2005-2014

KATHMANDU, Oct 10 - Journalist bodies Monday slammed the government for introducing the press ordinance aimed at imposing restrictions on the media. King Gyanendra promulgated the new ordinance named "Ordinance amending some Nepal Acts related to Media-2062" on Sunday causing many to fear that the government is tightening its grip on the free press. "We strongly condemn the government's ill...

Remember merger mania? Remember the bigger getting bigger yet? Remember when the prices of media stocks weren't stalled? Me neither. DreamWorks and NBC Universal go deep into talks. Microsoft (MSFT ) and Time Warner (TWX ) play footsie over a possible MSN/AOL link-up. In both cases, news of the talks leaks. The gasbags start gasbagging. The headlines get teed up. And...nothing happens. Welcome to...

INDIANAPOLIS Bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the proposed federal shield law, the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), told the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) Monday afternoon. Lugar emphasized, however, that debate is not yet closed on how to define a journalist under the proposed law. "As to who is a reporter, this will be a subject of...

Bruised by earlier failures to embrace new technologies, big media companies are rushing into the two-year-old field of podcasting -- audio programs for downloading onto computers or portable music players. The high-stakes goal: grab young listeners, even at the risk of cannibalizing existing audiences or wasting time and money on a technology that may never go mainstream. Radio giant Clear...

NEW YORK: In the 11 days since Judith Miller left jail after agreeing to testify before a federal grand jury about her sources, many of the facts in the case have yet to come out. But one thing is clear: Her newspaper, The New York Times, has had very little to say about her role in the Plame/CIA leak case, and has been regularly scooped by other papers on the latest twists in her involvement. The...

When Amanda Bennett, editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, heard last month that she had to cut 75 jobs in her newsroom - 15 percent of her staff - she was sick to her stomach. But after some reflection, she said, she realized that the depth of the cuts would force the newspaper to reinvent itself, and this would be to its advantage. "This is a chance to hold everything up to the light and say,...

As the sun scorched the Wyndham El Conquistador resort in Puerto Rico, publishing and advertising executives issued a heated call to action at the American Magazine Conference for magazines to expand their brands beyond a simple page and seek opportunities to engage readers and advertisers in the digital and wireless realm. Such deployment of content to online and other digital mediums will not...

Bill Keller looks a lot like you'd expect the top editor of The New York Times to look: the plume of silvering hair that signifies gravitas, the tie and white shirt beneath a well-cut (but not too well-cut) suit. On Oct. 7, the Times' executive editor made a very Times-ian and articulate case for the necessity of his paper and the better instincts of mainstream journalism, while casually and...

In a recent e-mail chat about the future of their business, several young New York Times reporters concluded with dismay that most of their friends don't subscribe to the newspaper. At the San Jose Mercury News, hardened news hawks facing staff reductions have begun eyeing public relations jobs they once would have disdained. In Philadelphia, a news photographer who has "loved every minute" of his...

BIG OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUG BRAND ALEVE is known for its pain-relieving effects, but its negotiations for 2006 magazine advertising deals are proving to be a headache for some editors and publishers. In order to be considered for a piece of its multimillion advertising budget, the Bayer HealthCare brand is demanding that magazines guarantee to place Aleve in some "good news" - literally. "They have...