December 2007
6 posts
All the news that Fitz will fritz →
The $38 million exit package going to former Tribune chief executive Dennis FitzSimons is enough to cover the annual pay and benefits of more than 500 journalists in a metro market. The feet-on-the-street value of the deal is relevant in light of the widespread expectation that the company is headed for some extreme belt-tightening as the new owner, Sam Zell, attempts to produce sufficient cash
Online ad sellers out-local the locals →
In a historic first, online media companies collectively will sell more ads in local markets this year than such individual hometown media as newspapers, broadcasters and yellow pages, says an independent research firm. Borrell Associates predicts that online-only media companies will claim 43.7% of the $8.5 billion expected to be spent in 2007 on local advertising, usurping the long-time lead
Rupe and Sam to the rescue →
The new brooms poised to sweep through Dow Jones and the Tribune Co. aren’t arriving a moment too soon. Although no one, including most likely the incoming proprietors themselves, knows exactly what Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell will do, at least they’ll rescue their companies from the decades of bland, unimaginative and ultimately unsuccessful corporate stewardship that, history suggests, is a
Flat-footed in Omaha →
The Omaha World-Herald was caught completely flat-footed today when a gunman killed eight people in a local mall, producing the worse online coverage in memory by a newspaper with a major story breaking in its own backyard. If you work at a newspaper, please don’t let what happened in Omaha happen to you. We’ll discuss the fundamentals of contingency planning in a few minutes. But first, let’
Online ad share slips at papers →
Internet advertising sales at newspapers this year have grown at slower rates than those of competing media, shrinking the industry’s share of online revenues in the third quarter to the second-lowest level since 2004. Notwithstanding sunny press releases from the Newspaper Association of America, the evidence is growing that the industry – which prominently and properly has targeted digital
Not your father’s Google →
The online search business is about to be upended by a revolution in technology that represents the last, best chance for newspapers and other traditional local media to preserve their franchises. Despite falling revenues and rising online competition, publishers still have the rich archives and potent local presence that make them the ideal partners to team with the next-generation search