's relationship with foreign performing rights organizations. Solleveld is a 30-year veteran of the international music industry, having held executive positions at divisions of Polygram, Sony and BMG companies in the US, Canada and Europe. He was most recently Vice President, International of BMG Music Publishing, worldwide. · Platts announced that James C. Letzelter has been appointed managing director of the Power practice for the Platts Research & Consulting Group (PR&C). Platts is the energy information, research, consulting and marketing services business of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Mr. Letzelter comes to PR&C with over 14 years of energy industry experience. Before joining PR&C, he was president of GenerSys Inc. Platts also announced that Robert Peltier has been appointed editor-in-chief of 121-year old Power magazine. Mr. Peltier joined Power magazine's editorial staff in 2002 as senior editor after working as a contributing editor for several years. Platts also named Paul L. Bonington vice president. He will be responsible for Platts Media and Marketing Services unit. Mr. Bonington joins Platts with more than 18 years experience in publishing, media, Internet and information technology. Before joining Platts, he was vice president of worldwide marketing and sales operations at Globix. · VARBusiness Magazine has added three new veteran technology journalist. Steve Lang has joined as strategy editor, and Luc Hatlestad and Carolyn April have become senior writers. Steve Lang is working to shape the magazine's management strategy coverage and will place special emphasis on the VARBusiness 500 and the VARBusiness 500franchise event. Previously, Lang was an editor of PC Magazine and editor-in-chief of Institutional Investor. Senior Writer Carolyn April is charged with spearheading VARBusiness' enterprise software coverage along with applications infrastructure, development and chip hardware. Her beat includes IBM, Microsoft, BEA, Siebel, SAP, PeopleSoft and Intel. Luc Hatlestad, as senior writer, is focusing on technology coverage in the areas of software and application development. Being based in San Francisco, he also maintains a watch on Bay area vendors. Prior to joining VARBusiness, Hatlestad was a senior writer at Red Herring magazine, covering a broad range of issues from technology to finance to policy. · Ramp Media Inc. announced the appointment of publishing veteran Richard Amann as president and publisher of RAMP Magazine, the new lifestyle publication specifically targeting men in their thirties. Mr. Amann will oversee all business and marketing functions. Prior to joining RAMP, Richard Amann served as executive vice president of American Media, Inc. · Time Inc. has named new Managing Editors at three of its magazines: Real Simple, Teen People and People en Espanol. Kristin van Ogtrop, most recently executive editor of Glamour, will be the new M.E. of Real Simple. Amy Du Bois Barnett, who has been the Editor-in Chief of Honey Magazine, will be the new M.E. of Teen People, and Richard Perez-Feria, the Editor-in-Chief of 7x7 magazine in San Francisco, will be the new M.E. of People en Espanol.· Historian and author Dr. Douglas G. Brinkley has been named editor of Primedia's American History magazine, effective with the August 2003 issue. Brinkley will lead the magazine as it undergoes a major redesign and editorial refocus. Brinkley, who earned his Ph.D. in Military and Diplomatic History from Georgetown University and undergraduate degree in American and European History at Ohio State, is currently Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies and history professor at the University of New Orleans. · Prevention magazine announced that Michele Murphy and Bob Ziltz have been promoted to associate publisher, integrated sales and marketing, and associate publisher, national advertising sales, respectively. Denise Favorule, vice president of women's publishing at Rodale, Prevention's parent company, made the announcement. Murphy spent the past three years as Prevention's associate publisher of marketing. In addition to her role in marketing, Murphy will now be responsible for the production and advertising sponsorship sales of Prevention.com. Ziltz, who joined Prevention in 1993 as an account manager in the magazine's Chicago office and was promoted to national advertising director in 2001, will now be responsible for the financial management, strategic planning, and budgeting of the magazine and its 13 special interest publications. In addition, he oversees the day-to-day management of the entire sales department, which includes offices in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, and Canada. · Kelly Brewer, whose newsroom leadership has helped The Albuquerque Tribune earn national recognition, has been named editor of the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif., effective June 1. Brewer, 43, succeeds Tom King who last month announced that he was retiring after serving seven years as editor of the Redding newspaper. The Record Searchlight and The Tribune are both owned and operated by The E. W. Scripps Company. · Advanstar Communications Inc. has appointed Stephen D. Twombly to Group Publisher of Sensors, Cadalyst, and Frontline Solutions magazines. Mr. Twombly will oversee advertising and marketing for these publications. Mr. Twombly's career in publishing began more than 20 years ago at McGraw-Hill Publications, where he oversaw several magazines. He moved to International Data Group (IDG), handling publishing of eight magazines, including GamePro, PCResource (merged into PCWorld), AmigaWorld, RUN, inCider (merged into MacWorld), and 80 Micro. · Danforth W. Austin will become chairman and chief executive officer of Ottaway Newspapers Inc. on April 1, succeeding James H. Ottaway Jr., who is retiring after 43 years with the company. Mr. Ottaway, 65, remains a member of the board of directors and a senior vice president of Dow Jones & Company, the parent company of Ottaway. He announced last year that he would retire in 2003 from active management of Ottaway, a community- newspaper publisher founded by his late father, James H. Ottaway Sr., in 1936 and acquired by Dow Jones in 1970. · Phillip R. Graham has been named Senior Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations at BMI, it was announced today by Frances W. Preston, President & CEO of the performing rights organization. He was most recently Vice President, European Writer/Publisher Relations, based in London. He is re-locating to New York. · The New York Times Company announced that Philip A. Ciuffo, executive director of internal audit, has been named vice president, internal audit, effective today. Mr. Ciuffo, 43, became executive director of the Company's Internal Audit department in 1997 after having served as general audit manager, audit supervisor and senior auditor since joining the Company in 1987. He joined the Times Company from the New York City Comptroller's office where he held various audit positions from 1982 through 1986. Digital Publishing · The Open eBook Forum said it has received industry support of a new version of its eBook specification from publishers, software manufacturers and public interest groups. The specification is a version (1.2) of the Open eBook Publication Structure (OeBPS). OEBPS is an XML-based format for the content, structure, and presentation of electronic books. It enables publishers to create a single electronic representation of a publication that can be easily transformed into other formats and presented on many devices. The specification and sample OeBPS 1.2 publications are available for free public download at this link. Content Deals · Gannett Co., Inc. announced that Gannett U.K. Limited, the parent company of Newsquest, has entered into an agreement with Independent News and Media Limited for the acquisition of its Greater London regional publishing business ("Independent Regionals Business") for GBP 60 million (U.S. $94 million). The Independent Regionals Business consists of 45 Greater London regional newspapers, including the Post Newspaper Series and the Kentish Times Newspaper Series. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom. · Wolters Kluwer announced that it has acquired the assets and business of Skolar, Inc., an online provider of clinical information and "in context" distance learning for medical professionals. Skolar's flagship product, Skolar MD, was initially developed at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford University held a majority of the stock of Skolar at the time of the sale. A panel of experts from the Stanford School of Medicine will continue to oversee content development. Skolar will become part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a provider of medical information that includes publishing and online information brands such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Ovid Technologies, Medi-Span, Clineguide and Facts & Comparisons. · MusicMatch, a provider personalized music software and services, announced it has obtained non-exclusive license agreements from many Canadian major-music labels and publishers that will bring its popular Artist On Demand service and other music services to Canadian music fans. The Artist On Demand service is now licensed to include music catalogues from BMG Canada Inc., EMI Music Canada, Universal Music Canada, Warner Music Canada and various independent labels including Anthem Records, Aquarius Records and Nettwerk Productions, as well as labels represented in Quebec by the Societe de gestion collective des droits des producteurs de phonogrammes et de videogrammes du Quebec (SOPROQ). In addition, publishing/performance agreements have been entered into with The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). · Kingdom Ventures, Inc., a church development company, announced it has formed a strategic alliance with The Christian Times, a regional Christian newspaper in the U.S. The Christian Times has a monthly distribution of 240,000 copies. · USA Interactive announced the completion of its acquisition of Entertainment Publications, originator of the popular Entertainment book. USA purchased Entertainment Publications from a group of investors led by The Carlyle Group, the global private equity firm. Based in Troy, Michigan, Entertainment Publications sells over 8 million annual memberships for Entertainment books and online access to local 50% off and 2-for-1 discounts on dining, travel, shopping and attractions. · Activision, Inc. and Valve, L.L.C. have announced a strategic partnership that grants Activision exclusive worldwide publishing rights to upcoming games created by the premiere PC game developer. Included under the terms of the agreement, Activision has acquired the publishing rights to Day of Defeat, a multiplayer game powered by Valve's Half-Life technology. Day of Defeat is scheduled for release this May. · The Thomson Corporation and Elite Information Group, Inc., a provider of integrated practice and financial management applications for legal and professional services markets, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Thomson will acquire Elite. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2003. Elite will join West, a provider of integrated information solutions to legal professionals in the US, as part of the Thomson Legal & Regulatory market group. Elite's management team, led by Christopher K. Poole, Elite chairman and chief executive officer, will continue to lead the business from the company's headquarters in Los Angeles. Launches and Redesigns · FullAudio Corp. announced the launch of MusicNow, its new digital music service. MusicNow is designed around 36 channels, each of which features exclusive music programming and unlimited downloading of individual music tracks. FullAudio partners include Charter Communications, Clear Channel Communications, Earthlink and Microsoft's Windows Media Player. · CMP Media's EE Times, an electronics industry news source, has launched EE Times.fr, a French language online news edition focused on the information needs of French speaking electronic engineers and engineering managers. The web site features daily news stories, new product information and design tutorials. A weekly email newsletter service will debut later this month. EE Times has named Anne-Francoise Pele, editor of the new website. Anne-Francoise studied for five years at the Universite Catholique, where she earned a degree in international relations and the 'la maitrise,' in linguistics (pure linguistics, translation and interpretation). · Information Resources, Inc.'s Healthcare Solutions Group, a provider of consumer behavior insights to the healthcare industry, and RxList.com, a resource for pharmaceutical information, have announced a strategic marketing alliance to share critical consumer panel- and point-of-sale (POS)-based patient and consumer insights with the pharmaceutical and healthcare marketplace. The two companies are jointly developing a destination content portal for healthcare and pharmaceutical marketing professionals designed to provide analysis and content on current healthcare marketing issues. · The Wall Street Journal Online has introduced The Afternoon Report, a twice daily email alert containing summaries of top news from around the world. The first report, distributed at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) each business day, provides subscribers with the latest news since their morning paper, while the 5 p.m. Afternoon Report is timed to cover the biggest news that breaks after the close of the markets. Subscribers may sign up for the new email delivery service or view The Afternoon Report from links on the home page of the Online Journal at WSJ.com, which is the largest paid subscription news site on the Web with 679,000 subscribers. The Afternoon Report is written by Joseph Schuman, who previously served as a reporter for the Associated Press in Paris and Washington, and as an editor for The Wall Street Journal's international editions. · The Mormon Tabernacle Choir announced the creation of its own recording label. The Choir is the sole owner of the new label that will be called Mormon Tabernacle Choir to leverage the strength of the Choir's well-known name and reputation. After recording more than 150 albums for such recognized industry labels as CBS Records, Columbia, Sony and Telarc, the Choir will now direct and produce its own recordings, including CDs, videos of special concerts and documentaries. Recent video performances of the Choir's Christmas concert with Angela Lansbury and an historic tour to Nauvoo, Illinois will be re-released under the new label later this year. Miscellaneous · Amazon.com and Google, a search engine and provdier of performance-based search advertising, announced a multi-year agreement that will make Google's search technology and targeted sponsored links available on Amazon.com. Both Google's sponsored links and web search will be available to Amazon.com customers within the next several months; sponsored links are now available on a selection of Amazon.com pages. · Seventeen Magazine, Seventeen.com, and marketing agency ElectricArtists announced the launch of Seventeen's online book club, Seventeen - Book Divas. Seventeen has chosen ElectricArtists' Book Divas online book club as the exclusive destination for its readers to discuss, review, and share thoughts about the books they love. The May 2003 issue of Seventeen, (which streets on March 28th) officially kicks off Seventeen - Book Divas. The first featured book is The Song Reader, by Lisa Tucker. · Kingdom Ventures, Inc., a church development company, announced it has joined the Christian Booksellers Association, the international trade association for the $4.3 billion Christian industry. The Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) serves more than 2,500 member retail stores in the United States, and more than 1,000 stores in 40 countries, with additional member organizations in 16 countries. 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. |
