Who Would Buy Newsweek?

In an age of hot and loud debate, amplified by cable TV and the web, Newsweek's cool demeanor may simply be out of time and out of place. If it gets sold, it's hard to believe that much other than the brand will long survive, as the economics under it are badly wounded. Look for it, ...

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Competition for the Business News Reader Intensifies

The push in business news shows several key trends in the marketplace: * Niching. Beefing up “news” in general is out; targeting select readers is where investment is going. * The action is greatest among the Digital Dozen, the term I’ve originated to describe top globally-oriented ...

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iPad and the New Five-Fingered Exercise

I think we'll see these companies go head-to-head for reader and subscriber dollars. As they do, I think they'll face a new five-fingered exercise. Raise one hand; five is the probably the maximum number of iPad news sites for which readers will pay.

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Business News Arms War Heating Up

* It's war for the business reader, the global business reader, the investor, the savvy consumer. It's no accident that it's been the FT and the Journal that have led paid content models. Expect to see lots more products, steals and innovations, as a half-dozen top business news brands ...

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Arthur and the Blue People

So, as the Times reorganizes its digital business operations, add something new to the Times woes' of downsized ad spend, too great a cost structure and little way to gain other than ad revenues digitally until at least 2011 given its go-slow approach to metering. Add the forest people, the ...

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Media News, Bankruptcy and the Fog of Media War

Who will be next? And is the mating of banko companies the look of the next year? Dean Singleton bit the bitter bullet last week. After staving off bankruptcy for all of 2009, telling MediaNews execs that the company would not need to take that route, the company succumbed. MediaNews is ...

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Bloomberg, Washington Post Moves Highlight Business News Challenges

Important Details:  Bloomberg and the Washington Post have announced a full-throated partnership, with content moving both ways. The action accompanies the dissolution of the 47-year-old Los Angeles Times – Washington Post (LAT-WP) wire, which was announced the same week, as the Tribune ...

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1Cast: Hitting the Mobile Video Aggregation Trifecta

1Cast “was born of frustration,” says Bontrager, an IPTV telco veteran. “How can we get the information we want? We saw news to be an underserved market.” Wow. News people talk endlessly about glut and commoditization, and here’s a telco guy talking about “under-served markets.” Talk about a ...

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NYT and CNN: Global Editions Bring Battle Head-to-Head

These are two, among many, companies on a collision course. Think ABC, AFP, AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CBS, the FT, Guardian, NBC, NPR, News Corp, Reuters, Telegraph and Wall St. Journal, and News Corp overall, here as well. It's a battle in which each kind of player -- those with legacy print, ...

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Slate’s New SAGA Points to The Big Money

     Ask Jim Ledbetter about his new site’s driving idea, and he’ll tell you that, in part, it really just comes down to four companies. It’s the “SAGA manifesto" approach to business journalism, a term Ledbetter, editor of Slate’s new The Big Money site came up with, ...

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