Done deal:
Washington Times sold for a buck
Other shorts: AT&T U-verse drops Hallmark in dispute
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Sep 1, 2010
Done deal: Washington Times sold for a buck
The family melodrama over the fate of the Washington Times appears to be resolved. The conservative paper, founded in 1982 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, has been sold by Moon’s son, Preston, back to his father through an entity controlled by the father for a dollar and assumption of the paper’s considerable debt. Just what’s gone on behind the scenes to make the deal possible isn’t known and probably wouldn’t be all that interesting if it was, but the upshot is that the longtime money-losing daily will continue publishing and reportedly will once again receive substantial subsidies from the Unification Church, which the elder Moon still controls. What’s less clear at this point is the fate of all the staffers who were let go during the massive cutbacks over the past year or so. Will they regain their jobs? The Times has long labored under the shadow of The Washington Post, but while many have dismissed it as simply as conservative organ for Moon and his organization, the paper has worked hard to build its credibility, and to that end it has brought on a number respected journalists over the years.
AT&T-Uverse drops Hallmark in carriage dispute
Disney settled its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable earlier this week, managing to avoid a blackout, but the same can't be said for Hallmark Channel and AT&T U-verse. In the latest spat between a content provider and cable operator over money, AT&T U-verse has dropped Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel as of 12:01 a.m. this morning, following nearly a week of stalled negotiations. Hallmark, which is available in 90 million households, has been encouraging subscribers to protest AT&T's decision by calling a special number or logging on to www.donttakemyhallmarkchannels.com to request that the carrier continue offering Hallmark. The two sides may not be talking to each other, but they've certainly been talking to the press, insisting they alone are in the right. Hallmark said in a release early this morning that it is willing to restart negotiations if they are "truly fair."
Blaze of glory: Beck's conservative HuffPost
Coming off a weekend in which his Restoring Honor rally was at the top of the news cycle, conservative Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck is hoping to parlay that attention into a big launch for his new web site, TheBlaze.com. The Blaze, which debuted quietly on Monday, is being billed as a conservative Huffington Post (isn't every launch by a non-liberal?), a mix of news and opinion pieces, including stuff that Beck claims gets ignored by the mainstream media. "It's not just politics and policy. It's looking for insight wherever we find it," says Beck in a message on the site. The site's point-of-view is pretty obvious from the stories posted this morning. Headlines include "Obama Pays (Mild) Tribute to George W. Bush in Oval Office Address" and "NY Residents Don't Support Mosque at Ground Zero." The site will be updated daily and is free to peruse. The Blaze merely adds to Beck's growing media empire, including the cornerstone, his FNC show, as well as books and his radio show, plus the rally over the weekend that drew anywhere from 87,000 to 500,000 (depends whose estimate you believe).
Deseret News slashes 43 percent of staff
Apparently the bloodletting at newspapers still isn't over. The Deseret News in Utah said yesterday that it is reducing its staff by nearly half, cutting 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees as it merges its newsroom with local NBC affiliate KSL and local radio station KSL, which, like the News, are both owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A story in the paper attempts to put a positive spin on the 43 percent workforce reduction, with Deseret News president and CEO Clark Gilbert saying the paper will "become a leader in the industry and a model for change." The newspaper's plans include installing a new digital team to strengthen the paper's web site and removing editor Joe Cannon, though he will remain on an editorial advisory board. The News will also be incorporating more reader-generated copy, which will be edited by its remaining staff. The Salt Lake City-based paper, which has a weekday circulation of 72,000, was careful to emphasize that it will continue to publish. It is Utah's oldest paper.
Programming notes: NBC renews 'Talent'
Next summer on NBC will look similar to the previous five, at least in terms of its marquee show. The network has renewed the reality talent competition "America's Got Talent" for a sixth season, after this year's edition has cemented itself as one of summer's top-rated programs among 18-49s. The show has performed well despite a big change, replacing David Hasselhoff with Howie Mandel on the judges panel. The Tuesday edition of "Talent" has averaged a 3.4 rating among viewers 18-49 this season, according to Nielsen, while the Wednesday version has averaged a 3.3. Meanwhile, in other programming, TLC will premiere the six-episode series "Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss" on Oct. 1, a bridal show that will focus on plus-sized brides. The network has also picked up an 18-episode sixth season of "Say Yes to the Dress," which will premiere in February. And Logo will premiere "The A-List: New York" on Oct. 4, a reality series that follows high-profile gay men in New York. The program will air at 10 p.m.
Un-Wise move: Columnist suspended for fake tweet
Anybody can post anything they want on Twitter, but that doesn't mean they should. Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise found that out the hard way following an ill-advised post on Monday on the social networking site, for which the paper has suspended him for one month. Wise tweeted that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is suspended for six games to start the NFL season, would actually only have to miss five. His tweet read, "Roethlisberger will get five games, I’m told," and soon the news filtered through sports sites and football blogs. But it turned out the news actually wasn't true. Wise received his "tip" from a casino employee in Lake Tahoe, and he posted the bogus story to prove the low standards for accuracy on social media sites. A fair point, but he could have accomplished it in a more professional manner. The Post decided to suspend the writer, though it could have been worse, according to ombudsman Andrew Alexander, who wrote on his blog, "Fabrication is a major journalistic transgression. He's lucky he wasn't fired." Wise has since apologized on his radio show, saying, "I made a horrendous mistake, using my Twitter account, which identifies me as a Washington Post columnist, to come up with an unsourced sentence about the length of Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension."
|
|
|
