Archives: December 2005

But That's Not The Funny Part

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 30

Most read story on the Seattle Times' Web site this year, by a mile, was about unsavory and disastrous congress with a horse. The punchline, though, is this weirdly serious...

Discussing the Future of Newspapers

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 29

It’s almost always a mistake when a columnist—that is, someone who types opinions for a living—dares to get into prescriptives for running a business. Nevertheless: This week’s column contains prescriptives...

Time Warner Won't Be Broken Up

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 29

Earlier this month ContextWeb hosted a dinner, at which the main attraction was Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff giving a spiel about media. Allow me to be the 4,679th person...

Forbes: Circulation Woes, But At Least They're Not Alone

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 27

A report from Audit Bureau of Circulations, released just as the media world went into its annual Christmastime hibernation, found that Forbes incorrectly classified some circulation as paid and missed...

More on Time Inc.: Look for cutbacks and magazine sales in ’06

Posted by: Administrator on December 20

1. What Ann Moore did last week significantly centralizes a business operation that long placed near-mystical power in decentralization. (The company twice went to more centralized structures, in the wake...

Additional Evidence of The Pending Apocalypse, Part 3,824

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 15

This just in, from Yahoo!: The Yahoo! Search 2005 Overall Top 10 Searches: 1. Britney Spears 2. 50 Cent 3. Cartoon Network 4. Mariah Carey 5. Green Day 6. Jessica...

Radar Magazine Folds

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 14

So much for ambitious pop-culture plays in the magazine space: Radar magazine is folding. The November-December issue currently on newsstands will be its last. Staffers were informed of the news...

Time Inc. Lays Off 105

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 13

Bad day at the nation's largest magazine publisher: Time Inc. sacks 105 staffers. In doing so, Chairman-CEO Ann Moore lays off a surprising chunk of the company's top executive ranks....

The Wisdom of the Market, part 452

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 09

A colleague of mine steps into the Time Warner presentation at yesterday’s Credit Suisse First Boston conference. This is a few minutes after Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons has just...

Ross Levinsohn on . . . .

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 07

Fox Interactive President Ross Levinsohn, onstage at the iMedia conference in Palm Springs, Dec. 5: “Rupert and Peter Chernin believe that if we don’t transform our existing businesses [News Corp....

Web (Conference) 2.0

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 06

Currently at the iMedia Connection Summit in Palm Springs. (They were kind enough to invite me out here to moderate a panel.) iMedia draws a Web-heavy crowd, and it's interesting...

Collapsing New Appliances

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 01

A pal forwarded these totally amazing and bizarre ads done for German home improvement retailer Hornbach which star Blixa Bargeld, the main guiding force behind long-running industrial band Einsturzende Neubauten....

Web Company (Parties) 2.0

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 01

Dot-com era flashback department: Nerve.com, self-proclaimed purveyors of smart-person porn, had a party last night at its offices in Manhattan. Said offices are on the ninth floor in a tall...