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Friday, October 31, 2003 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Primedia Inc. announced the appointment of Kelly P. Conlin as president and chief executive officer. Mr. Conlin previously served as president and chief executive office of International Data Group (IDG). Mr. Conlin replaces Charles G. McCurdy, president and interim chief executive officer, who will be leaving the company after a transition period. The company also said that interim Chairman Dean Nelson is assuming the role of Chairman of Primedia. · Active Interest Media (AIM) and its magazine publishing division Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc., has named executive Andy Clurman to the position of Group Publisher and Chief Operating Officer. In this new role, Clurman will be directly responsible for the operational and overall sales management of AIM's recently acquired special interest titles. Currently, these publications include; Black Belt, Vegetarian Times, Better Nutrition, Southwest Art, and Log Home Design Ideas. AIM Chairman Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III will oversee the Garlinghouse Company, publisher and supplier of home plan magazines and home plans. The equity funding for AIM is being provided by Wind Point Partners, a private equity investment company with offices in Chicago and Southfield, MI. · Primedia's Automotive Enthusiast and Action Sports Group, headquartered in Los Angeles, has named Don Meek to head up the division's Action Sports Group (ASG), an integrated network of 11 action and adventure sports magazines -- including Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder and Bike, Craig Nickerson, President and CEO of the division, made the announcement. Meek transitions to the role from within Primedia where he was president of Gravity Games, a joint venture between Primedia and Octagon. Prior to joining Primedia Meek spent almost two decades in key management, marketing and sales roles at CBS, The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Fox Sports Net. · PennWell Corporation has elected Tim Tobeck as vice president and group publisher of Oil & Gas Journal, which has covered the global petroleum industry since 1902 as a weekly magazine. Tobeck, a senior publishing executive with over 25 years experience in business-to-business media, returns to PennWell where he served as a group publisher from 1989 to 1994. Most recently, he spent nine years as vice president and publishing director of EDN Worldwide, a weekly magazine published by Reed Business Information. Tobeck will report to Bill Pryor, president of PennWell's Petroleum Group. Cross-Border Publishing (CBP) has announced changes in senior editorial responsibilities in its London and New York offices. The changes result from the departure of Neil Stewart, editor-in-chief and head of CBP's editorial department, at the end of October. Adrienne Baker succeeds Stewart as editor-in-chief of IR magazine and Corporate Secretary magazine. Based in New York, she retains her role as North American editor of IR magazine. Claire Hunte, based in London, remains editor of Corporate Secretary magazine but is also group managing editor. Baker and Hunte are now the co-heads of the company's editorial department. Neil Stewart will leave CBP after more than seven years with the company, the past three as editor-in-chief. He retains the title of consulting editor for CBP as he leaves to work as a freelance writer, researcher and consultant. Baker started at CBP in 2000 as New York correspondent and was promoted to North American editor in 2002. Hunte, who has a decade of experience at Institutional Investor group, Teletext and FT.com, joined Cross-Border's London office in 2002. CBP also announced that Kathleen Hennessy, a respected London-based writer and sub-editor, has joined the editorial team as chief copy editor. Hennessy has authored regular columns in the Money section of the UK's Guardian newspaper as well as finance features in the Observer, Director plc, Investors Chronicle and Money Unlimited. She was also an editor at FTyourmoney.com, Save Money! magazine and Moneywise magazine. · Andrew B. Davis, director of innovation and business development for the Media Management Center at Northwestern University, will step into the position of president and executive director of the American Press Institute on December 1, 2003. Davis assumes the mantle from William L. Winter, Ph.D., who was API's president and executive director from 1987 to Oct. 1, 2003. At the Media Management Center, where Davis has been as adjunct professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism since 1996, he was responsible for industry-specific seminars for magazine, broadcast television and cable executives. He concentrated his research activities on media innovation and new-product management, and is the author of the MMC publication Rx for New Product Success. He has worked with numerous media companies, including the Tribune Company, the Hearst Corporation, Times Mirror Magazines, Crain Communications, the National Association of Broadcasters, A&E Network and the Cable Television Association for Marketing (CTAM). · Tom O'Malley has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Universal Music and Video Distribution (UMVD), it was announced by Jim Urie, President, UMVD. Based in Universal City, Mr. O'Malley, who reports to Mr. Urie, will retain Chief Financial Officer duties with additional responsibilities for sales, marketing and new media. Mr. O'Malley has been a music and finance executive with Universal for eight years, most recently serving as CFO for UMVD. Prior to joining UMVD, he was the Director of Finance for the Walt Disney Company. · The New York Times Magazine announced that Stefano Tonchi, fashion creative director for Esquire magazine, has been named style editor, replacing Amy M. Spindler who was named critic at large for culture and style. The appointments will be effective in November. Mr. Tonchi will report to Gerald Marzorati, editor, The New York Times Magazine. Ms. Spindler will report to Adam Moss, assistant managing editor for Features, The New York Times. Mr. Tonchi, 44, was fashion creative director for Esquire since 1998. Previously he was creative consultant for J. Crew from 1996 to 1998. Ms. Spindler, 40, became the style editor at The New York Times Magazine in 1998. Previously she served as the fashion critic for the newspaper, a position created for her in 1994, after joining The Times's style department in 1993 as its fashion news columnist. Prior to joining The Times, she was the associate features editor at W Europe, and a reporter for Women's Wear Daily in Paris from 1992 to 1993. · Brian Kroshus, general manager of Farm & Ranch Guide and Minnesota Farm Guide, has been promoted to group publisher overseeing Lee Enterprises agricultural publications. He succeeds Greg Moore, who has been appointed publisher of Lee's Nickel Publications in Washington and Oregon. Greg Veon, Lee vice president for publishing, said Kroshus has been pivotal in the growth of Lee Agri-Media, which consists of six farm newspapers with affiliates serving North and South Dakota, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Kroshus joined Lee in 1997 as circulation manager of The Bismarck Tribune and became general manager of Farm & Ranch Guide in 1998. Before joining Lee he worked for Forum Communications for 10 years, with his last position as state operations/single copy manager. · The New York Times announced that Susan Edgerley, deputy metropolitan editor, has been named metropolitan editor, replacing Jonathan I. Landman, who was named assistant managing editor for enterprise in September. The appointment is effective immediately. Ms. Edgerley, 49, became deputy metropolitan editor of The New York Times in 1999. Previously she was executive editor, New York Times News Service since 1997. She served in various editing areas of the metropolitan section since joining The Times as a copy editor in 1989. · David Goehring, 53, has been named Vice President and Director of Harvard Business School Press, the book publishing unit of Harvard Business School Publishing, effective October 27, 2003. Over the past five years Goehring led the growth of Perseus Publishing. Prior to running Perseus, Goehring spent a decade at Addison Wesley Longman (Pearson), directing its General Publishing Group. Goehring succeeds Carol Franco, formerly Vice President and Director of HBS Press. Franco will assume the role of Editor-at-Large for Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP), a corporate position responsible for identifying new ideas and authors suitable for publication across HBSP's varied publishing platforms. The announcement was made by David Wan, CEO of HBSP. · Los Angeles Times Communications announced that Robert Bellack has been named its new senior vice president, chief financial officer. Bellack replaces Jim Shaw, who is retiring from the company. Since 1997 Bellack has served as senior vice president, chief financial officer of Classified Ventures, a joint venture between Tribune and other media companies that focuses on online classifieds. Digital Publishing · Reed Business Information has selected NewsStand Inc. to provide digital production and delivery of New Scientist. Established in 1956 and based in the U.K., New Scientist is a leading current affairs weekly magazine covering scientific and technological advances. The publication provides news, features and reports to more than 650,000 current readers across the globe. Subscribers of the New Scientist digital edition can now download the publication, just as it appears in print, to their laptop, desktop or Tablet PC. · MobiPocket, SA and Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. have announced the launch of eBookBase, an ebook distribution service exclusively targeted at mobile devices. With eBookBase a publisher can have content at a host of digital storefronts while only needing to deal with a single point of payment, distribution and security. A growing list of over 10,000 titles from over 100 publishers is currently available. Titles in the eBookBase system are available in four languages in the cross-platform MobiPocket format. Content Deals · Kingdom Ventures, Inc. announced that is has acquired the remaining assets of Christian Times from Keener Communications Group, Inc. In June 2003, Kingdom Ventures acquired the national rights to publish Christian Times -- the sixth largest Christian publication in the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, Kingdom Ventures exercised its option provisions to purchase the trademark, trade names and all outstanding assets of Christian Times. Christian Times has a monthly circulation of over 185,000 through more than 5,000 churches and retail outlets. Launches and Redesigns · The Festival Rag, a new online periodical dedicated to independent filmmaking and filmmakers,is launching in November, 2003. The monthly newsletter will pick up the buzz on the indie fare now showing at film festivals worldwide. Through the online entertainment portal KeMeK, The Festival Rag will deliver its flagship issue via email on November 3rd, 2003 to its list of more than 20,000 subscribers among the film, television, theatre and commercial media trades. Subsequent issues will be sent free of charge on the first Monday of each month, and will be posted online. The website will offer the entire past-issue archive as well as indie-film links and resources. · Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced it has launched Baseline Business Information Services (BIS). The new business unit will develop custom ROI selling tools that will help technology suppliers market their products and services more effectively to their customers. The unit also will develop tools for companies that want to calculate returns on technologies in which they invest. The new division extends the mission of Baseline magazine, the practical guide to planning, deploying and measuring the implementation of information systems in large enterprises. · Wired Magazine is introducing Gadget Lab, an enewsletter, to provide the latest information on tech toys. The free weekly blast, which formally launched on Oct. 14, represents an expansion of Wired's authority on high-tech devices. Gadget Lab offers a hands-on look at new and pre-release products each week, not all of which can be reviewed in the magazine. Wired editorial staffers pick apart the most interesting market entries and prepare killer write-ups. Additionally, each issue of Gadget Lab contains late-breaking news from Gizmodo, the gadgets weblog. The Oct. 14 issue features a digital picture frame, a 5 megapixel digicam, and image stabilizing binoculars. · Trivial Pursuit has launched TrivialPursuit.com, which offers online game play. The site features entertainment for Trivial Pursuit board game experts and novices with sample games and the latest news about forthcoming Trivial Pursuit board games; original, online multi-player games for head-to-head action in classic and new online edition games; and tournaments for fun and cash prizes. TrivialPursuit.com is operated by Bolenka Games Online North America, LLC, under exclusive license from Horn Abbot Ltd and Horn Abbot International Ltd, owners of the Trivial Pursuit trademark. Miscellaneous · Primedia Inc., a targeted media company, announced that it has reached a search and contextual advertising agreement with Google Inc. that includes a four-year distribution and revenue sharing agreement for Primedia's About.com as well as the sale of its Sprinks unit to Google. Sprinks is the pay per click advertising network, which serves About.com and other third party distribution partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Google will become the exclusive provider of contextually targeted and search advertising across About.com, and most of Primedia's Consumer Media and Magazines Group ("CMMG") websites. · Showtime Networks Inc. is filming a dark comedy based on Jayson Blair, the New York Times journalist that fictionalized news stories. The film, tentatively titled The Jayson Blair Project, which was announced by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks. The film is currently being penned by Jon Maas who served as writer/producer of the Showtime film The Last Debate, which dealt with the power of the media and journalistic ethics. Maas will also serve as executive producer on The Jayson Blair Project. Sharon Byrens is the creative executive on behalf of Showtime Networks. The Jayson Blair Project is based in part on articles by former Newsweek media reporter Seth Mnookin, who recently left the magazine to write a book about The New York Times for Random House. The film will explore how Jayson Blair, once considered to be a rising star in the field of journalism, brought shame upon himself and simultaneously The New York Times. 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. |
