News Corp. Blog

Yes, Virginia, WSJ editors read USA Today

2010-06-18T12:23:00.001-04:00

USAT is famous for its trend stories, so it was noteworthy this morning when The Wall Street Journal chose an unusual forum -- its editorial page -- to pick apart one such USAT account about the Gulf Oil spill.

The June 8 story: "Oil spills escalated in this decade." The paper found the number of spills from offshore oil rigs and pipelines in U.S. waters "more than quadrupled this decade, a trend that could have served as a warning for the massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico."

Here's the graph the WSJ didn't like: "From the early 1970s through the '90s, offshore rigs and pipelines averaged about four spills per year of at least 50 barrels, according to the Minerals Management Service (MMS). One barrel is equal to 42 gallons. The average annual total surged to more than 17 from 2000 through 2009. From 2005 through 2009, spills averaged 22 a year."

"That sounds ominous," the Journal opines, "so we decided to check Minerals Management Service spill data and see for ourselves. Here's the rest of the story: While the averages reported by USA Today are correct, the paper failed to mention that the numbers were distorted by some outlier years, in particular 2004 (22 spills), 2005 (49 spills) and 2008 (33 spills). It's no coincidence that those were the years of Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Katrina and Rita (2005) and Gustav and Ike (2008)."

Now, depending on your perspective, the WSJ is providing important context that deflates USAT's trend discovery. Or, the Journal's famously conservative editorial page is once more kissing corporate butt.

[Image: this morning's front page, Newseum]

NWS said in content-sharing talks with Gannett

2010-06-15T14:40:00.002-04:00

Regarding a new plan to centralize digital content contracting, the well-known Gannett Blog poster known as "My Boss" says representatives of Gannett, USA Today and News Corp. have been discussing a possible combination of news, advertising and other content operations. News Corp.'s properties include The Wall Street Journal.

I have now confirmed that these talks have, indeed, been underway. I do not know their current status, however. (Updated at 3:58 p.m. ET to reflect my source's belief that these talks cover subjects beyond news content development.) Following are key portions of My Boss' post:

"This is the first step in the eventual News Corp. and Gannett/USA Today paid content agreement. There are some big implications for digital sales for newspapers and USAT. Jack Williams has been meeting with Jon Miller at News Corp. to discuss one delivery mechanism for all local content and for USAT to combine news operations within WSJ and sales within News Corp."

Some context: Any such deal with News Corp. would come amid USA Today's flagging circulation and advertising sales, which have lagged other Gannett newspapers as the U.S. economy struggles to regain its footing after the Great Recession.

Know about a reported USA Today staff meeting on Thursday? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Top Pop | Beauty, van der Sloot, 'flash crash'

2010-06-08T13:51:00.001-04:00

[van der Sloot]

Most popular right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Off runway, brazilian beauty goes beyond blond
USA Today: Joran van der Sloot confesses to killing Lima woman
The Wall Street Journal: DJIA slides under 'flash crash' low

Slow traffic ahead: Memorial Day and the Internet

2010-05-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

In my home state of Rhode Island, Memorial Day traditionally marks the start of beach-going season. Families head for the shore, opening beach houses for another summer away from scorching city temperatures. These days, I know something else that starts this three-day weekend: Internet traffic begins falling, and remains low during much of the summer, as more people vacation and stay away from the Web.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Photo: bather at Pompano Beach, Fla., by Eric Thayer of The New York Times via Gawker]

Top Pop | Landis confessions, Valentino T-shirts

2010-05-27T17:27:00.001-04:00

[Nelson]

Most popular right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Setback delays ‘Top Kill’ effort to seal leaking oil well in Gulf
USA Today: Braids be gone: Willie Nelson gets a haircut
The Wall Street Journal: Big spat on rig preceded explosion

Stock | Publishers dip in broad market retreat

2010-05-20T12:39:00.001-04:00

Major newspaper publishers's stocks are following overall stock markets lower, on renewed investor worries over E.U. debt. Recent trading in stocks I follow:

Gannett: $14.79, down 3.3%
New York Times Co.: $8.52, down 6.5%
News Corp.: $15.04, down 4.8%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 277 points, or 2.7%. The S&P 500 is down 33 points, or 3%.

The broad retreat is stocks, according to The Wall Street Journal, came on mounting worries over Europe's will to address its debt woes as unions went on strike in Greece and investors fretted that trading regulations like those introduced this week in Germany could be adopted in other countries.

Top Pop | Doubtful vet, Travolta dogs, health care

2010-05-18T14:49:00.002-04:00

[Travolta]

Most popular stories right now on the websites of:

The New York Times: Candidate’s words on Vietnam service differ from history
USA Today: Dogs in Travolta's family killed at airport
The Wall Street Journal: No, you can't keep your health plan

Stock | NWS outlook dims as E.U. bank fears build

2010-05-16T22:56:00.002-04:00

After falling 2% on Friday, NWS shares resume trading tomorrow morning as fear in the financial markets is building again -- this time over worries Europe's biggest banks face strains that will hobble European economies.

"Bourses and bank shares in Europe plunged on Friday because of these fears," The New York Times says, with Wall Street following suit.

Shares were also down in Tokyo and Australia in early trading on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% to 19,732.12, MarketWatch is reporting, falling back below the psychologically important 20,000 level; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 2.9% to 11,254.22.

Related: the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the S&P 500 Index

Times said to start charging for Web in January

2010-05-14T00:49:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that The New York Times will begin charging for access to articles on its website in January. The Journal cites remarks that NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller made at a dinner for the Foreign Press Association this last night.

The WSJ report notes the Times unveiled a plan early this year to begin charging for access to the Web version of its flagship newspaper. "Keller's comments helped pinpoint the timing of the plan,'' the Journal says.

Urgent: In broad market rout, NWS down nearly 5%

2010-05-06T14:44:00.003-04:00

Company shares finally closed at $16.21, down 78 cents, or 4.6%, as stock markets overall plunged on growing worries over the debt crisis in Europe. News Corp.'s performance was worse than broader stock market indexes: The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both dived 3.2%. At one point, the Dow fell by nearly 1,000. (Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET.)

Stock | Post earnings, investors pound NWS

2010-05-05T11:14:00.002-04:00

Company shares recently traded for $16.56, down $1.11, or more than 6%, as Wall Street registered disappointment with News Corp.'s third-quarter results yesterday. NWS's decline is well below other market indexes: The S&P 500, a closely watched barometer of broad stock market activity, was down less than 1%, as was the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Earnings | Third-quarter earnings pop on 'Avatar'

2010-05-04T17:03:00.004-04:00

Record box-office receipts from Avatar, coupled with growth in its cable, broadcast and newspaper operations fueled third-quarter earnings, surpassing forecasts and propelled shares in after-hours trading, the company just announced.

Amid a broad market selloff, MarketWatch says, NWS shares fell this afternoon by 3.8% to end trading at $17.68, but the stock climbed 3% in after-hours trading.

Stock | NWS pummeled in broad market selloff

2010-05-04T14:58:00.001-04:00

News Corp.'s stock recently traded for $17.56 a share, down 82 cents, or 4.5%, as broader markets dived on renewed concerns over the European Union's bailout plan for Greece. NWS's plunge is greater than other market measures: The S&P 500 Index was recently down 2.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 2.2%, or 248 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has fallen 3.2%.

In Times Square near-bombing, it's advantage: NYT

2010-05-02T16:16:00.003-04:00

The Wall Street Journal missed the big local story in print because it doesn't publish on Sundays. In the rising battle over New York City news, that gave The New York Times an advantage. Still, it kept the play modest, limiting it on the front page to the traditional far-right column lede position (bigger view):

The two papers are now duking it out online, of course. Screenshots, taken moments ago; click on images for bigger view:

[Image: front page, Newseum]

Stock | NWS, other newspaper shares get creamed

2010-04-27T16:14:00.004-04:00

News Corp.'s stock closed moments ago at $17.98, down 62 cents a share, or 3.3%, as newspaper stocks swooned during a day when markets overall fell on worries over Europe's growing debt crisis.

The news stocks were hit harder, however. Gannett closed at $17.54, down 6%. Shares in the New York Times Co. fell more than 7.3%, to $10.45. The S&P 500 Index, a broader measure of overall stock market activity, fell 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 213 points, or 1.9%, Google Finance says.

As battle heats up, WSJ continues circ gains on NYT

2010-04-26T11:34:00.003-04:00

The Wall Street Journal eked out a small circulation gain during the six months ended March 31 from a year ago, an industry group report says today, as the daily racheted up its competition with The New York Times with a new section devoted to New York City.

The Journal topped this morning's Audit Bureau of Circulations list of the nation’s largest-circulation daily newspapers, trade journal Editor & Publisher is reporting. The WSJ was the only daily among the 10 largest to gain circulation in the latest six-month period, E&P says.

The third national daily, USA Today, continued to see its circulation drop, although losses moderated from the the previous six-month period.

Top three dailies
USAT remained No. 2 among the 10 largest, E&P says:

The Wall Street Journal

March 31, 2010: 2,092,523
March 31, 2009: 2,082,189
Change: +0.5%

USA Today

1,826,622
2,113,725
-13.58%

The New York Times

951,063
1,039,032
-8.47%

Money launderers and counterfeiters, beware

2010-04-21T14:54:00.001-04:00

"This note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we're staying ahead of counterfeiters."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in remarks today as his department unveiled the newest design for $100 bills, in a story that's now the most popular on The Wall Street Journal's website.

Dow Jones lawsuit claims 'brazen' content theft

2010-04-20T16:38:00.005-04:00

Dow Jones & Co. says in its suit today against Briefing.com that in just one two-week period, the investment website copied a "substantial portion" of at least 100 articles, and republished more than 70 headlines within three minutes of their initial publication on Dow Jones Newswires. The complaint claims Briefing.com cut and pasted Dow Jones content and included the pirated material in its cheaper product, according to a just-moved story on The Wall Street Journal.

Related: News Corp.'s statement about the suit

AdAge says NYT's new online biz page is the latest gambit to grab readers, advertisers from rival WSJ

2010-04-13T18:00:00.001-04:00

The online section front has been rebuilt, starting today, to more closely resemble a home page, trade publication Advertising Age says, "complete with the top-left and top-right 'rabbit ear' ad units traditionally limited to the paper's standard home page; an automated "latest news" box on the top-right with stories from the Times and other sources such as Reuters and the Associated Press; a frequently updated river of news down the left column; a center column highlighting analysis; and Times blog posts wherever they may fit in the news or insight columns."

Related: NYT Co.'s press release on the makeover

WSJ shut out of Pulitzers, as rival NYT wins three

2010-04-12T18:14:00.006-04:00

The New York Times today won three Pulitzer Prizes, in a 2010 competition that saw a new generation of online journalists elbowing their way into the industry's highest honor.

Notably, the Times' surging competitor -- The Wall Street Journal -- failed to win a single prize.

The NYT won for explanatory reporting and for national reporting. Plus, the Times's Sunday magazine tied for the award in investigative reporting with with the Philadelphia Daily News. The magazine's work was in collaboration with ProPublica -- a new, non-profit website devoted to investigative journalism. (So, in fact, maybe the NYT won just 2.5 Pulitzers.)

In a new post, the New York Observer says: The WSJ, which was once a Pulitzer-hoarder under former top editor Paul Steiger, "once again goes home empty-handed." The paper has not won an award since April 2007, and this brings the Journal's Pulitzer count in the Rupert Murdoch era to a grand total of zero, the Observer says.

Related: the complete list of 2010 winners. Plus, the WSJ's account of the awards

In NYC rivalry, WSJ has 'uphill battle' against NYT

2010-04-08T14:24:00.001-04:00

[News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, NYT Co.'s Arthur Sulzberger Jr.]

That's according to New York Magazine, which compares The Wall Street Journal's roster of reporters in its about-to-launch New York City Bureau to the established team at The New York Times. "Even accounting for slight differences in assignment (the Journal city room will cover only New York, whereas Times city reporters must also do national reporting on their beat), the staff numbers say Murdoch has an uphill battle,'' the magazine says today. It lists reporters known to be devoted to each team. "As you can see," the magazine says, "in nearly every beat, the Times already has two reporters in place for each one of the Journal's."

Program note | I'll be offline most of today

2010-04-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

I'll do my best to read your e-mail and post your comments, as I get only rare Internet access throughout the day.

In early iPad reviews, good to 'game changer'

2010-04-01T06:01:00.003-04:00

Among those published today for Apple's new tablet -- being released Saturday -- most influential-of-all technology reviewers Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal raved: "I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop."

The iPad is priced from $499 to $829, depending on features including whether it's equipped for Wi-Fi only, or fully mobile connections via AT&T's network. Here's a roundup, plus videos, with emphasis on the iPad's potential for helping publishers.

Mossberg
He writes: I was able to try a pre-release version of The Wall Street Journal's new iPad app (which I had nothing to do with designing), and found it gorgeous and highly functional -- by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen. Unlike the Journal's Web site, or its smart-phone apps, the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. Other newspapers and magazines have announced plans for their own, dramatically more realistic iPhone apps.

David Pogue, The New York Times
He writes: There’s an e-book reader app, but it’s not going to rescue the newspaper and book industries (sorry, media pundits). The selection is puny (60,000 titles for now). You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile (the Kindle is 10 ounces). And you can’t read books from the Apple bookstore on any other machine — not even a Mac or iPhone.

Edward Baig, USA Today
He writes: You can change pages on the iPad by tapping the screen: The page turns naturally, like a book. On Kindle, you have to press physical buttons and wait an instant while the page refreshes. Rotate the iPad, and you'll see two pages side by side. Newspaper and magazine layouts look vastly superior on the iPad compared with Kindle. The iPad is backlit, so you can read in the dark. You have to supply a reading light with Kindle.

Related: iPad reviews in the news

What's your gut feeling about iPad's potential to aid our industry? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

It's April Fool's Day; watch out for mischief

2010-04-01T05:04:00.001-04:00

In the Internet age, it's easier than ever for pranksters to submit fake press releases today, hoping to trick editors into publishing them.

WSJ | Paper slow-mos RNC erotic club coverage

2010-03-30T07:32:00.006-04:00

[Picture worth 1,000 words: Voyeur's homepage tells the story]

I watched The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today as the Republican National Committee mini-scandal unfolded yesterday over a nearly $2,000 night at faux bondage club Voyeur in Los Angeles. The WSJ appeared to be the last one to post a story, and their coverage seems anemic -- especially alongside the Post's Dan Eggen. That slow-mo coverage adds fuel to the perception that the Journal's Washington Bureau is now tinged with partisan politics.

But the biggest winner's got to be the club itself: Talk about free publicity!

Related: USA Today's story, and the NYT's

Raising the heat, WSJ now at NYC Starbucks, too

2010-03-29T13:49:00.007-04:00

The U.S. flagship joins The New York Times and recent entrant USA Today in selling issues at the coffee chain's 450 stores in New York City, the company announced today. USA Today said earlier this month that it's selling at Starbucks in-store newsstands nationwide, as the NYT has been for years under a once-exclusive agreement among the national dailies.

In a statement, the company says: "This new distribution agreement comes as the Journal prepares to launch its highly anticipated New York section next month, which will capture readers' attention by applying the Journal's unique insight and analysis to a wide range of topics of interest to New Yorkers."

A first? Dow Jones trumpets Greece exclusive

2010-03-29T13:41:00.003-04:00

In a statement distributed early this afternoon over PRNewswire, the company brags that on March 18, "Dow Jones Newswires released exclusive news that Greece may seek financial aid from the International Monetary Fund. Following the news the euro quickly tumbled by 0.4% against the U.S. dollar, and assets as varied as the pound, the Australian and Singapore dollars and shares in Japanese exporters all declined with suggestion of a possible jolt to the stability of the entire European Monetary Union and the prospect that the euro zone might not be able to handle its first debt crisis."

The statement continues: "Nearly an hour later, rival news organization Bloomberg, as well as Greek media, picked up the Dow Jones story. Reuters was two hours behind. The Dow Jones story was discussed in a flurry of analysts' research reports in Asia and Europe."

Question: Is this a new tactic, spotlighting hot news stories via press releases?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

USA Today circulation reveals NYC battleground

2010-03-29T13:13:00.003-04:00

[Top 10 USAT "print markets" -- not cities -- for paper sales]

As it wields a new trade campaign in the growing rivalry among the three national dailies, USA Today's marketing kit offers a glimpse at the stakes -- especially in the New York City area. That's where The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are battling for local supremacy, with some observers fearing Journal owner Rupert Murdoch aims to put the NYT out of business.

USA Today's fight is over national advertising and readers, rather than the New York metro alone. Nonetheless, circulation figures show the paper has plenty of readers to peel away there.

USAT's publicly available data doesn't reveal the exact number of New York City area readers. Still, the paper's New York print market -- which extends well north in the state -- is the single-biggest among 25 such regions in copy sales: Nearly 152,000, Monday through Thursday, or about 8% of the total 1.8 million sold nationwide those days. (See, graphic, above.)

USA Today is using trade publications such as Advertising Age to get more advertising buyers to consider the paper. In New York City, the WSJ is aiming for some of the NYT's bread-and-butter: Big display advertisers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. The Journal is set to open a New York City bureau next month, staffed with about 36 reporters, editors and other journalists. The paper also is beefing up its sports coverage of New York area professional teams.

How much are USAT ad rates?
Cost of a full-page ad, Monday through Thursday: $119,600 (black and white); $189,400 (color); Friday (when circulation is higher): $146,000 and $231,000.

Total readers, including pass-along: 3.7 million 

Male/female: 70%/30% 
Median age: 49 
College graduate+: 38% 
Professional/managerial: 25% 
Median household income: $74,949

How is USA Today's audience different than yours? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Mutter: How to value your paper; plus, ABC data

2010-03-29T13:06:00.000-04:00

Blogger Alan Mutter explains how the value of Florida's Daytona News-Journal sank by 93% in just four years -- and what that means for your newspaper. Plus, he offers a link to a handy Audit Bureau of Circulations database, where you can look up your paper's most recent circulation figures.

UK's Times, Sunday Times to charge for online

2010-03-26T10:16:00.005-04:00

Both titles will launch new websites in early May, the company says in a just-released statement, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing an existing, combined site, Times Online. The new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.

Starting in June, the new sites, www.thetimes.co.uk and www.thesundaytimes.co.uk, will be available for a charge of £1 for a day’s access or £2 for a week’s subscription. That's about U.S. $1.50 and $3, at current exchange rates.

"Payment will give customers access to both sites,'' the statement says. "The weekly subscription will also give access to the e-paper and certain new applications. Access to the digital services will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to The Times and The Sunday Times."

In new campaign, USA Today fires salvos at WSJ

2010-03-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

[AdWeek banner tackles famous WSJ feature; see arrow]

Gannett's flagship is now taking on The Wall Street Journal via a series of ads in AdWeek and other trade publications -- and the paper isn't holding back. In a banner ad I saw recently, USAT not-so-subtly takes a dig at one of the WSJ's most famous daily features: "Heard on the Street," a column and related stories closely read by Wall Street investors because its exclusive news often moves stocks.

The ad is part of USA Today's new campaign focused on potential advertisers, one that emphasizes the paper's populist position in the market. The paper's line: USAT's more general readership isn't so taken with inside-baseball accounts of, in this case, the stock market. "What's heard on the street doesn't matter," the ad says. "What they really want is Money."

That, of course, is USA Today's Money section, which emphasizes personal finance, consumer technology and well-known retail brands: the public face of U.S. business.

But the USAT campaign isn't risk-free. In distancing itself from harder-edge coverage like "Heard on the Street," the paper may draw unwanted attention to its reputation in some quarters for being too lightweight. That could backfire among potential advertisers seeking better-educated, more affluent readers. The Gannett paper's ad revenue remains under pressure, so this campaign's success ultimately depends on whether is spurs more sales.

It's no surprise that USAT is gunning for the WSJ. Under new owner Rupert Murdoch, the paper snatched the No. 1 circulation title last year, bolstered by its hundreds of thousands of paid online subscriptions. The Gannett paper is left promoting itself as No. 1 in print, a difficult sell when online is where the action lies.

Now, the Journal is beefing up its sports reporting, too, a key franchise for USAT. This week, The New York Observer reported that the Journal's sports reporters are getting on-the-road credentials to cover New York area pro sports teams like the Mets, aiming for human-interest features beyond game scores, a hallmark of USA Today's well-regarded sports reporting.

USA Today's campaign also comes as another national rival, The New York Times, is similarly engaged in a full-bore trade marketing effort of its own, also targeted at the WSJ.

[Image: today's WSJ, Newseum]

Note to readers| Why I haven't been posting much

2010-03-23T04:56:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the infrequent updates. Between a recent business trip, and a flurry of news on one of my more active blogs, I've been swamped. I expect to catch up soon. As always, I appreciate your patience.

WSJ | Signs Tea Party coverage tilts right?

2010-03-21T11:39:00.004-04:00

The Wall Street Journal has been described as shifting its Washington coverage toward the right. Against that backdrop, a comparison of Tea Party coverage yesterday, featuring relevant passages; the Journal's coverage lacks reference to the racial and anti-gay invective:

WSJ: Amid chants of “kill the bill,” Republican congressmen urged the crowd to punish Democrats at the polls in November. “This weekend will, I believe, mark the end of the liberal ascendancy in Washington, D.C.,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.).
The New York Times: While most of the invective was directed at the health care bill itself, several House members said there was an ugly tone to comments made by some demonstrators against three black lawmakers: Representatives André Carson of Indiana, Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and John Lewis of Georgia, all Democrats.
USA Today: House Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking this morning on Meet the Press, said the anti-gay and racial epithets directed at Democratic members of Congress Saturday were "reprehensible."
The Washington Post: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon. The most high-profile openly gay congressman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), was heckled with anti-gay chants.

Dow Jones | Union reaches tentative contract

2010-03-19T12:15:00.006-04:00

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, which represents about 1,700 Dow Jones & Co. workers, says it has struck a tentative, four-year agreement with management that the union is recommending be ratified. "While not the contract that any of us would have written if we could have written it alone, we're convinced this is the best deal we can get with Dow Jones right now,'' negotiators say in a note on the group's website. "Given the generally dismal condition of the news business — and the discouraging pattern of recent contract agreements across the industry — we're convinced this is a deal that must be ratified."

Program note | I'm posting infrequently this week

2010-03-10T10:53:00.001-05:00

I'm going to be online, but busy with non-News Corp.
Blog stuff through Sunday. I'll be watching e-mail for breaking news, however.

By the numbers | Sizing up a top advertising rival

2010-03-04T13:21:00.001-05:00

[His nickname: "Zuck"]

From today's Wall Street Journal story about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's slow-mo plans to sell shares to the public. The twenty-something owns more than 25% of the giant social media company he started in a Harvard dorm room, the WSJ says. Other numbers:

in billions of dollars, possible 2010 revenue

board seats Zuckerberg controls

number of board members

in billions of dollars, Facebook's recent valuation

Zuckerberg's age

400

in millions, number of users

1,200

number of employees

2004

year Facebook founded

How many times a week to you visit Facebook? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Dow Jones appoints new top public relations chief

2010-03-03T15:45:00.002-05:00

As chief communications officer, the company said in a statement today, Bethany Sherman "will be responsible for all aspects of communications strategy for the global news and business information company, including public relations, media relations and internal communications." Her appointment is effective March 29.

Sherman has been senior vice president for corporate communications for the past eight years at stock exchange Nasdaq OMX Group.

Murdoch confirms April launch of new WSJ section; in speech, he promises NYC edition 'will be feisty'

2010-03-02T14:15:00.013-05:00

In remarks that refer to "a certain other New York daily'' -- The New York Times -- CEO Rupert Murdoch for the first time previewed The Wall Street Journal's nascent New York City edition, in a speech today before the Real Estate Board of New York, according to a transcript on Romenesko. He confirmed that it will launch next month, saying:

"I can't tell you all the details. I can tell you that the new section will be full color -- and it will be feisty. It will cover everything that makes New York great: state politics, local politics, business, culture, and sports. Oh yes -- and real estate. Why are we expanding where others are pulling back? Because we take a different view of technology and value. Too many newspaper editors and owners are afraid that technology is harming the value of our product. The truth is just the opposite: technology is putting a premium on content."

Related: Here's the WSJ's story

Animus vs. arrogance, Part 2: Murdoch's envy

2010-03-01T14:36:00.006-05:00

We knew that CEO Rupert Murdoch wants to compete hard against The New York Times with his prized Wall Street Journal.

But I didn't realize how fully it stems from a status-driven hatred for the paper and its owners. That fight is presented as the downmarket Australian press baron vs. the imperious, white shoe Sulzberger clan, according to today's New York magazine cover story about Murdoch. The graph that sealed it for me:

"Building the Journal into a general-interest newspaper to take on the Times is a crusade. Arthur Sulzberger himself is, for Murdoch, a symbol of the Times hypocrisy, its smugness, and its shortcomings. Murdoch’s hatred of the Times is a product of his long-standing class antagonisms rooted in his early days as an Australian building an empire in London. But on a more fundamental level, he believes Sulzberger is a poor businessman who has mismanaged his company’s fortunes and deserves to lose."

What's the over/under on whether the Sulzbergers will still control the Times Co. a year from now? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Animus vs. arrogance? Murdoch and Sulzberger

2010-03-01T13:56:00.005-05:00

[Murdoch, Sulzberger]

From today's much-anticipated New York magazine cover story about CEO Rupert Murdoch:

1. When author Gabriel Sherman asked Arthur Sulzberger about surging competition with The Wall Street Journal, the Times Co. chairman dismissed his question out of hand: "Whatever," he said.

2. After Murdoch read an unflattering June 10, 2007, editorial about his plans to buy the Journal, he sent a note to Sulzberger that concluded "Let the battle begin!"

Deal with annoying publicists? Here's one for you!

2010-02-26T01:07:00.004-05:00

It's a video about a subject near and dear to newspaper and TV reporters everywhere: news embargoes.

WSJ | Bloomingdale's said in new NYC section

2010-02-25T19:09:00.002-05:00

Bergdorf Goodman, too, according to a new Advertising Age story that says the two retailers' plans for The Wall Street Journal's new New York City section illustrate the threat that metro expansion poses for The New York Times' hometown advertising base.

"Both traditionally spend far more in the Times than in the Journal,'' the trade publication says. "Bloomingdale's, for example, spent $17.9 million in the Times last year while devoting less than $1 million to the Journal, according to estimates from Kantar Media."

Ad Age notes that the NYT "has a solid base and probably a great many loyalists that won't be easy for the Journal to poach. But it also means the Times has something to lose, while the Journal is looking at tremendous opportunity."

[Image: Bloomie's iconic brown shopping bag]

Confirming deal, NWS invests $70 million in Rotana

2010-02-24T12:54:00.001-05:00

The company announced yesterday that it had agreed to buy 9.1% of Middle East TV network Rotana Group; the company is owned by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal (left); he's a major investor in News Corp. as well, holding a 7% stake. The deal is valued at $70 million, the company said in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal had reported last month that talks were underway between Alwaleed and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

Is the WSJ gunning for a Pulitzer -- in sports?

2010-02-16T23:42:00.001-05:00

Here's fresh evidence that The Wall Street Journal under owner Rupert Murdoch (left) is aiming to be a more general-interest national newspaper, elbowing past The New York Times and USA Today.

Check out its full-bore hard-news coverage of the decisions leading to the death of a luge athlete last week. The paper has just broadcast an alert to the following story, now on its website:

Years before a young luge racer from the Republic of Georgia flew to his death at the Olympics last week, officials made a series of decisions designed to make the icy track a commercial success after the Games but that left it faster, and ultimately more dangerous, than any competitive track before.

'Anonymity is no guarantee in online postings'

2010-02-14T19:57:00.001-05:00

Excerpts from a Chicago Tribune story published today, where I was interviewed about the pitfalls of posting anonymous comments on blogs and other websites:

Write something threatening or defamatory and the mask of anonymity can be removed. It's technologically simple to track the source of a comment; the more difficult question is when it should be done. Add to the complicated stew of issues an Internet culture of free-wheeling commentary, and the results can be unpredictable.

"There are purists who think the Internet is a fundamentally different medium and that the old rules — that is, vetting letters to the editor — should not be applied to comments," says Jim Hopkins, a former reporter based in San Francisco who runs several media blogs. "I've been hit with the same criticism. If you limit these comments in any way, (critics say) you're engaging in censorship."

In a departure from past practice, I now review all comments before they get published, sometimes rejecting those that are unsuitable. How do you feel about that policy? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Tribune, Newseum]

After just nine months, MySpace CEO steps down

2010-02-11T01:14:00.005-05:00

From a new Wall Street Journal story:

Owen Van Natta (left), the Silicon Valley veteran who was hired nine months ago to revitalize News Corp.'s MySpace, has stepped down as chief executive officer, adding to the turbulence at the struggling social-networking site.

Two MySpace executives, Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, were promoted to co-presidents, effectively replacing the 40-year-old Van Natta, News Corp. said yesterday. The change is effective immediately.

The departure of its top executive highlights the ongoing struggles of MySpace, which has gone from a major expected growth engine for News Corp. to a fix-it project in its struggle against rival Facebook, where Van Natta had been an executive.

Related: The New York Times account of the shake-up

Deals | Dow Jones sells indexes unit for $608M

2010-02-10T18:50:00.003-05:00

CME Group of Chicago agreed to buy 90% of Dow Jones Indexes in a deal announced today that allows Dow Jones & Co. to retain ownership of the brand itself, Reuters says. The brand was created in 1896 by Charles Dow (left), a company founder.

Dow Jones Indexes creates and licenses indexes that investors and others use to measure the performance of markets, including stocks, bonds and real estate, Reuters says. The business offers more than 130,000 equity indices, according to its website.

Under the deal, Dow Jones will "retain a key role in the management of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,'' parent News Corp. said in a statement.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Fox films | In Avatar, Murdoch's anti-NYT nuke

2010-02-04T12:24:00.002-05:00

As The Wall Street Journal readies its nascent New York City news bureau to battle The New York Times, controlling shareholder Rupert Murdoch has another weapon at his disposal: Huge profits from Avatar, which is being distributed by the media mogul's Twentieth Century Fox division. In a new post today, blogger Ken Doctor smartly notes that News Corp. -- holding company for the WSJ, Fox and other media properties -- stands to earn $1.5 billion or more from sci-fi epic Avatar alone.

"That compares to the Times Co.'s total revenue of less than $2.5 billion in 2009," Doctor says, "and probably a small operating loss (the company reports its full 2009 on Feb. 10.)" He continues: "If you're Rupert Murdoch though, you just have to say, 'Take some of that blue people money and invest it in the Journal. Remember I said I wanted to kill the Times.' Maybe send them flying into the infinity of the flux vortex."

Stock | NWS rises 6%; Murdoch talks up O'Brien

2010-02-03T13:53:00.004-05:00

News Corp. shares are up smartly today, trading recently for $15.89, up nearly 6%. The move follows NWS's second-quarter financial report yesterday, where the company beat analysts expectations.

Also yesterday, CEO Rupert Murdoch said the company is having internal discussions about the possibility of a late-night program for comedian Conan O'Brien, MarketWatch says, but that Fox Broadcasting has not been in negotiations with the former Tonight Show host (left).

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Urgent: News Corp. Q2 results beat estimates

2010-02-02T16:39:00.003-05:00

From a just-filed Wall Street Journal story on News Corp.'s second-quarter results, disclosed moments ago:

News Corp. reported a second-quarter profit in contrast to a year-earlier loss, led by continued strength at its cable-TV programming and filmed-entertainment divisions. Year-earlier results had been dragged into the red by revenue declines and impairment charges.

Excluding items in both years, News Corp.'s per-share earnings rose to 25 cents from 15 cents. Revenue rose 10% to $8.68 billion. Analysts, on average, were forecasting earnings of 20 cents a share on revenue of $8.23 billion.

The results were reported after stock markets closed. In after-hours trading, NWS shares were recently up 2.3%, to $15.39. In regular trading, they closed up 2.2%, at $15.04.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Urgent: Citing 'significant risks,' News Corp. agrees to pay $500 million to settle Valassis coupon suit

2010-01-30T13:51:00.005-05:00

With a federal jury trial scheduled to begin Tuesday in Detroit, News Corp. said today that it had agreed to pay $500 million to settle a suit from direct-mail and coupon distribution rival Valassis Communications. In July, jurors found News America subsidiary News America Marketing liable for both unfair competition and tortious interference with business practices, Crain's Detroit Business says. "Tortious interference is intentional conduct, usually in violation of civil law, that disrupts a company’s contractual relationships or business practices,'' the business journal says.

In a statement today, News Corp. said it had agreed to settle the suit because of newly emerged "significant risks" that it might lose at trial. “It has become evident to our legal advisors from pre-trial proceedings over the past couple of weeks that significant risks were developing in presenting this case to a jury,” said Deputy Chairman and President Chase Carey said. “That, coupled with concerns over the venue, led us to believe it was in the best interests of the company and its stockholders to agree to a settlement.”

Valassis contends that News America, the industry leader in in-store coupon distribution, coerces client companies to participate in its free-standing insert or FSI market in newspaper delivery where Valassis tends to dominate, Crain's said.

Federal jury selection was to begin Tuesday and the trial was expected to last at least six weeks before U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow in Detroit. In July, Valassis won a $300 million verdict against News America in a related case before Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Sapala; that case is under appeal, according to Crain's.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

In minor saber-rattling, limits on union signs

2010-01-30T12:18:00.005-05:00

Amid contract talks with the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, Corporate has told Dow Jones & Co. managers to be vigilant for pro-union signs posted in unauthorized spaces.

"In past years," says a nearly 300-word memo sent Thursday, "we’ve seen IAPE encourage its members to 'show their support' by posting flyers and other union-related materials around the office. Please take note of the rules for this behavior and please make every effort to uniformly enforce our corporate policy." (Full text, below.)

Citing company policy, the directive tells managers that IAPE notices can only be placed on official bulletin boards, "and not affixed to walls, windows, doors, or other common spaces not generally used as bulletin boards."

A reader gave me a copy of the memo. "The company officials we talked to during a negotiating session said IAPE signs that were recently distributed were affixed to places they shouldn't be," the reader said. "As far as I remember, they didn't really say exactly. This was really the first week the signs were available."

Contract talks began Jan. 7 for a new agreement that would cover 1,700 Dow Jones workers in most of the company's locations, I'm told. Those employees include editorial, including at The Wall Street Journal, plus sales, information technology, technical support and printing operations.

In a Thursday note to members on its websites, the IAPE said: "Thursday, Jan. 28th, was another day at the bargaining table for IAPE and Dow Jones. No breakthroughs, but we didn't expect any today (it's still very early in the process.) We had discussions on shift differentials, telephone monitoring and premium pay — and we expect to follow up on each item at next Thursday's talks."

Memo's full text

From: Corporate Affairs
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:01 PM
To: Corporate Affairs
Subject: A note to managers from Corporate Affairs regarding union signage

In past years, we’ve seen IAPE encourage its members to “show their support” by posting flyers and other union-related materials around the office. Please take note of the rules for this behavior and please make every effort to uniformly enforce our corporate policy.

Our policy has always been to maintain a professional and neat working environment. IAPE notices, announcements, and signs should be confined to IAPE bulletin boards where provided, and not affixed to walls, windows, doors, or other common spaces not generally used as bulletin boards. IAPE signage should not be placed on tables in conference rooms, cafeterias, rest rooms, or other “common areas,” nor displayed on filing cabinets, office equipment, or countertops. If you see improperly posted material – whether related to the union, negotiations, or otherwise – please remove and discard it.

Employees are generally free, within established local guidelines, to decorate their work space with personal photographs, knick-knacks, calendars, and similar items. Employees are generally permitted to display union-related signs in personal work space – again subject to established office rules. (For example, a reception desk may have restrictions different from a back-office cube, and exterior cube walls are generally treated differently from interior-facing walls.) We want our office space to be inviting to business guests, and therefore we don’t generally put work-related signs, notices, or other distracting material on walls, cabinets, or other places in public areas where they would be seen by visitors. The same applies to union-related signage. (Note that IAPE representatives should not place signage on chairs, work desks, computer monitors, or elsewhere in the office without the permission of the individual who occupies that particular space.) The union has been notified of this policy, which has been the same for many years.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's WSJ, Newseum]

Marketing 101 | Follow me on Facebook, Twitter

2010-01-30T12:17:00.001-05:00

On Facebook, I'm Jim Hopkins in San Francisco. On Twitter, it's Gannett Blog.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Report: WSJ's N.Y. city bureau to be even bigger

2010-01-28T14:36:00.002-05:00

Expected to launch on April 12, The Wall Street Journal's New York City bureau will employ roughly three dozen staffers, three times more than the dozen or so the paper had planned for just three months ago, according to the New York Observer, adding that it represents Rupert Murdoch's most direct assault on The New York Times: "As we’ve reported, Mr. Murdoch has set aside a budget of $15 million for the project. There are plans for a daily stand-alone New York section, an Albany bureau, a City Hall bureau, a crime beat, a sports section and a culture section—in other words, a new, full-fledged New York paper, and one, incidentally, that is looking increasingly like the now defunct New York Sun."

Apple tablet | Papers live-blogging today's launch

2010-01-27T13:52:00.002-05:00

[CEO Steve Jobs holds device in this New York Times photo]

I'm not at this morning's San Francisco debut for Apple's tablet, the much-hyped multimedia device that's expected to help newspaper publishers grab new paying readers. But the three national dailies are reporting details on what we now know has been dubbed the iPad, as the event continues unfolding; it started at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT:

USA Today's Technology Live
The Wall Street Journal's Digits
The New York Times' Bits

Here's the WSJ's first video of the event, via Fox News:

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

McClatchy to stay focused on ad-supported model

2010-01-27T13:04:00.001-05:00

McClatchy Co. isn't following The Wall Street Journal's paywall lead anytime soon. CEO Gary Pruitt says MNI is willing to experiment with charging readers for online content. But the newspaper publisher, reporting fourth-quarter earnings this morning, remains focused on a business model based on advertising sales, he tells Dow Jones Newswires.

McClatchy is the first of the major publishers to report fourth-quarter results. Overall revenue fell 17% to $393 million. Advertising revenue was down 20.5%, compared with a 28.1% decline in the third. Citing continued progress in January, the company says it expects ad revenue to decline this quarter by a percentage in the low to mid-teens, according to The Associated Press.

Tips 'n' tales | All about web-based investigations

2010-01-23T13:07:00.001-05:00

The Association of Alternative Weeklies is hosting its annual winter conference in the San Francisco Bay area next weekend. I'll be on a panel Friday, offering advice on how to do online investigative journalism. From the website for the meeting: "AAN West focuses on line-level staff, offering training and networking opportunities for sales, editorial, design and business personnel." My co-panelist is a staffer with PBS's Frontline World. Details of my panel, set for 2 to 3:30 p.m.:

Low Cost, Big Impact: How to Make the Web Work for You 
Panel Discussion hosted by Jackie Bennion and Jim Hopkins. How can reporters and editors with little time and less budget maximize the use of the web for groundbreaking investigative projects? Hopkins and Bennion will go through tips, techniques and ideas for improving your use of the web to report, produce, publish and promote big stories.

Stock | In a bad market week, NWS fared worse

2010-01-22T17:07:00.002-05:00

News Corp. shares fell 7% during the past five trading days, more than the 5% decline by the S&P-500 index, a widely watched barometer of broad stock market activity. Shares of major newspaper publishers I watch, with their change over the last five trading days, based on today's just-reported closing prices:

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Rupert Murdoch to headline Press Club talk

2010-01-21T14:01:00.002-05:00

"There are few people in America who exercise so powerful an influence over what we see, what we hear, what we know about our world as Rupert Murdoch (left)," moderator Marvin Kalb says of the Feb. 9 event at the National Press Club in Washington. Tickets for "Rupert Murdoch: the Making of a Modern Media Mogul" have already sold out. But his 8 p.m. talk will be webcast at kalb.gwu.edu.

Stock | New NYT paywall doesn't rally investors

2010-01-20T14:07:00.003-05:00

Stock markets are broadly lower in trading so far today. But major newspaper publishers are suffering even more -- despite the New York Times Co.'s announcement that it has settled on a pay model for its flagship paper. Among stocks I follow, recent prices and change:

Gannett: $15.83, down 3%
News Corp.: $15.37, down 3%
NYT Co.: $13.14, down 4%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: down 2%
S&P-500: down 1%

New Murdoch-WSJ book 'mother of all tick-tocks'

2010-01-19T18:17:00.005-05:00

That's New York Times media columnist David Carr's assessment of the soon-to-be published War at The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire. The book, by the former Journal media writer Sarah Ellison, is set for publication May 12. Carr got an advance copy.

Posting on the NYT's Media Decoder blog today, he calls it "the mother of all tick-tock, an intimate look at how the Bancroft family fumbled away an asset they never really demonstrated much interest in as Murdoch pounced. When it comes to taking a measure of Murdoch, there is little of the moralistic keening that characterized the coverage at the time, with Ellison instead adopting a tone of an ichthyologist studying the feeding habits of a large, hungry shark."

Report: HarperCollins in e-book talks with Apple

2010-01-18T18:59:00.002-05:00

The News Corp. book publishing subsidiary is negotiating with Apple to make electronic books available for the introduction of a new tablet device from Apple, according to people familiar with the situation, posing a challenge to Amazon.com, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting. "HarperCollins is expected to set the prices of the e-books, which would have added features, with Apple taking a percentage of sales. Details haven't been ironed out,'' the WSJ says.

Giving | What happened to News Corp.'s big gift?

2010-01-18T11:40:00.001-05:00

As a "founding partner," the company contributed $10 million toward construction of the Newseum, a museum about news developed by the Freedom Forum journalism foundation in Washington, D.C. Initially budgeted at $250 million, it eventually cost nearly twice that amount when it opened in 2008 -- three years late. Following is an update on spending by the foundation and the museum.

[The Newseum opened in 2008 in Washington, D.C.]

The non-profit Freedom Forum foundation and its signature project, the Newseum in Washington, D.C., paid $1.4 million in bonuses to its top employees in 2008 -- a year when the foundation's endowment suffered multimillion-dollar losses, and the museum began a series of layoffs that extended through last year, newly released public documents show.

The bonuses included $375,000 to Freedom Forum Chairman and CEO Charles Overby (left), bringing his total 2008 pay to $991,044 in compensation and expenses, the documents show. The museum's then-president, Peter Prichard, got a $225,000 bonus; his total pay and expenses for the year were $665,927, the documents show.

The pay packages emerged in annual Internal Revenue Service tax reports for 2008, made public under IRS regulations. They are the most recent IRS reports filed by the two organizations, so do not include payments for last year. I received copies of the reports over the weekend after requesting them last week from Freedom Forum.

The 2008 bonuses included amounts deferred from the previous five years that were "contingent upon successful completion" of the Washington complex that houses the Newseum, plus Freedom Forum's offices, an apartment building, a restaurant and other facilities on Pennsylvania Avenue, the documents show. For example, Overby got a $100,000 bonus "based on 2007 performance," plus $275,000 in contingent bonuses from 2002-2005, the documents show.

The non-profit journalism foundation was established in 1991 by former Gannett Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth, with $650 million in assets from the old Gannett Foundation. The foundation and the Newseum, a museum about news, are managed by Overby and a number of other former Gannett executives and employees.

The Newseum complex's projected cost started at $250 million. But it mushroomed quickly, ultimately costing $450 million by the time it opened in spring 2008 -- three years late, according to my review last year of Freedom Forum and Newseum documents and IRS reports. Since its opening, the Newseum has struggled to control expenses; layoffs and other measures have reduced staff by 23%.

My review last year showed the foundation had given at least $67,500 to an adoption agency in Cocoa Beach, Fla., started by Neuharth's wife. Those gifts were among hundreds of grants made in 2000-2007 to non-profit groups that seemed to share little in common with the foundation's mission to support free press and free speech.

The 2008 returns show that Neuharth, 85 (left), was paid $225,000 in compensation, and another $231,953 in unspecified expense reimbursements. He did not receive a bonus. Neuharth worked an average of 40 hours per week, and his title is listed simply as "founder,'' the documents show. With his 2008 pay, Freedom Forum has now paid Neuharth nearly $1.3 million in compensation and expenses since 2006 alone, public documents show.

I've asked a Freedom Forum spokesman to explain the criteria for the bonuses, as well as its board of trustees's role in their approval. I also asked about the duties Neuharth performed for his compensation.

Freedom Forum and the Newseum are legally separate entities, each with their own governing boards. (Here's the Newseum's board of trustees.) The two boards have considerable overlap, however, and both include many long-time Neuharth associates; one member is his daughter, Jan Neuharth.

Overby and Prichard, who retired last year, have been the highest-paid employees of the two organizations for several years. In 2007, when no bonuses were paid, Overby got $577,024, and Prichard got $397,690, that year's tax reports showed. Prichard was a former top editor of USA Today before joining Freedom Forum and the Newseum. He was replaced last year by Ken Paulson, who also was USA Today's top editor at the time.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Freedom Forum documents now available here

2010-01-18T11:39:00.001-05:00

You can now download your own copies of the 2008 Internal Revenue Service reports filed by the Freedom Forum foundation and the Newseum, right here on News Corp. Blog. Freedom Forum's is here. And the Newseum's is here. Both documents are in .pdf formats.

Here's a tip: The $1.4 million in bonuses paid to top executives for 2008 are detailed starting on Page 37 of the Newseum's filing.

Wendi Murdoch reported in Machiavellian schism

2010-01-16T20:12:00.011-05:00

I don't know how I missed Lloyd Grove's behind-the-scenes explainer on how CEO Rupert Murdoch's son-and-law fired that jaw-dropping broadside against Fox News founder Roger Ailes in last weekend's New York Times. But it's worth posting here, even at this late date.

Writing for The Daily Beast, Grove quotes a family insider as saying that it was Murdoch's third wife, Wendi (left), who encouraged his son-in-law's attack in the NYT's page-one profile of Ailes. Matthew Freud, married to Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, told the Times: "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes' horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corp., its founder and every other global media business aspires to."

The players in this corporate whosaidit: Freud (left, with Elisabeth) is a publicist in London, and a great-grandson of Sigmund Freud. Elisabeth, 41, owns a television production company in London. Her brother, James Murdoch (below), 37, is chief of News Corp.'s Europe and Asia operations, and the current heir-apparent to 78-year-old Murdoch. Grove suspects that James and Elisabeth share the same negative views of the powerful Ailes, and that Freud is merely giving them voice.

But Grove takes it too far when he spins Wendi Murdoch's motivations into Machiavellian heights. "Wendi is a skilled inside player," Grove writes, "and a possible result of this corporate PR embarrassment would be to undermine Rupert's confidence in Elisabeth and James, thus ultimately advantaging Wendi's children -- 8-year-old Grace and 6-year-old Chloe Murdoch -- in the inevitable successionary rivalry. It would help, of course, if Rupert hangs on as long as his formidable 100-year-old mother."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Save the date | Q2 results out Feb. 2 (New York)

2010-01-16T15:07:00.001-05:00

The company will report its fiscal second-quarter financial results on Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m. ET (New York), after the close of American stock markets. It has scheduled a 4:30 p.m. conference call with Wall Street media stock analysts that same day.

Fox TV | Anatomy of NBC's slide to a 'punch line'

2010-01-16T14:44:00.003-05:00

In a new story, The New York Times traces the network's embarrassing decline to also-ran among the four broadcast networks are NBC affiliates. "It has been an unseemly spectacle for a company that prides itself on a smooth corporate culture," the NYT says today, "and the disastrous culmination of a high-stakes gamble" last year by NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker to move talk show host Jay Leno to the 10 p.m. slot, passing The Tonight Show to the younger Conan O’Brien.

Murdoch, prince in talks over Rotana investment

2010-01-16T13:00:00.006-05:00

[Meeting: Murdoch, Alwaleed]

The meetings between CEO Rupert Murdoch and Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal focused on a deal where News Corp. would buy 10% of entertainment conglomerate Rotana Media Services. Alwaleed owns 7% of News Corp., making it the company's single-biggest investor after the Murdoch family.

Rotana, which hosts NWS's Fox channels in Saudi Arabia on its TV network, also owns rights to more than 2,000 Arabic movies and the world's largest Arabic language music library, The Wall Street Journal reports today.

Over the past two decades Prince Alwaleed, through his Riyadh-listed conglomerate Kingdom Holding Co., has focused his investments on banks, hotels and media firms, the WSJ says. It owns 7% of News Corp., according to the most recent proxy statement to shareholders. Kingdom also has built sizable stakes in companies including News Corp., Citigroup, Apple and Time Warner.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Fox News | Critic Rainey slams coverage of Haiti

2010-01-15T12:05:00.007-05:00

[In Haiti: Screenshot shows Cooper video posted today]

Praising Fox News's top competitor, CNN, the Los Angeles Times says today that the cable channel's determination to stick with the news during the Haiti disaster "stands in stark contrast to its competitors, particularly Fox News." Times TV critic James Rainey says that by yesterday, CNN had nine correspondents and anchors -- including Anderson Cooper -- and some 40 others on the ground, along with generators and equipment that allowed it to broadcast pictures far superior to the competitions' grainy, streaming images.

Rainey adds: "A Fox insider told me she didn't want to be quoted but called those assessments unfair, saying that coverage outside of prime time of the disaster had been considerable and would be ramped up Thursday night. During Fox's equivalent of the evening news, Shepard Smith did provide significant coverage of Haiti. Greta Van Susteren devoted a chunk of her program to the disaster, though not from the scene, as intended, when her plane was turned away from Haiti's crowded main airport."

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Surprises in NWS's political action committee

2010-01-14T19:02:00.005-05:00

A deeper look at News Corp.'s political action committee, News America Holdings, reveals a more complex network: one that exhibits surprising trends on who's getting the loot. (Hint: many Democrats!) Death and Taxes magazine has just published fresh details.

Haiti | How they're playing the story online

2010-01-13T23:12:00.004-05:00

Home pages from about 11 p.m. ET at the three national dailies; which one has the greatest sense of urgency?

Got a home page to recommend? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Stroudsburg | Fronting today

2010-01-13T13:07:00.002-05:00

News Corp.'s Pocono Record

Stroudsburg, Pa.
President: Joe Vanderhoof
Managing Editor/Online: Marta Gouger
Contact us list

Got a News Corp. front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

Blogger asks: How long can pubs afford to print?

2010-01-13T13:06:00.000-05:00

Widely read blogger Alan Mutter has crunched reams of data to arrive at his sobering conclusion about the future of newspapers. Much of his analysis today rests on the outlook for advertising revenue this year and beyond. He offers three scenarios:

Optimistic Case – Ad sales drop 10% in 2010, are unchanged in 2011, and then grow at 2% a year in 2012 and each subsequent year.
Middle Case – Ad sales fall 15% in 2011, slide 5% in 2012, and then decline 2% in 2012 and each subsequent year.
Pessimistic Case – Ad sales plunge 20% in 2010, drop 15% in 2011, and then decline 5% in 2012 and each subsequent year.

Now, it's your turn: Which of Mutter's three scenarios best describes the outlook for News Corp.? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Urgent: O'Brien rejects NBC late-night plan

2010-01-12T16:26:00.007-05:00

Putting himself further into play among competing networks, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien (left) says in a statement that he won't accept NBC's plans to shift the show into a 12:05 a.m. time slot, in order to accommodate the network's plans to move Jay Leno to a later start.

O'Brien's statement follows positive signals yesterday from News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment, where President Kevin Reilly "strongly endorsed O’Brien in an interview with The New York Times. "He would be a very compatible fit for our brand,” Reilly said. “He is one of the few guys on the planet that has demonstrated he can do one of these shows every night.”

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Stock | Newspaper shares now in broad selloff

2010-01-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Updated at 4:14 p.m., with closing prices: Following a strong year-to-date rally, newspaper stocks were down sharply today, with several companies faring worse than broader stock market indexes. Companies I follow, with closing prices moments ago:

Gannett: $16.40, down 5%
New York Times Co.: $13.86, down 6%
News Corp.: $15.89, down 4%

Compare that with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, off less than 1%, and the S&P 500, down 1%.

Stockton set to charge for online news today

2010-01-12T12:01:00.002-05:00

In the latest foray into asking readers to pay for online access, News Corp.'s Record in Stockton, Calif., is scheduled to lower a paywall on its website today. The shift was announced in late December. Here's today's front page:

The Record

Stockton, Calif.
Publisher: Roger Coover
Editor: Mike Klocke
Contact us list

Urgent: Sarah Palin to be Fox News contributor

2010-01-11T14:26:00.001-05:00

The former vice-presidential candidate (left) "will not have her own regular program,'' The New York Times is now reporting, "though she will host a series that will run on the network from time to time.'' Financial terms have not yet been disclosed.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Is Times whistling past graveyard over WSJ move?

2010-01-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

New York Times reporters say there's not a lot of talk in their newsroom about The Wall Street Journal's soon-to-launch New York City bureau, according to New York magazine. "The Times already has the apparatus to dominate city coverage," one staffer told the weekly. "That takes years to build, and the Journal doesn't have any of that."

The NYT was first to break the news about the Journal's move onto its backyard. New York says: "While originally reported to launch in April, it looks like the bureau will begin reporting its own stories by February. Its goal is to compete with the Times on its own turf: the news, politics, and culture of New York City (and State!). Starting with a reported staff of 12 and a budget of $15 million, obviously that's a tall order."

The magazine is wondering whether Sewell Chan's recently announced transfer to the NYT's Washington beat from the successful City Room Blog is good news for the Journal's nascent bureau.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Hyannis | Fronting today

2010-01-10T13:58:00.002-05:00

News Corp.'s Cape Cod Times

Hyannis, Mass.
President and Publisher: Peter Meyer
Editor in chief: Paul Pronovost
Contact us list

In new profile, powerful Ailes leaves rivals behind

2010-01-10T12:17:00.009-05:00

The creator of News Corp.'s profit engine -- Fox News -- is believed responsible for $700 million in operating earnings for the parent company, more than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined, The New York Times says today in a must-read profile of CEO Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man.

That success has put Roger Ailes (left) "at the pinnacle of power in three corridors of American life: business, media and politics,'' the NYT's David Carr and Tim Arango report. "In addition to being the best-paid person in the News Corporation last year, he is the most successful news executive of the last 10 years, and his network exerts a strong influence on the fractured conservative movement."

Ailes is well-paid for his outsized contributions to NWS' bottom line: he made $23.7 million last fiscal year in salary, bonuses and other compensation -- more than Murdoch, who got $19.9 million. Ailes' annual pay was more than double the $10.9 million he received in 2007, according to the August 2009 proxy report to shareholders, a public document filed annually with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

His influence extends well beyond the Fox News franchise. The Times says Ailes threatened to quit when he heard that Murdoch was going to endorse Barack Obama via the editorial page of the New York Post -- an allegation that Ailes denies.

But he isn't universally loved within the Murdoch empire or his family. In a strikingly candid statement, Murdoch's son-in-law, Matthew Freud, an influential publicist in London, told the Times: "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes' horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to."

Freud is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, a London television producer; she is one of Murdoch's three adult children.

What's more, the NYT notes, Lachlan Murdoch (left) -- Rupert's eldest son, and once his heir-apparent -- quit a senior News Corp. post in 2004 when he felt Ailes was encroaching on his corporate territory.

Conspicuously absent in the story are any views on Ailes held by the third child, James, 36, the only one of the siblings employed in the company. James is chairman and CEO of the company's operations in Europe and Asia. He's also a member of the board of directors, and is seen as a likely successor to Rupert.

Moreover, Ailes' position as a megaphone for right-leaning causes and candidates has made him a high-profile target among his most rabid critics. "His movements now are shadowed by a phalanx of corporate-provided security,'' the NYT reports. "He travels to and from work in a miniature convoy of two sport utility vehicles."

His security benefit cost NWS $54,494 last fiscal year, the August proxy report says.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Today's New York Post, Newseum]

Fox TV | News Corp. said suitor for Conan O'Brien

2010-01-08T19:10:00.002-05:00

Amid reports he may be shunted aside so Jay Leno can return to his late-night berth, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien (left) is mulling options that could include accepting a purported offer from News Corp., The Wall Street Journal is now reporting.

"One suitor is News Corp.'s Fox network, which has had early discussions with O'Brien's circle about hosting another late-night show," the Journal says, citing "people familiar with the matter."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Fox TV | An appraisal of The Simpsons, on its 20th

2010-01-08T14:16:00.004-05:00

Tough-to-please New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley assesses the 20th anniversary special for The Simpsons, airing this Sunday night, and finds plenty to recommend. "Mostly it’s a typical half-hour of animated lunacy and a reminder to apostates of why they loved the show in the first place,'' she writes today.

Protecting local flank, NYT expands City Room Blog

2010-01-08T12:45:00.005-05:00

As The Wall Street Journal moves deeper onto its local turf, The New York Times said today that it's beefing up its two-year-old City Room Blog, with more features and a new top editor. "In the coming weeks,'' the NYT says in a statement, "City Room will roll out a series of new features, including daily columns that will delve deeply into the workings of major New York City institutions like the police department, the schools and the courts, and an ambitiously expanded daily look at what the city's blogosphere is talking about."

Sewell Chan (left), the founding bureau chief, will be moving to a new assignment within the Times. His replacement will be Andy Newman, a veteran Times reporter, "who has excelled in both the print newspaper and its online enhancements,'' the paper says.

The Times' move follows the WSJ's reported decision last fall to open a New York City bureau, staffed with about a dozen reporters.

City Room mixes original reporting with reader conversations. Among the website's most active blogs, it posted 3,314 items and received 82,535 comments last year. Since inception, it has consistently ranked among the paper's top five most popular blogs.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Photo: NYT Co.]

Remember the teletype? Now, hear it again

2010-01-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

I've just added a widget in the top rail, right, that includes an audio file of a clattering teletype machine. Look for The Teletype Room. When's the last time you heard one of those?

WSJ creates new 'corporate' news reporting group

2010-01-07T17:30:00.008-05:00

In another bid to promote more cooperation between Dow Jones & Co. divisions, The Wall Street Journal said today that it's creating a new "corporate group," responsible for coverage of big companies and topics, including General Electric, IBM, Procter & Gamble, telecommunications, New York retail and fashion, and recruiting and management.

Andrew Dowell, who has been global news editor of Dow Jones Newswires, was named to lead the new group, according to a company statement. Dowell will report to Matt Murray, deputy managing editor of national news for the WSJ, and Gabriella Stern, senior editor of global news coverage for Dow Jones Newswires. His new role is effective immediately.

"We formed the New York corporate group to focus on the importance and raise the visibility of the main corporate beats that the Journal covers. This group will also help to strengthen the cooperation between Newswires and Journal reporters," said Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Co. and managing editor of the WSJ.

This latest move comes two days after a consolidation of top-level management duties within Dow Jones & Co.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

What happens after copyeditors get laid off?

2010-01-07T16:54:00.004-05:00

The Minneapolis Star Tribune isn't a News Corp. newspaper, but its just-announced decision to eliminate the jobs of 18 copyeditors and one copy desk chief offers clues about how newspapers are shifting work around.

More of these jobs across NWS could be lost -- especially at the company's more than dozen U.S. newspapers in the Local Media Group -- as the company consolidates more work to reduce overhead.

In Minneapolis, here's what will happen after the 19 jobs get cut, according to a memo obtained by MinnPost:

Some reporters might serve a shift as a copy editor or line editor in any given week.
More pages will be templates and easier to produce.
Most stories will now flow from team leader to designer to slot.
Reporters and team leaders will be required to write initial headlines for their stories.

How have copyediting duties changed at your paper? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Star Tribune front page, Newseum]

Fox films | Why Alvin's worth more than Avatar

2010-01-07T00:01:00.004-05:00

Avatar's $1 billion in ticket sales may grab all the headlines for News Corp.'s Fox movie studio, which released the futuristic sci-fi blockbuster. But Fox's other holiday movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, may well be worth more, Rolfe Winkler argues on Reuters' Breaking Views website. Why? Avatar may well be a one-time event, given that it took director James Cameron 15 years to produce the epic.

But Alvin is a franchise, notes Winkler. He says the first film grossed $361 million worldwide, while the newest one has taken in $255 million after just 12 days.

Avatar is nothing to sneeze at, of course: It's expected to add $100 million "and counting" to NWS' $4 billion in operating profits, Winkler says. "But,'' he writes, "multiply by five the $40 million the Squeakquel is expected to squirrel away to reflect the likelihood the venerable franchise will endure.''

Related: read Winkler's article in full via The New York Times

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Publishers' shares touch 52-week highs anew

2010-01-06T14:24:00.003-05:00

Stocks in three newspaper companies I follow have set new 52-week highs in trading so far today, capitalizing on a recent surge in investor optimism over the outlook for revenue in the fourth quarter. The companies, and their new highs:

Gannett: $16.69
New York Times Co.: $13.93
News Corp.: $16.67

[Source: Google Finance]

Stock | In new SEC filings, a Murdoch puzzler

2010-01-06T12:16:00.001-05:00

[A newly filed document for director James Murdoch; bigger view]

I'm pretty good at reading obscure company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But a series of new ones filed yesterday on behalf of about a dozen News Corp. board members has left me stumped. Maybe someone reading this post can help.

These are Form 4 filings, public documents disclosing transactions by insiders. Most of them concern relatively small numbers of shares, some in the form of what look like options. Two of them, however, involve much larger blocks of shares held by director James Murdoch (left), who also is head of the company's operations in Europe and Asia. He is, of course, one of CEO Rupert Murdoch's adult children, and a likely heir-apparent to his father.

Although both were filed yesterday, they cover two different transaction dates: Jan. 1, 2009, and Jan. 1, 2010. The 2009 document is here; 2010's is here. The number of shares described is virtually identical in both cases. The one I've posted above is the more recent.

As I interpret them, Murdoch is acquiring and immediately selling 133,333 shares of NWS for $13.69 each, for a total price of $1.8 million. Can anyone confirm my calculation?

Related: all the company's recent SEC filings on News Corp.'s investor relations page

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

WSJ, Dow Newswires consolidated in single unit

2010-01-05T11:57:00.008-05:00

In a bid to flatten the management structure, Dow Jones & Co. has merged The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires and Factiva into a single division, with a new chief at the top, the company said yesterday.

In the new structure, Todd Larsen has been named president of Dow Jones, with responsibility for commercial operations, according to a company statement. Meanwhile, Stephen Daintith has been named Dow Jones' chief operating officer, with oversight for strategic guidance; he retains his chief financial officer duties as well

Larsen had been chief operating officer of the Consumer Media Group, which includes the WSJ, Barron's and MarketWatch.

In the switch, Clare Hart has resigned as president of what had been the Enterprise Media Group, the division that comprised the Newswires, Factiva, Financial Information Services, and other operations.

The new structure unites Enterprise Media and Consumer Media within a single division; the company statement does not identify the new division's name, however. Remaining a standalone unit: the Local Media Group, comprising eight daily newspapers and 15 weeklies in six states.

Apparently anticipating suggestions that Hart had been pushed out, Dow Jones' CEO Les Hinton says in the statement: "This isn’t about personalities, and it’s not about costs. It's about the best way to operate an information business at a time when technology provides new tools for delivering news and new opportunities for keeping businesses and individuals informed."

In a story today on the move, the WSJ says: "Since News Corp. bought Dow Jones more than two years ago, it has pushed the staffs of the Journal, Dow Jones and MarketWatch to work more closely together. The business-unit merger announced Monday immediately unites the news operations fully under Robert Thomson, managing editor of the Journal and editor-in-chief of Dow Jones." Thomson had shared oversight of Dow Jones Newswires with Hart.

The combination doesn't involve any layoffs among Dow Jones’s roughly 6,000 employees, a spokesman, told The Associated Press in a story published by The New York Times.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

How you may be reading newspapers by March

2010-01-04T16:47:00.001-05:00

[iTablet? One of many mock-ups of Apple's rumored new device]

From a just-posted Wall Street Journal story: Apple plans to unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but doesn't plan on shipping the product until March, people briefed by the company told the paper. Among many possible uses: reading newspapers. Price: around $1,000, the WSJ says, adding: "The tablet is expected to be a multimedia device that will let people watch movies and television shows, play games, surf the Internet and read electronic books and newspapers."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Tina Brown on what's really killing newspapers

2010-01-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

"Greedy managements squeezed every cent
out of the bottom line and turned
their newsrooms into eunuchs."

-- Daily Beast co-founder Tina Brown, in a new post knocking down as a "load of spam'' the notion that the Internet is killing papers.

Portsmouth | Fronting today

2010-01-04T12:15:00.003-05:00

News Corp.'s Portsmouth Herald

Portsmouth, N.H.
Publisher: John Tabor
Executive Editor: Howard Altschiller
Contact us list

Forecast: WSJ, NYT to post 20% ad-page gains

2010-01-04T11:35:00.004-05:00

That will be for the October-to-December period at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the WSJ says today, in a new story quoting Wells Fargo securities analyst John Janedis. "He estimates that the Times will show increases of at least 75% in the banks/financials, domestic automotive and telecom ad categories."

Blogger: Don't uncork champagne on news stocks

2010-01-04T11:06:00.001-05:00

The average annual rise in newspaper industry stocks last year was 200.6%, leading blogger Alan Mutter says today in a new post.

"But don’t uncork the champagne just yet,'' he writes today in a new post. "When you compare the value of the publishing shares at the end of 2009 with where they stood four years earlier, you will find that they have shed, on average, nearly three-quarters of their value since 2005, the halcyon year for modern newspapering."

NWS shares are one of the few exceptions in Mutter's review, however.

The performance from 2005-2009 for major stocks I follow, with their 2005 closing prices, according to Mutter's analysis:

Gannett: down 72.7% from $54.31
New York Times Co.: down 51.9% from $25.71
News Corp.: down 4.3% from $16.61

Earlier: company-by-company share performances for 2008-2009

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Averting blackout, Fox and Time Warner OK pact

2010-01-02T15:28:00.003-05:00

The two companies said last night that they'd agreed on new terms for a contract covering Fox Broadcasting stations in New York, Los Angeles, and other markets, The New York Times says, preventing a blackout of the weekend’s college bowl games in millions of homes. The Wall Street Journal's story is here. Neither of the companies is showing statements on their websites, however. The showdown with Time Warner Cable had threatened to cut off viewers from much-watch football bowl games this weekend, plus mainstays including The Simpsons.

NWS, Time-Warner extend higher fee talks

2010-01-01T14:16:00.001-05:00

Continuation of the tense negotiations prevented millions of Time Warner Cable customers from losing access to Fox Broadcasting programming, including popular weekend football game coverage.

The two companies are renegotiating a contract that officially ended at midnight Thursday and have been unable to reach an agreement on fees that News Corp. is asking to be paid for carriage of its national broadcast network, says The Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times is covering the talks on its Media Decoder blog.

Stockton | Fronting today

2010-01-01T14:15:00.009-05:00

News Corp.'s Record

Stockton, Calif.
Publisher: Roger Coover
Editor: Mike Klocke
Contact us list

In the news: Record to charge for online access starting Jan. 12. Also: Paper lays off 12 employees from staff of 295

Got a News Corp. front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

Bulletin | News Corp. jumps 66% from a year ago, as newspaper publishers pull back from deep lows

2009-12-31T16:29:00.005-05:00

[Roller-coaster year from 52-week low of $5.61; bigger view]

Capping a second consecutive year of tumultuous change, stocks of major newspaper publishers today staged a huge comeback from a year ago, with company shares soaring well above broader stock-market averages.

News Corp.'s stock rose 66%, ranking it No. 6 among companies I follow, according to preliminary closing figures moments ago. Shares finished the year at $15.92 -- a huge turnabout from their 52-week low of $5.61. The rankings:

Lee: up 746%
McClatchy: up 343%
E.W. Scripps: up 215%
Gannett: up 86%
New York Times Co.: up 69%
News Corp.: up 66%
Washington Post. Co.: up 13%

For comparison, here's the performance of major stock-market indexes:

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

[Source: Google Finance]

Fox-Time Warner Cable feud nears 11th hour

2009-12-31T11:35:00.002-05:00

[Fox TV is rallying support via its Keep Fox On site]

Barring a last-minute settlement tonight in a retransmission fee squabble, News Corp. says millions of Time Warner Cable customers in Los Angeles and other cities will lose Fox Broadcasting stations at midnight tonight.

"The companies are fighting over how much the cable operator should pay Fox stations for the right to retransmit their shows, sporting events and local newscasts,'' The New York Times says. "Fox is demanding about a dollar for each cable subscriber each month, which analysts say could set a precedent for broadcasters that want more money from cable and satellite operators."

The contracts expire today at midnight. Fox could then take its signal off Time Warner Cable systems in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities. Negotiations between programmers and distributors are often prolonged and painful, the NYT says, "but they rarely occur in public the way the feud between Fox and Time Warner Cable has."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.