Blogging, Internet and Media

Print and online newspaper advertising revenue plunged 18.11% in the third quarter of this year — the worst decline by far in the nearly four decades the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has been tracking quarterly performance.... Read the rest of "Newspaper Q3 ad revenue sank 18.1% in worst quarterly performance ever"

E&P broke the story several weeks. Finally, this week, a much-anticipated meeting will hear about CNN’s plans to launch a wire service that may compete with, and supplement, existing Associated Press offerings.... Read the rest of "Big meeting of newspapers on new CNN wire coming this week"

Seven Connecticut state legislators are spearheading an effort to save two Journal Register Co. dailies in the state from possibly closing, according to the Hartford Courant.... Read the rest of "Legislators launch effort to save two Connecticut papers"

Shares of Lee Enterprises sank below $1 a share in New York Stock Exchange trading Tuesday on a big sell-off two hours before the closing bell.... Read the rest of "Lee stock crosses into penny-stock territory"

This report likely won’t be on CNN’s “Headline News,” but after five years, former workers at CNN have finally gained justice. In a decision made public today, an administrative law judge ordered the network to rehire 110 workers who were fired because they were union members.... Read the rest of "CNN ordered to rehire 110 workers fired for belonging to a union"

Before Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company last year, he said he was "skeptical" of using staff reductions to increase profit. He famously told the Los Angeles Times, "I promise you I did not come here to be the captain of the Titanic."... Read the rest of "'I haven't figured out how to cash in a Pulitzer Prize'"

The nation’s largest newspaper, USA Today, said it will eliminate about 20 newsroom jobs next month to cut costs during the weak economy.... Read the rest of "USA Today to cut about 20 newsroom jobs"

When the Newspaper Guild can’t keep its own newspaper going, there’s a problem. Late last month, it announced The Guild Reporter would be reduced from a monthly to bimonthly publication. In a sign of the times, the publication is saving some money by shifting more of its attention online.... Read the rest of "Guild membership down as industry layoffs continue"

Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley told a group of employees today that the AP could lose up to 10% of its staff by the end of 2009, but likely through attrition not layoffs.... Read the rest of "AP could lose 10% of staff by end of 2009"

Having missed the implications of the Web and allowed both their content and their audience to be scraped away by aggregators and ad networks, newspapers are now working furiously to maintain audience, build new ad models and renovate presentation. But they won’t stay relevant to readers with generic content ginned up by newbies with no background in the communities they serve.... Read the rest of "Newspapers squandering best talent"

As we begin Part 3 of the movie, CamCam is back at GNN space command central, editing his footage of the mysterious man in the prophet costume. But this time, Mr. Fake Beard and Bathrobe is speaking in Hebrew."What's he saying?" CamCam asks."I don't know, it sounds like Hebrew," the mystery girl from Part 1 says. Several days have passed since we first saw her (I think), and she's wearing a different outfit, but she still has that greasy smear on her forehead. So if it's not Ash Wednesday, what is that? The Smudge of the Beast?"I was there," CamCam says. "I heard him. It was English." As he says this, CamCam appears sincerely and genuinely to be trying to look like someone who is puzzled. This is the only way one can apply the words "sincere" or "genuine" to his performance in this film. "Never let 'em catch you acting," Spencer Tracy said, but it's a rare moment in this movie when we don't... Read the rest of "LBTM: Growing Pains"

Thanksgiving is over. Now you may play Christmas music at your place of employment without making Phillyist staffers homicidal. (Although if your Christmas music is all-accordion, all the time, we may still get homicidal.) ... Read the rest of "You May Now Commence With the Christmassing"

At a press conference this morning, President-elect Obama is expected to announce his national security team. From CNN.com: President-elect Barack Obama will name Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state as he unveils his national security team at an event Monday morning, two officials said. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be nominated to be Barack Obama's secretary of state, sources say. Obama also is expected to finally confirm that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post, and to name retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser at the White House, the officials said. [...] Two sources close to the transition said Obama will nominate Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary; and Eric Holder as attorney general. President-elect Obama is sp... Read the rest of "Obama Unveils His National Security Team"

We started our 3rd season over at Fork You. Watch and let me know what you think!... Read the rest of "Fork You: 2 Dips plus 1"

As a cog in the machine of the MSM, I don't take it personally when one of my favorite bloggers, Brad DeLong, repeatedly laments the sorry state of journalism and asks "Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?"DeLong winds up asking that question several times a week because, A) he understands economics, and B) an awful lot of reporters writing about it don't.If you have any particular area or areas of expertise -- or even if you're just an enthusiast on a particular subject -- then I'm sure you've shared DeLong's frustration at some point. At some point you've come across an article that addresses a topic you already know something about and that gets it howlingly, obviously wrong. And at that point you realize that neither the reporter nor any of the editors who touched this piece had any clue what they were writing about and you, too, ask "Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?"An economis... Read the rest of "Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?"

I'm a big fan of TypePad, despite writing a book about WordPress (if anyone wants me to write a book about TypePad, contact me and we'll work something out!), which is why I have been a happy TypePad user since August 2003 (here's my first post). I find the TypePad line of products to be very good, and that's why I just switched Blankbaby's commenting system over to TypePad Connect (Oh, a beta commenting system. Yeah, I'm badass. I like to live on the edge.). What does this mean for you? Not too much. You'll notice a few new things when commenting: A picture is disp... Read the rest of "Comments now powered by TypePad Connect"

Fun around town, for $10 or less: Holiday Concert: Featuring a heart-warming mix of favorite songs, arias, and Christmas classics, all sung by the big, beautiful voices of the Bel Canto Lyric Opera Company, at the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd (3820 The Oak Road), 7:30PM. $10 Monday Poets Reading Series: Featuring Ann Michael and Daniel R. Collins, at the Skyline Room in the Parkway Central branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia (1901 Vine Street), 6:30PM. Free. For more information, call 215-686-5402. The Comic Vs. Audience Comedy Show: Comic vs. Audience is a ... Read the rest of "Frugal Fun Alert: Monday"

Deepak Chopra: To be happy in a recession means, first and foremost, resisting all the threats that fear possesses. Don’t obsess anxiously over what you could lose. Don’t reduce your world to a bank account or a 401k. Isn’t there an upside to losing some “consumer buying power”? To be honest, we went too far with consumerist mania. By any measure this is an inordinately rich country, and instead of mourning sagging profit margins, can’t we use the current slowdown to ask what makes for true personal happiness? Relationship. Gratitude. Appreciation. Compassion. Mutual regard. Strong social connections. Love you can trust. I don’t know why it takes a crisis to bring out those fundamental human qualities. But it often does. We all realize that the next video game, the next new ... Read the rest of "How To Be Happy In A Recession"

Fair warning, since I wrote a book (what? You hadn't heard? Read all about it!) I'll be blogging about the process for awhile. It might not be very interesting to you, but guess what? This is my blog so I'll write about what I want! Yeah, I said it. Anyway, as the title of this post suggests my WordPress book ('Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read') is now shipping from Amazon. That's pretty cool, and it means that I can now obsess over my Amazon Sales rank. At the moment my book is ranked 24,348th out of all books on Amazon.com (and 74th... Read the rest of "My book is now shipping on Amazon"

We cut to Chicago, a series of fades beginning with an aerial shot of downtown and ending in the interior of the Steele's suburban bathroom, where Rayford is looking at himself in the mirror. The soundtrack blares the title song, "Left Behind," by Bryan Duncan, which is worth mention here since it's a near-perfect introduction to the frustrating Mr. Duncan: great pipes, capably derivative but dated musical style, insipid lyrics. This song, recorded in 2000, is not intentionally retro... Read the rest of "LBTM: Meet the Steeles"