Tag Archives: News event
New ME for Dow Jones wire in Middle East
by Chris Roush
Dow Jones on Monday named Andrew Critchlow as the new managing editor of the Zawya Dow Jones News Service, according to a release.
Produced jointly by Dow Jones Newswires and ABQ Zawya, ZDJ is the English and Arabic-language news service covering the Middle East’s financial markets.
Critchlow succeeds Simeon Kerr, who left the company. In his new role, Dubai-based Critchlow will be responsible for editors and reporters around the region and will also lead Middle East energy coverage for Dow Jones Newswires. He will report to Marcus Wright, senior editor, Dow Jones Newswires, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“Since its launch last June, the Zawya Dow Jones News Service has established itself as an indispensable source of objective and timely ground-breaking news and analysis for those seeking an understanding of the region’s financial markets,” said Wright. “Andrew brings a wealth of Middle East experience to the managing editor role. His appointment is further evidence of our commitment to the region.”
Read more here.Â
Business news radio station launching in Toronto
by Chris Roush
Newsroom Productions Inc. said Monday morning that it will launch Canada’s first business news radio station serving Toronto and surrounding areas and all Canadians on-line at cfbnnews.com on April 9, according to a news release.Â
CFBN will be managed by Newsroom Productions thru its division CBN (Canada’s Business Network), a Toronto-based radio syndication company that currently produces content for radio stations across the country including “The Fred Ketchen Report” and “Weekends with Sheila Copps.”
“Business is a missing format in Canadian radio, which is surprising because we really have everything else. Our stock market is strong and reaching new highs on a regular basis; there’s never been a better time to launch this type of station,” said Bryan Woodruff, president and general manager of Newsroom Productions ”CFBN will be more than just numbers and stock quotes, we will offer a business news perspective on everything – from political and social issues to world and international events”
The station will bring analysis from chief market analyst Fred Ketchen and international programming to its audience from the world’s leaders in business news, including CNBC and The Wall St. Journal. The station will also air exclusive market reports and programming from India and China.
Read more here.
Utah biz magazines in legal tussle
by Chris Roush
The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that the publisher of Utah’s biggest business magazine is waging a legal battle against the publisher of an upstart competitor.
Reporter Paul Beebe wrote, “In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court, Utah Business Magazine owner Olympus Publishers accuses MediaOne Corp. and Shereece Steed, an advertising saleswoman, of using confidential Utah Business information to drive advertisers to the newly launched Utah CEO magazine.Â
“MediaOne, formerly Newspaper Agency Corp., is the company that handles printing, advertising and circulation tasks for The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News. MediaOne is jointly owned by MediaNews Group, parent company of The Tribune with a 58 percent share, and the LDS Church, which owns the Morning News.Â
“MediaOne CEO Brent Low said the suit is without merit.Â
“‘NAC-MediaOne has the biggest advertising data base in Utah,’ Low said Friday. ‘We would not seek to take information from a competitor, and we have not sought to take information in this case.’Â
“Steed said she had not been notified of the suit and declined to comment.”
Read more here.
Former biz journal employee indicted for stealing
by Chris Roush
The former bookkeeper for the Central New York Business Journal was indicted Friday on charges she stole nearly $180,000 from the company and a related business over several years, according to a story in the Syracuse Post-Standard.
Reporter Jim O’Hara wrote, “Cynthia Nistico, 36, of 5448 Congleton Circle, Clay, was indicted on two counts each of second-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records.
“One of the grand larceny charges accuses her of stealing $101,000 from the CNY Business Journal from January 2001 through October 2006. The other grand larceny count accuses her of stealing $78,000 from BizEventz from August 2001 through October 2006.
“The falsifying business records charges accuse her of entering false data into the companies’ records relating to credit card information.”
Read more here.
Arizona Republic biz columnist departs amid reorganization
by Chris Roush
Arizona Republic business columnist Jon Talton is leaving the paper as part of a reorganization that resulted in the elimination of his column, according to a Phoenix Business Journal article.
Chris Casacchia wrote, “‘I chose not to accept other opportunities that the company offered,’ he wrote in a note to friends and colleagues. ‘For six-and-a-half years I enjoyed one of the best jobs in journalism, and I give the Republic and Gannett credit for supporting me during that time in the face of heavy pressure to silence me or fire me.’
“Talton, whose column appeared Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, devoted much writing space to criticizing the Republican legislature, urging the state to invest more in education and spending programs, and griping about the lack of high wage jobs and industries in the region.
“‘I got to live a dream: writing a column in my hometown, honestly assessing our situation and calling us to our opportunities,’ he said in the letter. ‘I was also privileged to meet many wonderful people, making new friendships and renewing old ones. I will always carry Arizona and Phoenix around in my heart.’
“Talton also wrote a blog on the Republic’s Web site, azcentral.com, and recently wrote the novel ‘Arizona Dreams,’ published by Poisoned Pen Press.”
Read more here.
Forbes preparing lifestyle spinoff
by Chris Roush
Nat Ives of Advertising Age reports Friday that Forbes is preparing a spinoff magazine called Forbes Executive Life Woman that will launch in October and then have four issues in 2008.
Ives wrote, “And it’s true that the ranks of executive women are growing. The other business books are certainly trying to capitalize on that, if not in the same way that Forbes plans. Time Inc.’s Fortune, for example, will host its Most Powerful Women Summit this year for three days in October, just before its annual in-book feature ‘The 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.’
“Forbes also has a renewed interest in expanding. The company hunkered down through a lot of the early decade, but since selling a minority stake to Elevation Partners last August, it has resumed hunting growth.Â
“But the flagship Forbes title, like its biggest competitors, hasn’t seen much change in the proportion of women among its audience. Women represented 32.6% of the Forbes readership in the fall 1980 Mediamark Research study; by fall 2006, Mediamark put that figure at 29.9%.
“Beth Fidoten, senior VP-director of print services, Initiative, said the plan makes sense, especially because the editorial in Forbes Life skews, like its audience, so heavily male. ‘It’s shown to be successful for Forbes FYI, now known as Forbes Life, so why shouldn’t be it successful for women?’”
Read more here.
Get your face on Wired's cover
by Chris Roush
Wired magazine is offering the opportunity for some of its subscribers to have their faces on the July cover, reports MediaWeek’s Lucia Moses.
She wrote, “As part of a collaboration with Xerox, one of its advertisers, Wired, starting March 23, will invite subscribers to go to the magazine’s Web site and upload a photo and customize the headlines and color palette. The first 5,000 to do so will receive a customized July issue, whose cover story is on the future of personalization.
“The gimmick is a way for Xerox to showcase its new digital production press and customization software, PersonalEffect, from Xerox’s newly acquired company, XMPie.
“‘Wired is always looking for ways to partner with advertisers and showcase innovative brands,’ said Drew Schutte, publishing director of Wired Media. ‘The mission of both the magazine and Wired.com is to be the first word in how technology is changing the world. This innovative program built for Xerox is exactly the kind of opportunity we can now offer.’
“Xerox will run custom ads on covers two and three for the 5,000 personalized issues in addition to running an ad on cover four.”
Read more here.
Consumer Reports will use experts in the future
by Chris Roush
Katherine Seelye of the New York Times reports that Consumer Reports magazine, reeling from an embarrassing mistake earlier this year, will now try to use more outside experts when it evaluates products.
Seelye wrote, “But yesterday, the magazine said that its quest for independence had kept it from reaching out to experts who might have helped it avoid one of the biggest mistakes in its 71-year history.
“In January, the magazine reported that 10 of 12 infant car seats it tested had failed simulated crash tests — a report it retracted two weeks later.
“A review of the incident by two outside specialists found that the magazine’s problem stemmed mainly from its decision to develop and run its side-impact tests without extensive consultation with other experts.
“The magazine said in a statement that it had not consulted outside experts in part ‘because of the organization’s longstanding policy of limiting contact with government and industry to avoid compromising the independence of its judgment.’
“That decision, the magazine said, ‘ultimately proved to be a mistake.’”
Read more here.
Making a mountain out of a mole hill
by Chris Roush
TheDeal.com executive editor Yvette Kantrow has a critique of the New York Times’ recent coverage of the subprime mortgage lending industry issues, noting that criticism of one analyst by reporter Gretchen Morgenson may be a bit overblown.
Kantrow wrote, “The New York Post Tuesday reported Bear’s contention that Morgenson’s characterization of Coren’s research ‘was a complete misrepresentation.’ And it backed this up. Coren, the Post said, ‘had made a series of gutsy calls on the subprime mortgage sector.’
“And that ‘upbeat report’ on March 1 that Morgenson was so bothered about but provided little information on? Coren upgraded New Century from ‘underperform’ (aka ‘sell’) to “peer perform” (aka ‘hold’), hardly an endorsement. Plus, as Associated Press and MarketWatch pointed out in Galvin stories, the upgrade contained caution: ‘Given the roughly symmetrical risk/reward profile, we’d stay on the sidelines for now until we are able to see a complete and restated set of financial statements and management opens up its communications lines again,’ Coren wrote.
“Not exactly the second coming of Henry Blodget.
“Of course, anything is possible. Galvin may find e-mails in which Bear execs bully Coren to go easier on New Century to please its mortgage-trading desk. But as of now, it appears Coren is being vilified for being slightly wrong. Post-Spitzer, if an analyst makes a bad call, he must be corrupt.
“What’s also odd here is Morgenson’s fixation on turning the subprime meltdown into a retail investor-conflict story. (Her piece Wednesday on mutual funds that hold mortgage debt struggled to prove that ‘everyday investors are among those that will probably be hurt.’) After all, there’s a lot to legitimately pin on Wall Street in this mess; the investment banks supplied the cash that kept subprime lenders humming, then eagerly purchased their loans for securitization. But rather than explain all that, it’s simpler to blame “villains” — analysts — that her readers, including pols like Galvin, already know. Galvin’s investigation ensures that Morgenson won’t be off this story anytime soon. In that way, it’s the same playbook Morgenson and the Times followed in the Pequot-John Mack insider trading “scandal.” It’s ingenious. Write a casually accusatory story that prompts an investigation and then use that investigation as proof that your accusations are spot on. Even if they aren’t.”
Read more here.
CJR's Audit moving in right direction
by Chris Roush
Forbes.com columnist Gary Weiss, who in the past has criticized Columbia Journalism Review Daily’s blog called “The Audit” that critiques business news, wrote Thursday that a recent item on the blog is a step in the right direction.
“Another critic of the Audit, Brad DeLong, once observed that the Audit has limited credibility and is ‘lacking quality control.’ The former is still true, but today’s item is a step in the right direction.
“The Audit would also give its credibility a boost if it cut out links to Judd Bagley’s BusinessJive and ‘FaulkingTruth’ websites, both of which sling mud at journalists while pushing the naked-shorting conspiracy theories that fascinated (former editor Mark) Mitchell.”
Read more here. I’d still like to see The Audit pay more attention to business news. Before the post today about Chiquita and CNN, the last post was Feb. 27. There’s been a lot going on in business journalism in the past three-plus weeks.