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Jan

7

Veteran media exec says, “23B zapped in news stock value”

Filed Under Media | Comments Off

Hattip to this post at PJNet.org. This graph by Alan D. Mutter is stark:

Mutter reports, as to the information represented in that graph,

The market value of the American newspaper publishers entering 2008 as independent, publicly traded companies has fallen by $23 billion, or 42%, since the end 2004, the year before the wheels started coming off the industry.

Nearly half the slide in the market capitalization of newspaper stocks came in 2007, when the shares lost a collective $11 billion, or 26%, of their value. Thus, newspapers lost nearly as much value last year as they did in the two prior years put together.

The vaporized value of newspaper shares in 2007 exceeded the combined $10 billion market caps of Gannett and McClatchy, the nation’s two largest publicly held publishers by circulation. And the $23 billion drop in shareholder value since yearend 2004 equals the current total value of all the common stock of Belo, Gannett, Lee Enterprises, Media General, McClatchy, the New York Times Co. and the Washington Post Co.

That’s crazy as Saturday Night Live’s Brian Fellows would say. But true.

The only positive performers:

One winner was the Washington Post Co., whose shares gained 4% in value in the last three years, thanks to aggressive diversification out of the newspaper business and into such lucrative endeavors as its Kaplan test-prep schools.

But the big winner, by far, was Dow Jones, which climbed 65% in value as the result of the sumptuous price News Corp. paid to buy it from the dysfunctional Bancroft clan.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:31 pm January 7th, 2008 in Media | Comments Off 

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Jan

7

Do you want your president to be your friend or leader? Are those roles mutually exclusive?

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, WH2008 | 1 Comment

I never wanted my parents to be my friends when I was growing up. I wanted them to be my parents. When my kids tell me they don’t like me or hate me (that only happened once and it was years ago), I tell them that they don’t have to like me. My job requires me to do certain things and that’s the way it is.What about a president?

I don’t care if they’d be my friend or not. I just need to trust that they’re going to represent my interests as an American in a way consistent with what’s important to me, both in the rank order of issues as well as the way they approach the issues and the desired results they attain.

Does that necessarily mean that I’m going to like the person?

See – I don’t think so. And I believe that a lot of successful people know this. Sure, working together often requires that people like one another, but respect and trust are more important.

Or are they?

This post from Into My Own got me blogging this thought – which I’ve had several times during the presidential election.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:54 pm January 7th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, WH2008 | 1 Comment 

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Jan

7

redblueamerica.com goes live

Filed Under Blogging, Media, Politics | 3 Comments

Remember I alluded to FT work a few times over the last several weeks?

Here’s where I’m not. But I hope you’ll give it a look as it develops.  I loved and still love the idea, even if I don’t get to be “Blue Moderator.” Here’s their blog.

Good luck to the venture.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:48 pm January 7th, 2008 in Blogging, Media, Politics | 3 Comments 

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Jan

7

Come hear “The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet”

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Culture, Media, Tech | Comments Off

No, I’m not the speaker.  Daniel J. Solove is.

When: Weds., January 23, 4:30-5:30pm

Where: CWRU School of Law Mootcourt Room (A59)

Free to public, CLE credit available, no RSVP necessary from what I can tell.

Read the full announcement here.

I’m working hard on being there.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:23 am January 7th, 2008 in Announcements, Blogging, Culture, Media, Tech | Comments Off 

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