Phone Hacking Scandal Engulfs More British Newspapers
“In a dramatic turn to the scandal, former journalists at the Mirror group said they witnessed phone hacking at their newspapers and that the practice was ‘endemic’. So far, the allegations had clouded newspapers of the News International group, the largely affected being the now closed News of the World.
“In fresh developments, James Hipwell, a former journalist of the Daily Mirror told The Independent that he would be willing to testify in front of a public inquiry into the episode headed by Justice Brian Leveson.”
Leesville (La.) Daily Leader Moving To Three Days A Week For Print Edition
“The change [to three days a week from five] is to move the newspaper in a new direction, and will allow the news staff to produce an even stronger product on those three days — allowing more time and focus to cover the news you want to read.
‘This is an opportunity for all of us to strengthen our newspaper,’ Leader Publisher Beaux Victor said. ‘Times are changing all around us and we’re choosing to leap ahead progressively. Our editorial staff, as always, will dedicate their efforts in bringing the news to you. With extra time, the staff will be able to compose more in-depth stories and gather more local content.’”
Chicago Tribune To Print The Sun-Times And Seven Suburban Papers
“The Sun-Times, which has seen its circulation drop in step with the industry, will close its 12-year-old printing plant and lay off more than 400 employees, saving the company more than $10 million annually. The Chicago Tribune Media Group will print the Sun-Times and seven of its suburban dailies.”
BBC Social Media Policy Insists ‘Second Pair Of Eyes’ Review News Updates For Twitter Or Facebook
“The BBC’s new ‘social media guidance’ strictly requires a ‘second pair of eyes’ to review any staff social media updates related to news reporting. The policy is far more relaxed when it comes to staffers using personal social media accounts for personal things. For those cases, it simply lists some ‘considerations,’ which it summarizes as ‘don’t do anything stupid.'”
Newspaper Websites Post Consecutive Quarterly Traffic Increase (NAA Press Release)
“Newspaper publishers continue to grow their share of the Internet audience, attracting an average monthly audience of 110.8 million unique visitors age 18+ to their websites in the second quarter – nearly two-thirds (64.6 percent) of all adult Internet users. That quarterly average represents a 2 percent increase in visitors over the first quarter average. The analysis, performed by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America, indicates that this is the third consecutive quarter of increased traffic for newspaper websites since comScore began tracking web audience data for NAA, in the fourth quarter of 2010.”
Bancroft Family Members Express Regrets at Selling WSJ to Murdoch Because of Scandal
“A number of key members of the family which controlled The Wall Street Journal say they would not have agreed to sell the prestigious daily to Rupert Murdoch if they had been aware of News International’s conduct in the phone-hacking scandal at the time of the deal.
“‘If I had known what I know now, I would have pushed harder against’ the Murdoch bid, said Christopher Bancroft, a member of the family which controlled Dow Jones & Company, publishers of The Wall Street Journal.”
San Diego Union-Tribune Owner Explores Options for Newspaper
“Platinum Equity, which acquired the paper two years ago from the Copley family, hired Evercore Partners to ‘evaluate strategic alternatives,’ said Mark Barnhill, a principal at Platinum.” Such a move is usually seen as a precursor to a sale. Platinum acquired the U-T in May, 2009 and shortly thereafter hacked 30% of the workforce. The owners also sold off property they acquired in the sale, prompting analyst Ken Doctor to suggest that Platinum bought the paper primarily for the asset value.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Fake News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Saw this coming from a million miles away… (And I’ve been saying so too.)
The final nail in the coffin for print is going to be the closure of hundreds or thousands of post offices.
When direct mail advertising is forced to look for other sources of distribution, you can bet they’ll go with the ‘Net and pull their remaining ads from papers.
At that point, the advertising support for the print medium will fall below the threshold for it being attractive for anybody support throwing good money after bad.
That means the end of PCH (Publisher’s Clearing House) and all of those magazines as well, throwing more jobs onto print’s pyre.
Producing print material will become “un passe-temps” practiced by eccentric people. rather much like producing vinyl albums, who keep a press around as a curiosity.
It will be extremely expensive and there will never again be the economies of scale that come from being on the rising side of the production curve.