Media Union of BC

Quebecor profit soars

gary — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:47:37 +0000

Quebecor Inc had a $73.8-million profit in the fourth quarter, as the Montreal-based media company benefited from growth in its telecommunications segment and productivity improvements in its news media.

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Kill Shaw’s Canwest TV deal, Goldman asks court

gary — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:40:45 +0000

Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs has asked an appeals court to kill the sale of Canwest Global Communications’ television assets to cable operator Shaw Communications.

‘Streamlining’ the news

gary — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:37:27 +0000

The Daily Press of Newport News, Va., is further streamlining its copy editing and production processes and is outsourcing some of those functions to its sister paper, the Chicago Tribune. Chicago will mostly handle the layout, copy editing and some story selection for most of the paper.

Leisure reading key to online success, Google says

gary — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:32:22 +0000

The key to most newspapers’ survival online is engaging more with readers, rather than seeking to charge them directly, Google argues. The case was put by its chief economist, Hal Varian, yesterday at a workshop of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington on “The Future of Journalism”.

Reuters reporters take to the street

gary — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:48:35 +0000

Facing massive cutbacks and “unconscionable” slashes in compensation, Reuters reporters took to the streets at noon March 5 in downtown Washington, DC, determined to win their fight for a fair …

U.S. online ad spending set to exceed print

gary — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:42:45 +0000

Spending on digital marketing will overtake that of print for the first time in 2010, according to a new forecast. Last September it was announced that the UK was the first major economy where advertisers spent more on internet advertising than on TV advertising, with a record £1.75bn online spent in the first six months of 2009.

National Enquirer gets some respect

gary — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:39:00 +0000

he call came into The National Enquirer’s Los Angeles tip line — the kind advertised in the supermarket tabloid with the promise “We’ll Pay Big for Your Celebrity Gossip” — in late September 2007. The message was that a woman named Rielle Hunter had been hinting at an affair with John Edwards, then a candidate for president.

Chilean newspapers short of newsprint after quake

gary — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:57:04 +0000

he earthquake that devastated Chile last week left several newspapers unable to publish because of damage to their offices or production facilities. But now even newspapers that escaped the worst damage face another problem — a shortage of newsprint.

Today is deadline day

gary — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:26:45 +0000

TODAY is the deadline for offers to purchase the assets of Canwest Limited Partnership, the Canwest unit that owns digital media and newspapers across the country, in a separate court-supervised process. The Big Five Canadian banks, which are Canwest’s senior secured lenders, have put in an initial bid of about $925 million to get the auction going. But they hope to get a higher offer of more than $1 billion so they can get their loans repaid.

Will Leonard hang on?

gary — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:22:54 +0000

Leonard Asper has resigned as chief executive officer of CanWest Global Communications Corp., but is not yet willing to let go of the company founded by his father.