TechnologyNews

Economists: Media ownership research was spiked

admin — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:54:32 +0000

WASHINGTON — When the government decided to take a hard look at how well broadcasters were serving their communities, two economists at the Federal Communications Commission got a research idea: They would look at whether locally owned TV stations produced more local news than stations owned by companies based outside the area.

They found that local ownership resulted in more local news coverage. They also realized they had turned up what one of the researchers, economist Keith Brown, called “inconvenient facts.” The findings were at odds with what their agency, under heavy lobbying from the broadcast industry, had endorsed.

The months-long study was spiked by the agency with “no plausible explanation,” Brown says. He suspects it was because the conclusions were at odds with the shared position of the FCC and the broadcast industry: that media ownership rules were too restrictive and should be loosened.

Three years after Brown and the other economist, Peter Alexander, did their work, a copy of the study surfaced, sparking controversy. Its apparent suppression, and the alleged deep-sixing of a second research study, have prompted an investigation by the FCC’s inspector general.

While that review is not yet complete, interviews with past and present FCC employees by The Associated Press reinforce Brown’s account. Economic research reports were at times altered to reflect a more favorable view of lifting ownership caps, and at least in some cases they were spiked altogether, they said.

Moreover, there are new concerns that an FCC management directive, issued shortly after the first television news report made headlines last fall, has had a chilling effect on research.

The underlying issue — how many newspapers, TV and radio stations a media conglomerate may own in a single market — has yet to be decided. A federal court ordered the agency to take a fresh look at media ownership rules, a process that could stretch on for another year.

Brown and Alexander’s research project, begun in late 2003, was meant to assist the agency’s Localism Task Force, created by then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell. “Localism” is one of the three pillars of the commission’s rules governing media ownership, along with “diversity” and “competition.”

Powell created the task force after the FCC voted 3-2 in June 2003 to ease the ownership rules, bringing a backlash from Capitol Hill and elsewhere. The decision also drew a court challenge.

For the research project, the two Ph.D. economists holed up in their offices for two months and reviewed 10,500 clips from local news programs broadcast in 20 markets.

They categorized snippets of news shows as “local” and “non-local.” They also determined whether the broadcasters that aired them were locally owned or not.

When the numbers were crunched, they revealed that “local ownership adds almost five and one-half minutes of local news” per half-hour program.

The finding, the report noted, “may have policy implications for both Congress and the Federal Communications Commission.”

One implication was obvious: If large, out-of-state media conglomerates were allowed to buy up more stations, it could hinder the agency’s goal of promoting “localism.”

Big broadcasters had spent huge sums lobbying to convince the FCC that rules restricting the number of stations they could own were outdated, unrealistic and should be eliminated.

Brown said he is agnostic on the media ownership issue and wouldn’t categorize the study as damning. But he did say it was interesting enough that it should have led to more research.

The two researchers submitted at least eight drafts of the report to other FCC economists and supervisors within the agency’s Media Bureau. The bureau oversees policy and licensing of the broadcast television and radio industries. The level of review was unusual, said Brown, who is now an analyst with a federally funded research firm in Virginia.

Eventually, in a meeting with their supervisor, Brown said he and Alexander were told that “the front office wasn’t going to let it out and the bureau chief wasn’t going to let it out.”

By then, a federal appeals court had ruled against the FCC’s decision to liberalize ownership rules, sending the case back to the agency and forcing it to start the rulemaking process again.

W. Kenneth Ferree was the chief of the media bureau at the time. He is now a lawyer and lobbyist whose clients include The DirecTV Group. “I don’t recall seeing or hearing about the localism report,” he said in an interview.

Ferree said, however, that he wouldn’t have approved of the research project because the localism proceeding had nothing to do with ownership. He said the proceeding was really a process to find out what “stations should do to serve their local communities.”

Around the same time the television study was being discussed, another report was being circulated. The agency regularly does economic research on the radio industry, but a study that appears to have been scheduled for release sometime in 2004 never saw the light of day.

A source knowledgeable about that report, who still works at the agency and requested anonymity for fear of retribution, said the reason the report was never circulated was because Ferree did not want it to be released.

At the time, the radio industry was being used as a poster child by critics for what can go wrong when ownership limits are lifted.

The unreleased radio study indicated that over seven years there had been a 35 percent decline in the number of radio station owners, and that 74 percent of advertising revenue in markets that were examined was controlled by two firms.

Ferree said he does “remember somebody mentioning” the radio report and would not be surprised if he had ordered work on it stopped. The agency had just issued its rules on media ownership, he said, and he didn’t see the need for another report.

“I’ve got plenty of work here for people in this bureau to do,” he recalls thinking at the time.

He said the report would have created “more heat and no light” and had the potential to “start another whole round of debates.”

The spiked television and radio reports required hundreds of hours of work, costing tens of thousands of dollars. Their existence might not be known had copies not been provided to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a member of the Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC.

During confirmation hearings for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin last fall, Boxer asked about the television study. Martin said he was not aware of its existence and that he was not chairman at the time it was prepared. A week later, Boxer released the radio report.

Boxer called for an inspector general’s investigation, which Martin ordered the same day. Brown, the report’s co-author, says no one from the IG’s office has asked him about what happened. Ferree said he hasn’t been contacted either.

While Martin has been quick to point out that the reports in question were not circulated on his watch, he has still come in for some criticism.

One agency employee said that after the television study hit the news, a directive came from the chairman’s office requiring researchers to focus only on work specifically called for by the agency’s management.

FCC spokeswoman Tamara Lipper said that she is “not aware of a directive, but I think we remind staff that people are expected to be working on the work assigned to them.”

Meanwhile, the commission has ordered a new round of studies on media ownership. A description and a list of proposed authors was released the night before Thanksgiving.

The agency has also posted a number of draft studies and other records that were prepared before the last media ownership proceeding on its Web site. The available documents include all eight drafts of the local news study and a copy of the radio study.

While some are encouraged by Martin’s apparent desire to be more transparent as the agency again reviews the rules, others are still wary.

Last August, the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law School filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for “all studies and/or proposals for studies” related to the commission’s media ownership and localism rules.

Much of what was provided, according to institute director Angela Campbell, was already publicly available. “It’s not really as much as it looks like,” she said. “I still have concerns because of the large quantity of material they withheld.”

Citing FOIA exemptions, the agency opted not to turn over 1,400 pages of internal commission records.

Global media Industry news

admin — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 02:46:25 +0000

By The Associated Press

NEWSPAPERS:

LA Times retooling news approach
Phila. papers being revamped
Boston Globe to close foreign bureaus
Murdoch role in Tribune bid debated
New political newspaper from Allbritton launches in D.C.
Abitibi, Bowater agree to combine
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter’s suspension dropped
Reader rep: Hartman violates policy by appearing in ad
Lordsburg (N.M.) Liberal to close down
Sun Newspapers parent to be sold

COURTS & FREE PRESS:

Fleischer: Libby discussed CIA officer over lunch
NY Post says reporter properly ID’d herself to Mo. suspect
MediaNews, Hearst documents stay under seal
Reporter in Calif. may cover trial despite possibility as witness

BROADCASTING:

Air America Radio finds a buyer
Clear Channel sets date for deal vote

MAGAZINES:

Time Inc. sells 18 magazines to Bonnier

INTERNET:

Pelosi reaching out to bloggers to secure Democratic agenda
Nintendo debuts news on Wii
China could surpass U.S. in Internet users

EARNINGS & BUSINESS:

Yahoo’s 4Q profit tops analyst views
Dow Jones 4Q profit soars on asset sales
N.Y. Times rejects shareholder proposal

INTERNATIONAL:

Report: Chinese president urges swift probe into murder
Court orders Japanese broadcaster to pay compensation
Suspect in Turkish journalist’s killing threatens novelist

MEDIA OWNERSHIP:

Economists: Media ownership research was spiked

PEOPLE:

Time Inc.’s McAniff resigns as co-chief operating officer
New York Post announces newsroom changes
Garties named AP bureau chief for Illinois
Pomfret head of opinions section at Washington Post
Harvard names spring Shorenstein fellows
Towns promoted at Cincinnati Enquirer
Smith named Washington Examiner editor
Kevin O’Hanlon named AP Nebraska news editor
Santori new publisher of The Free Press of Mankato, Minn.
Stoeffler to lead Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis
Curd new publisher of Independence Examiner
New publishers named at two N.C. newspapers

DEATHS:

Louis Malcolm Boyd
Herbert M. Davidson Jr.
Benjamin F. Holman
Ryszard Kapuscinski
Jack Lang
Deborah Orin-Eilbeck
Theodore A. Pensiero
Edmund J. Rooney Jr.
Peter Tompkins

NOTES FROM EVERYWHERE:

NEWSPAPERS:

LA Times retooling news approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Times Media Group said it is reorganizing the newspaper’s newsroom into an around-the-clock operation with an emphasis on breaking news on its Web site and offering expanded coverage in its print edition.

“We are rebuilding our business to reflect how readers, users and advertisers are using media today,” David Hiller, publisher and CEO of the Times, said in a statement Jan. 24. “People choose different platforms and products to meet their varying news and information needs throughout the day, and we are positioning the Times to be there when they turn to us.”

Under the new approach, the paper will focus on offering multimedia content on its Web site as stories unfold, as well as more personalized ways to get stories. One example is MyLatimes.com, which the Times launched Jan. 24. The site uses RSS feeds — a technology for notifying users of new entries on their favorite news sites and blogs — to deliver content directly to computer users.

In its print editions, the newspaper will emphasize editorial analysis, investigative reporting, trend stories and features. Reporters also will be directed to report for both the Web and print editions.

“Our philosophy going forward is, ‘Break it on the Web, expand on it in print,’” Times Editor Jim O’Shea said. “We have to change what we are doing online, and also in print, to better engage readers and users who can choose every day among myriad sources for their news and information.”

To coordinate the changes, the newspaper named Business Editor Russ Stanton to the newly created position of innovation editor.

Stanton will work with editorial staffers across all divisions to manage the reorganization and will report directly to O’Shea, the paper said.

The newspaper also named Robertson Barrett, general manager of the Times’ Web site since 2005, as a vice president of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.

He and Stanton will lead a team charged with retooling all of the newspaper’s departments under the integrated Internet and print approach.

The Los Angeles Times is owned by the Tribune Co.

On the Net:

http://www.latimes.com/mediacenter

Phila. papers being revamped

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Inquirer plans to unveil a news “express” section in early February to attract busy readers, one of several strategies to boost readership that also include a sponsored TV guide and new Web sites for local car and real estate listings.

“We have a plan to turn this business around,” Brian Tierney, publisher of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t want to say it’s going to be easy, and certainly we’re not going to solve the problems of the media industry, … but we’re going to fix Philadelphia.”

Tierney said the papers’ former owner, Knight Ridder Inc., cut staff — as he also did this month, reducing the number of employees by more than 100 in order to save $9 million — without having an effective plan to turn around operations. When the Tierney-led Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the papers last June, he saw that Knight Ridder had budgeted for an 8.5 percent circulation dip.

“They spent no money last year to try to grow,” Tierney said Jan. 23.

Tierney, an advertising and public relations executive whose team crafted the James Earl Jones campaign for Verizon Communications Inc., said he has budgeted $20 million to spend on the papers this year, including $4 million in plant equipment upgrades, stepped-up advertising and marketing and greatly expanded home delivery of the Daily News. The company has also snagged the rights to “Philadelphia,” a song sung by a local rap artist to be used in promoting its Web sites.

To appeal to busy readers who don’t have time to read the entire paper, the Inquirer will unveil a special section sponsored by Commerce Bank featuring news and editorial page summaries.

Earlier this month, Comcast Corp. began sponsoring the TV guide, Tierney said. The listings now include programs found in Comcast’s video-on-demand service.

The company also introduced Web sites featuring local apartment, auto and real estate listings, such as Phillycars.com, PhillyForRent.com and PhillyForSale.com. Having separate Web sites allows users to access them directly rather than having to go through the main site, Philly.com.

A redesign of Philly.com will be unveiled in about four months, Tierney said.

The company is also changing the way the newspapers are delivered.

Since Jan. 1, the Inquirer and the Daily News have been delivered in the same trucks. Tierney said Teamsters drivers had previously driven separate trucks to the same location, but the union bent on the issue in the last negotiations.

The Daily News will now be delivered to eight counties in the Philadelphia area rather than just to the city and some surrounding towns.

Tierney said the company will increase the number of distribution points for its papers — including retail locations and newspaper boxes — from 8,000 to as many as 8,700 this year. In January, 200 newspaper boxes will be placed outside McDonald’s Corp. restaurants in eight counties.

Knight Ridder had 9,600 locations years ago, he said.

“Some areas were selling five or six copies and (Knight Ridder believed) it wasn’t worth it,” Tierney said.

The company plans to electronically track the sale of newspapers at corner boxes so it can put more copies in busy areas and find solutions for boxes with slow sales.

For now, circulation seems to have stabilized based on November and December figures, Tierney said. Print ad revenues have remained steady but online ad revenue is growing by double digits.

“Sometimes you have to change the paradigm,” Tierney said. “I’m confident that if we market effectively, and test and learn, that we will continue to grow.”

Boston Globe to close foreign bureaus

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Globe will close its three remaining international bureaus in Jerusalem, Berlin and Bogota, Colombia, the newspaper has announced.

The move, detailed in a memo to staff from the newspaper’s editor, Martin Baron, was announced Jan. 23 after the Globe’s parent company, The New York Times Co., said it would eliminate about 125 positions through buyouts and other steps at the Globe and the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester.

Baron said the four people who work in the bureaus would be offered positions in Boston.

“Continuing to bear the expense of our foreign bureaus would have required us to reduce staffing by a dozen or so positions beyond those already announced,” Baron wrote. “We concluded that it would be unwise to meet the newsroom’s financial targets by making additional staff reductions.”

Al Larkin, the Globe’s executive vice president, said the closures would save more than $1 million annually.

The paper would continue to send reporters overseas for special projects and breaking news, but wanted to reduce the overhead in maintaining the bureaus, he said.

Larkin said the closures, expected to be completed within the next couple months, were a response to decreased circulation and advertising revenues.

“I think that we’re going to continue to look at operating our entire organization as efficiently as we can,” Larkin said. “I don’t anticipate any (other) major changes, particularly in our newsroom.”

Murdoch role in Tribune bid debated

CHICAGO (AP) — News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch’s potential involvement in a joint bid for Tribune Co. by the Chandler family doesn’t alter the fact that no acceptable takeover offer has yet surfaced after months of the company soliciting proposals, analysts said.

Murdoch’s interest in a minority stake in Tribune emerged after the media conglomerate received the largest offer to date for its assets, an estimated $7.6 billion proposal by the Chandlers to buy the company and spin off its broadcast division to shareholders.

The family is the largest holder of Tribune stock, a legacy of their sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Times Mirror Co. properties to Tribune in 2000.

A person familiar with News Corp.’s thinking told The Associated Press on Jan. 24 that the company would be interested in contributing a low hundreds of millions of dollars in equity as a minority partner in the Chandler bid, but has not made a commitment to do so.

The goal for News Corp. would be to reduce costs on the business side of the New York Post, a money-losing but prominent tabloid newspaper, by combining some back-office functions such as production and delivery with Tribune’s Newsday newspaper on neighboring Long Island, according to the person, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations were private.

Tribune declined comment on News Corp.’s reported interest, as did a spokeswoman for the Chandler Trusts, which forced the company to launch the current review process by putting public pressure on management last June to boost its lagging stock price.

The Chandlers said in a recent regulatory filing that they would contribute their Tribune shares, which they valued at $672.3 million, as part of the equity portion of their buyout bid and said they were in discussions with strategic investors about adding another $645.9 million in equity. The remainder of their buyout bid’s value would come from debt financing and the TV station unit spinoff, and the filing said they had already lined up loan commitments from units of Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

What wasn’t clear was whether the News Corp. funds would in essence be new money that would allow the Chandlers to boost their bid or if it would be part of the already promised funding from strategic investors.

Tribune also has received a joint proposal from Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ronald Burkle to sponsor a recapitalization of the company that would leave them in control after the payout of a big dividend to shareholders financed by the assumption of billions of dollars of new debt and a $500 million investment on their part. A third offer, for Tribune’s television stations only, reportedly was submitted by the Carlyle Group private-equity firm.

The consensus on Wall Street remains that none is sufficient for the company to accept, with a small investment by Murdoch unlikely to influence that.

James Goss, an analyst for Chicago-based Barrington Research Associates, said limited involvement by Murdoch isn’t likely to “significantly change the game.”

“I think we’re at a stalemate until we see a higher price,” said Dave Novosel of the bond research firm Gimme Credit.

That leaves other shareholders and outsiders to continue speculating on whether Tribune will ultimately sell off individual newspapers, television stations or the Chicago Cubs piecemeal, a process which would likely result in a significant tax burden for the company.

“I think it’s going to get broken up and sold in two pieces at least,” said Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino.

Although the recent bids by the Chandlers and the Broad-Burkle team both reportedly expire in January, a final decision still may not be imminent. Tribune Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons reportedly reiterated in an e-mail to Tribune employees that the board expects to make a decision by March 31.

Tribune owns 11 papers, including the Chicago Tribune and The (Baltimore) Sun, along with 23 television stations and the Cubs.

New political newspaper from Allbritton launches in D.C.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Even for a city obsessed with politics, no one would claim that the nation’s capital suffers a lack of political reporting.

Add to that the generally dour outlook about the future of the newspaper industry, and prospects for a new political paper would seem bleak.

Undaunted, Allbritton Communications on Jan. 23 launched The Politico, a free tabloid with an estimated circulation of 25,000 aimed at political junkies and Beltway insiders, and its companion Web site %emph—on(type:bold,underline;%)www.politico.com.%emph—off(%)

The Politico debuts amid already fierce competition in Washington-based political journalism. The city’s two major dailies, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, feed readers a regular diet of political copy. Two newspapers, The Hill and Roll Call, report exclusively on Congress and politics. Respected periodicals like Congressional Quarterly and National Journal offer Web-based daily political reporting, as do television network Web sites.

But The Politico has garnered attention by snagging high-profile journalists to run the paper. Two of The Washington Post’s top political journalists — editor John Harris and reporter Jim VandeHei — left to become The Politico’s editor in chief and executive editor, respectively. Reporters have been lured from Time, U.S. News and World Report and the New York Daily News, among others.

Harris said there is room for The Politico as long as it offers a quality product, and he said the paper would provide “a distinctive voice.”

“Reading a story should be just as interesting as talking with the reporter over a sandwich or a beer,” Harris and VandeHei wrote in a “Welcome to The Politico” column. “It’s a curiosity of journalism that this often isn’t true. The traditional newspaper story is written with austere, voice-of-God detachment.”

The Politico, which will use material from The Associated Press, aims to distinguish itself not only in the quality of its reporting but also by integrating a variety of media.

The front-page provides multiple plugs for the Web site, which will feature blogs, video and breaking news.

Media industry analyst John Morton said The Politico benefits from an advertising base of lobbyists, industry associations and trade groups that is healthy and growing — unlike the rest of the newspaper industry.

Still, Morton said: “One does have to wonder whether there is room for another (political newspaper). A lot will depend on how good the product is.”

He also questioned how The Politico will do anything substantively different on the Web than its competitors, especially given the Post’s extensive online efforts.

Arlington, Va.-based Allbritton owns WJLA-TV in Washington and seven other ABC-affiliated television stations across the country. The Allbritton family also owned The Washington Star in the 1970s and Riggs Bank until it was bought in 2005 by Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

Abitibi, Bowater agree to combine

NEW YORK (AP) — Canada’s Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc. of South Carolina said Jan. 29 they will combine in an all-stock deal that would create the third largest publicly traded paper and forest products company in North America.

The combined company would be known as AbitibiBowater and would have annual revenues of about $7.9 billion. The companies said that would rank as the world’s eighth-largest publicly traded paper and forest products company.

The companies have a current combined market capitilization of $2.43 billion.

Under the agreement, Abitibi shareholders will get 0.06261 common share of the combined company for their shares, and Bowater shareholders will get 0.52 common share for theirs. The resulting mix will leave 48 percent of shares in the hands of former Abitibi-Consolidated shareholders and 52 percent in the hands of former Bowater shareholders.

John W. Weaver, Abitibi president and chief executive, will become executive chairman of AbitibiBowater, and Bowater Chairman, President and CEO David J. Paterson will serve as president and CEO.

Each company will contribute seven directors to the resulting board.

The company will be based in Montreal, where Abitibi is currently based, with a U.S. regional manufacturing and sales office in Greenville, S.C., current site of Bowater headquarters.

The companies expect the transaction to close by the third quarter of 2007.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter’s suspension dropped

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An arbitrator has ordered the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to revoke a two-day suspension for investigative reporter Carolyn Tuft and to reimburse her for lost pay, the St. Louis Newspaper Guild said.

Arbitrator Daniel Jacobowski let stand a written warning to Tuft, who was disciplined in 2005 for stories about the Joyce Meyer Ministries. The ministry contended the articles were inaccurate. Tuft stood by her work.

But in June 2005, the newspaper wrote a letter of apology to readers, then suspended Tuft without pay for five days, citing serious errors in reporting. The suspension was later shortened to two days.

St. Louis guild president Jeff Gordon said Jan. 23 the ruling sent a message “that management could not take excessive and arbitrary actions against reporters and other employees who were committed to doing quality work.”

Post-Dispatch editor Arnie Robbins said the newspaper will not appeal.

“The arbitrator found we were just in taking disciplinary action and in publishing our apology to readers,” Robbins said. “We’re satisfied with the outcome and now it’s time to move on.”

Reader rep: Hartman violates policy by appearing in ad

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Star Tribune sports columnist crossed an ethical line by appearing in a TV commercial for an airline covered by the newspaper, the paper’s ombudsman says.

Sid Hartman’s appearance in the Sun Country Airlines ad raised questions about whether the newspaper could be trusted to fairly cover Sun Country and its competitors, reader’s representative Kate Parry wrote in a column.

In the ad, Hartman is holding a Star Tribune and says he is reading “the greatest newspaper in the world.”

Hartman, Parry wrote, told her he didn’t consult editors before doing the ad because of that comment. “I thought I was doing a favor for the Star Tribune. I say nothing about Sun Country. This was a free commercial for the Star Tribune,” she quoted him as saying.

Hartman told Parry he was given free airline tickets for doing the ad, and he planned to donate them to a charity he wouldn’t name.

Hartman did not return a phone message by The Associated Press.

Managing Editor Scott Gillespie told AP he couldn’t comment on the issue because it was a personnel matter. He said in general, the newspaper expects employees to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest, and that readers should expect that as well.

When asked whether Parry’s column provided a way for the newspaper to publicly address the issue, he said Parry is independent in terms of what she writes about.

“I knew she was going to do it, and I support her independence as our reader representative to take on any topic,” Gillespie said.

Lordsburg (N.M.) Liberal to close down

LORDSBURG, N.M. (AP) — The 120-year-old Lordsburg Liberal will close its doors after putting out its final edition Feb. 2.

The newspaper’s parent company, MediaNews Group, said it decided to shut down the weekly because of a challenging economic climate.

“The Liberal’s history and its soul will always remain in the hearts of those of us who grew up with this great tradition,” said Lorenzo Alba, publisher and editor.

David McClain, regional director of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership, which operates the Liberal and other area newspapers, said ceasing the Liberal’s publication will allow the Hidalgo County Herald to grow. The partnership also operates the Herald.

Sun Newspapers parent to be sold

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — American Community Newspapers LLC, which owns 73 publications in the Twin Cities, Dallas-Fort Worth and suburban Washington areas, is being sold to Courtside Acquisition Corp. of New York.

Under the deal announced Jan. 24, Courtside will pay at least $160 million and up to $15 million more if the acquired newspapers’ cash flow reaches certain targets.

ACN owns 60 weekly suburban newspapers, three daily newspapers and 10 niche publications. In Minnesota, ACN is the parent company of Sun Newspapers. It owns 43 weeklies in the state and the daily Stillwater Gazette.

Eden Prairie-based ACN is privately held by Spire Capital Partners, Wachovia Capital Partners and members of ACN’s senior management. ACN had revenue of about $53.5 million in 2006.

Courtside was formed in March 2005 to operate in the entertainment, media and communications fields. It trades on the American Stock Exchange, and ACN could receive an extra $10 million if Courtside’s stock exceeds $8.50 for a certain period before July 7, 2009.

“The proposed transaction is a great opportunity for our staff and management,” said Gene Carr, CEO of ACN. Carr will become CEO of the new company, and Courtside will be renamed American Community Newspapers Inc. and be based in Dallas.

“The new ownership structure in the public markets affords us increased resources and the ability to grow American Community Newspapers even faster by launching new newspapers in all three existing metro areas, to acquire other suburban newspapers in each market, as well as the ability to acquire or build similar suburban newspaper groups in other top 50 markets in the U.S.,” Carr said.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to approval by Courtside stockholders.

COURTS & FREE PRESS:

Fleischer: Libby discussed CIA officer over lunch

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testified Jan. 29 that then-colleague I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby told him over lunch that the wife of a prominent war critic worked at the CIA.

Fleischer said the conversation happened July 7, 2003, days before Libby told investigators he was surprised to learn about the CIA operative from a reporter. That discrepancy is at the heart of Libby’s perjury and obstruction trial.

Fleischer, who was the chief White House spokesman for the first 2½ years of President Bush’s first term, said Libby invited him to lunch to discuss Fleischer’s planned departure from the White House. He said it was the first time he and Libby had eaten lunch together.

They talked about Fleischer’s career plans and their shared interest in the Miami Dolphins football team, Fleischer testified. He can’t remember who brought it up but he said the conversation then turned to the growing controversy over former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who accused the White House of ignoring prewar intelligence on Iraq.

“Ambassador Wilson was sent by his wife,” Fleischer recalled Libby saying. “His wife works for the CIA.”

Fleischer said Libby also used the woman’s name, Valerie Plame, and told him it was “hush hush.”

“My sense is that Mr. Libby was telling me this was kind of newsy,” Fleischer said.

Fleischer said he again heard about Plame four days later aboard Air Force One from White House communications director Dan Bartlett. Bartlett was reading documents and began “venting” that reporters kept repeating Wilson’s claim that Vice President Dick Cheney sent Wilson on a fact-finding trip to Niger.

“His wife sent him,” Fleischer recalled Bartlett saying. “She works at the CIA.”

Fleischer said he relayed that information to reporters from Time magazine and NBC. A reporter from Newsweek magazine was also there but may have walked away, he said. The reporters paid no attention to the comment, he testified.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought this information was classified,” Fleischer testified.

Fleischer testified under an immunity deal with prosecutors and arrived in court with his attorneys. He said he sought the deal after reading an article about the investigation.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God. Did I somehow play a role in outing a CIA operative?’ ” Fleischer said.

Libby’s attorneys plan to argue during cross-examination that the immunity deal makes Fleischer’s testimony less credible.

Prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg sought to head off that argument early in Fleischer’s testimony by having him describe his deal.

“I cannot be prosecuted for what I did with the information I was provided,” Fleischer said. “The immunity provides no protection for perjury.”

Libby says he was surprised to learn from NBC News reporter Tim Russert that Plame worked at the CIA. Anything he later told reporters about Plame was simply a repetition of what he learned from Russert, Libby said.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s first witnesses were government employees who testified that they told Libby about Plame days before the Russert conversation. Fleischer is a key witness because, as Fitzgerald said in his opening statement: “You can’t learn something on Thursday that you’re giving out on Monday.”

Nobody was ever charged with leaking Plame’s identity. Libby is the only person charged in the case.

NY Post says reporter properly ID’d herself to Mo. suspect

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The New York Post said its correspondent properly identified herself as an employee of the newspaper before doing jailhouse interviews with the man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys.

Lawyers for Michael Devlin, 41, say the reporter misled him, identifying herself as reporter with a university newspaper instead of a stringer for a major publication.

“Susannah Cahalan was working as a freelancer for the New York Post and she identified herself as such to the prisoner Michael Devlin,” the Post said Jan. 23 in an e-mailed statement. “It was made clear to the prisoner that the story resulting from his interview would be published in the New York Post. We stand by Susannah and the story.”

Devlin was interviewed Jan. 19-20 by Cahalan in the Franklin County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Devlin is accused in two counties of kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The boys were found in Devlin’s suburban St. Louis apartment on Jan. 12, four days after Ben went missing and more than four years after Shawn disappeared.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said Cahalan signed in as a friend of Devlin’s.

A spokeswoman for the Post, Suzi Halpin, said the newspaper had no comment about how Cahalan identified herself to jail officials.

Cahalan attends Washington University in St. Louis and formerly worked for the school paper. A university spokesman said she is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences from Summit, N.J. She has not responded to attempts to reach her by phone or e-mail.

MediaNews, Hearst documents stay under seal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A media advocacy group and an alternative weekly newspaper failed to persuade a judge to open key documents in a deal between the San Francisco Chronicle and the owner of about a dozen Bay-area daily newspapers.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Jan. 24 denied requests from the Oakland-based Media Alliance and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which asked in December to make public court records in a lawsuit that challenges a business partnership between Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc. and The Hearst Corp., the Chronicle’s publisher. The dispute centers on 19 records that Hearst and MediaNews filed in July under seal on grounds that they contained business information they consider confidential.

“The bulk of the records contain detailed financial information, including past and present revenues, and projections of future revenues,” Illston wrote in a decision leaving those records largely under seal. Portions of two documents that don’t contain such sensitive information will be unsealed, Illston ruled.

MediaNews Group and Hearst had earlier voluntarily released some records that had been filed under seal.

In their Dec. 21 motion, Media Alliance and the Bay Guardian argued that the public’s First Amendment right of access to the court filings outweighed any interest in keeping them confidential.

The antitrust lawsuit challenges New York-based Hearst’s investment of $300 million in a complex deal that gives Denver-based MediaNews three more Bay-area newspapers on top of the seven it already owns. Hearst’s investment helped finance MediaNews’ purchase of the Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News and Monterey County Herald earlier this year.

The papers are direct competitors to the Chronicle.

San Francisco businessman Clint Reilly filed the federal lawsuit to block the deal, claiming it would limit competition for readers and advertising in the Bay-area newspaper market.

The newspaper companies maintain the arrangement is not anticompetitive because readers and advertisers have other media venues such as the Internet.

The judge barred Bay-area newspapers owned by MediaNews and Hearst from consolidating some of their business operations until the lawsuit is resolved. The case is expected to go to trial next spring.

Reporter in Calif. may cover trial despite possibility as witness

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a reporter from The Bakersfield Californian can continue to write about a high-profile murder trial even though the defense may still call her to testify as a witness.

For two years, Jessica Logan has covered the trial of Vincent Brothers, a former elementary school vice principal who is charged with killing his wife, three children and mother-in-law.

The defense subpoenaed Logan and another Californian reporter to serve as potential witnesses to testify about published information they obtained from their sources that might contradict what those sources testified in court, the newspaper’s attorney Thomas Burke said.

Superior Court Judge Michael Bush’s Jan. 26 ruling allows Logan to continue covering the case, although the defense may still summon her as a witness, Burke said.

“For the paper to basically be shut down or to have their reporters be selectively subpoenaed presents a tremendously difficult and dangerous situation,” Burke said. “I’m thrilled.”

Both the defense and prosecution are under a gag order.

Brothers was arrested nine months after the bodies of his estranged wife, Joanie Harper, 39; mother-in-law Earnestine Harper, 70; and children, Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 2, and Marshall, 6 weeks old, were found in the family’s home on July 8, 2003. He has pleaded not guilty.

BROADCASTING:

Air America Radio finds a buyer

NEW YORK (AP) — Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said Jan. 29 that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart in February.

The agreement with Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors.

Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court. The company has signed what is called a letter of intent to sell itself to Green and expects to agree on financial terms soon, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn said.

Green is the brother of Mark Green, a longtime New York politician who has also appeared frequently as a guest on Air America Radio.

The network didn’t specify why Franken was leaving, but Franken told the AP earlier this month that he had contacted Minnesota lawmakers to seek advice about a possible run for the Senate.

Green’s company is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages office properties, mainly in Manhattan, with 27 million square feet of space under its control.

Air America launched with much fanfare in 2004 as an alternative to conservative radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh. But it ran into several tough spots including a management shakeup just five weeks after going on the air that saw the departure of its chairman, Evan Cohen. Last April former music executive Danny Goldberg abruptly stepped aside as CEO. The current CEO is Scott Elberg.

Clear Channel sets date for deal vote

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Clear Channel Communications Inc. said Jan. 29 it will hold a meeting in March for shareholders to vote on the proposed acquisition of the radio giant in a private equity deal.

Clear Channel agreed in November to be acquired for about $18.7 billion by an investment group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC. They would put up $37.60 in cash for each Clear Channel share and assume an additional $8 billion in debt.

The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26 that Clear Channel’s largest holder, mutual fund company Fidelity Management & Research, has told the company it will reject the current proposal. At least three of the company’s top investors, who together hold about 16 percent of the stock, have indicated their opposition to the deal, which needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

San Antonio-based Clear Channel will mail definitive proxy materials to shareholders for review. The proxy materials were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, the company said.

The meeting will be held March 21 in San Antonio, the company said. Those who have held shares as of Jan. 22 will be able to vote on the deal.

On the Net:

http://www.clearchannel.com

MAGAZINES:

Time Inc. sells 18 magazines to Bonnier

NEW YORK (AP) — Time Inc. said it is selling 18 of its smaller magazines, including Popular Science, Field & Stream and Parenting, to Swedish publisher Bonnier Magazine Group.

The sale announced Jan. 25 marked the latest effort by the magazine company to restructure its business and adapt as readers and advertisers increasingly look to the Internet for news, entertainment and information.

Time Inc. originally put the magazines up for sale last fall, and the sale had been widely expected. The sale price was between $220 million and $230 million, according to two people familiar with the transaction who spoke on condition of anonymity because the financial terms have not been officially disclosed.

The 18 titles are part of Time’s Parenting group and Time4Media. Time Inc. is part of the media and entertainment conglomerate Time Warner Inc.

Bonnier intends to combine the 18 titles with the 20 magazines held by World Publications, a company in which Bonnier owns a 49 percent stake. World’s magazines include Spa, Saveur, and Islands. The combined company would become a major U.S. magazine publisher with annual revenue of more than $350 million.

Time said all of its editorial staff will remain at current offices, primarily in New York, California and Colorado.

Like other magazine publishers, Time Inc. has been struggling amid the rapid changes occurring in reading habits and advertising spending as the Internet comes into its own as an advertising medium.

Time Inc. reported a 5.9 percent decline in profits for the nine-month period ending last September compared with the same period a year ago, as revenues slipped 0.6 percent.

The company has also sold off a book publishing division and said recently it would eliminate nearly 300 jobs across its entire company. As part of those cuts, Time Inc.’s flagship publication, Time, will close its bureaus in Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, although three correspondents will remain in Los Angeles and work from their homes.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

The family-owned Bonnier Group has been a dominant presence in Swedish media for decades. It owns Sweden’s largest morning daily, Dagens Nyheter, the country’s largest business paper, and several other newspapers. It also owns Sweden’s largest chain of movie theaters.

INTERNET:

Pelosi reaching out to bloggers to secure Democratic agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shortly after her swearing-in as the first female House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi took time to field questions from a few dozen Internet bloggers on a conference call off limits to mainstream media.

And Pelosi’s aides arranged for bloggers to question two Democratic House leaders on another conference call shortly before President Bush’s State of the Union speech.

Pelosi also hired a full-time staff member dedicated to blogger outreach, and is making plans to launch a blog of her own. The day she was sworn in, bloggers were given special accommodations at the Capitol — and fed lunch — to cover the event.

It’s all evidence of the newfound attention bloggers from left-leaning Web sites are commanding on Democratic-run Capitol Hill, especially from the new speaker, a San Franciscan with an appreciation for the power of the Internet and grass-roots activism.

Schooled by evidence of what Internet-driven politics can accomplish — from fueling Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in 2004 to propelling Ned Lamont to victory over Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary last year — Pelosi and other politicians have realized bloggers are too important to ignore.

“They’ve gone from an initial writing blogs off, then moving to skepticism, then moving to, ‘OK, maybe we can find a way of working with these guys,’” said John Aravosis, who runs Americablog.com.

“It’s a power base and it’s influential and it’s an opportunity. And you know what? It exists,” Aravosis added. “It should only scare you if you’re on their bad side.”

Trying to stay on bloggers’ good side is one incentive for politicians to make nice, analysts said. Blogs also are a way for Pelosi and others to communicate directly with a politically engaged audience, without filtering by traditional media. She promoted Democrats’ agenda for their first 100 legislative hours in a posting on Huffingtonpost.com.

Democrats, in turn, credit bloggers with helping marshal successful opposition to President Bush’s 2005 plan to overhaul Social Security by adding private accounts, a fight Pelosi led.

“It’s a mistake to think that these people just sit behind their machines and don’t do anything other than talk to each other and send money,” said Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean’s Internet-driven campaign. “These people are very active in their precincts, in their communities.”

Friendly bloggers can help defuse attacks. Liberal bloggers rose to Pelosi’s defense when she was criticized after the November election for employing nonunion workers at her vineyard. Thinkprogress.org trumpeted Pelosi’s side of the story: Growers are prohibited by law from meddling in union contract issues before workers vote to organize.

Republicans are stepping up their involvement with blogs as well, and Pelosi’s aides are planning new media training sessions for Democratic lawmakers and aides partly to expand use of blogs — one more sign that Congress’ presence in the blogosphere will only grow.

“The speaker will be blogging,” promised Karina Newton, Pelosi’s director of new media.

“She understands the power that the netroots have.”

Nintendo debuts news on Wii

SEATTLE (AP) — Rabid video gamers could get some help keeping in touch with the outside world with a new online news service from Nintendo Co. through its popular Wii console.

The Wii News Channel that debuted Jan. 26 will primarily feature top news stories and photographs from The Associated Press.

Consoles with an Internet connection will be able to access the free news channel, which will offer AP news in multiple languages. Japanese-language news will be supplied by the Mainichi newspaper and Nippon Television Network, Nintendo said.

There were no immediate plans to sell advertising space, said Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo’s U.S. headquarters in Redmond.

News will be displayed through an interactive map, which users can navigate with the Wii’s wireless controller, Kaplan said.

“The beauty of it is it zooms in and out of areas of the world,” she said. “So if you really want to focus on regional news or national news versus international, you just blow up the map of the U.S.”

The AP has a two-year contract to provide news and photos to Nintendo and would like to provide multimedia in the future, said Jane Seagrave, vice president of new media markets for the New York-based news cooperative.

“It’s a very innovative new application of what we’re doing generally, which is to try to get our content to new audiences on new platforms,” Seagrave said.

The AP will supply news for the Wii in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Swiss-German, Seagrave said.

The Wii has been a surprise hit for Nintendo as it competes with Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 consoles.

A recent report from the market research firm NPD Group said the Wii has sold 1.1 million units since it was released in the U.S. on Nov. 19, with 604,200 of those units sold in December.

“The Nintendo Wii demographic is definitely a wider demographic than your traditional hardcore gamer,” said Billy Pidgeon, a video game industry analyst at IDC in New York. “It kind of makes sense for other types of content to be made available on the Wii.”

Nintendo isn’t the only company hoping to offer more from video game consoles with online connections. The Xbox scored an early hit with its Xbox Live online gameplay system and has since begun offering more perks to Internet-connected users.

On the Net:

http://wii.com

http://www.ap.org

China could surpass U.S. in Internet users

BEIJING (AP) — China is on pace to surpass the United States within two years as the nation with the most Internet users, according to government and news reports.

China’s online population grew by 23.4 percent last year to 137 million people, about 10 percent of its 1.3 billion population, the China Internet Network Information Center reported on its Web site.

“We believe it will take two years at most for China to overtake the United States,” the official China Daily newspaper quoted an official of the agency, Wang Enhai, as saying.

About 210 million of the United States’ 300 million people are online, according to the U.S. government. China would reach 210 million users in two years if it keeps up a 24 percent annual growth rate.

China’s communist government encourages Internet use for education and business but tries to block its public from seeing material authorities consider subversive or obscene. Dozens of people have been jailed for posting political essays online.

The country had 111 million Internet users in January 2006, according to the Internet agency, also known as CNNIC.

China also saw strong growth in wireless Internet use, with about 17 million people online from mobile phones, the agency said.

EARNINGS & BUSINESS:

Yahoo’s 4Q profit tops analyst views

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit topped analysts’ expectations to end a recent pattern of financial letdowns, a breakthrough that the Internet bellwether hopes to build upon by accelerating the introduction of long-awaited improvements to the advertising system that fuels its growth.

The Sunnyvale-based company said Jan. 23 it earned $268.7 million, or 19 cents per share, during the final three months of 2006, traditionally the peak season for Web sites like Yahoo that depend on advertising for most of their revenue.

The profit declined 61 percent from net income of $683.2 million, or 46 cents per share, at the same time in 2005, but the two quarters didn’t provide an apples-to-apples comparison. That’s because a one-time gain of $310 million boosted the 2005 results while the 2006 figures included stock option expenses that weren’t recorded on Yahoo’s books in the previous year.

If not for certain tax benefits, Yahoo said it would have earned 16 cents per share, exceeding the average analysts’ estimate by 3 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

More importantly for investors, Yahoo Chairman Terry Semel announced in a Jan. 23 conference call that the company will move up the United States debut of a new formula that will determine which ads are most likely to get clicked upon and generate sales commissions.

Yahoo now plans to roll out the upgrade, code-named Project Panama, on Feb. 5 — nearly two months ahead of a revised timetable that management outlined October.

The company originally hoped to introduce Panama late last year, but decided to delay the high-stakes project to give its engineers more time to work out the kinks.

Although Panama is coming out earlier than expected, Yahoo management predicted its first quarter revenue will fall below analysts’ expectations. Some analysts believe the conservative outlook is designed to give management wiggle room in case Panama’s improvements don’t boost revenue right away.

Yahoo can’t afford for Panama to misfire after spending so much time touting the upgrade’s benefits. “This is make or break for Yahoo,” said Peter Hershberg, managing director of Reprise Media, which helps manage online advertising campaigns.

Yahoo ended 2006 on the upswing, with fourth-quarter revenue of $1.7 billion, a 13 percent increase from $1.5 billion in the prior year.

In a measure far more important to investors, Yahoo’s fourth-quarter revenue totaled $1.23 billion after subtracting advertising commission that the company paid to its partners. That figure represented a 15 percent increase from the prior year and a 10 percent improvement from 2006′s third quarter.

Wall Street gives more weight to the sequential growth rate — an area where Yahoo has been falling further behind its biggest rival, online search leader Google Inc.

The decelerating growth in Yahoo’s sequential revenue helps explain why the company’s stock price plunged by 35 percent last year as Google’s shares continued to climb.

Analysts believe Google will show sequential revenue growth of 17 percent when it releases its fourth-quarter results next week.

Investors already had been betting Panama will help Yahoo narrow the financial gap in 2007, contributing to an 8 percent increase in the company’s stock price during the first three weeks of the new year.

Yahoo doesn’t expect its sequential revenue to increase in the first quarter, with management predicting revenue minus ad commissions to range between $1.12 billion and $1.23 billion. The average analysts’ estimate had been $1.26 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

In its initial full-year forecast, Yahoo said its 2007 revenue minus ad commissions will range from $4.95 billion to $5.45 billion, below the average analysts’ estimate of $5.47 billion.

Besides falling further behind Google in the lucrative field of online search, Yahoo also has had trouble capitalizing on the Web’s social networking craze, despite its massive audience of 423 million registered users through December.

The problems facing Yahoo prompted the company to shake up its management team in December, with Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker being promoted to oversee the ad operations and Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig deciding to leave the company in March.

Coupled with the Panama upgrade, the changes seemed to have rejuvenated Yahoo, said Bill Wise, chief executive officer of Did-It Search Marketing, an Internet ad agency.

“Any time you shake up the executive team, it scares people and gives them something to prove,” Wise said. “It’s almost like they got a breath of fresh air and are trying to get their act together in the next six months.”

Dow Jones 4Q profit soars on asset sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial news publisher Dow Jones & Co. reported sharply higher fourth-quarter earnings on special gains from the sale of several newspapers, an acquisition and stronger ad sales at The Wall Street Journal.

The company, which also publishes Barron’s, Dow Jones Newswires and other publications, on Jan. 25 reported earnings of $192.9 million, or $2.30 per share, for the fourth quarter, up from $41.2 million, or 49 cents per share, in the period a year ago.

Revenue rose 6.1 percent to $485.4 million, partly because of the acquisition of the other half of the Factiva news database business that the company didn’t already own. Excluding the lift from the Factiva stake, revenue rose 3.5 percent.

Excluding a one-time gain from the sale of six local newspapers and another investment, a tax gain and a restructuring charge, Dow Jones earned $39.9 million or 47 cents per share in the quarter, up from $34.4 million or 41 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Dow Jones turned in higher results in its consumer media business, which includes the Journal as well as Barron’s and MarketWatch, an online financial news site, with a 4.6 percent increase in revenue.

Advertising revenue at the Journal’s print edition rose 5.1 percent despite a 1.4 percent decline in linage as the paper was able to secure higher advertising payments. Paid subscribers to the Journal’s Web site rose 5.6 percent to 811,000.

The company also said it would no longer give quarterly forecasts for earnings and revenue, but will provide a full-year outlook. For 2007, Dow Jones said it expects total revenue growth of 3 percent to 5 percent, excluding the effect of adding the Factiva stake. On a net basis, revenue is expected to grow 18 percent to 20 percent.

For the full year, Dow Jones reported net income of $388.6 million or $4.64 per share, versus $60.4 million or 73 cents per share a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, full-year earnings rose 13 percent to $92.6 million from $81.8 million, while annual revenue rose 6.6 percent to $1.78 billion.

Earlier this month, Dow Jones eliminated nearly 100 jobs from its division that provides news and information to businesses after completing the acquisition of the Factiva stake from Reuters Group PLC and integrating it with its other business-focused news properties, including Dow Jones Newswires.

Dow Jones financed the $160 million deal with the sale of six community newspapers.

In a note to investors, Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine said Dow Jones was “one of the few publishers with an aggressive, proactive attitude that incorporates a variety of online strategies.” But she kept her rating on the stock at “neutral,” saying the company’s strong position was already reflected in the shares.

N.Y. Times rejects shareholder proposal

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times Co. has refused to list on its proxy a proposal from a Morgan Stanley investment fund that called for putting the company’s two-class share structure to a vote.

That system, which has existed since before the company went public in 1969, cements control of the company with the Ochs-Sulzberger family. The company says the control is necessary to protect the editorial integrity of the newspaper.

The Morgan Stanley fund had proposed the measure in November after expressing dissatisfaction with the company’s share price and what it called a lack of accountability to public shareholders.

Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the Times, said the company rejected the proposal in December, with the blessing of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after determining that the issues being raised in the proposal couldn’t be voted on by holders of the company’s publicly traded stock.

Those shares, which are called Class A stock, have limited voting rights, such as electing 30 percent of the company’s directors, the approval of certain acquisitions and other matters, she said. The more powerful voting rights belong to the Class B shares, which are almost entirely controlled by the Sulzbergers.

The company rejected the proposal last December, Mathis said, but the news became public Jan. 23 in a regulatory filing made by Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

In the letter to the Times directors elected by Class A shareholders, Hassan Elmasry, an investment manager with Morgan Stanley, expressed disappointment that the company wouldn’t include the non-binding proposal in its proxy.

Mathis said the company has consistently said it didn’t need to include in its proxy those proposals that couldn’t be voted on by Class A shareholders anyway, a position endorsed by the SEC.

The Times has also said the Sulzberger family trustees are the only ones who would be able to alter the company’s two-tier share structure, and they have said they don’t intend to do so.

A spokesman for Elmasry didn’t return calls for comment.

Shareholder activism among newspaper publishers has become a big topic in the industry after restless investors forced what was then the second-largest newspaper publisher, Knight Ridder Inc., to sell itself last year. Knight Ridder had a single class of shares.

In addition to the Times, several other newspaper publishers also have two classes of shares that keep control within a family, including The Washington Post Co. and Dow Jones & Co.

INTERNATIONAL:

Report: Chinese president urges swift probe into murder

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao has ordered a swift investigation into the murder of a Chinese newspaper employee at an illegal mine in northern China, state media said.

The rare public intervention by Hu, reported by the China News Service on Jan. 24, came after a public outcry from reporters in China and media watchdogs abroad for better protection for Chinese journalists.

Seven people have already been detained in the beating death of Lan Chengzhang of the China Trade News, who was attacked along with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the unlicensed coal mine, on Jan. 10.

China News Service reported that Politburo Standing Committee member Li Changchun and Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang also demanded “a swift and thorough investigation.”

Hou is accused of organizing a group of people to assault Lan and Chang Hanwen at the small mine outside the northern city of Datong.

In addition to the seven who have been arrested, police are hunting for three others allegedly involved in the attack.

Lan and Chang were set upon by as many as 20 men, according to some media accounts, on their way to meet Hou. Chang’s right arm was broken and his body was bruised, the China Trade News said in a statement.

The statement said the two were hired in late December and identified them not as reporters but only as “employees.”

The killing and the questions about Lan’s status have highlighted the communist government’s uncomfortable relationship with the media, which it tries to control.

Police have been quoted as saying that Lan sought out Hou, the mine owner, to extort money, offering not to report on his illegal mining operation in return for a bribe.

Court orders Japanese broadcaster to pay compensation

TOKYO (AP) — A court ordered public broadcaster NHK and two production companies to pay damages to a women’s rights group for altering a news program on Japanese sex slavery during World War II after alleged pressure from politicians, officials said Jan. 29.

The Tokyo High Court acknowledged claims by the women’s group VAWW-NET Japan that NHK altered a program about a mock international tribunal on Japanese sex slavery after protests from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was then deputy chief Cabinet secretary, and ruling party heavyweight Shoichi Nakagawa, a high court official said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The defendants were ordered to pay $16,420 to the women’s group.

The court spokeswoman refused to provide other details of the ruling.

Abe and Nakagawa have acknowledged that they found the program biased and complained about the content, but denied pressuring NHK to change it. NHK also denied that the changes were made because of pressure.

Judge Toshifumi Minami said there was no clear evidence of direct political interference, but NHK misused and gave up editorial control over the program, Kyodo News agency reported. The court also said the broadcaster betrayed the plaintiffs’ expectations and trust.

Suspect in Turkish journalist’s killing threatens novelist

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — A man who confessed to inciting the murder of a prominent journalist shouted what appeared to be a threat against another leading Turkish intellectual, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk.

“Orhan Pamuk, be smart! Be smart!” Yasin Hayal shouted Jan. 24 as he was being brought to an Istanbul courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. Police quickly pressed Hayal’s head down to silence him and led him away.

Hayal, a militant nationalist who served time in prison for a 2004 bomb attack, confessed to inciting the recent slaying of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and to providing a gun and money to the alleged killer, police said.

Hayal allegedly told the killer that Dink, who angered nationalists by calling the mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century genocide, was “a traitor to his country who insults Turks.”

The suspected triggerman, a teenager named Ogun Samast, confessed to shooting Dink in a four-page statement given to prosecutors Jan. 24, and was formally charged with the murder, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Samast told police Hayal gave him money and a picture of the journalist that he carried with him for several months, the news agency reported.

Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, had been brought to trial numerous times for allegedly “insulting Turkishness,” a crime under the notorious Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code.

Like Dink, Pamuk also faced trial in Turkey for commenting on the killings of Armenians and had been accused of treason for doing so. And like Dink, he said he received death threats and considered leaving the country because of them.

Pamuk’s case was thrown out on a technicality, and he went on to win the Nobel Prize in literature last year. He was the first Turk to do so.

Dink’s murder inspired an outpouring of support for liberal values, including freedom of expression, tolerance and reconciliation between Armenians and Turks, with more than 100,000 people marching in his funeral procession last week.

But Hayal’s comments raised fears that Turkey may continue to be a dangerous place for intellectuals who openly express their ideas.

Most Turks suspect that the killer — who as a teenager will likely receive a lessened prison sentence if convicted — may have ties to ultra-nationalist groups.

Dink himself had said that he was being threatened by elements of the “deep state,” a term for a shadowy network inside the Turkish military, intelligence and political circles that is believed to use clandestine methods to defend the state against perceived threats.

Amid a period of national introspection, Dink’s family has called on Turks to look at how they have permitted the creation of an atmosphere that led to his killing.

Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said the crime was carried out by “circles who do not want Turkey to develop and reach the level of prosperous and modern countries.” Aksu condemned the attack, saying it had no justification and was being “investigated in great detail.”

MEDIA OWNERSHIP:

Economists: Media ownership research was spiked

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the government decided to take a hard look at how well broadcasters were serving their communities, two economists at the Federal Communications Commission got a research idea: They would look at whether locally owned TV stations produced more local news than stations owned by companies based outside the area.