Companies

The Delhi operations of the Sakaal Times of the Pune-based Sakaal Media Group have been closed down without informing employees in advance. On November 30, the newspaper's journalists were taken aback to find the office locked and a lockout notice pasted on the doors. The anger of the 70-odd employees is not so much about the shutdown but that the Sakaal management did not inform them personally...

The staff of Channel 34 in the Ukranian city of Dniepropetrovsk have launched a hungerstrike protesting the liquidation of the company and the firing of its management. The employees of the Dniepropetrovsk Tele-visual Service (also known as Channel 34) announced the hungerstrike on air November 24, according to weekly PIK Ukrainy. From one day to the next, there has been expectation of an armed...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed its solidarity with staff and unions of Italian TV Channel La7 who are facing an unprecedented wave of lay-offs. EFJ, the European group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), called on Italian lawmakers to condemn the cutbacks which will affect more than a quarter of the workforce. "We urge the Italian Parliament, which on...

Time Inc, the largest magazine publisher in the US, announced Tuesday plans to shutter its four-year old Cottage Living magazine and its accompanying website, CottageLiving.com. The November/December issue will be the magazine’s last. Time officials said the magazine will be incorporated into another of its shelter magazines, although no details were immediately available. “Since its inception...

Dublin-based Independent News & Media (INM) will cut jobs at its London-based Independent newspaper and Sunday sister title in a bid to slash costs as a global downturn hits advertising revenue, Reuters reported on Tuesday. "It is anticipated that the final number of redundancies will number around 90, of which a sizeable number will be voluntary, and the total savings will be in excess of 10...

The New York Times Co is closing its quarterly sports magazine, Play, to cut costs and focus on other Sunday insert magazines such as its weekly travel publication, T, in a falling ad market. The New York Times reported: [ Link] Mark Bryant, the editor of Play since its inception, said he was told last week that the issue published last month would be the final one, “and I started letting the...

The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Company, is all set to launch its facsimile edition in India next month, Business Standard has reported. The newspaper, to be launched in Mumbai, is likely to be priced at Rs 30 a copy. The edition will be in the Berliner format, slightly longer and wider than the tabloid or compact format. WSJ’s facsimile edition plans to print 2,000 copies to...

Cost pressures and plunging share prices have forced Canadian publisher and broadcaster CanWest Global Communications Corp. to slash 560 jobs—about five per cent of its workforce—as the company faces a rougher economy and more competition, Canadian Press has reported. The company, which employs about 10,500 people in Canada, said the cuts would save $61 million a year. Some details: [ Link] "We...

Media giant EW Scripps Co is laying off around 400 employees at its newspapers. The company has not yet elaborated on where jobs would be cut, but the Knoxville News Sentinel has announced that about 50 jobs, including 13 in the newsroom, would be cut at properties of the KNS Media Group subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Scripps. The move affects about 10 per cent of the KNS work force, according to...

The year 2009 will be one of disruption, displacement, and disaggregation for newsmedia companies. Structural trends that have been building for the past decade will be accelerated in an economic downturn whose precise magnitude is still unknown as of this writing, says a report from the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA). The year 2009 will hinge on the economy, the migration of