Results matching “rupert murdoch”

Fox Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has launched a social media weather site, Mashable.com's Paul Glazowski reports. FOX Weather Beta is intended to provide users with a comprehensive weather service, offering both global and hyperlocal weather news.

The site's main feature is a prominently displayed interactive map powered by Google Maps. The site also offers users social media tools, such as blogs, forums, and photo-sharing communities.

But will this new take on an old service stick? Glazowski says FOX Weather Beta may be fighting an "uphill battle."

"The site's community structure is somewhat generic and unappealing visually, and some parts...need extra attention," he said.

For a site aiming to reinvent 21st century weather services, FOX Weather Beta's impressive map service, Glazowski says, could be self-defeating, overshadowing the site's social media innovations.

"The map itself operates very well. So well, in fact, that you tend almost to ignore the rest," he said.

Source: Mashable.com through I Want Media

The Times of London published today its first issue featuring a full-color, revamped design, Stephen Brook of the Guardian reports.

The new design will affect the Monday to Friday paper, not the Saturday edition, and will include color-coded sections, an expanded features section, and more two-page spreads. According to Brook, journalists at the Times have been told to focus on "longer pieces or short news items," and to avoid "mid-length stories."

The redesign is approximately a year and a half removed from the Times' most recent renovation, a switch in font, and almost four years from its switch from a broadsheet to a tabloid format.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned paper will continue redesigning until September.

Source: The Guardian

In a blog post, Al Neuharth, founding editor of the leading US daily USA Today, reassures newspaper editors and publishers: 225 years after the first daily newspaper was published in the US, the newspaper is still a robust news medium (see a recent study) - despite current struggles in the newsroom.

A lot of doom and gloom reports about the newspaper industry have come from newspapers themselves.

"Sure, the slumping economy has made times a little tough for them. But most still have profit margins well above most other businesses," wrote Neuharth.

There are still a whopping 1,422 dailies and 6,253 being published in the US, and USA Today's circulation is at about 2,28 million copies daily, increasing every year in its 25-year history.

The Wall Street Journal is second, with just over 2 million copies.  (Neuharth noted: "Under new owner/boss Rupert Murdoch, it's the most improved newspaper in the country and likely to show significant sharp future increases.")

The transition to the digital age isn't easy, but newspapers are embracing it. Said Neuharth:

"Importantly, newspaper owners and editors have embraced the Internet and now are 24/7 providers of news, information, entertainment and advertising. The hunger for all that is greater than ever in history. That's why newspaper-oriented media companies have a bright future."

Source: USA Today Blogs through I Want Media

Robert Thomson, former editor of The Times of London and recently appointed publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was named managing editor of WSJ last night, as "Rupert Murdoch tightened control of the world's top selling business newspaper," reported the Guardian.

Thomson replaces Marcus Brauchli, who quit last month. "In hindsight, we recognize it would have more been appropriate to have advised the Committee in advance of reaching an agreement with Mr. Brauchli. We have apologized to the Committee members," said Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton in a statement.

According to Dow Jones' parent company News Corp., Thomson's appointment had the unanimous approval of the committee that was set up to safeguard the Journal's editorial independence.

In addition to being named managing editor, Dow Jones Chairman Rupert Murdoch announced Thomson has also been appointed as editor in chief of Dow Jones.

Hinton will become publisher of the Journal, in addition to his duties as CEO.

Souce: Guardian - Editor & Publisher

US cable television group Cablevision acquired New York-based Newsday - the nation's eighth largest newspaper - from Tribune Co. for US$650 million.

The cable group beat Rupert Murdoch's $580 million. Mort Zuckerman, owner of the New York Daily News, had also bid $580 million.

It's interesting to see a cable TV group staking in a major newspaper, in a move that goes against the general trend of newspapers acquiring Web start-ups.

"Being owned by an Internet service provider company opens up a range of options for a newspaper to generate revenue from people accessing the Internet," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Cablevision will also benefit from the content produced by the paper.

The New York Times questioned the rationale behind the deal: "Most analysts question the rationale for buying Newsday and had hoped Cablevision's quest failed."

The deal will help Tribune Co. get some, but little, relief from its crushing $12.8 billion debt.

For more information, click below.

Source: SFN Blog - Editor & Publisher (here and here)

The new Wall Street Journal was rolled out earlier this week with some significant changes. Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) examines how the 119-year-old WSJ has changed since Rupert Murdoch took control, focusing on the front page every other weekday, and how the WSJ stands up next to The New York Times, Murdoch's declared competitor.

- The front page changed focus in the first four months from business coverage to domestic politics and international issues.
- From Dec. 13, 2007 to March 13, 2008, the front page covered politics and the presidential campaign three times as much, from 5% (four months before Murdoch) to 18%.
- Consequently, coverage of corporate American decreased more than half to 14% of front page space, compared to 30% pre-Murdoch.
- Coverage of foreign events that "do not directly involve the U.S." jumped from 18% to 25%. 9% of that relates to overseas economic and business affairs.
- Health and medicine dropped from 5% to less than 1%.
- Transportation issues dropped from 3% to 0%.
- Environmental topics dropped from 3% to 1%.

Categories that seemingly remain unchanged:
- Economics stayed at 15%.
- Coverage of foreign events "in which the U.S. played a major role" remained at 4%.
- Lifestyle coverage stayed at about 4% as well as education at 3%.

An example of the "changing news agenda" was the front page on April 21, the day before the presidential election Pennsylvania primary. There were two campaign stories and the headline: T "Latest Attacks Roil Democrats." A "more traditional Journal story," about problems at smaller-to-midsize banks was pushed to the bottom half of the page with a story about "easing tensions between China and a small island controlled by Taiwan," according to PEJ.


PEJ observes that the front pages of the WSJ and NY Times from Dec. 13, 2007 to March 13, 2008 are "not the same, certainly not yet."
- Politics: WSJ devotes 18% of the newshole to politics, but the Times filled 27% of its newshole with politics.
- Business: WSJ still gave more coverage with 14%  than the Times with 4%.
- Economics: WSJ covered it more with 15%, compared to the Times with 9%.
- Foreign affairs involving the U.S.:  The Times at 8% produced about twice as much coverage as the Journal at 4%.
- International events not directly related to the U.S.: The Journal had more coverage at 25% to the Times attention at 17%.

For the complete list of statistics, visit PEJ's website.

Source: PEJ (photos) through LA Times News Alerts

A source reveals that Tribune Co. is very close to selling Long Island based Newsday to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for about $580 million.

The terms state that "Newsday would be part of a joint venture with News Corp's money-losing New York Post, allowing the two publications to combine back office operations", the source said. The Wall Street Journal said the deal "is expected to wipe out as much as $50 million in annual losses that News Corp now incurs on the Post."

News Corp would own most of the company, while Tribune would retain a very small part but would receive "anywhere between $500 million and $600 million", under News Corp's terms.

Selling Newsday would help Tribune chief executive Sam Zell cut debt at the company, which is over $10 billion.

"The combined operation would be profitable," newspaper analyst John Morton said. "There would be some administrative and production cost savings but the real goal would be to combine the advertising appeal and sell that jointly for advertisers that want both Long Island and New York City coverage."

Analysts said "a combined operation would also place News Corp's New York Post in a much stronger position against [the New York Daily News]."

Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of the Post's newspaper rival, the Daily News, is reportedly planning to submit a new, formal bid by the end of the week for Newsday.

Because the U.S. government restricts the number of papers that media companies can own in markets where they also own television stations, the deal could be hindered with Murdoch owning The Wall Street Journal and Fox affiliate WNYW-TV, in addition to the Post.

Source: Reuters

Marcus Brauchli, top editor of the Wall Street Journal is stepping down after less than five months since Rupert Murdoch took control of the paper.

Brauchli had been in the job for a year, Last month, he said in an interview that Murdoch was "very engaged" but "set broad objectives" to maintain the paper's independence.

Part of the agreement that allowed Murdoch to buy the WSJ stated that Murdoch could not remove three top-ranking editors, including Brauchli. With Brauchli's resignation, Murdoch can now choose a successor, but a special committee must approve of that person first, according to the agreement.

Some Journal staffers say that "Brauchli felt overshadowed by the paper's new publisher, Robert Thomson, a former editor of another Murdoch property, the Times of London."

Thomson said Murdoch is "clearly interested in challenging the journalistic establishment" by broadening the Journal's coverage. Washingtonpost.com's Howard Kurtz wonders if "the sense of anxiety [of Murdoch's political interference] could return if Murdoch names an editor, whether Thomson or someone else, from outside the Journal culture."

Source: WashingtonPost.com

UPDATE:
Brauchli wrote a memo to his staff that stated his reason as "now that the ownership transition has taken place, I have come to believe the new owners should have a managing editor of their choosing."

He acknowledges that "change was necessary" in the newspaper industry, but also when News Corp. bought Dow Jones, an editorial agreement was made to "block commercial or political interference in our journalism," read the memo.

Though Brauchli concedes that the new management has adhered to the agreement and that the "journalistic integrity remains intact," WSJ.com reports that Brauchli had difficulties being a mediator between the paper's traditions and News Corp's new vision. He had complained that "he wasn't always in the loop about new ideas" in the past few weeks, according to WSJ.com.

Reuters reports that the resignation could "reignite worries about editorial independence that were voiced during Murdoch's takeover bid when some staffers feared the Journal's reputation as the top U.S. business newspaper would be threatened if Murdoch became proprietor."

With Brauchli's resignation, current WSJ publisher Robert Thomson may take on a more active role in the newsroom, but isn't expected to be the interim managing editor, according to WSJ.com. There already is a search for the next managing editor. Brauchli, however, is likely to stay in the company, possibly as a consultant, says WSJ.com, guiding senior management, including "whether News Corp.'s Star-TV service in Asia should launch a business-news channel."

Murdoch said he believed Brauchli's experience "will be a great asset, especially in Asia -- a region where we see significant growth potential and where he has particular expertise."

Dean Starkman of CJR writes that "with Brauchli gone, the Journal newsroom loses not just a topflight editor and bureau chief, a great Asia hand, and someone who was a real, live reporter, [but also] loses a surprisingly savvy internal diplomat who, I thought, might just have been adroit enough to manage the inevitable tensions that would arise from the takeover, at least enough to preserve some of the Journal's great journalistic heritage."

Sources: Poynter Online, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, Reuters
through Poynter Romenesko

The new Wall Street Journal debuts today. WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch has redesigned it to expand its "traditional, pin-striped base," according to Johnnie L. Roberts, Newsweek reporter. Murdoch still believes that "newspapers are the most influential media for shaping the public discourse, even in this new-media century."

The new Journal will feature:
- An increased focus on politics, international news, culture, and sports.
- A refocused front page.
- A relaunch of the A section that will cover general news.
- Marketplace, the second section, which will cover corporate America.
- Money and Investing, the third section, which will continue to report news of financial markets and investing.
- A weekly sports page.
- An additional op-ed page, so that it has 3 pages instead of 2.

Also, a culture section is being developed in the Journal's weekend edition for the fall.

The redesign of the paper is also Murdoch's challenge to The New York Times.

But many media and communication experts argue that the Journal will not be a threat to the Times even with all the changes; in fact, the changes may damage the Journal brand.

"Turning a paper into an old-fashioned variety show--we have a little of everything--I don't think is the route to success," said a former senior Dow Jones executive. "The risk you run is that you are not best at anything." 

Arthur Siskind, senior adviser to Murdoch, remarked that "the need to bolster and broaden the Journal's production and delivery is one reason [Murdoch's] battle with the Times will have to unfold gradually." Murdoch is in talks for local newspaper publishers to print the Journal, so the paper can be printed earlier and story deadlines can be extended.

Even so, the Times has faced some difficulties. Advertising has fallen almost 11%, (Read more at our sister blog SFN) "the sharpest drop in memory," the Times wrote. While it is cutting its staff by 100 (Read more at SFN), Murdoch has been spending money on WSJ's Washington bureau, seeking additional printing capacity, and developing the weekend magazine, WSJ.

"The New York Times has had broad coverage for 156 years now," New York Times CEO Janet Robinson said, "and from that perspective we are far advanced in the type of journalism we create and the type of advertising we bring into the paper."

Source: Newsweek through Paidcontent.org

For the second time since 1982, the Wall Street Journal parody, Off the Wall Street Journal, is published by New York Press. The first parody and its follow-up issue sold more than 650,000 copies. Now it has been renamed to My Wall Street Journal to honor "Rupert Murdoch's ever-expanding media empire which now includes everything from MySpace to the Wall Street Journal."

Founding editor-in-chief Tony Hendra, former editor of National Lampoon and Spy Magazine, returns with fellow '82 veteran David Blum, Todd Hanson from The Onion, and Jeff Kreisler from Comedy Central's Indecision 2008. Other contributors include writers for The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, and the Harvard Lampoon.

The tabloid is 24 pages and has the tagline "We Distort, You Decide" with sections such as a gossip section, "Obitcharies," and  "Police blotter - A day in the life of the white-collar crime cops."

My Wall Street Journal is now available for a cover price of $3.95 on their website, Amazon.com, and in newsstands and bookstores in major cities.

According to The New York Times, someone at The Wall Street Journal has left at least one newsstand with no copies remaining for anyone else to buy. He reportedly wore a shirt with a WSJ logo and paid with an American Express business card.

"He grabbed them all, said, 'I need to buy all of these,' " Alexander Laurence who was working at a Los Angeles stand said. "He had been going around to different stands, buying them."

There is also a spoof of Rupert Murdoch on a profanity-laced tirade against WSJ staffers, available on Youtube.

Source: Poynter Online, New York Times

Despite the current financial struggles of "old media," John Carroll, former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Los Angeles Times, believes newspapers and other "old media" should unite with bloggers and other "new media" to "keep each other honest and provide the kind of public service journalism a republic needs to survive."

Although Carroll believes that quality investigative reporting will continue, he sees non-profit websites and Internet publications taking over some of that responsibility from newspapers.

Carroll also hopes that new media will continue to grow, and like the old media, "stand up decisively to the government and other institutions," which may lead to the "golden age of journalism."

He isn't ecstatic about corporate ownership of the media - he believes that most corporate executives "print a lot of trash" in "giving the public what [the corporate executives] believe they want." But he praises some corporate takeovers, citing Rupert Murdoch sustaining "high level" journalism at The Wall Street Journal, which was "faltering," according to Carroll.

"There will be journalism in the future and it will have tools unlike any the people of my generation commanded," he said.

Source: Herald-Leader

The Wall Street Journal's front page has become very political in the four months since Rupert Murdoch took over. Though it isn't news that the WSJ is moving toward a "general news model", the paper is becoming a high-profile paper in the presidential campaign, according to Washington Post writer Howard Kurtz, a step in their goal of challenging the New York Times "for national supremacy."

In his first public comments as WSJ publisher, Robert Thomson, former Editor of Murdoch's Times of London, said, "I think American journalism has some soul-searching to do. American newspapers generally have kept up poorly with change... If there's a presumption that what you might call New York Times journalism is the pinnacle of our profession, the profession is in some difficulty." He adds that Murdoch is "clearly interested in challenging the journalistic establishment."

Thomas also said that Murdoch is willing to pay for expanding foreign coverage. Murdoch has already spent money to expand the news hole and staff, increased space in the paper (the space for political reporting has already doubled), and enlarging the 40-person Washington bureau. The newsroom staff of 750, which is 600 more than two years ago, is predicted to increase modestly this year. "A-heds" or business coverage, long features, and off-beat stories, which the Journal was known for, are now being pushed to the bottom of the page.

Political analyst Charlie Cook says that the Journal is "a less essential read" for campaign junkies, but "the level of political reporting has improved lately."

John Harwood, a CNBC analyst who recently left the Times, says the increased campaign coverage "reflects Murdoch's desire for a newsier paper, and for my former colleagues covering politics, that's a great thing. The question that will get asked over time is, does it erode some of the things that made the Journal great in the first place?"

Murdoch's response? "What sells newspapers is news."

Source: The Washington Post