Hot Topic - Newspapers

Even In The Nordic Area Newspaper Titans Are Being Slammed Because of Disappointing Results -- Schibsted Shares Down 36% In One Year, SanomaWSOY Down 25%, But Great Results From Privately Held Bonnier - February 19, 2008
If you were to think of two very well run publicly traded giant publishing houses where you just knew the profits would roll in quarter after quarter then most likely Schibsted in Norway and SanomaWSOY in Finland would spring to mind. But both this month came out with disappointing results and their shares have been hammered over the past year.

New York Times Says 100 Newsroom Jobs -- About 7% -- To Go This Year - February 15, 2008
Not even the New York Times is safe from newsroom cutbacks, and Editor Bill Keller told staff Thursday that 100 newsroom personnel will lose their jobs this year. There will be buyouts, some positions won’t be filled, but if that is not enough then there will be layoffs, he said.

The News Coming Out Of Tribune Is Bad, Really Bad, For Why It Wants To Cull 2% Of Its Workforce, And Other Newspapers Already Realize From January Results That Tribune Is Not Alone - February 15, 2008
Tribune newspapers have announced they will fire some 400 – 500 employees, about 2% of their total workforce, with the reasons given by each newspaper’s publisher more frightening than the one before. In sum they’re saying that if you think 2007 was a bad newspaper year, it’s nothing compared to what 2008 is already shaping up to be.

Time Magazine’s 2007 Business Model Changes Were a Great Financial Success But There Was a Serious Blip – Subscription and Newsstand Sales Took A Dive. - February 14, 2008
Time Magazine Editor Richard Stengel boasted to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) this week that 2007 was the second most profitable year in the magazine’s history, not something you hear too often from a media executive these days, and it must have been especially pleasing to employees who the year before were going through continuous culls.

Here’s Another New Newspaper Business Model: Close The Daily Tabloid On Monday With No Warning, Fire The 90 Staff, And On Thursday Start Publishing a Free Metro With Most Of Editorial Based Outside Your City - February 13, 2008
Here’s how they closed the Halifax Daily News: “I have worked for this paper for 18 years through various owners, and you don’t expect when you are coming in on a Monday morning that there will be strange guys you haven’t seen before with their hands folded and looking very stern and telling you to go into the executive boardroom. Then you know it’s done.”

Free Newspapers - ftm Knowledge file

The free newspaper phenomenon is rocking media landscapes across the world. This ftm Knowledge file looks at publishers and their battles in the UK, Europe and the US. Includes data on the successes and weaknesses. 65 pages PDF (August 2007)

Free to ftm Members, others from €39
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The State of the Print Media in the World

ftm reports on the World Association of Newspapers Congresses. Includes WAN readership studies, African media and journalism, Russian media and Russian politics, press freedom. 82 pages. PDF file (August 2007)

Free to ftm members and others from €39

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The Suffering of the French National Newspapers

How The French Newspaper Scene Has Changed Dramatically In Just Two Years.

ftm analyzes the newspapers and publishers of France; 40 pages, PDF file (July 2006)
Free to ftm members and others from €39

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