News on News - News Agencies

Bloomberg Fires Finance Team Editor Ahearn

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:27:05 +0000

Jim Romenesko is reporting that Bloomberg News has fired finance team editor William Ahearn.

Romenesko writes, “‘As an editor and newsroom manager, Bill is right up there with Abe Rosenthal, Paul Steiger, Harold Hayes and the other greats of our profession,’ says one Bloomberg veteran, adding that the dismissal has ‘shocked and saddened Bloomberg bureaus around the world.’ (I’m hoping to to hear back from Bloomberg spokesman Ty Trippet.)

UPDATE FROM TRIPPET: ‘Bill has left the company and we wish him the best.’

“Ahearn was the editor of former Bloomberg News senior writer A. Craig Copetas, and the editor who was managing Copetas’s investigation into torture and fiscal corruption in the United Arab Emirates. Bloomberg recently fired Copetas, who was based in Paris. A source told me last month:

Copetas angered the local Bloomberg bosses in the emirate – anxious to keep the peace with the many millionaire Bloomberg customers there – by seeking to uncover tales of human rights abuses, including alleged police torture with the complicity of a member of the royal family, and persecution of foreign businessmen.

“Ahearn was executive editor at the Associated Press before joining Bloomberg a dozen years ago.”

Read more here.

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New Head of Web Named at Bloomberg

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:11:09 +0000

Bloomberg L.P. announced Tuesday that Paul Maya will be joining the company as global head of Bloomberg.com and Businessweek.com.

Maya joins Bloomberg from Turner Broadcasting, where he spent two years leading CNN’s digital technology strategy and product implementation. In his role at Bloomberg, he will be responsible for the general management, strategic planning, branding, and best practices for the two consumer-facing websites. Maya will report to Andy Lack, CEO of Bloomberg Multimedia.

“We are delighted to welcome a creative thinker and proven strategist like Paul to Bloomberg,” said Lack in a statement. “His experience building digital businesses that integrate news, data and video will be enormously valuable as we continue to build out our next generation of global web products.”

“I am thrilled to be joining the talented web team at Bloomberg, and working with them to grow the powerful combination of Bloomberg.com and Businessweek.com for global business executives,” said Maya in a statement.

As vice president, technology at CNN Digital, Maya developed award-winning mobile and web products for CNN, CNN Money, HLN and CNN’s international digital properties. He oversaw the technical development of a portfolio of digital products including CNN iReport, the CNN Video Experience, CNN Money.com, CNN.com and various mobile and tablet applications.

Prior to CNN Digital, Maya held executive positions at ABC News and ABC Digital Media Group, and was responsible for developing web products for ABC.com, ABC News.com, ABC Family.com, and Soapnet.com. He began his career as co-founder and chief technology officer of Toggle Entertainment, a company that developed and marketed software tools needed to create animated, interactive characters for the Internet and other digital media.

Reuters Hires Former WSJ Reporter

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:04:29 +0000

Business journalist Carrick Mollenkamp, who had been with The Wall Street Journal for the past 14 years until leaving late last year, is now with Reuters in New York.

In an e-mail, Mollenkamp told Talking Biz News, “I will be helping cover Wall Street with the great team Matt Goldstein oversees. I report to finance editor Al Scott and M&A editor Paritosh Bansal. I am privileged to join an ambitious news organization that Steve Adler, Mike Williams, Alix Freedman and Paul Ingrassia are overseeing.”

Mollenkamp left the Journal in October. He joined the Journal in November 1997 and covered financial institutions. He was considered one of its top reporters.

In March 2009, Mollenkamp and a team of reporters received two awards. The first came from the New York Newspaper Publishers Association in the category of distinguished investigative business reporting for the article: “Lehman’s demise: The shock heard round the world.” The second award came from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was in the breaking news category for coverage of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

In May 2008, Mollenkamp, along with a team of Journal reporters, received an award from the New York Press Club in the business category for “Mortgage Meltdown on Wall Street.” In 2008 Mollenkamp also received awards from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the New York Newspaper Publishers Association.

In April 2004, Mollenkamp, along with Journal colleagues David Reilly and Alessandra Galloni, won the Overseas Press Club’s Malcolm Forbes Award for coverage of the scandal at Parmalat SpA. In July 2003, Mollenkamp, along with fellow Journal reporters Rebecca Blumenstein, Gregory Zuckerman, Jared Sandberg, Shawn Young, Susan Pulliam and Deborah Solomon won a Gerald Loeb Award in deadline writing for “WorldCom’s Whirlwind Demise.”

Mollenkamp began his journalism career as a clerk with the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch. He has worked for the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal, Triangle Business Journal in Raleigh, N.C., the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer and Bloomberg News. While at Bloomberg, he and three colleagues, wrote “The People v. Big Tobacco,” a book about tobacco litigation.

Mollenkamp was born in Atlanta and attended Randolph-Macon College in Virginia.

Bloomberg News Responds to Fed Letter

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:14:51 +0000

Bloomberg News has responded to a letter that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke sent to four lawmakers that stated the news service’s coverage of the Fed’s lending program during the economic bailout contained “egregious errors.”

In a posting on Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg editor in chief Matt Winkler said that the news organization stood by its coverage. It then offered a point-by-point refutation of Bernanke’s letter.

Here is an excerpt:

From Fed memo: “These articles have made repeated claims that the Federal Reserve conducted ‘secret’ lending that was not disclosed either to the public or the Congress. No lending program was ever kept secret from the Congress or the public. All of the programs were publicly announced when they were initiated, and information about all lending under the programs was publicly released — both on a weekly basis through the Federal Reserve’s public balance sheet release and through detailed monthly reports to Congress, both of which were also posted on the Federal Reserve’s website.”

Response: Bloomberg’s Nov. 28 story about Fed lending reported that the central bank published regular reports on the scope of borrowings from the discount window and other emergency or temporary programs. The loans were described as “secret” because the amounts, names of borrowers, dates and, often, interest rates weren’t disclosed. The stories reported that the Fed’s rationale for keeping the loans secret was to prevent bank runs.

From Fed memo: “The Federal Reserve took great care to ensure that Congress was well-informed of the magnitude and manner of its lending.”

Response: Bloomberg’s story said Congress wasn’t fully apprised of the details of the Fed’s efforts. “We were aware emergency efforts were going on,” U.S. Representative Barney Frank, who served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in the Nov. 28 story. “We didn’t know the specifics.” Other members of Congress on both sides of the aisle also said they weren’t aware of the details.

Read more here.

Copyright (c) 2011 Talking Biz News.
Any content specified as Talking Biz News content is the intellectual property of Talking Biz News. Any copying, republication or redistribution of such content, including by cacheing, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Talking Biz News.

Bloomberg's Plan for World Domination

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:29:06 +0000

Nick Summers of Newsweek writes about the aggressive expansion plans at Bloomberg News.

Summers writes, “As most of the news industry withers, Bloomberg is booming. Terminal money, which accounts for 80 percent of revenue, has helped the company hire more reporters and editors than anyone else on the planet—more than 2,700 of them—over the last 20 years, from Abuja, Nigeria, to Zagreb, Croatia. More recently it has launched powerful new tools for lobbyists, lawmakers, and other power brokers. Long averse to acquisitions, Bloomberg has also started buying up things it covets, like Businessweek magazine and, just this August, the legal-political research behemoth BNA. There is talk that the Financial Times might be its next meal.

“All of which means that by the time Michael Bloomberg, 88 percent owner of Bloomberg L.P., leaves New York’s City Hall two years from now, he will have his name stamped on some instruments of surprisingly deep influence.

“But this isn’t just another story about a company beating the odds and growing in a down economy. Bloomberg the company is not all that well known beyond Wall Street; its expansion has managed to be both subtle and seismic, and could fundamentally alter not just the kind of news Americans get but the events in the news themselves. While one guiding principle of traditional journalism is to ‘comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,’ Bloomberg has made its money comforting the comfortable—plying high-spending traders and other business insiders with all the data they need to do their jobs with confidence.

“Now it’s taking that formula to Washington. When Bloomberg bought BNA for $990 million in August, most Americans had never heard of the Bureau of National Affairs or its 350 newsletters on topics like tax, health care, and labor. It doesn’t produce popular scoops—instead it churns out nuts-and-bolts information on things like an appeals-court judge’s ruling on a patent dispute; when the House Appropriations Committee will mark up an EPA funding bill; and how telecom giants will benefit from a moratorium on wireless taxes. Which means every lawyer, lobbyist, and law-maker in the capital depends on BNA’s proprietary data to do his or her job and gain an edge over competitors. From that angle, BNA is just the kind of company that Bloomberg— already a powerhouse among business insiders—could use to extend its power into new markets, in this case the ‘influencing community’ inside the Beltway.”

Read more here.

The Bloomberg Way Now Available to the Public

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:24:01 +0000

The Bloomberg Way, the style book of Bloomberg News for the past 21 years, is being made available for purchase by the public beginning this week.

Proceeds from sales of “The Bloomberg Way” will benefit the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The Bloomberg Way” illustrates editor in chief Matt Winkler‘s approach to delivering fast, in-depth and accurate reporting to business news consumers. The guide will serve as a resource for journalists, students, business professionals, and everyone who wants to write about money and get it right.

“At Bloomberg, we believe in fast, accurate reporting and we want to share our best practices with seasoned and aspiring journalists who strive for the same results,” said Winkler in a statement. “We’ve lived by the principles of ‘The Bloomberg Way’ for 21 years, and we’ve found the guidelines to be tried and true.”

The style book includes topics ranging from conducting effective interviews to analyzing financial reports to fulfilling the imperative for accuracy and integrity in gathering and publishing news.

All royalties earned by Winkler or Bloomberg LP will be paid directly to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The book is published by Wiley Press and costs $45.

Reuters' Adler Sends Memo Addressing Wire Service's Objectives

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:10:51 +0000

Jeff Bercovici of Forbes.com writes Wednesday that Reuters editor in chief Stephen Adler sent a memo to the staff that addressed the news operation’s goals in the wake of criticism about a Reuters story last week that loosely tied investor George Soros to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In the memo, Adler writes, “Someone asked Mike Williams on a recent staff call how we could maintain our journalistic standards while embarking on investigative reporting. Mike was a little dumbstruck and responded that high journalistic standards and investigative journalism aren’t just compatible, they are inextricably connected. I entirely agree: We uncover hard-to-get facts through meticulous, dogged reporting, and we report what we learn fairly and dispassionately –with no other agenda than informing our readers. The story’s heat emanates from the depth of reporting and understanding it reflects, not from loose logic, innuendo, or what some internally call ‘banalysis.’

“A great virtue of our cherished reputation for accuracy is that readers actually rely on what we write, and they feel betrayed when we fall short of our high standards. We therefore have a responsibility to be worthy of their trust every day. This doesn’t mean every subject of every story has to be pleased with what we have reported. Indeed, if we are reporting deeply and well, we will uncover wrongdoing and other circumstances that reflect poorly on individuals or institutions. People will complain. That’s ok. But even when a story is critical, it must be accurate and fair. And when we do make a mistake, we must correct it fully, openly, and as quickly as possible. I know this ethically demanding approach to journalism runs deep in the culture of Reuters. It remains core to our belief system and our behavior even as we pursue more in-depth modes of coverage.”

Read more here.

Reuters Launches Counterparties, a Financial News Link Site

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:20:12 +0000

Reuters unveiled Tuesday its new website, Counterparties, a linkblog for financial news and commentary, offering a curated look at the day’s big stories.

The site is being edited by Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon and Ryan McCarthy and the name is taken from the title that Salmon uses on his blog to post links to stories he has read during the day.

Megan Garber of Nieman Lab writes, “‘It’s tags, it’s voice, and it’s my dream of just being completely source-agnostic, just linking out,’ Salmon told me. It’s exploring what voice sounds like in the service of one of the purest forms of information out there: the link. ‘This is, I believe,’ he says, ‘the first mainstream/legacy media website which is just external links.’

“I believe he is right. And that makes Counterparties not just an experiment, but also a hint, if a small one, at the trajectory of wire agencies as they evolve from straight-up ‘content providers’ into…something else. The past few years have seen the AP experimenting with ‘accountability journalism.’ They’ve seen Reuters itself expanding into investigative reporting and commentary and video, news-y and opinion-y and silly. One thing that those experiments have in common is that they emphasize, implicitly, the voices and the personalities and, finally, the brands of the news agencies’ individual journalists. ‘The whole idea here is to have real voice and attitude,’ Salmon says. ‘Basically, the page is entirely built by humans. It’s not some sort of weird technology algorithm. But it’s powered by a weird technology algorithm.’

“Counterparties finds most of its content via the service Percolate, which is similar to Summify except that it includes, in addition to Twitter feeds, RSS feeds. And: Counterparties uses Salmon’s own feeds, the ones that he’s been cultivating for his private use for several years now. ‘Counterparties is based on, literally, my Google Reader list of blogs that I read and my list of people I follow on Twitter,’ Salmon says. Which means that the feeds Percolate scans include those from, say, Salmon’s wife’s friends — ‘not because I have any particular professional interest in what they have to say,’ he notes, but because they’re his friends, too. ‘It’s a very personal thing.’”

Read more here.

Judge Rules for Bloomberg in Bias Case

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:46:52 +0000

A federal judge has dismissed claims that Bloomberg LP engaged in a pattern of discrimination against pregnant women who took maternity leave.

David Chen of the New York Times writes, “Judge Loretta A. Preska of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs had failed to present sufficient evidence that discrimination was Bloomberg L.P.’s ‘standard operating procedure, even if there were several isolated instances of individual discrimination.’

“‘‘J’accuse!’ is not enough in court,’ she wrote. ‘Evidence is required.’

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit in September 2007 on behalf of more than 80 employees of Bloomberg L.P., asserting that the company systematically reduced the pay, demoted or excluded from meetings mothers and pregnant women.

“Mr. Bloomberg, the majority shareholder of the company, was not a defendant, and the alleged discrimination was said to have taken place after Mr. Bloomberg departed to make a successful mayoral bid in 2001. But the suit was a political albatross for the mayor, since the plaintiffs asserted that ‘Michael Bloomberg is responsible for the creation of the systemic, top-down culture of discrimination.’”

Read more here.

Bloomberg News Wants British to Disclose Companies that Trade with Iran

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:06:31 +0000

Bloomberg News is fighting a British government refusal to disclose the identities of companies that have traded with Iran, reports Roy Greenslade of The Guardian.

Greenslade writes, “It made a freedom of information request in 2009 to the business department to release the names of UK companies that applied to ship ‘controlled goods’ to Iran.

“The request was refused on the grounds that the companies stood to lose access to bank services because banks fear being targeted by the US authorities if any customers have links to Iran.

“Bloomberg, based in New York, has appealed against the government’s decision and is arguing its case with the information commissioner at a two-day tribunal hearing in London.

“Bloomberg’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, said: ‘It’s critical to understand who’s doing business with a pariah state. Such vital information shouldn’t be hidden from public scrutiny.’”

Read more here.

Reuters Changes How it Handles Retractions after Killing Tax Column

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:37:34 +0000

In the wake of a David Cay Johnston column about News Corp.’s taxes that turned out to be erroneous and was killed, Reuters has changed its policy about retractions and will now keep the content on its website.

Steve Myers of Poynter.org writes, “‘The correction/kill policy that is followed at Reuters is long-established by the wire service,’ Ledbetter said. ‘There isn’t a procedure for taking down something that is wrong because for the vast majority of Reuters’ existence, there was nothing to take down.’

“Under the new policy, the erroneous post would remain online even after Reuters published a follow-up.

“‘I think it stands as a transparent record of what occurred,’ he said. ‘I think to take it down – while I can see some argument for that – it’s not being fully transparent with our readers about the process, and it could be subject to abuse.’

“One advantage of this approach is that it retains reader comments, which disappear when a post is deleted.

“In this case, user comments could have helped Reuters and Johnston identify a critical error within a few hours of publishing the original story. Shortly after the column was posted the morning of July 12, a reader suggested in a comment that Johnston had misread News Corp.’s documents.”

Read more here.

Reuters Names New Tech, Media Editor

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:50:57 +0000

Thomson Reuters announced Monday the hiring of Peter Lauria as editor in charge of technology, media and telecom coverage in the Americas, replacing Ken Li who has moved into his new role as editor of Reuters.com.

Lauria has covered the media and entertainment industry for more than a decade, and broken many stories including the merger between Sirius and XM satellite radio companies, and the defection of Paul McCartney from EMI to the now-defunct Starbucks Records.

Lauria started his career at The Deal, after which he moved to The New York Post to help shape media, entertainment and technology coverage for the paper’s business section. Last year, he joined The Daily Beast, where he continued to break stories. Since February 2011, he has been freelancing for Fortune and other news outlets, and acted as consulting editor for Mogulite, a website on his favorite subject, media magnates.

“Peter is one of the best reporters covering U.S. media and technology today. He is known for his excellent industry sources, deep expertise on the media business, and his relentless pursuit of media moguls,” said Tiffany Wu, editor-in-charge of company news in the Americas at Reuters, in a statement. “Our readers and clients will benefit from Peter’s wealth of experience and passion for breaking big news.”

Peter’s television and radio appearances include “The Today Show,” “Good Day New York,” CNBC, CNN and BBC Radio.

“I’m proud and excited to be joining the talented group of journalists at Reuters,” said Lauria in a statement. “Reuters is a global leader in breaking news and commentary, and I look forward to both the challenge and opportunity of leading a world class TMT team.”

Peter will join Thomson Reuters in New York on Aug. 8.

Thomson Reuters Reports Sluggish Growth

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:42:45 +0000

Thomson Reuters reported sluggish growth in its Markets division — which includes its news operations — on Thursday, as the company struggles to accelerate adoption of its new Eikon flagship desktop for financial professionals.

Jennifer Saba of Reuters writes, “In the Markets division, which competes with Bloomberg LP, News Corp’s Dow Jones and FactSet Research, revenue excluding the impact of currency changes rose 1 percent from a year earlier, slowing from the first quarter’s gain of 2 percent.

“Overall revenue and earnings per share were within the ranges Thomson Reuters announced last week, when it was clear that improving the performance of the Markets division was a priority for the board and controlling shareholder, Canada’s Thomson family.

“Glocer described the results as ‘healthy,’ but noted this was due to strong growth in the Professional division serving legal, accounting and other professionals. That unit’s revenue rose 8 percent excluding the impact of exchange rate changes.

“‘Nonetheless, revenue growth in our Markets division is below our expectations, and I have decided to accelerate the transformation in Markets,’ Glocer said in a statement.”

Read more here.

Thomson Reuters CEO Under Pressure

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:31:28 +0000

Shira Ovide of The Wall Street Journal reports that Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer is being pressured by the family that controls the company to improve its performance.

Ovide writes, “The company makes more than half of its revenue from selling packages of financial data, news and sophisticated analysis tools to investment banks, fund managers and other finance professionals through its key markets division. Thomson Reuters and Mr. Glocer have been grappling with slow sales of those products, partly due to the weak economic recovery.

“But the investment industry also has been slow to embrace a revamped financial-data product, called Eikon, that Thomson Reuters spent heavily to develop.

“Thomson Reuters’s troubles spilled into public view last week, when the company announced the departure of six executives at the markets division, including the unit’s chief executive, in a restructuring.

“The disclosure, just days ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings report, caught investors and some people close to the company by surprise. The division’s CEO, Devin Wenig, had been close to Mr. Glocer, and many investors and company executives had considered him a possible successor to the company’s leader.”

Read more here.

Thomson Reuters Media President Leaving Company

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:12:16 +0000

Chris Ahearn, the president of media at Thomson Reuters, announced Friday via Twitter that he was leaving the company.

The news follows the resignation of his boss, Thomson Reuters markets division CEO Devin Wenig, on Thursday.

Ahearn is head of media in the markets division of Thomson Reuters. He is responsible for the overall business performance of the media business and oversees all business, product development and sales operations.

Prior to his appointment as president of Reuters Media in 2002, Ahearn was the executive vice president who founded the Reuters Knowledge product line.

Prior to joining Reuters in 2001, he worked as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan & Credit Suisse First Boston. Ahearn sits on the board of The Kitchen, a non-profit arts organization in New York.

CEO of Thomson Reuters Division Overseeing Media to Leave Company

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:22:26 +0000

Devin Wenig, the chief executive of the Thomson Reuters division that oversees its media operations, is leaving the company amid a reorganization, the company announced Thursday afternoon.

Jennifer Saba of Reuters reports, “The Markets division, which serves the financial services industry, will be simplified to three business units from four to help accelerate growth, the company said. The Sales & Trading and Investment & Advisory units will be combined.

“Thomson Reuters Chief Executive Thomas Glocer will assume responsibility for the Markets division.

“Thomson Reuters, which competes with Bloomberg LP and News Corp’s Dow Jones unit, has invested heavily in new products including the next-generation desktop Eikon and high-speed data feed Elektron, which will serve as the main platforms for Markets clients.

“Thomson Reuters is scheduled to report second quarter results on July 28.”

Read more here.

Dow Jones Panel Says it Sees no Misconduct

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:38:20 +0000

The committee that oversees editorial independence at News Corp.’s Dow Jones & Co. unit said it has found “absolutely no sign of journalistic misconduct” among Dow Jones employees, reports Eric Engelman of Bloomberg News.

Engelman writes, “The committee responded to a letter yesterday from U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Jay Rockefeller, who asked the panel whether senior News Corp. executives in the U.S. knew about or were complicit in the phone hacking scandal now engulfing the company in the U.K.

“‘Our focus from the outset has been on insuring that the highest standards of journalistic ethics are being met at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires,’ the committee said in a statement e-mailed late yesterday by its chairman, Thomas Bray, the former editorial page editor of the Detroit News.

“‘In conversations with countless present and former Dow Jones employees we have found absolutely no sign of journalistic misconduct such as is at the heart of the scandal in London,’ the statement said.

“Boxer, a California Democrat, and Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, also requested information from the committee about the hiring of Les Hinton, who resigned as chief executive officer of Dow Jones on July 15.”

Read more here.

Two Senators Call for Dow Jones Investigation

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:38:12 +0000

Two U.S. senators have written a letter to the panel that oversees Dow Jones & Co.’s editorial integrity to request they investigate former CEO Les Hinton’s role in the News Corp. phone hacking scandal.

Ed Pilkington of The Guardian writes, “Barbara Boxer of California and John Rockefeller of West Virginia have written to the special committee of Dow Jones and company demanding that they set up an inquiry into whether senior Dow Jones executives, Hinton especially, had any knowledge or role of alleged criminal activity at News Corporation.

“They wrote: ‘Allegations of illegal phone hacking and bribery in the UK at properties owned by News Corporation, a US-based company, have outraged people around the world. The American people need to be reassured that this kind of misconduct has not occurred in the US and that senior executives at News Corporation properties in our country were not aware of, or complicit in, any wrongdoing.’

“The special committee of Dow Jones was set up at the time of the company’s sale to Rupert Murdoch in 2007 in order to assuage fears that the media tycoon would affect its journalistic integrity. The committee was tasked with ensuring the ‘continued journalistic and editorial integrity and independence of Dow Jones’ publications and services.’

“Dow Jones is the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, the most prized possession within Murdoch’s newspaper holdings.”

Read more here.

Dow Jones Begins Search for New CEO

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:41:53 +0000

News Corp. will conduct an external and internal search for a new chief executive of its Dow Jones financial news business, reports Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson of The Financial Times.

Edgecliffe-Johnson writes, “Todd Larsen, president of Dow Jones, will be a candidate, one person familiar with the process said. News Corp announced after Mr Hinton’s exit that Mr Larsen would report directly to Chase Carey, its chief operating officer.

“The special committee set up in 2007 to oversee ‘editorial integrity and independence’ at the Journal and Dow Jones Newswires said the allegations about News Corp’s UK newspaper operations were ‘deeply concerning to us, suggesting as they do a serious default of basic journalistic standards in certain units of News Corp.’

“However, it added that nothing had come to its attention that made it believe that anything similar had occurred at Dow Jones. Authorities have not suggested that the phone hacking and police bribery they allege took place at the News of the World tabloid title in London took place in any of News Corp’s US properties, which are managed separately.

“Mr Larsen, a former consultant, joined Dow Jones in 1999 and worked on digital strategy for the Journal and Barron’s, the company’s weekly financial title.”

Read more here.

Panel Says no Evidence of Wrongdoing at Dow Jones

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:25:06 +0000

The independent committee charged with monitoring editorial integrity at The Wall Street Journal said Saturday it is not aware of any wrongdoing at the Journal or its parent company, Dow Jones & Co., writes Sandy Shore of the Associated Press.

Shore writes, “Thomas Bray, chairman of the committee, said the group did not conduct an independent investigation to come to its conclusion.

“‘All we can testify to is what has or has not come to our attention,’ Bray said when reached Saturday. ‘That’s our function. We’re not a police force.’

“Even so, Bray said the committee knows a number of staff members at the Journal well enough that if there were a systemic problem like phone-hacking or other illegal activities at the paper, he is ‘pretty sure we would have known about it.’

“‘Obviously, (there are) no flat guarantees about this sort of thing,’ Bray said.

“The Dow Jones Special Committee was formed in 2007 as a condition of News Corp.’s $5.7 billion purchase of Dow Jones. The acquisition was seen as ‘the cherry on top of the cake in terms of respectability,’ for News Corp.’s chief executive Rupert Murdoch, says newspaper analyst Ken Doctor.”

Read more here.

CEO's Departure Adds Uncertainty to Dow Jones

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:49:04 +0000

The resignation of Dow Jones & Co. CEO Les Hinton on Friday brings uncertainty to the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch.com and Barron’s, writes Russell Adams of The Journal.

Adams writes, “The departure of Mr. Hinton, the former head of News Corp.’s News International unit who became chief executive of Dow Jones & Co. after its 2007 takeover by News Corp., is the most senior casualty yet of the turmoil unfolding in London and the starkest sign that the tremors at the media company are reaching beyond the United Kingdom.

“It also injects uncertainty at one of News Corp.’s most important U.S. properties.

“Mr. Hinton took over Dow Jones on the cusp of historic revenue declines across the newspaper industry. News Corp. executives on Friday credited him for stabilizing the company financially and averting the deep cuts that hit many of its competitors. ‘In the most turbulent of times for ‘old’ media, Les steered us back into profitability and made us a digital force around the world,’ Robert Thomson, the editor in chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, wrote in a note to staff. Dow Jones & Co. is publisher of The Wall Street Journal.”

Read more here.

Murdoch's Memo to Dow Jones Employees on Les Hinton's Resignation

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:31:04 +0000

Here is the e-mail memo that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch sent to all Dow Jones & Co. employees on the resignation of Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton.

To Dow Jones employees,

You will have just heard that I, with the heaviest of hearts, have accepted the resignation of Les Hinton. It is a measure of his integrity and the quality of his character that he felt compelled to take responsibility even though he is far from the serious issues in London.

Les and I have been on a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years. That this passage has come to an unexpected end, professionally, not personally, is a matter of much sadness to me. I vividly recall an enthusiastic young man in the offices of my first newspaper in Adelaide, where Les joined the company as a 15-year-old and had the rather unenviable task of buying me sandwiches for lunch.

It was clear then that Les was a remarkable talent, and that he had the ability and the energy to carry him far. Little did we both realize that we would be travel companions on a journey through the world of magazines, Hollywood, television studios, coupons and the greatest newspapers on the globe. Little did we realize that our corporate relationship would end in these circumstances.

Through all of his many jobs he has displayed leadership and that leadership has enabled us to make remarkable progress at the Dow Jones company while our competitors have been flailing because of structural change and economic crisis.

Three and a half years ago, when I stood atop boxes of photocopy paper in the rather dowdy offices of the old Dow Jones, there was no doubt some apprehension among the staff about the new management. No amount of reassurance or cajoling can convince a person to respect another respect only comes through the reality of day-after-day contact. Respect is earned not granted. Les has earned the respect of all at Dow Jones, both for the way he conducts himself and for the way he has conducted the company.

On this difficult day we should appreciate that his extraordinary work has provided a platform for the future success of Dow Jones. And his great contribution to News Corporation over more than five decades has enhanced innumerable lives, whether those of employees hired by him or of readers better informed because of him.

Let me emphasize one point – News Corporation is not Rupert Murdoch. It is the collective creativity and effort of many thousands of people around the world, and few individuals have given more to this company than Les Hinton.

The World of Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andy Lack

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:40:32 +0000

Bostonia magazine, the magazine of Boston University, profiles Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andy Lack in its summer issue.

Art Jahnke writes, “There is an update on a new website devoted to mergers and acquisitions, a proposal to put Bloomberg video on 1,500 video screens atop gas pumps in the Tri-State area (‘The only thing we can’t report on is petroleum’), a report on a new Bloomberg iPad app that has been submitted to Apple for approval (‘They want to feature it in their stores’), and news that Bloomberg websites have seen record traffic lately, even without the numbers from Bloomberg Businessweek, which Nielsen ratings still attribute to the magazine’s former owner, McGraw-Hill. ‘What?’ says Lack. ‘They still give them to McGraw-Hill? That’s crazy.’

“The meeting is a 30-minute illustration of what has changed in media: it’s not just about programming anymore. It’s about presentation, many kinds of presentation. Lack calls it Bloomberg’s three-screen strategy, a commitment to get as much content as possible on every device with a screen display, no matter how small or large. ‘There is the HD screen,’ he says. ‘And that now offers the opportunity to include lots of visual information and data that we have not been able to show viewers until now. There is the PC screen, and there is the screen clipped to your belt or in your pocket. There is also the tablet, so our three-screen strategy is really a four-screen strategy now. Call it an every-screen strategy. We are working with multiple platforms and trying to make sure that we are smart across all of them.’

“Lack promises Bloomberg websites in Japanese, Spanish, German, and Portuguese, all pushed out to new mobile devices that have yet to be imagined. ‘With mobile, we’re just at the beginning,’ he says. ‘Nobody’s got much of a business model there yet, but I think mobile will be one of the game changers at Bloomberg.’

“Eventually, Lack admits, some kind of game changer will be required to lift the bottom line: word has come down that Bloomberg Media must operate as a sustainable business.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg Industries Quietly Rolls Out

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:40:15 +0000

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Back in April, Talking Biz News wrote about how Bloomberg LP was getting ready to roll out its next new product, called Bloomberg Industries, which would be an analyst research product.

Talking Biz News now hears that selected Bloomberg Industries’ analysts, who cover more than 50 industries, became available for on-the-record and on-air interviews starting Tuesday.

It’s the latest new product from Bloomberg in its bid to hit $10 billion in revenue in the next three years. In April, the company formally announced the launch of Bloomberg View, the new opinion section of Bloomberg News, which will begin publishing editorials, columns and op-ed articles in late May.

At the beginning of this year, it launched Bloomberg Government, which is a news service to cover the intersection between business and politics. Last year, it rolled out a newsletter operation called Bloomberg Brief. Other new products include Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Bloomberg Industries provides industry analysis, data and insights designed to help corporate and investment professionals make decisions. Its data and commentary on industry themes and trends are designed to complement the research and ratings of buy-side and sell-side investors, as well as bankers and corporate management in creating industry and company analyses.

Bloomberg Industries analysts, however, are barred from providing stock recommendations, forward-looking estimates or buy, hold or sell ratings.

At least one longtime Bloomberg editorial staffer left the news operation to work for Bloomberg Industries.

Daniel Doctoroff Named CEO of Bloomberg LP

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:37:17 +0000

Bloomberg LP announced Tuesday that effective Aug. 1, Daniel L. Doctoroff will become chief executive officer and president of Bloomberg and will manage all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the company.

Doctoroff will continue to report to Bloomberg chairman Peter T. Grauer. The CEO slot has been vacant since 2008.

“One of the critical elements of Bloomberg’s remarkable growth over the past 30 years has been our capacity to evolve to meet changing internal and external needs and opportunities,” said Grauer in a statement. “In addition to our very successful core businesses, the Bloomberg terminal and Bloomberg News, we have started eight new businesses just in the past few years. Dan is perfectly suited to manage our increasingly diversified business model.”

Grauer will continue to serve as chairman, a role he has held for 10 years. In this capacity, he will manage high-level customer, government and other external relationships and will oversee Bloomberg’s legal, compliance, security, talent development, sustainability and philanthropy functions.

“Over the past three years, the pace of change in the markets and in our organization has been extraordinary,” said Doctoroff, who currently is president, in a statement. “Bloomberg has invested aggressively to capitalize on the disruptions and opportunities that we have seen emerge. As a result, we now have a more complex, and still uniquely interdependent, web of businesses within the company.”

Bloomberg has grown every year since its founding 30 years ago and achieved record financial performance in 2010.

Bloomberg also announced that Thomas F. Secunda has been appointed as a vice chairman of the firm. Secunda currently manages Bloomberg’s largest business unit, financial products, and is also the leader of the company’s research and development team. Secunda was one of the four original founders of Bloomberg LP.

Grauer and Doctoroff said “Tom Secunda has been at the forefront of Bloomberg’s remarkable rise in the past 30 years. Other than our name founder, no one has been more responsible for our success. He continues to be our top product strategist and the embodiment of the Bloomberg culture of hard work and innovation on behalf of our customers.”

German Press Agency dapd Purchases Photo Agency Sipa Press

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:38:37 +0000

The German press agency dapd has just purchased the French photopress agency Sipa Press from the Sud Communication group.

The value of the transaction has been kept confidential. Sipa Press enjoys a great reputation in the world of press photography. Its international production, which has been honoured many times, has made it one of the world's most important agencies. Since 1973, Sipa Press, the French market leader, has specialised in political and economic news as well as the world of entertainment and sport. Every day, the agency distributes 6,000 images in more than 40 countries and has considerable historical archives.

dapd views this purchase as a strategic investment in building up its European network. "We intend to further reinforce the position of Sipa Press on the market and to conquer new segments by extending our product range," declared Martin Vorderwulbecke, co-owner of dapd.

Under the aegis of a company that is quite familiar with the market and its needs, Sipa Press will continue to develop as an autonomous brand. Its strong points will remain journalistic competence and the quality of its relationship with its customers. Katharina Doerk (45) and Ulf Schmidt-Funke (46) will take control of processes. They are responsible for photographic activities within the dapd group as managing partners of the agency ddp images. Heinrich Ollendiek (50), an expert in corporate restructuring, will assume management of Sipa Press with immediate effect. Mete Zihnioglu (54) will stay as deputy managing director.

"The dapd group is a good partner for Sipa Press, and will enable it to continue indefinitely and to diversify its activities in a market environment that is becoming increasingly difficult," declared Pierre-Yves Revol, President of the Board of Directors of the media group Sud Communication.

Phone Hacking Scandal Investigation Could Ensnare Dow Jones CEO

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:48:17 +0000

Ed Pilkingon of The Guardian in London writes that the investigation involving phone hacking scandal involving journalists at News Corp.’s News of the World could involve current Dow Jones & Co. CEO Les Hinton.

Dow Jones is the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Pilkington writes, “Since 2007, Hinton has been chief executive of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and one of the most prestigious of Murdoch’s possessions. The bastion of US business coverage is seen as the crown jewel of Murdoch’s media empire.

“Before he was brought to the US, Hinton was chairman of News International, Murdoch’s UK newspaper arm, and thus central to the handling of the then-nascent News of the World scandal. On two occasions, once in the UK and once since his arrival in New York, he gave evidence to parliament that now appears to have been misleading.

“On 6 March 2007, while chairman of News International – and also chairman of the editors’ code committee that sets ethical guidelines for the British press – he appeared before the culture, media and sport subcommittee . He was asked what investigations had been carried out into the activities of Clive Goodman, the News of the World reporter who had hacked into the phones of the royal family and had by then been jailed for the offences.

“Hinton replied by standing up for Andy Coulson, the News of the World editor who had resigned over the Goodman affair while denying any knowledge of it: ‘I believe absolutely that Andy did not have knowledge of what was going on.’ On Friday Coulson was arrested on Friday in connection with the phone-hacking investigation.”

Inside Bloomberg's West Coast Offices

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:08:24 +0000

Matt Rosoff of The Business Insider has a look at Bloomberg‘s San Francisco bureau and its beautiful view, as well as its stunning space.

Rosoff writes, “Bloomberg’s San Francisco office has been in its current location, in a historic pier by the bay, for about three years.

“But it really started getting active in February, when the company kicked off the Bloomberg West TV show, which mostly covers the Silicon Valley tech scene and is filmed in the building.

“The building is a historic landmark, but Bloomberg redid the inside to resemble a space-age information center, while making as much use as possible of the great California light and retaining some of the nautical character of the old space.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg Launches Free Android App

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:06:13 +0000

Bloomberg News has launched an Android application for tablets.

The app is free, which means, like the Bloomberg.com website, it’s supported by advertising. Samsung is the premier launch partner, running campaigns about its newly released Galaxy Tab 10.1, the world’s thinnest mobile tablet with a 10-inch touch screen.

With the app, users can create personalized views of the news by industry, region, exclusivity, region or popularity. You can also read news related to particular stocks and see details for the open, close, high, or low during the last five years.

The app also features two home screen widgets, so if you want a quick snapshot of the stocks in your portfolio or a quick glance at the latest breaking news, you can get that. Also, you can read stories while off-line.

In addition to Android, Bloomberg currently has consumer apps for the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Nokia.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Businessweek iPad app has added some features, including more audio and the ability to print articles wirelessly using AirPrint compatible printers, becoming the first business magazine to support this technology.

Bloomberg.com Overhaul about Building Prestige

Thu, 26 May 2011 11:45:26 +0000

The goal of the redesign of Bloomberg.com is to bring all the various moving parts of Bloomberg’s news operations together and do more than just just compete against it financial news rivals — it wants prestige, writes David Kaplan of PaidContent.org.

Kaplan writes, “‘Over the years, Blooomberg, has continued to add a lot of terminal subscribers,’ said Tyrangiel, who is the editor for Bloomberg Businessweek and responsible for editorial content on Bloomberg.com and Businessweek. ‘The website was a gravy boat. We could get by with that. But the company wants tot be the most influential news organization—and the web is the way to take advantage of of it.’

“Among the other things Bloomberg wants to take advantage of is its 2,300 reporters in 72 countries, its HD-television network and package it all in a way that enhances the real-time data product. Ultimately, the caché that it hopes to accrue, it will have time to build a stronger online ad operation. In March, for example, Bloomberg reformed the division that houses its TV, print, radio, mobile and digital media properties. It also gave Paul Bascobert, president of Bloomberg Businessweek, the additional role of head of Business Operations for the Bloomberg Media Group, as the multimedia unit is now called, the company hopes to make it easier to reach advertisers interested in Bloomberg’s cross-platform offerings.

“Now that it has all these pieces in place for the site, Tyrangiel says it will take time for Bloomberg.com to develop a true identity. The hope is that Bloomberg View won’t just counter Thomson Reuters’ blog offering that it started doing over a year ago when it acquired Breakingviews for $18 million, but that it will help provide a voice and tone that will help it set the news cycle’s agenda.”

Read more here.