‘Redesigned Facebook aims to become ‘your own personal newspaper’’

Jeff Sonderman reports on Facebook:

Facebook says it is trying to “act more like your own personal newspaper” with recent feature launches and design changes.

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http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/146753/new-redesigned-facebook-news-feed-personal-newspaper/

Los Angeles Times Prefers “The White Affluent Subscribers”

Robert Kahn reports on the Los Angeles Times:

 

The former publisher of the Los Angeles Times Magazine claims The Tribune Co. fired and defamed him for objecting to the newspaper’s decision to save money by stopping distribution of its Sunday magazine to low-income and minority neighborhoods, while charging them the same price as “the white affluent subscribers.”

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http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/09/16/39833.htm

‘Every time you look, there are buyouts and layoffs at newspapers’

Richard Aregood examines the state of the U.S. newspaper industry: 

myriad deejays, the hits just keep on coming.

We’re not talking about yet another playing of “Stairway to Heaven,” or even “Seasons in the Sun,” however annoying you might find that prospect. For people who work for newspapers, the last 15 years or so have been an unrelieved and seemingly unending chain of disasters.

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http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110919_Richard_Aregood__Every_time_you_look__there_are_buyouts_and_layoffs_at_newspapers.html

‘Greenspun Media Group Announces Layoffs’

An update on Greenspun Media Group (The Las Vegas Sun newspaper):

The Sun is not immune to the consequences of the recession.

The newspaper derives most of its revenue from the Review-Journal in accordance with a joint operating agreement between the two organizations.

Continue reading:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/sep/15/greenspun-media-group-announces-layoffs/

‘Freedom of the press applies to everyone — yes, even bloggers’

Mathew Ingram examines the role of bloggers and citizen journalists:

If there’s one thing that events such as the recent riots in Britain and protests in California have shown, it’s that mobile devices and social tools like Twitter and YouTube have effectively made everyone into a journalist, something we have argued in favor of at GigaOM.

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http://gigaom.com/2011/09/15/freedom-of-the-press-applies-to-everyone-yes-even-bloggers/

Layoffs at Portland Press Herald

An update on the Portland Press Herald:

The Guild was notified yesterday about the company’s plan to reduce the number of employees at the Portland Press Herald, starting with a voluntary severance program and followed by layoffs.  In response to declining revenues, the company plans to reduce the number of employees at the Portland Press Herald by approximately 40 people, including represented employees and managers, although the final number will vary depending on who takes the buyout.  All job classifications are eligible for the program.  Between buyouts and layoffs, the workforce will be reduced by about 15 percent, according to our estimate.

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http://www.local128.org/notice-staff-reductions

Invasion of Patent Trolls: NYT, Bloomberg and other Media Giants Sued

Jeff Roberts reports on patent trolls: 

For some time now, so-called patent trolls have aggressively targeted the biggest tech companies in the world. Now, they seem to be setting their sights on large media companies too. A shell company in Delaware is suing Bloomberg, the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Co and four other news giants for infringing a patent related to “autocomplete” software—the process that allows computer users to receive suggestions for completing a word after they type a few letters.

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http://paidcontent.org/article/419-patent-troll-strikes-bloomberg-nyt-and-other-news-giants/

‘The New York Times in Trouble — Again’

Douglas A. McIntyre reports on the New York Times: 

The stock price of the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) has dropped to a two-year low, a sign that investors no longer consider a newspaper industry turnaround — particularly at the Times — likely. Some hope continues that the company’s online operations will make enough money to offset trouble with its print editions. But the change has not happened fast enough. Internet revenue is still only a very small part of total sales.

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http://247wallst.com/2011/09/13/the-new-york-times-in-trouble-again/

News Corp. Scandal to Hit U.S.

Dylan Stableford reports on News Corp.:

After a summer’s worth of high-stakes corporate scandal and intrigue, the phone-hacking case against News Corp. has gone fairly quiet–at least in the United States.

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/news-corp-shareholders-amend-lawsuit-accuse-board-allowing-195303000.html

Layoffs at The Salt Lake Tribune

Paul Beebe reports on the Salt Lake Tribune: 

 

The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday laid off five newsroom employees to cope with falling advertising revenue and further weakness in the economy.

Continue reading:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/52570089-79/tribune-conway-singleton-employees.html.csp