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—Dow Jones freezes salaries: With all the media layoffs having hit the highest point since 2001, it's not surprising that Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) is imposing a one-year wage freeze. In a memo, DJ CEO Les Hinton pleaded for understanding, saying that taking this action now would mitigate future job losses. DJ joins NYTCo (NYSE: NYT), which said last month there would be no raises this year.
—Sun-Times won't prolong battle against dissident investor: As its proxy war continues against dissident shareholder Davidson Kempner Capital Management, which has been trying to replace The Sun-Times Media Group's board, the Chicago publisher said it will ultimately accept shareholders' decision on the matter. The Chicago publisher calls Davidson Kempner's plan "ill-conceived" and has been trying to defend its own $50 million cost-cutting plan.
—Last minute reprieve for Bristol Press, Herald (via Romenesko): The Journal Register-owned Connecticut dailies were about two weeks away from stopping the presses for good, but Michael Schroeder, owner of Central Connecticut Communications, has stepped in with an offer to buy. The deal also gets Schroeder, a former Newsday exec, three weeklies as well: the Wethersfield Post, the Newington Town Crier and the Rocky Hill Post.
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Doing what they can to survive the tougher economy, websites are starting to relax the rules they place on the size and formats of the ads they run. A WSJ piece doesn't find anyone admitting to resorting to the "unthinkable" (e.g., spyware). The changes spotted at major sites are more subtle and restrained than that. And they mostly represent a branching out of existing efforts, such as video sites like Veoh and Dailymotion making more use of pre-roll. In two other cases that have been evolving over the past several months, WSJ.com and NYTimes.com have been offering more online real estate space to web advertisers. Still, to listen to these and other web publishers and online ad sellers, the perilous economic situation has nothing—or perhaps very little, really—to do with these expanded ad moves.
—Plain banners won't cut it: These times cry out for more than just a simple banner ad. Considering that display was already looking sluggish even before the global financial meltdown this fall, the miserable economy surely makes it easier for web publishers and marketers to push the ad format's envelope a bit, even if it appears to rank as a poor excuse for doing so. For example, this summer saw the introduction of those Mac ads across the top of the NYT's homepage. The new year will likely bring more "welcome page" greetings from advertisers on the NYTimes.com and other publishers' pages. More interesting were the ads promoting the theatrical release of The Incredible Hulk on Break.com
—Mixing editorial and ads: There's nothing new about ads that closely resemble posts on a given blog. But some, like online celebrity gossip PerezHilton are going much further in blurring the line between editorial and marketing. For example, Perez has appeared in a video on his site promoting the romantic comedy Bride Wars. Still, considering that Perez doesn't operate a hard news site, and he's become something of a celebrity in his own right, his audience probably won't hold it against him as long as his shilling is entertaining. Henry Copeland, the CEO of Blogads.com, which helps sell ads on PerezHilton and others, calls the move "absolutely crucial," again, not because of the economy necessarily, "but because there are so many billions of impressions out there."
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As if heading advertising for the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Media Group wasn't tough enough in this climate, Denise Warren is taking on the role of GM of NYTimes.com as the site fends off increased challenges from competitors and the economy. Warren has been chief advertising officer of the NYT Media Group for three years and has been with The New York Times Company for 20 years.
As she settles into the GM job vacated by Vivian Schiller, who exited after being named CEO of NPR, Warren tells paidContent that she has been able to maintain her optimism. For example, despite the temptation to suspend new initiatives and wait until a more supportive ad market returns, Warren has faith the NYTimes.com's new experiments with aggregation will deliver. In particular, she'll be taking a close look at recently unveiled Times Extra feature and the current beta test of Times Widgets, which lets readers create custom apps for RSS feeds from various news sections. While the NYTCo has a lot more plans along those lines, Warren concedes that the economy will likely force the company to scale other experiments back a bit. "One of the unfortunate things about this downturn is that you can't do all the things you'd like to, whether it's your personal life or your professional life," Warren says. "You have to watch that budget. You can only do the things that are really important. But in a way, these constraints that we're operating under can help focus you. So if you have 15 things on the list, you do 10 or five. I choose to be an optimist. We've got so many things going right at the NYTimes, like audience figures. There is unprecedented demand for our product. I see the downturn as cyclical. We'll get out of it. I don't know how long it will take, but once we do, we'll continue to thrive as we have in the past." More on her new combined role, Monster.com and Times Extra after the jump.
-- Tip-toeing into aggregation: As for assessing what its social media focus has been contributing in readers and advertisers, Warren says she'll be putting steps in place that let NYTCo measure how the users feel about these features over time, especially how much usage initiatives like Times Extra actually gets. Warren: "We'll also consider how we can monetize it and how it adds to the site. We have a very loyal audience and it should be their habit to come and check us first to see who else is doing something interesting. That's kind of the idea behind our tip-toeing into aggregation."
-- Two for one: After Schiller decided to leave, Warren said NYT execs simply felt it made sense to combine the NYTimes.com's GM duties with Warren's existing advertising oversight. Asked about the hardest part of bridging the two duties—aside from the website, she is responsible for ad sales of The New York Times, International Herald Tribune and NY-based classical FM radio station WQXR —Warren said, "Managing the scheduling conflicts is a big one and we're going to work that out down the road. But the expanded responsibilities really just encompass things I've already had to think about; that includes my knowledge of the ad market both for print and online. It includes understanding our customers' needs and how to monetize the NYT's content, both for the short-term and long-term. It's no surprise that next year will be difficult. We're in the midst of an unprecedented change in the economy. Having someone like me and the advertising department more involved in thinking about the future of the website is critical right now."
-- NYT's luxury: Most newspapers have been trying to look beyond their traditional stable of advertisers during the downturn. The WSJ has been broadening its coverage to compete more directly with the NYT since Rupert Murdoch took over parent Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) a year ago. More recently, the WSJ has set its sites on peeling off luxury advertisers from the NYT's website and print pages. But when it comes to fending off the encroachment into the luxury marketers, Warren said that the company's history with those marketers and the kinds of readers they want to reach will hold. "We've always competed with the Wall St. Journal. And yes, Mr. Murdoch has made no secret that he is envious of the relationships that we enjoy with retail and luxury marketers. So yes, WSJ's overtures have kept us on our toes. But beyond that, you have to look at why these marketers have relied on us for so long. It's because we have deep and long commitments to the content that matters most to the audience these advertisers want to reach. With all due respect for what WSJ has done lately, they don't have that history. They have a magazine that has come out twice. We have 15 issues of T Magazine and two sections a week devoted to style. We cover every major fashion show. So it starts with our competitive reporting advantages. Plus, we still reach many more affluent women, who influence the purchases of others." (The NYT hasn't been unscathed: the paper halted publication of its Play magazine this fall.)
-- Not hiring for new help wanteds: At the UBS Global Media and Communications conference last week, execs from Media General (NYSE: MEG) and E.W. Scripps (NYSE: SSP) expressed gratitude for their partnership with the Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Newspaper Consortium and Hot Jobs for boosting online revenue, while Gannett (NYSE: GCI) praised CareerBuilder for the same. I told Warren that it seemed that NYTCo has been quiet about its similar partnership with Monster.com lately and asked if the company might consider another recruitment site partner down the road. Warren was adamant that NYTCo's deal with Monster is "meeting all our expectations." Still, she was vague about what exactly those expectations are. Warren: "It's really hard to evaluate it right now, in the midst of the economic downturn. So it's impossible to separate out how Monster is doing, while accounting for the unusual circumstances we're in. We do try to get a sense of how it looks, looking at long-term trends. And when we do that, it really does appear to be hitting all the targets. I don't know what the others are saying about their relationships with other job sites."
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Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) is to go against the trend of big media companies retrenching and downsizing across the world with a new Japanese-language site next year, according to the company's editor-in-chief Robert Thomson. No word on whether it will be a Japanese WSJ.com but the former Times of London editor told the Reuters media summit in New York yesterday (via Reuters.com) about the plans for more international expansion and how advertisers are starting to come out of the woodwork after being scaling back spending during the downturn.
-- East and West expansion: It's hardly DJ's biggest revenue stream, but its Japanese foreign exchange information business is its fastest-growing and a Japanese-language site is slated for H109, though the company will not be making any acquisitions there. This comes on the back of some serious hiring and investment in Europe, where a revamped WSJ.com/Europe is looking to take on FT.com under the watch of local newspaper publisher and new WSJ Europe MD Andrew Langhoff. It's not all investment, of course: there will be cuts at the company's Enterprise Media Group, though Thomson says it's not a case of "slash and burn".
-- Advertisers re-emerge: "You're starting to see them emerge in the sunlight after this period of darkness," says Thomson, who is confident that the traditional forms of advertising will provide a "safe harbor in times of turbulence". Not exactly a common view in publishing or advertising around the world, he even sings the praises of print advertising: with print you have a captive audience that can't click away from your ads. "The only multi-tasking that you can do while reading a newspaper is drink a cup of coffee," he says. Thomson spoke of DJ's plans to give the Journal a boost in big cities like Chicago and LA and capitalize on local papers' cuts in business coverage. He ruled out DJ actually buying any more papers, but is convinced that "some people are going to buy newspapers over the next few months, enjoy themselves and make a lot of money".
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The home pages at NYTimes.com and WSJ.com have a few new elements today. At NYTimes.com, the site is finally opening its Times Extra feature in beta. The feature includes links to other news sites and blogs alongside the newspaper site's own content. NYTimes.com readers can choose to view the "regular" unaggregated page by hitting the "Switch Back" button if they don't want to mix outside content. The paper lined up Shell as the feature's launch sponsor.
What the NYT is doing with Times Extra is simply expanding the newspaper site's existing aggregation feature which is handled by Blogrunner, out of its pen within the site's Technology section. Nevertheless, it's a big step for the NYT and represents the evolution of its approach to content. Similar ideas are catching on lately at other papers in the face of staffing reductions and other cuts, as evidenced with this week's agreement between McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) Company newspapers and the Christian Science Monitor to share foreign news reports. Release
-- Ads make the front page at WSJ: Meanwhile, beginning today, the WSJ print version will offer "cover wraps" to advertisers. While tabloids like the NY Post and NY Daily News have sold these kinds of print ad overlays, this is the first time the WSJ has given its front page over to advertisers, AdAge points out. The inaugural advertiser is Dell Computers, whose promotion covers one-third of the front page and the paper's entire back. Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer at WSJ parent Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS), tried to suggest that the policy change wasn't just reflective of the new ethos since Rupert Murdoch took over this past year, comparing the introduction of cover wraps to the creation of new editions like the Weekend Journal and sections like Personal Journal.
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Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) has picked a local publishing exec with online tenure to lead The Wall Street Journal's assault on Europe next year as it squares up to The Financial Times on its own turf. Andrew Langhoff, CEO of DJ's Ottaway local publisher, will be publisher of WSJ Europe and MD of DJ's consumer media group across the whole EMEA region, starting January 5. For extra brownie points, he will also run the South America consumer business, including The Wall Street Journal Americas.
Over the last year, DJ has upped its European news coverage, debuted the US WSJ edition in some London locations and added a magazine to the European edition. But the '09 push is online. Guardian editorial development director Neil McIntosh is already due to start as WSJ.com's Europe editor in the new year and WSJ's LA bureau chief Bruce Orwall is moving to run the London bureau.
In the announcement, Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton stressed Langhoff's "proven track record at growing print and digital publications" - his resume includes stints overseeing ESPN.com and ABCNews.com development for Walt Disney's internet group and he was internet development VP at Ottaway for two years. One of Langhoff's goals will be developing "local sections on WSJ.com to create a more regionally relevant experience for readers". It points to the likelihood of either a bolstered European WSJ.com or country-specific editions within Europe. Patrick J. Purcell will replace Langhoff at Ottaway, also taking the executive chairman role there.
Update: The changes were prompted by the impending retirement of Bill Casey, VP-International. Also, Christine Brendle, managing director for CMG in Asia, will be publisher of The Wall Street Journal Asia. Langhoff and Brendle will report to Todd Larsen, COO for Dow Jones Consumer Media Group. Hinton and Larsen explained the moves to staff in an internal memo, which is after the jump.
A note from Les Hinton and Todd Larsen
Langhoff to Lead CMG in Europe; Purcell to Run Ottaway
December 2, 2008
Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to announce two key appointments in Europe and at Ottaway after the departure of two longtime and valued Dow Jones executives.
With Bill Casey announcing his retirement and Mike Bergmeijer due to leave the company later this month to pursue other opportunities, we have decided to promote Andrew Langhoff to a leading role in the expansion of our international consumer business. Now the CEO of our Ottaway group, Andrew will bring his extensive publishing, Internet and business development expertise to CMG's operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Andrew will be publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe and a managing director for CMG. He will be responsible for all aspects of Dow Jones' consumer business, including The Wall Street Journal's print and online operations, in EMEA. He will spearhead the continued expansion of our brands with an emphasis on growing our global digital presence. He will also take on responsibility for The Wall Street Journal Americas.
Andrew knows the print and digital sides of the business. He joined Ottaway as general counsel in January 2003 and was named vice president for Internet development in 2004. He was promoted to chief executive earlier this year. He was also vice president of business development for Virage Inc. and held a similar position with the Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Company, with responsibility for launching Internet sites such as ABCNews.com and ESPN.com.
Andrew will start his new role in London beginning Jan. 5. He will report to Todd as will Christine Brendle, managing director for CMG in Asia. Christine will also become publisher of The Wall Street Journal Asia.
To manage our successful Ottaway franchise after Andrew's move to London, we have the opportunity to tap a veteran of the newspaper business in two vital Ottaway markets.
Effective immediately, Pat Purcell joins Dow Jones as executive chairman of Ottaway. Pat is now the publisher of the Boston Herald and previously was the publisher of the New York Post. A longtime News Corp. executive, his experience with newspapers in New England and the Northeast will be a major asset in formulating and executing the next stage of Ottaway's development.
Pat brings to Ottaway a long list of accomplishment in newspapers and at News Corp. Before leaving News to publish the Boston Herald, he was chief executive officer of News America Publishing, president of News America/Newspapers and associate publisher of the Village Voice.
Pat will report to Les on Ottaway matters. He will continue to run the Boston Herald, which he acquired from News Corp in 1994.
We want to thank Bill and Mike for all they have done for Dow Jones.
In nearly 28 years here, as a journalist and as senior executive, Bill helped shape the international face of Dow Jones as managing editor for the Journal Europe, as a guiding force for the Journal Americas and as director of development for Dow Jones International. In the U.S., he ran the Journal's circulation department for five years.
Mike has also been essential to the growth of Dow Jones outside the U.S. over his 25-year career here. He led the expansion of Dow Jones Newswires in Asia-Pacific as the group's senior editor and later added responsibility for Newswires in EMEA. Most recently, he was managing director for CMG in EMEA where he is responsible for all the group's business operations.
Please join us in thanking Bill and Mike for their contributions to Dow Jones and in wishing them the best in their future endeavors.
And join us as well in welcoming Pat to Dow Jones and Andrew to London.
Best,
Les
Todd
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Michael Wolff's much anticipated book about Rupert Murdoch, which comes out tomorrow, is all the rage on this media Monday, and is at least something better to distract us from the depressing news all around us. Reviews are coming in fast, and most have their own judgments about Murdoch, not so much about the book.
Our parent Guardian is the only one to run an extract (outside of Vanity Fair's long extract this month) of the book, and this one is about the time when Rupert met then Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) CEO Rich Zannino, when the wooing began. Some doubts will always be cast on Zannino's role in this, and as former CEO Peter Kann questions in the book: "Why the *** was Rich going for breakfast with Murdoch?"
From the extract: Murdoch: "I know that. I was thinking I'd take the offer directly to the board. I know the family feels that way. I've called [Michael] Elefante in the past. He won't even take a number. The number I'm thinking of is ... 60." Zannino: (internally) Holy ***! (externally) Silence.
For a official version of how these meetings went about, read the old SEC filing which we pointed out here last year.
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Although financial news providers' audience numbers have shot up markedly since the global economic crisis erupted this fall, that hasn't reversed the downward slide of ad dollars. Now, more financial publishers are looking for a revenue boost to come from subscriptions, while those that already primarily rely on such fees are counting on partnerships to support rising audience demand for more content. Even premium products seem poised for growth as publishers seek to tap as many alternatives to the ad model as possible, an IHT piece suggests.
Surveying the burst of attraction financial content is getting from cable TV and website users—e.g., WSJ.com's uniques doubled to 40 million last month, while CNBC's Q3 daytime viewership rose 26 percent—IHT finds publishers like Financial Times' parent Pearson (NYSE: PSO) continuing to emphasize reducing its reliance on advertisers, as it has for the past year. So far, its plan seems to be working: less than one-third of FT Group's revenues now come from ad dollars. More after the jump.
-- Turning to subs, partners: Some of Pearson's actions include raising newsstand rates and selling some of its ancillary European newspaper holdings. In the meantime, it began buying companies that rely mainly on subscription fees, like M&A analyst Mergermarket. But subscriptions can only take content companies so far—for companies like Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) and Bloomberg, that start by relying mostly on subscriptions, revenue sharing with partners is becoming more of a focus.
-- Broadening coverage areas: But with the severe contraction in the financial industry—Lehman is gone and companies like Citigroup are deeply in crisis—David Anderson, director of Atradia Consulting, tells IHT that finance-focused content providers will suffer along with the companies they cover. Instead of concentrating on a dwindling number of subscribers to their respective terminals, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg should hone in on providing data related to growth areas like risk-management. Or, as in the case of WSJ, News Corp (NYSE: NWS) chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has sought to broaden the financial paper's coverage beyond business to include politics and general news, which has helped it capture luxury marketers' ad dollars, which tended to flow mostly to NYT.
-- Premium content option: The idea of expanded coverage could also inspire publishers to try creating more premium content to sell to their readers. While some might hear "premium content" and "subscription wall" and think of the failed experiment that was NYT's TimesSelect, which provided access to the paper's online archives and columnists for an additional charge, the current climate demands that publishers try anything that could stand provide any revenue boost, however small. And it may be worth remembering that while TimesSelect had its drawbacks and detractors, NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) says it still brought in $10 million a year.
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The increasingly Murdochized WSJ has been aggressively trying to lure NYT's luxury advertisers in much the same way the financial newspaper has been trying to broaden its coverage to grab its rivals general news readership. For example, high-end retailer and long-time NYT ad client Saks Inc. has recently been promoting a new Chanel boutique and men's suit sale in WSJ, Milton Pedraza, CEO of market researcher Luxury Institute, points out to Bloomberg. WSJ is definitely taking away luxury ad dollars from the NYT, both on the print and digital sides, Pedraza told me. Although luxury marketers are shifting more of their declining overall ad spend online, the fight over the category will become more intense he expects.
-- Another body blow: The fact that WSJ is now competing in an area that NYT once had mostly to itself is another difficult blow to NYT, which this week was forced to trim its dividend significantly. Meanwhile, NYTCo's stock is down nearly 12 percent, which Marketwatch noted was new low. The dividend cut was a taken as a sign that the company saw no turnaround in the increasingly challenging ad market anytime soon.
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FiLife, the IAC-Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) personal finance joint venture, is flipping top execs: Dave Kansas, who signed on in early 2007 when the venture didn't have a name, is stepping aside as president for an editor-at-large role. In his place, Ezra Kucharz, the former Oberon Media EVP and iVillage COO. Kucharz was restructured out of Oberon in June after a little more than one year in the job. He starts at FiLife in December. Portfolio.com reported the moves earlier this afternoon.
When he joined the JV, Kansas was editor of the WSJ's Money & Investing section—he's writing a book on the subject now—and helped launch TheStreet.com (NSDQ: TSCM). But FiLife took more than a year to get off the ground, going public in August 2007 and finally launching officially in June 2008. By contrast, IAC's solo site The Daily Beast from TIna Brown took less than half the time to move from green light to launch.
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Murdoch's love for newspapers is undying, nevermind the near-death throes of the medium itself, and he reads it out (literally, on the radio) as part of a series of Australian radio lectures titled, "The future of newspapers: moving beyond dead trees." Compare and contrast this to his famous speech on April 13, 2005, to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, which shook the newspaper industry then for its forward thinking about the digital future of newspapers. And this was before he bought MySpace (three months later) and later in 2007 bought Dow Jones.
As he said in the ASNE lecture then, he remains an optimist: "Unlike the doom and gloomers, I believe that newspapers will reach new heights....we are moving from news papers to news brands. For all of my working life, I have believed that there is a social and commercial value in delivering accurate news and information in a cheap and timely way. In this coming century, the form of delivery may change, but the potential audience for our content will multiply many times over." And then he goes on about his favorite topic: "complacency and condescension that festers at the heart of some newsrooms." Much has been said about that, especially as Murdoch is now on his way to remaking the Journal newsroom.
Besides that, an interesting bit about WSJ.com: "One way we are planning to take advantage of online opportunities is by offering three tiers of content. The first will be the news that we put online for free. The second will be available for those who subscribe to wsj.com. And the third will be a premium service, designed to give its customers the ability to customise high-end financial news and analysis from around the world." The last part is what may be a new tier coming, though Murdoch has talked previously in generic terms about increasing rates for WSJ.com subscription service and adding more content/services to it. One thought: it could be that the third tier will add content from other DJ brands like Barrons', Dow Jones' enterprise group brands like Factiva, Venturewire and others, and even bundle business/financial news from News Corp.'s international brands like Times UK, The Australian, and other TV news brands worldwide as well. More as we find out....
Meanwhile, WSJ is doing some changes to the print: several data tables, including stock lists, will be reduced in length and appear more-fully on WSJ.com.
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A recent cost-cutting regimen at Dow Jones' Enterprise Media Group won't save the unit from layoffs, according to a memo obtained by Talking Biz News. Clare Hart, EMG's president, which houses Newswires, Factiva and DJ Indexes, sent an email to staffers outlining the steps the unit has taken—cutting travel, leaving vacant posts unfilled, holding off on investments—and why it hasn't been enough.
While, Hart did not specify the number of cuts or whether it would be evenly split among the three units, a DJ rep told me that "no Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) Newswires journalists are affected." The memo came the same day the News Corp unit announced that Times of London U.S. editor Gerard Baker would be stepping into the new role of deputy editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
Apart from the job losses, Hart also said that EMG is creating "shared services" within its Product and Technology, Marketing, Customer Service, Content and Operations groups, meaning a lot more work for those who remain.
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You may have noticed that the WSJ is looking more like a British newspaper every day, with its new Heard of the Street format, "no-jump" stories, and higher volume of corporate coverage. Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) took another step in that direction today with the appointment of Gerard Baker, from the Times of London, as the deputy editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
The move is part of a broader editorial reorganization that included the departure of Marcus Brauchli, who stepped down as managing editor in April, and the editorial reorg in July, when the paper let go of 50 people.
New owner Rupert Murdoch has made clear that he thinks the paper needs spicing up, and clearly believes that British and Australian newspaper editors are particularly adept at that. Baker will report to Robert Thomson, who formally replaced Brauchli as managing editor in May. In a staff memo, Thomson said, "Our editing troika remain at the heart of the day-to-day decisions, as do Mike Miller [senior deputy managing editor/Features] and Alix Freedman [deputy managing editor]. Neal Lipschutz [SVP, managing editor, Newswires] will continue to report directly to me and Alan Murray [deputy managing editor] remains at the helm of online. Gerry will edit the Journal in my absence and be tasked with accelerating our development as a national paper of influence and as an unrivalled international business news franchise."
Baker, who has also held editorial posts at the BBC and Financial Times, was most recently based in Washington, D.C. as The Times' U.S. Editor and assistant editor. He joined The Times' four years ago and was charged with overseeing the paper's U.S. edition and website.
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WSJ.com is making more than $200 million from advertising and subscription, News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch told analysts during the company's earnings call. He said the site is making "probably $100 million in subscriptions and certainly over $100 million in advertising." This time last year, Murdoch was still testing waters on freeing WSJ.com; now safe to say he's a subscription evangelist. WSJ.com is the "one web site ... people are happy to pay for."
Print subscribers—and probably online, although he didn't specify—are looking at rate increases over the next three years. Those increases will take a while to show up in revenues. Murdoch: "It takes time to work its way through. Advertising is not down a lot. It is certainly a bit below what we budgeted. ... Today and tomorrow it's on target." He said to expect "even more emphasis than normal on international expansion" and that the big hope in Asia "certainly is putting our web site on mobile."
Photo credit: spcummings
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At our second Future of Business Media conference, Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) and managing editor of WSJ, was interviewed by our own Staci D. Kramer—with an assist from attendees—about the changing landscape of journalism with regards to free vs. paid content (no pun intended), as well as online vs. print news. The full video is below. Complete coverage of the conference is on our FOBM channel, while the rest of our videos are on our video page
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