media
BusinessWeek, Brüno, Bernie & Jared Kushner
cityfile · 07/13/09 12:39PM• Looking to buy a struggling business magazine that's losing advertisers right and left? You're in luck. McGraw-Hill has put BusinessWeek up for sale. [BN]
• The hottest interview in TV-land right now? Bernie Madoff, naturally. [B&C]
• Not such great news for the television biz: Most networks are experiencing a double-digit drop in summer ratings compared to last year. [USAT]
• MySpace is no longer a "place for friends." (That's what Facebook is for.) It's a Web site "for accessing entertainment and related information." [WSJ]
• Former Observer reporter Gabriel Sherman takes a look at Observer owner Jared Kushner in this week's issue of New York. Among other things, Kushner says he found the paper "unbearable" until he bought it. [NYM]
• Brüno's $30 million gross made it No. 1 at the box office this weekend. [THR]
BusinessWeek For Sale!
Hamilton Nolan · 07/13/09 09:47AMNew York Observer Owner's Lessons on How to Lose Money and Alienate People
Hamilton Nolan · 07/13/09 09:23AMWaPo Ombudsman Calls His Newspaper a Dirty Whore, Basically
The Cajun Boy · 07/12/09 11:47PMOld Man Lamely Defends the Goldbricking Defeatist He Coronated
The Cajun Boy · 07/12/09 10:05PMCharity: The New, New-Media Profit Model
Foster Kamer · 07/12/09 04:45PMJennifer Aniston Takeover Of NY Daily News Offices Leaves Sore Bladders And Fake Journalists In Her Wake
Foster Kamer · 07/11/09 06:15PMAre Michael Wolff and Victoria Floethe Done?
Pareene · 07/10/09 04:10PMThe Times, Jay-Z, Moneyball & Speaking Fees
cityfile · 07/10/09 12:58PM• Desperate times, desperate measures: The New York Times is thinking about charging a $5 monthly fee for access to its Web site. [BN, NYP]
• Jay-Z is close to signing a book deal with the Spiegel & Grau imprint of Random House; the book will include "the stories behind his lyrics." [NYO]
• Moneyball lives: Sony Pictures is attempting to salvage the movie by hiring Aaron Sorkin to polish the script and adding Scott Rudin as a producer. [NYT]
• A list of prominent media/web people and their public speaking fees. [PC]
• The media moguls in Sun Valley may not be interested in buying Twitter, but there is some good news: The British royal family has signed up! [AP]
• Discovery Channel has been promoting "Shark Week" by sending out bloody swim trunks and personalized obituaries to reporters. Charming. [Movieline]
• Depressing news: Ryan Seacrest makes a lot more money than you do. [THR]
• Great news: NBC's Jeff Zucker says we may have reached bottom. [B&C]
Bill Keller's Had Enough of Your 'Jokes.' Jerk
Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/09 12:47PMProud Reputations of L.A, Television, Fox Destroyed by Harlot
Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/09 10:44AMMurdoch Tabloid Spied on Editor of Other Murdoch Tabloid
Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/09 08:30AMThin Will Be In This Fall
cityfile · 07/10/09 08:27AMIf you were thinking you could save a little money by canceling your gym membership and lifting the September issue of Vogue over your head in sets of 10, well, you're probably going to need to come up with a new plan: "You won't need a forklift to pick up those typically thump-heavy September fashion magazines this year. As publishers approach their closing deadlines next week, most are resigned to the fact that the issues will be about a third lighter than in years past." [WWD]
Turning Out the Lights in Edison
The Cajun Boy · 07/09/09 11:46PMWould You Pay $5 a Month to Read the New York Times Online?
Hamilton Nolan · 07/09/09 02:36PMFox News Can't Quite Get Its Head Around CNN's Wall of Wonder
John Cook · 07/09/09 02:15PMRemember the election? The dancing of the numbers across John King's magic screen on CNN, as states rose and fell and changed colors before your eyes? Viewers liked that, apparently. Fox is just now figuring that out.
'She Decided She Would Be Funemployed, And Started a Blog'
Hamilton Nolan · 07/09/09 01:16PMNick Kristof Is an Honest Man
Hamilton Nolan · 07/09/09 12:56PMJackson, Conan, Twitter & Capitalism
cityfile · 07/09/09 11:52AM• More data about the Biggest Television Event Ever™: Some 31 million people tuned into the Jackson memorial on TV, and video sites report that they delivered more than 10 million live streams on Tuesday. [THR, VB]
• One TV person not pleased with all the Jackson coverage: Conan O'Brien, whose new Tonight Show has seen ratings drop as a result. [NYT]
• News Corp. has paid more than $1.6 million to settle court cases involving reporters in Britain who hacked into public figures' cell phones. [Guardian]
• Is Liberty Media going to bail out Harvey Weinstein? Let's hope so. [NYP]
• None of the major media companies appear keen on buying Twitter. [LAT]
• Comedy Central has ordered up a sitcom starring Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, which will be produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. [B&C]
• The title of Michael Moore's new movie: Capitalism: A Love Story. [NYDN]