Chicago Media Industry Examiner

Sun-Times Media Group files for chapter 11

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:47:45 -0700

News operations "to continue as usual," which begs the question of how bad were things, really, if bankruptcy won't change anything?

Full press release here.

The Cause and Effect of Newspaper Troubles

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:10:02 -0700

The major newspaper obituaries keep piling up these days, from Slate to Vanity Fair and an excellent parting shot from the late John Walter, but what's interesting is that the tone has shifted from "newspapers are in trouble" to "newsp...

Publishers cry foul on Google, search results, interlinking, entire internet

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:54:51 -0700

As first reported by AdAge, the powers-that-be in American media are pressuring Google to give preferential treatment to their online articles based on their content somehow being more valid than, say, someone pointing to that content:"You shoul...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer wisely chooses evolution over death

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:24:33 -0700

Plenty of people will bemoan the end of the print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer tomorrow, and with good reason. Civic duty and journalistic missions aside, any institution that serves a city for 146 years has no choice but to bond with it...

Study: 42% of Americans would not miss their local paper

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:54:46 -0700

This can't be encouraging for anyone betting on hyperlocal micronews to be the last/next/final frontier of journalism: a new study released by the Pew Research Center shows people don't actually care that much about their local newspaper.So if Americ...

Digital does not equal dying, but dying still does equal dying

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:26:08 -0700

After landing on Time's list of ten most endangered newspapers in America, the Sun-Times tweetingly defended itself by attacking not the questioner but the proposition itself: "Why is going digital equated with dying in this media age?"Figu...

'Sun-Times' staffers bring home the hardware

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:20:29 -0700

The National Education Writers Association handed out its annual awards for excellence in education reporting, and the Sun-Times received three trophies this time around.Rosalind Rossi and Art Golab's were honored for their "Schooled in Fe...

Ex-Sun-Times owner Conrad Black doing fine in prison

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:38:39 -0700

Speaking to the National Post today, disgraced media mogul Conrad Black, whose conviction for criminal fraud earned him 78 months in prison, described life on the inside as rather pleasant, all things considered. Black also takes a few shot...

'Tribune' follows own advice, shutters DC bureau

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:03:05 -0700

The business section of the Tribune's website recently began running a Recession Survival Guide, offering "Advice for getting through this" and encouraging readers to live cheaply, hold on to their jobs at all costs, and more wisely manage ...

Link economy vs. link currency

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:20:09 -0700

An article in yesterday's New York Times revisited the still-unsettled arena of interlinking, excerpting and what constitutes "fair use" in online publishing. Specifically, the reporters found that as online advertising revenue dries up, ma...

Tribune Company takes headquarters off the market. Now what?

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:57:55 -0700

Considering the generally abysmal market for real estate (and the specifically terrible market for ubiquitous Gothic landmarks), the Tribune Company took its iconic headquarters off the market, as reported yesterday by Crain's.The sale of the buildin...

The problem with town hall meetings

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:49:20 -0700

If you've been following online - or if you, like a good journalist, were there - you have realized there are only two true conclusions to draw from Sunday's Chicago Journalism Town Hall:Some people have figured out how to make money in the mode...

Is Focused Contempt the Secret to Media Survival?

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:46:58 -0700

The owner of both of the major Philadelphia papers filed for bankruptcy, as did the Journal Register chain of 179 papers and magazines throughout the northeast. While the Journal Register's most prominent title - the New Haven Register - ha...

The future of newspapers is not the same as the future of journalism

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:27:44 -0700

When most experts talk about "the future of journalism," they talk about things like hyperlocal focus, monetization strategies and innovate new storytelling tools. The old model of the once-a-day edition, the discussion usually goes, will b...

Playboy Enterprises continues decline, open to offers

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:12:15 -0700

Folio reports that Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises is listening to offers to buy the shrinking publishing giant. Coming off a year in which the company lost $156 million, the group is refocusing its efforts into its online ventures, with TV revenue...

Employees contemplate buyout of 'Seattle Post-Intelligencer'

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:56:52 -0700

An interesting proposal has come to light in the case of the for-sale-with-no-apparent-suitors Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in that the union representing the P-I's staff is contemplating purchasing the paper itself:"If people are resigned to let...

Fire sale continues for Sun-Times Media Group

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:26:05 -0700

Are things really that bad for the Sun-Times Media Group? As reported Friday by Editor & Publisher, the Chicago Sun-Times' parent company has put two more of its real estate holdings up for sale, this time the buildings housing the Post-Tribune a...

Freelancers working part-time vs. part-timers working freelance

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:30:45 -0700

Caitlin Kelly wrote an excellent column for today's New York Times about her dual, concurrent lives in freelance writing and retail. The two, almost as disparate as can be, ultimately give the author a break from each other but also give wide contras...

'Tribune' cuts foreign, national, local staff

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:56:11 -0700

Ten more reporters were let go by the Tribune, reports Michael Miner of the Reader, including a Middle East Correspondent and seven feature writers. Several months ago, word on the street had The Los Angeles Times, another Tribune property, very seri...

'Sun-Times' editor-in-chief leaves for slightly greener pastures

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:35:59 -0700

Michael Cooke is headed to the Toronto Star.As reported by the Sun-Times today, editor-in-chief Michael Cooke will leave the paper at the end of the month to head up operations at the Toronto Star.It's tempting to deride Cooke's decision as an act of...