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January 2002
- Some Content Vanishes After Tasini Case
Many articles from newspapers have disappeared
from archives and online databases, such as Lexis-Nexis,
since the results of the Tasini case, which the Supreme
Court decided in favor of freelance writers. However, instead
of negotiating new rights to publish the freelance articles
online, publishers have simply removed many of the articles.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Professor
Xiaotian Chen found a nice San Francisco Chronicle
article for his students in a Lexis-Nexis database for use
in a course he was preparing, but when it came time for the
course and he asked his students to look up the article
his students informed him that the article could not
be found. It had been removed by the publisher.
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education 1-29-02
- Newspapers are losing job seekers to Internet job sites
according to a recent study from The Media Audit.
Source: RBR.com 1-29-02
- The Tribune Co. and The E.W. Scripps Co.,
two leading newspaper publishers, said they expect
to announce additional job cuts this year. Both companies
laid off employees in 2001.
Source: Editor & Publisher 1-29-02
- Martin Peretz, the owner of The New Republic, has sold his
majority interest in the publication to Michael
Steinhardt and Roger Hertog. The new investors
will each have a 1/3 stake in The New Republic, as
will Peretz.
The publication, which The New York Times
said "usually loses money", saw its
costs increase from Internet investments,
including the Electronic Newsstand and TheStreet.com,
which Peretz called premature. The New Republic
also recently announced layoffs and a 10% pay cut in
editorial positions.
Source: The New York Times,
The Nando Times 1-29-02
- Queercompany
has put itself and Fable, its print magazine,
up for sale after running out of money.
Source: The Guardian 1-29-02
- The Kansas City Star is cutting another
50 staff positions. The company laid off 125 employees
last year and 51 in 2002.
Source: The Kansas City Star 1-29-02
- Good Riddance. The Chamber, a reality-tv show from
Fox, has lasted just one week. The show traps contestants
in a chair-type device and exposes them to extreme conditions of
heat, cold and other distractions while the contestant
tries to answer questions.
A similar show, called The Chair, was launched by ABC
at the same time.
Source: The New York Times 1-29-02
- Beep.com, an online
shopping site owned by the BBC,
is firing half of its staff -- 40 employees and the
chief executive.
Source: BBC 1-29-02
- Walker Books,
a 40-year-old, family-owned publisher,
is discontinuing its highly regarded crime fiction line.
Walker Books claims the mysteries did not sell as well
as its other books, which include nonfiction and children's
titles. The company published about
12 mystery novels annually. Mystery editor Michael Seidman will
be leaving the company.
Source: Publishers Weekly
1-25-02
- Olaf Olafsson, vice chairman of Time Warner Digital
Media, has admitted
to borrowing passages from M.F.K. Fisher's 1943 novel,
The Gastronomical Me, in his book entitled
The Journey Home. Olafsson claims he was trying
to pay a tribue to the author, but he did not acknowledge
the author in his book.
Source: SiliconValley.com, CNN 1-28-02
- EMI Records has dropped singer Mariah Carey
and cut the contract short.
EMI Records said it saved money by cutting short
its $80 million contract with Mariah.
Mariah received $28 million in exit fees.
Source: New York Times, L.A. Times 1-25-02
- Random House Continues Layoffs
Random House
has laid people off in every division in a
perplexing, slow process. Random House has appeared in the
news several times over the past month -- with each appearance
covering a handful of new layoffs. Peter Olson, the chairman of Random
House, told the New York Times that the total amount of
layoffs was less than 10% of its total workforce.
The New York Times also reported
that about 12 out of 100 editors at Random House were laid off.
Sources: New York Times,
Bloomberg, Publishers Weekly 1-22-02
- Talk Magazine Ceases Publication
Talk Media has suspended publication of Talk Magazine, effective
with the February issue currently on newsstands, it was announced
by Talk Media chairman Tina Brown and president Ron Galotti.
The announcement was made following discussions between Talk
Media and their partners, The Hearst Corporation and Miramax
Films. Brown and Galotti said the terrorist attacks on September
11th, which deepened the advertising recession, made it
extremely difficult to continue Talk. Talk magazine was launched
in August, 1999 and had a circulation of 670,000.
Talk employed about 100 people.
Sources: The Write News, L.A. Times, Newsday, New York Times,
Media Life Magazine, The Deal, AdAge.com, National Post, Boston Globe 1-22-02
- Questia Media, an online library of books and journals,
is down to a skeleton crew of 28,
after laying off another 40 employees last week.
At its peak the company employed over 300 people.
Questia charges $19.95 per month for access to its database of
books and research articles. Questia also provides search,
note-taking tools and writing tools for subscribers.
The Houston Chronicle reported that
company has sold a little over 5,000 subscriptions -- well short
of its 100,000 subscriber goal.
Source: Houston Chronicle 1-22-02
- A number of columns and websites covering the dot-com crash have
ceased publishing including The BubbleEconomy.com, The Compost,
and The Industry Standard's Flop Tracker. However,
F--edcompany.com, Failure Magazine, Ghostsites.com and others
continue to cover dot-com failures.
Source: NetSlaves.com 1-22-02
- Newsweek has offered buyout packages to 85 of its
740 employees -- about 12% of its total workforce.
Source:
Chicago Tribune 1-22-02
- Fox Sports is laying off 81 employees from its
Fox Sports Net division.
Source: The New York Times 1-22-01
- Pulitzer Inc. has laid off 15 employees from its
STLToday.com website.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch 1-22-02
- Microsoft is
eliminating its UltimateTV division
based in Silicon Valley. About 150 employees from the division
will be laid off. The rest of the employees will be moved
to other Microsoft groups.
Source: Mercury News 1-22-02
- Medical World Communications has ceased publication of
HealthBizNews.com. 1-22-02
- Print Mags Face Brutal First Quarter
The first quarter is not going to be good for magazines,
according to AdAge.com's latest article which reports
feedback from magazine publisher and editors. New
Yorker Publisher David Carey told AdAge that many magazine
publishers would view a quarter down 10-15% as a good
thing given the current environment. Rolling Stone Publisher
Rob Gregory would be happy just to have flat first quarter.
Many other publishers reported similar feelings.
Advertising
pages for December were 19,030, down 19.4% from last year,
according to Publishers
Information Bureau (PIB).
Source: AdAge.com 1-17-02
- Guardian Newspapers,
the U.K.-based publisher of The Guardian and
The Observer, has laid off 35 employees.
Source: The Guardian 1-17-02
- CMGI, the parent company
of Altavista, is laying off
95 employees -- about 4% of the workforce.
Source: Newsbytes 1-17-02
- The X-Files television series will end its 9 season run
this May. Ratings for the show begin to sink after actor
David Duchovny left the show. X-Files creator Chris Carter promises
the show will provide answers to some of the many questions the
series has raised in the final episodes.
Source: E Online 1-17-02
- Copyright Office Not Receiving USPS Mail
Mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service to the Copyright
Office has been disrupted since October 17, 2001. The
Copyright Office has not received any mail since that
date. Because of the deadly anthrax mailings in October,
USPS mail delivery to the Library of Congress, which the
Copyright Office is part of, has been on hold.
Mail from private carriers is still being delivered on time.
A new problem may be caused by the irradiation procedures now
being used on mail sent to the D.C. area to destroy the
anthrax bacteria. The irradiation process may damage tapes,
videos and film.
Source: The Write News 1-14-02
- CMP Media has folded the print edition of
Internet Week magazine. The online edition at InternetWeek.com
will continue to be published. The number of job cuts involved
is still unknown.
Source: Newsbytes, MediaWeek 1-14-02
- Hearst is looking to cut costs in its
Interative
Studios division, which manages the online versions of its
magazines. The comany believes
Interactive Studios is somewhat redundant because all of
its magazines are available on the iVillage.com/Women.com network
-- which Hearst has a 30% stake in.
Source: CNET 1-14-02
- December 2001 Not Kind to Magazine Publishers
Total magazine advertising revenue for the month of December
closed at $1,356,530,984, an 11.2% decrease from last year,
according to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Advertising
pages for December were 19,030, down 19.4% from last year.
Year-to-date, advertising revenue decreased 4.9%, closing at
$16,213,541,737, and ad pages were 237,613, down 11.7% over
last year.
“The declines in magazine advertising we’re seeing now can be
attributed to the fact that the December monthlies closed
their issues around the middle of September,” noted Ellen
Oppenheim, Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer,
MPA. “The tragic events that occurred during this time made
it difficult for advertisers to make media commitments.” 1-11-02
- Gruner & Jahr USA is
ceasing publication of HomeStyle. 34 employees will be let
go. Gruner & Jahr recently announced that it was planning layoffs
and cutbacks in a company memo acquired by
AdAge.com.
Source: MediaWeek 1-10-02
- Stephen Ambrose: More Plagiarism Accusations
Historian and New York Times bestselling author
Stephen Ambrose apologized over the weekend for
lifting phrases and sentences from another author's book and
inserting them in The Wild Blue, Ambrose's current bestseller.
But an article on Forbes.com suggests that this is not the first
time Ambrose has copied passages from a source without proper
attribution.
In the article ``Ambrose Has Done It Before,'' Forbes.com staff
writer Mark Lewis turned up an earlier case, in which Ambrose
borrowed words and phrases from a different author in his 1975
book, Crazy Horse and Custer.
Forbes.com reports that in Crazy Horse and Custer, Ambrose
borrowed the words from Jay Monaghan, who was cited in
Ambrose's footnotes but whose phrases and some sentences were
used a number of times without footnotes or proper attribution.
Source: Forbes.com, Washingtonpost.com, New York Times,
The Guardian 1-10-02
- CNN/SI, CNN's
five year old sports network, is being shut down.
CNN/SI will be eventually be replaced by a new sports network.
It is uncertain how many of the 200 employees that work
at CNN/SI will be let go.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
SmartMoney 1-10-02
- Forrester Research, a firm providing business
research and analysis, is laying off 126 employees, or 22% of its
workforce.
Source: Internet.com 1-10-02
- Northernlight.com, an online search engine and
research tool, is cutting back on its public search
offerings. The company plans to focus on its
business products.
Source: Newsbytes 1-10-02
- Disney plans to lay off half of the ABC
Family Channel employees -- about 300 jobs.
Source: L.A. Times 1-10-02
- CNN Humiliates Star Anchor Paula Zahn
CNN committed the first major journalism faux pas of 2002
when it ran a tasteless and insulting promotion for respected anchorwoman
Paula Zahn that labeled her as "sexy" and
"provocative". ``Where can you find a morning
news anchor who's provocative, super-smart, oh yeah, and
just a little sexy?'' asked the narrator.
``CNN, Yeah, CNN,'' is the answer in the
ridiculous advertisement promoting its morning
news anchor. The advertisement
which ran over the weekend of January 5th and 6th
also featured the sound of a zipper which was heard
shortly before the word "Sexy" appeared on
the screen in red letters. Compounding its error,
CNN immediately blamed the disaster on an unnamed female
employee in its publicity department, according
to the Associated Press. Matt Drudge
of The Drudge Report reported that an insider at CNN
was "not surprised" and referred to the "People-magazine
effect" which is taking over the newsroom.
Fox News, Paula Zahn's previous employer,
told Reuters that the CNN promotion was
a ``sign of desperation.''
CNN has now pulled the promo and CNN Chairman and CEO
Walter Isaacson expressed anger at the running of the
ad. ``It was a major blunder by our promo department,''
Isaacson said in a statement.
``The ad was never seen or approved by anyone outside the
promo department. I was outraged, and so was Paula Zahn,
who has spent more than 20 years proving her credibility
day in and day out on the air.''
Source: Washington Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Drudge Report 1-8-02
- AOL Time Warner: Grim Advertising Outlook
There is hope industry wide for at least a slight recover
in advertising this year. However, AOL Time Warner's outlook suggests
a recovery might not happen this year -- at least
not until the second half. AOL gave a pessimistic outlook for
2002 suggesting that advertising revenues could decline
again in the first half of the year. Overall, AOL predicts
a down to flat advertising year.
Source: Financial Times, Marketwatch.com 1-8-02
- More Random House Layoffs
Random House has announced five more job cuts.
This time the layoffs came at its Random House,
Villard and Modern Library trade imprints.
In December, Random House announced 9 layoffs in
its Doubleday Broadway, Ballantine and Bantam Dell
divisions. More cuts from the New York book publisher
had been expected.
Source: The Nando Times 1-8-02
- Gruner & Jahr USA is
planning layoffs and cutbacks according
to a memo obtained by AdAge.com. The publisher of consumer
magazines including Child, Family Circle, Fast Company,
Fitness, HomeStyle, Inc, Parents, Rosie and YM suffered
in 2001 along with
other magazine publishers because of the advertising recession.
Source: AdAge.com 1-4-02
- Horse & Hound, a U.K. equestrian magazine, is undergoing
a round of layoffs. The layoffs are part of the reductions of
118 positions announced earlier this month by IPC Media. IPC
Media is a magazine publishing company now owned by AOL Time Warner.
Source: The Guardian 1-4-02
- The Omaha World-Herald has cut 40 jobs. The advertising
recession and September 11th terrorist attacks were blamed
for the layoffs.
Source: Omaha World-Herald 1-4-02
- Suite 101,
an online publishing community, informed its contributing
editors that it will stop paying them on December 31st.
Suite 101 stated that it had over 1,300 contributing editors
in a February, 2001 press release.
The company is also reducing costs in other areas.
A memo explaining the decision was emailed to
Suite101.com editors. 1-4-02
- Teen.com, which provided advice and resources for teens,
has closed its doors after 4 years of online publishing. 1-4-02
- Freedom Technology Media Group announced that it
will stop publishing Small Business Computing magazine
effective with the January 2002 issue. The decision was
reached after FTMG was unable to find a buyer for the
publication. Thirteen positions were affected by the shutdown.
Source: The Write News 1-4-02
- Valiente Ltd., announced it will temporarily suspend the
publication of Valiente magazine, a Latino lifestyle monthly
publication based in Plano, Texas. Several employees were let
go as a result. Valiente magazine was first published in
October, 2000.
Source: The Write News 1-4-02
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