Category: Journalism

Pa.’s Liberal Dailies Form Cross-State Alliance

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News — which is now calling itself one publication with regard to circulation — announced, yesterday, Aug. 22, that it has made a formal agreement with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “will  result in more shared content and joint endeavors for both editorial and business purposes.”

Yes, this means they will be offering advertising packages.

This also said the will “work together to avoid duplication of stories.”

One foresees some more media layoffs in Pennsylvania.

The Inquirer/Daily News is the largest newspaper in the state with a circulation of 343,710 as of March 31.

The Post-Gazette is the third largest with a circulation of 187,237.

The conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is second largest with a circulation of 190,625.

Last month, Alden Global Capital — the hedge fund with a “significant stake” in the corporate owners of the Inquirer/Daily News — announced it acquired Journal Register Co., the company that owns most of the newspapers in suburban Philadelphia.


Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

The hedge fund that owns a “significant stake” in Philadelphia Media Network Inc. which is the owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, has acquired Journal Register Co. of Yardley, Pa. which owns just about all the other print publications in the Philadelphia area including most of the weeklies.

JRC banners include the Trentonian of Trenton, N.J., The Daily Times of Delaware County, The Daily Local of Chester County, The Mercury of Pottstown, and the Times Herald of Montgomery County.

The hedge fund is Alden Global Capital which has offices in New York, Dallas, Mumbai and Dubai.

Once, this type of monopoly would have been something to be concerned about but times change.

JRC and Philadelphia Newspapers LLC., which was the subsidiary of Brian Tierney’s Philadelphia Media Holdings, Inc.  that previously owned the Inquirer and Daily News,  filed for bankruptcy in the same week in February 2009.

There are decent people in both companies and I sincerely wish them all the best.

Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

Old Media Monopoly In Philly, Yawn

 

Kudos To The Inquirer

Kudos To The Inquirer

I was ready to nominate the Philadelphia Inquirer for the Walter Duranty Prize after seeing the front page teaser on  on its Currents section yesterday, July 10.

It read “The miracle in Venezuela” and had a smiling picture of Hugo Chavez who is that republic’s top banana.

It turned out, however, that the miracle described in an excellent story by Andres Oppenheimer was the way that extraordinarily oil-rich nation had become an economic basket-case under the direction of an ideological incompetent.

So, will the Inquirer endorse Barack Obama again in 2012?

Note the headline on the web version uses the phrase ‘reverse miracle’ so apparently others were preparing Duranty nominations as well.

What’s On The Tape In The LA Times Safe?

Historian Rashid Khalidi was leaving the University of Chicago for the post of director of Columbia University’s Middle East Institute in 2003 and a going-away banquet was held in his honor.

Among those in attendance were old hippie radical terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Among the speakers reportedly singing praises to Khalidi — and his position regarding Israel — was then Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama.

Khalidi is known for his extreme pro-Palestinian i.e. anti-Israeli views.

Anyway, a tape was made of the proceedings and since 2008 that tape has been locked way in a safe in the Los Angeles Times Building. All petitions for the newspapers to report the news and release the tape have gone unanswered.

In a completely unrelated matter, The Obama administration has, for the first time, opened formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Best Website In Philly

Best Website In Philly — BillLawrenceOnline.Com has been named “Best Overall Website” in this year’s Philadelphia Press Association Contest.

In second place was KYW-CBSPhilly.Com while DailyLocalNews.Com took third.

BillLawrenceOnline also swept the Editorial and News Writing website categories receiving first place in Editorial for It’s A Thug’s Life At Drexel Or Culture Counts and first place in News Writing for Did 35,000 Scouts Boo Obama?

The site took second place in the Editorial category for Pennsylvanians, Prepare For Serious Pension Pain and third place for Should We Cut The Size Of The Pa. Legislature?

The site took second place in News Writing for Springfield Murder Motive Reportedly Love Triangle and third place for The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak.

The Grand Award for Public Service went to NJN Public Television for “Decoding Autism”.

The Public Service Award For Daily Newspapers went to the Courier-Post for Jeremy Rosen’s articles regarding the Medford, N.J. police chief.

Overall Weekly Coverage was won by The Jewish Exponent.

Breaking News Television was won by LIsa Voyticki of WZBN who won several other awards.

Radio Public Service was won by KYW for “The New Spin On Gambling”.

Click here for a complete list of winners.

Best Website In Philly

 

Best Website In Philly

Inky Circ Gets Uptick But . . .

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s average daily circulation for the six-months ending in March 2011 was 343,710 making it the nation’s 13th largest daily while its Sunday circulation was 488,287 putting it in 12th place in that category.

This is an increase of 1,349 daily and 10,701 Sundays from the period ending in September.

There is a caveat regarding any celebration because the Audit Bureau of Circulations which tracks these things changed its main metric from “paid circulation” to “total average circulation” which allows for inclusion of digital products and “branded editions” which means different nameplates with different content, which in the Inky’s case would be the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Inky actually has been taking advantage of the “branded edition” policy for a year, and, in fact, fell a few places  in this tally because other newspaper companies are starting to do the same thing.

For this tally, the Daily News readers inflates the Inquirer daily circulation by 71,128.

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed — The Rolling Stone expose alleging widespread thuggery by members of the 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan has been shown overblown to the point of dishonesty by war correspondent extraordinaire Michael Yon, a former Green Beret who has been covering combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004.

Yon notes that the hope-it-dies-before-it-gets-older hippie mag mingled legitimate combat footage with a murder committed by a handful of members of that brigade who were subsequently turned in by a fellow soldier and prosecuted in due course all without media outcry.

Yon’s story can be found here.

 

Rolling Stone ‘Expose’ Exposed

Some More Criticism Of The Daily Times


The Delaware County Daily Times, today, devoted almost four pages — including the front page — of its ever shrinking paper to the recent allegations of sex crimes by clergy of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

They used the men’s names and extensively quoted a fellow with a blatant ax to grind who baldly convicted the accused.

The allegations stem from a Philadelphia grand jury report last month which resulted in charges being levied against three priests and a teacher, and said that 37 others remained in the ministry “even when there is very convincing evidence that the accusations are true.”   These 37 included the 21 whose names became public two days ago when the Archdiocese put them on administrative leave.

Still, in all this righteous rage and huffing, there was no solid explanation as to why the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office wasn’t prosecuting these men being as how “there is very convincing evidence” and such.

The next-to-last paragraph of the main story mentioned that charges were never filed against some mentioned in a 2005 grand jury report concerning sex abuse in the Archdiocese due to the statute of limitations having lapsed but then said the statute was expanded in 2006 to age 50 for the victims, and never explained why those mentioned as having “very convincing evidence” against them in the 2011 report were not being prosecuted.

You think there might be a large religious institution being set up for some money-grab lawsuits?

Anyway, back to the Daily Times. Contrast the way it handled the story involving these unarrested, uncharged and unconvicted Catholic men with the wire story it ran on page 21: TV exec gets 25 to life for beheading wife.

Granted, it wasn’t a local story but one would have at least  thought they would have mentioned the name of the network at which killer Muzzammil Hassan had been an executive, actually CEO. It was Bridges TV which he founded in 2004 to counter stereotypes that Muslims were violent people.

You think if it was a Catholic network it might have been noted?

Times Fails To Address Key Questions On Khawaja


The Delaware County Daily Times, today, published my letter regarding the March 12 banquet the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Philadelphia chapter is going to have at the Springfield Country Club.

It can be found here.

Thank you, Linda DeMeglio.


Olbermann Has New TV Job

Former MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann has been named chief news officer on Current-TV, the  cable network started by Al Gore. Olbermann will host a nightly “news” and commentary show according to the network’s websitewhere he “will lead” the programming slate.

“Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media, and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news produced independently of corporate interference,” said Olbermann in  statement.

Olbermann’s compensation will include equity in Current Media, the corporate owners of Current-TV.

Olbermann left the constantly low-rated MSNBC on Jan. 21 three days after the network was acquired by Comcast along with the rest of NBC Universal.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing with regard to Current-TV is that has even fewer viewers that Olbermann’s old network.

Corporate question of the day: will Olbermann’s stake of stock cause him to stifle the spit and spite for the benefit of profits now that they are his own?


Olbermann Has New TV Job