Archives: April 2007

Ted Kennedy On The Rocks--But Collateral Damage For Chris Dodd?

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 30

Up now on GQ’s Web site is the late Michael Kelly’s exhaustively reported, beautifully written “Ted Kennedy on the Rocks,” a lengthy evisceration of Massachusetts' senior Senator which was published...

News Corp's Peter Chernin On Newspapers Circa Right Now

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 27

Earlier this week, the Milken Institute sponsored a media conference (there is one every week--scratch that, there is more than one every week. And there is more than one in...

Some Details On What Kinds Of Ads YouTube's Currently Testing

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 25

Just got offstage from moderating a panel at ad:tech, during which YouTube’s Chief Marketing Officer Suzie Reider echoed published reports (and general industry chatter) that the company’s now testing ads...

The New York Times Co. And Managing Expectations

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 24

The New York Times, "A Difficult Annual Times Meeting for Sulzbergers," published just before this morning’s annual meeting of Times Co. shareholders: "According to people who have spoken with [NY...

What Passes For Trash Talking At Media Conferences

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 24

At ad:tech in San Francisco now. Last night was enjoying wine and dinner with an executive involved with new Web distribution platforms (and who asked that he not be identified...

Don Imus Hires Legendary Lawyer Martin Garbus

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 20

Don Imus, the most famous former radio DJ in America, has hired renowned attorney Martin Garbus. Garbus, a partner in the Manhattan law firm Davis & Gilbert, confirmed on Apr....

Not What The New York Times Co. Wants In The News Just Before Its Annual Meeting

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 20

(from the ever-firewalled Wall Street Journal, emphasis added) Amid a declining market for print advertising, publishers have increasingly pointed to the growth in their online ad revenues. But New York...

Stray Comments From Gerhard Zeiler’s Keynote To The MIPTV Conference, With Annotated (And Parenthetical) Sotto-Voce Commentary

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 19

(Gerhard Zeiler is the CEO of RTL Group. RTL runs 38 broadcast channels and 29 radio stations in tne countries. They also own the rights to over 300 programs in...

Elizabeth Spiers Leaves Dead Horse Media

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 19

Elizabeth Spiers is leaving Dead Horse Media, the blog network she co-founded last year. Dead Horse runs the niche sites DealBreaker, AboveTheLaw, and Fashionista. “I want to do more sites,...

Product Placement in Europe: Changes Coming?

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 16

In France now for the MIPTV conference, where I just found out that in much (if not all) of continental Europe, there are laws against putting product placement in TV...

The One Thing Yahoo Has On Google

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 15

The thing about Yahoo is that it's always been much better at traditional, display advertising than Google. Everyone says so. And now that the Project Panama search upgrade is actually...

Sam Zell: "I Have No Intention Of Selling The L.A. Times. Period. End Of Speech."

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 13

So says the new owner of Tribune when interviewed by Maria Bartiromo in this week's BusinessWeek. Full interview is here Some other interesting bits: "I don't have any plans to...

The New York Times And This Whole Dual Class Stock Thing

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 12

The New York Times Co.'s showdown with Morgan Stanley portfolio manager Hassan Elmasry, some coverage might lead you to believe, has everything: Family. A venerable franchise. Pride. Righteous, or self-righteous,...

The Web Video Scorecard As Of Right Now

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 12

So: On March 22 NBC Universal and News Corp leapfrog (make that try to leapfrog) YouTube by announcing a complex partnership for a video Web site and syndication service. CBS...

Don't Be Betting That The New York Times Will Take Itself Private

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 10

I generally find Alan Mutter’s Reflections of a Newsosaur quite perceptive, which is why I’m scratching my head over his most recent post about how the way out for the...

Don Imus, Again

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 10

First off: Don Imus is a moron. Although I must confess I held this opinion long before his latest round of idiocy. One of the things I hate--and there are...

Tribune, Sam Zell, David Geffen and the Los Angeles Times: One Mea Culpa And Two Questions

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 06

Turns out I am wrong in this post when I say Sam Zell will be stuck with the Los Angeles Times (and vice versa), and that selling the L.A. Times...

Tribune, Again (Still?)

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 04

I was quiet here on Monday about the sale of Tribune, because I was working on this column....

On Second Thought, Maybe Political Attack Ads Aren't So Bad

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 03

At least when they're applied to musicians....

David Geffen and the Los Angeles Times: The Answer Is Still 'No.'

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 03

UPDATE 4/6: Oooh--thesis below turns out to be wrong. Or at least incomplete. For a correction, an explanation, a mea culpa, and a couple of additional questions, read this post....