Launches and Strategies

Indian newspaper publisher Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd on Thursday said it is in talks with smaller rival Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd for a "strategic alliance", as it seeks to expand its presence in the world's second-largest print media market, according to a zeenews.com report. Jagran Prakashan--publisher of India's most-read Hindi-language newspaper, Dainik Jagran—has signed a-non disclosure agreement...

A new website has been launched which promotes the concept of the "entrepreneurial journalist." Founded by a veteran of traditional media, Lewis Dvorkin, True/Slant wants its writers to be more than just a name and a mug shot. The name True/Slant is meant to convey the way news is delivered to the website's audience by knowledgeable and experienced contributors seeking the truth, while honestly...

Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax have launched a joint project set to cover important national news in around 600 regional media. The details: [ Link] “This project is revolutionary as two rival agencies—the independent Interfax agency and the federal state RIA Novosti agency—are carrying out a joint media project for the first time,” RIA Novosti Editor-in-Chief Svetlana Mironyuk...

Journalists have launched a Europewide campaign to confront a growing economic and professional crisis in media which they say threatens to weaken democracy across the region. The annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), bringing together leaders of unions and associations from 25 European countries, ended their meeting in Varna, Bulgaria on May 17 with the adoption of a...

French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, which helped launch the 1950s New Wave, has been sold by Le Monde to international arts publishing house Phaidon Press. Founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca and edited by Eric Rohmer, Cahiers du Cinéma was a crucible for writers-turned-New Wave directors like François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, and a vocal...

The Evening Standard on Wednesday said Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev has bought a controlling 75.1 per cent stake in the venerable but money-losing paper for a "nominal sum" widely reported to be $1.40. After weeks of rumours, Standard owner Daily Mail & General Trust PLC confirmed that a company formed by Lebedev and his 28-year-old son, Evgeny, would acquire 75.1 per cent of London's...

A Russian oligarch and former KGB agent is expected to strike a deal to buy a controlling stake in the London Evening Standard, the Guardian has reported. Alexander Lebedev is to buy 76 per cent of the newspaper with the Associated Newspapers group retaining 24 per cent. In May last year Forbes ranked Lebedev the world's 358th richest billionaire, with a fortune of 3.1 billion US dollars. His...

GlobalPost, an online media company focused on foreign news, launched on Monday hoping to fill the dearth of international news coverage in recent years. The site has been launched by veteran journalist Charles Sennott who left the Boston Globe to start his own news organization. The free website, supported by ads, went live Monday and will offer regular dispatches for an American audience to...

UK-based European newspaper owner, Mecom, has sold its titles in Germany to one of that country's oldest publishers for €152m ($204m), Financial Times has reported. The company, which is chaired by David Montgomery, former chief executive of the Mirror Group, is burdened with net debt of about €650m and has been in danger of breaching its banking covenants. It should, however, scrape through the...

A group of investors, led by Vinay Chhajlani, CEO of Webdunia.com India Pvt Ltd, and Jehangir S Pocha, former editor of Businessworld, has bought INX News, the company that runs English news channel NewsX. Chhajlani and Pocha have formed a company called Indi Media for the purpose. Business Standard, quoting industry sources, pegged the deal at Rs 50 crore. Commenting on the sale, Indrani Mukerjea...