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March 2002
- More Primedia Layoffs
Primedia has cut 65 more jobs. The latest
round of layoffs for the struggling magazine publisher
come from its business-to-business magazine division
and Media Central/Inside.com
properties.
Source: AdAge.com 3-29-02
- Yahoo Infuriates Email Users
Yahoo has revised its privacy policy so that users
of its Yahoo email service will now receive commercial
messages from Yahoo, enraging many of its customers.
Users became upset after receiving an email notice from
Yahoo about the change to their marketing preferences page.
Yahoo set the default to accept "commercial messages" instead
of automatically defaulting the option to not accept them.
Yahoo said users will have sixty days to edit their preferences
(and opt out of the ads) before the ads start arriving by email.
Source: CNET 3-29-02
- Tribune Media Services is closing L.A. Times syndicate
offices in New York and L.A. Times. The company is combining
syndicate services for the Tribune Company and the L.A. Times.
10 people were laid off.
Source: Editor & Publisher 3-29-02
- Haights Cross has shut down its
Coriolis imprint, which
publishes computer books. The company blamed a slumping computer
book market. Fifty employees will be let go as a result.
Source: Publishers Weekly 3-29-02
- No Napster Yet
Napster, the online music file swapping network, is
on hold indefinitely. After being shut down for copyright
violations, Napster had planned relaunches for the end of last
year and then March of 2002. However, the company has had
major problems developing its subscription service. When
Napster does finally relaunch it is still unclear how many
people will be interested in subscribing for the service which
used to be free.
Source: ZDNet 3-29-02
- Variety reported that Oxygen Media has laid
off 20 employees from its Oxygen Sports, because of
the low ratings the network received for its sports
coverage. Only skating and gymnastics permored well. 3-29-02
- ChickClick.com, a network of website for women,
has closed its doors. Blame was placed on the poor
economy. "Unfortunately, because of the changes in the
economy, we can no longer keep ChickClick up and
running. And while it is sad to lose ChickClick -- or any
place where women feel they can safely talk about what's
happening in their worlds -- we know that you will find
other communities where you can continue using you voice."
3-27-02
- MSNBC TV has fired 70 percent of its documentary division --
25 of 35 positions.
Source: Reuters on MSNBC 3-25-02
- IDG is ceasing publication
of Darwin magazine,
a business technology publication launched in June, 2000.
IDG will continue to publish an online edition of Darwin.
Source: Boston Globe 3-25-02
- The Newspaper Association of America is looking
to reduce its staff by 10-12%, about 15 to 20 positions.
The company is offering voluntary buyout packages to obtain the
reductions.
Source: Editor & Publisher 3-25-02
- The Philadelphia
Inquirer has cut its Sunday book
section down to one page. The Inquirer's book section has been
slowly reduced over the past year and a half from
six pages down to one.
Source: BookWeb.org 3-25-02
- Despite asking about 500 employees to
take reduce-pay vacations, The
Lonely Planet, a travel publisher, is going
to be cutting staff after all. About 15% of the
workforce is expected to be let go. The September 11th
attacks, which hurt the travel industry including travel
publishers, were blamed for the cuts.
Source: BBC 3-25-02
- The Kirch Group, a German media company, is planning
on cutting 1/3 of the staff in its television division.
Source: BBC 3-25-02
- The Village Voice relates the shocking story of
New York Post entertainment reporter Nikke Finke.
Finke was allegedly fired at the request of Disney
because of her unflattering article about the
lawsuit between Disney and the owners of the Winnie
the Pooh trademark, from whom Disney licenses the
right to use Pooh's name and likeness.
Source: Village Voice 3-25-02
- After the merger AOL wanted all Time Warner
companies to start using AOL email services. However,
AOL has now dropped that request because
employees have made numerous complaints about AOL
email. Some of the complaints included problems
handling large documents, crashes and lack of an
out-of-office autoresponder.
Source: Newsfactor 3-22-02
- The EMI Group is
cutting 20% of its workforce, not 11%
as previously reported. Alain Levy, the new CEO
of EMI Recorded Music, told the New York Times that
about 1,800 employees would be let go. EMI bought it's way out
of Mariah Carey's music contract earlier this year at a cost
of $54 million.
Source: The New York Times 3-21-02
- Lawyers for About.com's Guides (individuals hired by
About.com to
create and maintain its individual GuideSites) are
trying to build a class-action lawsuit against
Primedia (which purchased
About.com in 1999) with disputes
over wages, accounting and copyright infringement.
The lawsuit alleges that Primedia did things like not
properly record the page views when the Guides were
being paid for the amount of page views their guide
sites generated, engaged in fraudulent accounting
and paid bonuses in stock options instead of cash.
The lawsuit also alleges that Primedia inflated
About.com's revenues. In addition to the lawsuit
from the Guides, Primedia has also been sued by
current and former Primedia employees in a class
action lawsuit.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Internet.com,
The Lawsuit 3-21-02
- Miramax Films has cut 75 employees, about
15% of its workforce of 500.
Source: Hollywoodreporter.com 3-21-02
- AOL is AOL's #1 Customer
If you think buying ads on AOL Time Warner properties
is a good idea -- AOL agrees with you. Last year,
no single client purchased
more ads on AOL properties than AOL -- not even last
year's leading advertiser General Motors Corp. However,
the numbers may show more how bad of a year last
was (since AOL Time Warner ran so many cross-promo
ads) than how absurd the company is by selling ads
to itself.
Source: AdAge.com 3-20-01
- Web Users Say No to Paid Content
70% percent of all web users agree -- they don't
understand why anyone would ever pay for online content.
Jupiter Media Metrix reported that revenue from
online subscriptions will approach $5.8 billion by
2006, which is about three times higher than this year's
target of $1.4 billion. But $5.8 billion is still a small
amount when you consider that online subscriptions include
everything from financial news, to games to digital music.
Source: Atnewyork.com, Wired, Newsbytes 3-19-02
- Small independent bookstores have been struggling for
the past several years. A mystery bookstore in D.C. was
struggling, but surviving, until the September 11th attacks
diminished its tourism traffic -- a fatal blow.
Washington Post staff writer
Linton Weeks keeps with the style of the genre in her
account of the death of MysteryBooks, an independent D.C.
mystery bookstore.
Source: Washington Post 3-18-02
- EMI Group plans to cut 1,000 jobs -- about 11% of the
workforce in its recorded music division.
Source: L.A. Times 3-18-02
- East magazine, a pan-Asian lifestyle magazine,
is ceasing publication because of diminished revenues.
Source: Wall Street Journal 3-18-02
- Martha Stewart Living Omnipedia has cut 40 jobs
from its Internet division according to the New York Post.
Martha Stewart will still employ about 600 people after the
cuts.
Source: New York Post 3-18-02
- CareerBuilder, an online recruitment site owned by
media companies Knight Ridder and Tribune, is planning to
lay off as much as 30% of its workforce.
Source: Washington Post 3-18-02
- Phantom Typist: Microsoft XP users have been complaining
that text sometimes automatically appears in Microsoft
Word, Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer's address bar.
XP users have referred to the problem as a "ghost" or
"possession". Microsoft blamed the problem on its
Speech recognition application and provided instructions for
users to disable the software.
Source: Newsbytes 3-18-02
- Sony Fined Over Fake Reviews
Remember film critic David Manning who loved
A Knight's Tale and The Animal? Well now, Sony is
having to cough up $325,000 in fines to the
state of Connecticut for making him up.
Source: BBC 3-15-02
- The Chair Fails
The Chair, a reality-tv show featuring contestants trapped
in a chair-like device answering questions, has been
terminated by ABC. The ridiculous television show outlasted
its arch rival, The Chamber, which was terminated in January. 3-15-02
- Napster has cut 10% of its workforce, about 8
employees. The company laid off 16 employees
last October.
Source: Newsbytes 3-15-02
- Newspaper Jobs Won't Return
A depressing article in Editor & Publisher lists a number
of statements and quotes from heads of
large newspaper publishers, who say that most or all of
their job cuts are permanent -- even with an advertising
recovery. Some of the publishers mentioned in the article
include Knight Ridder, Pulitzer Inc., Dow Jones & Co. Inc.,
and Media General Inc.
Source: Editor & Publisher 3-11-02
- Readers Digest is ceasing publication of
New Choices, a lifestyle magazine for people over
age 50. New Choices had a circulation over 600,000.
Source: AdAge.com 3-11-02
- Another Bad Month for Print Mags
Total magazine advertising revenue for the month of February
closed at $1,105,506,784, an 8.2% decrease from last year,
according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Advertising
pages for February were 15,326, down 16.3% from last year.
Year-to-date, advertising revenue decreased 9.7%, closing at
$1,905,294,060, and ad pages were 27,233, down 17.1% over
last year. And if advertising revenues weren't bad enough
already, magazines are also concerned about losing liquor ad sales to television.
Source: PIB, AdAge.com 3-11-02
- Yahoo Dumps MapQuest
Yahoo will stopping using MapQuest, a unit of AOL Time Warner,
for its online mapping services. Instead, Yahoo Maps will use its own
mapping technology combining information and services from
several other providers.
Source: CNET 3-11-02
- Due to a decline in advertising revenue,
Web Hosting Magazine
is on hiatus as a print publication. 3-11-02
- Casco Bay Weekly, a Portland-based alternative
newsweekly, has fired 4 editorial employees.
Source: MaineToday.com 3-11-02
- Author Buys Lots of His Own Books
David A. Vise, a Washington Post reporter and author
of The Bureau and the Mole, purchased nearly
20,000 copies of his own book from BarnesandNoble.com.
The New York Times reported that
Vise then tried to return about 17,500 copies, which
led to disputes about the order between B&N and Vise. A competing
publisher complained that Vise was trying to manipulate
the bestseller lists.
Source: New York Times,
Publishers Weekly, Washington Post 3-6-02
- Doris Kearns Goodwin has temporarily left the PBS
NewsHour With Jim Lehrer television show as
criticism of her copying many passages in her 1987 book,
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, continues.
The Drudge Report also reported that she faces possible
removal from Harvard University's Board of Overseers.
Source: New York Times, Drudge Report, Washington Post,
Boston Globe,
Forbes.com 3-6-02
- John Wiley & Sons is shutting down its
CDG Books Canada division. 17 employees will be let go.
Source: Canoe 3-6-02
- Primedia is ceasing publication of Teen magazine.
Subscribers to Teen will get Seventeen magazine insterad.
Teen subscribers will begin receiving Seventeen with
their June issue.
Source: The Write News, New York Times,
AdAge.com 3-4-02
- Suite101.com, Inc., an online publishing community, is
down to just one employee. At the end of 2001, the struggling
publisher informed its Contributing Editors that it would stop
paying them.
Source: The Write News 3-4-02
- Newseum Closes: visitors rushed to visit the Newseum, before it
closed until 2006 for relocation to a new building in Washington,
D.C.
Source: Washington
Post 3-4-02
- The Industry Spammard
The Industry Standard, a technology publication that is no
longer publishing and only has archives left online, is
still being used by AOL Time Warner
to send spam to its subscribers according
to Newsbytes. An email recently went to the subscribers of an
old Industry Standard mailing list promoting an Adobe Systems
seminar.
Source: Newsbytes 3-1-02
- Historical writer Stephen Ambrose is still coming
under fire for plagiarism. The most recent criticism is over
his recent book, Wild Blue (Simon & Schuster), which
contains passages he did not write and correctly attribute
to another writer. A new edition of the book is being prepared.
Source: Forbes.com, ABCNews.com, BBC 3-1-02
- 800.com, Inc., a specialty retailer of consumer electronics,
and Circuit City Stores, Inc., announced an agreement under
which 800.com will sell certain key assets to Circuit City.
Traffic coming to 800.com will be redirected to
CircuitCity.com. The sale includes 800.com's customer database
and various other marketing elements. As of Thursday,
February 28, 2002, 800.com suspended retail operations and
will no longer take orders from the company's website. 3-1-02
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