30 April

UK:
- Merger of Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday Newsrooms 
The newsrooms at the Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday are expected to be merged after the Edinburgh-based group suffered the first losses in its history. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/30/the-scotsman-scotland-sunday-merged
- Independent News and Media Profits Drop by 99% in 2008
Independent News and Media has reported a 99 % drop in profits at its UK division which publishes the Independent titles and the Belfast Telegraph. Announcing its 2008 end-of-year results, the company said operating profits in the UK fell from €15.5m to €200,000 - a 98.7 per cent drop. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=43554&c=1 

Germany:  
-  Major Loss in Advertisement Revenues for German Magazines and Stagnation in  Newspapers'  Circulation.
In the last month major German magazines reported a 17% drop in profits compared to the month before. In particular, Germany's best known political magazine, Der Spiegel, suffered a loss of 28.4%  . The circulation of newspapers in Germany has stagnated for the first time. Only the weekly magazines, Die ZEIT and the Sunday edition of The Frankfurter Allgemeine Rundschau have increased by 4.2 and 3.5 %
http://meedia.de/nc/details/article/anzeigenumfnge-bleiben-im-keller_100019752.html
http://meedia.de/nc/details/article/die-zeitungsauflagen-im-1-quartal_100019634.html
 -  Major Loss in Licence Fees' Income for Public Broadcasting Stations
The  powerful German public  broadcasters announced that they will lose about 400 Million Euro of licence fees by 2012, because of job losses, since unemployed persons are exempted from paying a licence fee.  The impact on employment starts with 24 positions that will not be replaced at the Hessischer Rundfunk  and no  freelances  will be engaged  for the moment .
http://www.dwdl.de/story/20718/ffentlichrechtlichen_fehlen_400_mio_bis_2012/

29 April

US: Major Study to Identify Citizens' Information  Needs

A leading United States media foundation is carrying out a major survey on information needs from a variety of communities in order to make concrete recommendations to policymakers about improving the flow of local information. The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy supported by the Knight Foundation, a media support group established by one of the major American newspaper companies, says the study will assess how information needs are being met in communities in the digital age. The Commission is collaborating with the PSB Engage website to create a dialogue about citizens' information needs and is inviting public comments to five questions this website http://www.pbs.org/engage/publicinput by May 8, 2009.
http://www.knightfoundation.org/news/press_room/knight_press_releases/detail.dot?id=346394

UK: Scottish TV Plans Local News Partnership With Private Media
Following the BBC offer to share news with local media  including private media, Scottish TV (STV) has volunteered to run a groundbreaking pilot scheme in which the Scottish ITV broadcaster will invite a consortium of independent media companies to become partners in the provision of its local TV news service. This could pave the way for outside suppliers to take over local TV news programme-making.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/29/stv-local-news-partners

Spain: Political Concern and Professional Mobilisation to Confront Media Crisis
The journalists' federation FAPE met on 21 April with Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernandez de la Vega to discuss ways of defending "independent, rigorous and professional media" in times of crisis. The government of Prime Minister Zapatero has promised to meet FAPE every six months to review the situation in the media sector. According to FAPE, between June 2008 and April 2009, 2225 journalists lost their jobs in Spain with some figures putting the tally higher by 350. At the same time the trade union FSC-CCOO has called for the mobilisation of media professionals on 7 May to denounce the situation in the Spanish press and communication industry.
http://www.fct.ccoo.es/webfctmedios/menu.do?Inicio:57334
http://www.fape.es/images/descargas/Periodistas_FAPE/Numero12.pdf

UK: Financial Times Opens to More User Generated Content
The Financial Times is asking readers to contribute to future leader columns. Readers will be able to help shape the paper's editorial line through its Arena blog, joining Financial Times writers in online debates.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/28/financial-times-arena-blog

United States/World: Twitter Community Now Able to Follow Google News
Google News announced the launch of the @googlenews Twitter feed in a post on the Google News blog. This will allow Twitter users to follow over 25.000 news sources gathered by Google News.
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090428/tc_afp/usmediaindustrynewspaperscompanytwittergoogle

27 April

UK: A New Deal between BBC and Local Media
The BBC has signed a groundbraking deal with local news providers. For the first time, it will share its resources with newspapers and private TV and radio stations.
On of the most relevant points of the proposal is the opportunity given by the BBC to local media to have a free access to video for their website. It will also allow them to have access to its school of journalism and it will make available its iPlayer to rivals. A similar agreement has been reached with ITV, which is scaling back its regional news operations and is sharing studio space and production facilities with the BBC. The two organisations' objective is to join together in order to protect the provision of local news on Britain's main commercial channels.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/26/bbc-share-local-media

UK: Press Association Launches Video Newswire Service
A video newswire service for newspapers, broadcasters and online media will be launched next month by the Press Association (PA). For the first six months, regional newspapers will be offered use of the new video wire service free on a trial basis.
It is the first time that the PA provides a full video wire service and it said that it will be raw footage which can be incorporated by customers into their own packages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/27/pa-video-newswire-service

UK: NUJ Debates Job Losses in Media with Scotland's First Minister  
A meeting between NUJ leaders and the Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has been organised to discuss the ongoing strike over job cuts at the Daily Record and Sunday Mail.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1210

Politicians AcceptCompulsory Redundancies Motion
The motion to avoid compulsory redundancies at the Daily Mail Record and Sunday Mail has won a massive majority in the Scottish Parliament. The resolution was proposed by a former Record journalist who is now a Labour MSP, and also backed by the Scottish National Party.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1209

Spain: 20 Minutos Lose Readership
Spanish free daily 20 Minutos lost readers for the first time since its launch. However, the paper is still the best read paper in Spain with 2,772,000 daily readers.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/index.php/2009/04/27/20-minutos-spain-down-in-readership/

Italy: Crisis at Unità
The Italian newspaper l'Unità, established by Antonio Gramsci, is also hit by the financial crisis and has dismissed 20 journalists with a fixed term contract and 10 freelances.According to the management, another 17 journalists will be laid-off and 13 employees should retire in coming two years.
http://www.fnsi.it/Default.asp?key=9674&SINGA=S

23 April

Spain: Public Broadcasting to be Funded  by Private Sector Levy
The Spanish government is planning to cover a revenue shortfall at public broadcaster TVE with a charge of about 3 per cent of revenue on private television companies, newspaper El Pais reported today.
The government, which is seeking consensus with audiovisual firms on the funding plan, would also apply a charge of 0.9 percent of revenues at telecom companies, such as Telefonica (TEF.MC), which provide audiovisual services.
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSLN15278120090423

Spain:  Government Announces Measures to Help Media Industry
The Spanish press industry will be helped by the government through measures to support thousands of people who have been laid off due to the economic crisis, according the Federation of Professional Journalists (FAPE). The measures may involve direct aid to the sector as well as expanded access to state credit.
http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/Spain-to-help-press-industry_-journalists_-group_51857.html

Serbia: Media Organisations and Government Face Media Crisis
The Serbian media, which has been hit by the economic crisis with falling of the advertising revenue, job cuts and the closure of several newspapers' editions in favour of online versions, has asked the Serbian government for help. Serbia has a large media industry of 17 daily newspapers and dozens of  larger periodicals based in Belgrade and Novi Sad, and it is clear that not all media can be supported.
The journalists' associations and trade union in Serbia submitted a package of proposals to the Ministry of Culture and to the Government of Serbia based on better working and social conditions for media workers;  the establishment of a joint fund to provide grants to media workers in financial hardship (such a fund would be based in the Ministry of Culture and run by a board of representatives of journalists' associations, trade unions, employers, and representatives of the Ministry); allowances for media workers paid from surplus broadcasting fees; withdrawal of the ban on advertising beer and wine in the media and reduction of VAT on advertising in the media and effective control to prevent illegal labour of unregistered workers as well as evasion of social contribution payment by media companies.

Great Britain: Another Commercial Radio Station Closes Down
When Zee Radio stops broadcasting at the end of this month, it will be the 13^th commercial radio station to close in the UK since the beginning of 2008 and the sixth in the past four months.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/23/zee-radio-bollywood-closes

22 April

United States:
New York Times and Yahoo! Record Sharp Fall in Profits
The publisher of the New York Times and the internet portal Yahoo! both revealed plunging profits. This represents one of the worst slump in advertising.
The scale of the company's difficulties emerged just a day after the New York Times won five Pulitzer prizes. The group's advertising revenue slumped 27%, although circulation income rose slightly through a prices rise.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/21/new-york-times-company-ad-slump

United States:  A New Profession: Let  Space to Bloggers
Several studies have found out that in the United States today, there are almost as many bloggers as lawyers. America has over 20 million bloggers, with 1.7 million profiting from the work, and 452,000 of those using blogging as their primary source of income. That is almost 2 million Americans getting paid by the word, the post, or the click whether on their site or someone else's.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html

UK: Progressive Media buys Press Gazette
The publisher Progressive Media has been spared the need to close Press Gazette, the magazine and news website for journalists. They intend to continue the publication of Press Gazette in printed and electronic formats and they also want to collaborate with them on the British Press Awards and a number of other events.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=43514&c=1

21 April
United States: Senate Commerce Committee to Hold Hearing About Crisis in Media
Senator. John F. Kerry (Democrat) will hold hearings next week in Washington, D.C. in the Senate Commerce Committee, to review the economic problems of the newspaper industry. The hearings are set to begin April 30. They come after numerous newspapers asked for bankruptcy protection or sought cost-savings and after Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (Democrat) introduced a bill last month that would allow newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofit organisations.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003964193

International Survey Shows Increasing Use of New Platforms for Broadcasters
Through a survey which has involved 14,000 consumers in 13 countries, Accenture has found that people are watching more content on a greater number of platforms than they were a year ago, and are more willing to pay for programming via subscription services.
This survey reveals that  40 percent of respondents watch six or more channels, up from 35 percent last year, and 39 percent watch eight or more programmes a week, up from 33 percent last year. Further, while the 74 percent indicated they would watch TV on a computer versus just 61 percent last year,  45 percent said they would watch on mobile devices, up from 32 percent last year.
http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/20636

China: Launch of Newspaper Despite Crisis
A new Chinese-owned newspaper was launched today in Beijing despite the crisis that is engulfing media globally. Its editor has said that he expects to lose 20m yuan (£2m) in the first year of publication. But the English-language edition of the Global Times is about more than profit. The Chinese government wants to promote its views to an international audience, reshaping the country's reputation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/20/china-newspaper-launch

UK: BBC Cuts its Marketing Budget by 25%
The BBC is cutting its £100m-a-year marketing budget by 25% in a financial operation that means almost the end of expensive corporate branding campaigns such as "Perfect Day".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/21/bbc-to-cut-marketing-budget

20 April
Spain: Free Paper Què! Expands Publication to Three more Regions
Spanish free daily Què! (Vocento) will have new editions in Navarra, La Rioja and Castellón in cooperation with the Heraldo de Aragón and La Información (Diario de Navarra).
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/index.php/2009/04/17/que-launches-in-three-markets/

UK: Newspapers' Online Editions Are no Guarantee For Success
Researchers from City University in London say that many newspaper publishers which decide to ditch the print version of their paper in favour of an online edition do not gain anything from this operation.
On the contrary, it seems that they lose many readers, referring to what happened to the Finnish financial newspaper, Taloussanomat, which this research has focused.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/16/online-only-newspapers-revenue-fall-taloussanomat

Italy:  Editor of Il Mattino of Naples Voted Out on Planned Job Cuts
Last week, the editorial office of one of the oldest Italian newspapers Il Mattino of Naples decided to drop Mr. Mario Orfeo as the editor in chief of the paper.
This followed a new plan Mr. Orfeo presented which provided for 37 job cuts and the closing of the editorial office in Rome, in an effort to save the paper.
The following link is in Italian:
http://www.fnsi.it/Default.asp?key=9655&SINGA=S

Italy : Rcs Media Group Asked to Save Newspapers from Crisis
The editorial board of the periodical newspapers of the Rcs Media Group (Rcs periodical newspapers spa, Me woman, Today; Live Segesta Publishing, Rizzoli Publishing Italy, and Sphere Publishing ) has asked the company to come up with a plan and a strategy to increase their activities and save them from the crisis.
The following link is in Italian:
http://www.fnsi.it/Default.asp?key=9656&SINGA=S

17 April

Journalists Plan New Paying Daily as Hoy New York Closes
Free Spanish language daily Hoy was closed down after 10 years, on 30 December 2008. The closure led to the loss of 16 jobs.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/index.php/2009/01/05/hoy-new-york-closed/

In spite of the crisis, former employees of Hoy are planning to launch a new daily in New York.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/index.php/2009/04/16/paid-successor-of-free-ny-hoy/

UK: Mergers Regimes, not the only solution to save media from the crisis
According to the NUJ, in view of the media's crisis, the government is slow in rushing through a communications bill allowing for media mergers. Big media companies are lobbying for mergers regimes for television, regional newspapers and local radio, but according to the NUJ this kind of operation does not mean that employers do not risk job cuts. Instead, government has to enforce guarantees about journalism and jobs.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1201

 United States: Heavy cuts for the NYT'  Sections and Freelance Budget
More sections have been cut by the New York Times while the budget for freelance contributions has been reduced to avoid complete collapse due to the crisis.
 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003963303

16 April
Yahoo! Inc. is Planning to Cut up to 600 Jobs.
The layoffs are the first since Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz joined in January. They probably will be announced after the Sunnyvale-based  Internet company's report of first-quarter earnings.
These job cuts follow other two rounds of layoffs over the past 16 months amid a slowdown in online advertising and an economic downturn.The first cuts in January 2008 claimed 1,000 jobs while the following cuts, established in October, cost 1,500 more.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/15/BUMV1736MV.DTL&type=business

United States:  Journalism Online to Help US Newspapers Charge Web Readers
Good news for the American newspaper industry. In spite of the consequences of the economic crisis, one new company, Journalism Online, announced its plans to offer some cash to help papers charge their online readers.
This venture wants to offer sophisticated online payment management systems like those used by WSJ.com and FT.com.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/15/journalism-online-us-newspapers-charge-readers

Last Day for Middle East Times
The last day has come for the Middle East Times which has suffered the same fate as that of many other newspapers in this period of crisis.
The publication has closed and changed its format, forced to adjust to the rapid changes of the market. When it resurfaces in May, the Middle East Times will be available on a subscription basis.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2009/04/15/final_issue_of_middle_east_times_today/1459

15 April
 Spain: Cut Back ads on Public TV
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Tuesday that his government will "drastically reduce" the amount of advertising allowed on the country's two public television stations.
 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jtbvQP7-0Uk6jx4JshmjfooZkYdg

Italy:"Green Book for the Press"- French Proposals Against the Media's Crisis
The Corriere della Sera Foundation has organised a meeting in which was presented the "Livre Vert for the press"- the French proposal against the crisis.
The book's content regards the protective measures taken in France by the President Sarkozy  to save media from the financial crisis. The same proposals will be discussed to tackle the Italian newspapers'crisis by Bernard Spitz, coordinator of the "Etats généraux" of the Printed Press in France, Carlo Malinconico, President of the Italian Federation of the Publishers Newspapers (FIEG), and by Franco Siddi, President of the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI).
http://www.fnsi.it/Default.asp?key=9636&SINGA=S

 Great Britain: Video on Strikers and Supporters Rally in Glasgow
Journalists at the Glasgow-based Daily Record and Sunday Mail are preparing for a substantial escalation in industrial action, following last week's second 24 hour stoppage in the campaign against compulsory redundancies.
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1198

 14 April

 Switzerland: New Editions for Swiss Free Paper Blick am Abend
 Blick am Abend, the free evening sister paper of leading paid tabloid Blick, will have new local editions in Luzern and St. Gallen, in August.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/index.php/2009/01/13/blick-am-abend-expands/
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

Italy: City Selling Books
The Italian free daily newspaper City, owned by the RCS Mediagroup (Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport), is now selling cooking books for €2 on the streets. To sell products is common also for other Italian free newspapers and Spanish one as well.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

Spain: Spanish Press Group Joins Call for EU Aid to Media
The call of the European Federation of Journalists  to the European Union authorities for helping the press through public fund has been joined by the Spain's FAPE journalists association.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=331713&CategoryId=12395

United States: Newspapers Just for Guests in Marriot
Marriott International Inc (MAR.N) will not offer newspapers to its clients.
From the beginning of 1 June , the guests at the company's full-service hotels who opt to receive a newspaper can choose between USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and local city dailies. This change will affect a lot the USA newspapers' industry because most of its daily circulation depends on the big portion of traveling readers which can pick up the same paper all across the country.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUKN1334218420090413?sp=true

Italy: Italian Photojournalism has been protected
The National Federation of the Italian'Press (FNSI) and the Group for the specialization of journalists on the visual information of the Journalists' Association of Lombardia (Gsgiv), asked to the European Commission and the local government to protect the work of photojournalists affected by the financial crisis.
They especially asked for an economical support towards production costs, for a better photographic equipment and also for a new online platform on which it is easier to sell products of their job.
http://www.fnsi.it/Default.asp?key=9608&SINGA=S


United States: Media Insiders Thinks Internet Hurts Journalism
A poll of prominent members of the national news media reveals that nearly two-thirds of them think that Internet is hurting journalism more than it is helping.
The poll has been conducted by The Atlantic and National Journal and it asked 43 media insiders whether, on balance, journalism has been helped more or hurt more by the rise of news consumption online. For the sixty-five percent, journalism has been hurt more, while for the 34 percent it has been helped more. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904u/media-insiders


9 April

Media Innovation to Save Newspapers from Crisis
Yesterday, at the Newspaper Association of America's annual meeting in San Diego, Eric Schmidt, the Google chief executive, opined that the newspaper industry can get out of the crisis only if it accepts the innovating changes which are involving the media.
He suggested a better use of mobile internet services to reduce costs and the creation of  newspapers' platforms that other businesses could work with.
He also spoke about the role of copyright on the internet and how Google could reward publishers for their information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/08/google-eric-schmidt-newspapers

United States: California Pressed by Newspapers' Closing
The Burlingame Daily News, the San Mateo Daily News and the Redwood City Daily News, three free dailies of the ‘Daily News‘ group (the Bay Area News Group, part of NewsMedia), have been closed down.

The Netherlands: A Deal Between De Pers and Wegener
Dutch free daily De Pers is making  a deal with Dutch publisher Wegener (owned by Mecom) to take over part of sales, distribution and printing done by the largest publisher of regional newspapers in the Netherlands.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

Newspapers Try to Increase Web audience
The newspaper industry is creating more online video content in a bid to boost its Web-based audience, according to a new survey by Brightcove Inc. Cambridge-based Brightcove, an online-video technology provider, has over 30 major newspaper-publisher clients in North America, Europe and Asia. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/04/06/daily46.html

A 'Suitcase-Size Studio' for Reuters' Journalists
Journalists for Thomson Reuters are to be equipped with a lightweight and inexpensive portable multimedia suite that has been dubbed at the agency as 'studio in a suitcase'.
It comprises a Tandberg Edge 95 video camera, microphone, lights, tripod and monitor.
At the beginning, it will be used by 60 bureaux in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia to connect to their nearest production centre via the web.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=43499&c=1

ITUC Creates Global Financial Crisis Watch
The International Trade Union Confederation has created a webpage which gives notice of how the global financial crisis has impacted on society, on economy and on groups, looking at the efforts of the International Organizations to find solutions and looking at the proposals for world-wide possibilities to get out of the crisis.
 http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?rubrique262

8 April

Finland: Finnish Working Group to Replace YLE Licence Fee By A Tax
The Helsingin Sanomat, the Finnish national daily newspaper, quoted a parliamentary working group which is proposing to replace the licence fee with a tax levied from everybody, regardless of television or radio ownership, and is thinking to rule out budget funding and advertising of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE).
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/finnish-working-group-would-scrap-yle-licence-fee-report

United States: Web Campaign to Save Minneapolis Paper from Bankruptcy
An online campaign has been organized by the employees of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Monday in an attempt to save the Minnesota newspaper from bankruptcy, declared nearly three months ago.
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090406/tc_afp/usmediaindustrynewspapersinternetstartribune

Analysis: Did Associated Press Made a Costly Mistake?   
A decade ago the Associated Press decided to sell its news content to online portals. At that moment, it may have hastened the decline of the daily newspapers that own this kind of service.
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4730

Ireland: Newspapers Merger on the Track
A Merger deal  was said to be close after talks between the executives from Independent News & Media (INM), the Irish Times and the Associated Newspapers, according to Irish media magazine Marketing. The merger regards  the two Dublin free dailies Herald AM and Metro.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

UK: Fewer Compulsory Redundancies for Independent News & Media
 Independent News & Media had reduced is plans for compulsory redundancy. This deal was reached thanks to the NUJ which last week, in a bulletin, suggested to members at INM negotiations between the union and the management. Although some jobs of the editorial staff  been saved, there is a deep concern about employment of casual workers in the group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/08/independent-compulsory-redundancies-nuj

7 April

China: China to Turn its Media Sector into Business
At a time when Western media see their business models falling apart, China is promoting growth of its state-run publications where management is encouraged to apply firm business principles. The aim is also to obtain a stake in smaller private publishing ventures.
The most important objective, using capital from society, both from major state-owned businesses and non-state sources, is to share the burden of restructuring of media business, despite the tight censorship which affects the press .http://uk.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUKPEK17649620090407?sp=true

 Italy: A Limited Future for Traditional Newspapers
 The director of the European Journalism Observatory, Stephan Russ-Mohl, and the President of the Italian National Association of Journalists, Lorenzo Del Boca, have taken part in the debate "Thinking the unthinkable", chaired by the President of the Umbrian Regional Association of Journalists, Dante Ciliani, during the Journalism's Festival of Perugia. The debate was on the future of the printed newspapers in 10-20 years.
http://www.orangelog.eu/en/topics/int-journalism-festival-perugia/articles/article/article/204/273/

UK: MPs to Stop Expansion of BBC Worldwide
The House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee published a report on the BBC's commercial activities in which it is said that BBC should stop its commercial operations because the controversial deals such as the £118m acquisition of the Lonely Planet travel guides company risked threatening the corporation's reputation.

Press Gazette Magazine Closes
The Wilmington group, owner of the Press Gazette said that the newspaper industry's trade magazine has to be closed but its website will continue to functions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/07/bbc-worldwide-channel-4
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/06/press-gazette-magazine-close

United States: Help or Closure for Boston Globe
The Boston Globe threatens to fold in 30 days unless unions agree to cuts and savings worth $20m (£13m) demanded by owner the New York Times Company. Union leaders have already made some concessions to save the paper including pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company, and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees enjoyed by some veteran employees.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/06/boston-globe-new-york-times-company

Free Papers "First Casualities" of the Recession?
Discussing on the results of the recession for the press, the debate comes down often on free newspapers mentioned as a possible first casualty, because they are totally dependent on advertising. But in most of the cases, different free models tend to be confused.
http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

6 April

EU Worried by Future of Print Media ... for the Publishers
The European Commission has asked the leaders of the newspapers industry to come up with proposals to safeguard the future of the print media which is facing challenges from new and developing technologies. Publishing provides nearly 700,000 jobs in about 80,000 companies across the EU, according to the Commission. It said that publishing SMEs (employing fewer than 250 people and an annual turnover below € 50 million) has a relevant role in civil society because it can guarantee a dynamic print sector which is important for press freedom and culture.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media_taskforce/smes/index_en.htm

UK:  BBC World Service Halts Television Expansion Plans
The BBC World Service has shelved plans for new television services targeted at south-east Asia and parts of Africa, due to the heavy financial burden.  According to Richard Sambrook, the director of BBC Global News, no more separate service could be planned because of the recession in the media.

Spain:  Què! Last edition
Free Spanish Qué! (Vocento) closed the editions in Santander (Cantabria) and San Sebastian (Guipúzcoa).
 http://www.newspaperinnovation.com/

3 April

UK: Channel 4 and Five Debate on Merger
Channel Five and Channel 4 have presented the government conflicting analyses of how a merger between the two broadcasters could work because they have to take a decision on the future of commercially-funded public broadcasting service.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/03/channel-4-five-merger-lord-carter

United States: Gannett to Consolidate Editing of 4 NJ papers
Gannett Co. is planning to consolidate copy editing and page production operations for four New Jersey newspapers.
The Asbury Park Press will house the regional operation at its offices in Neptune. The other three papers are the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, the Courier News of Somervil and the Daily Record of Parsippany. The objective is to eliminate copy editing management jobs at the papers and to replace its with 16 new jobs in Neptune. All hiring for those spots will be from within and after this change 10 managers will lose their jobs. On the other side, those who do not get the positions at Neptune or do not accept transfers are expected to receive severance packages.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gannett-to-consolidate-apf-14818340.html

2 April

Spain: Falling Advertising Revenues Force Spanish Broadcaster into Mergers

Spanish private television broadcaster Telecinco, (owned 50% by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest),  is studying a merger with another broadcaster due to the falling advertising revenues which are hitting many media groups.
Another Spanish television broadcaster, La Sexta, also open to a tie-up due to the dire advertising market, holds a 50 percent stake in Telecinco.
http://www.expatica.com/es/news/local_news/Spain_s-Telecinco-studying-merger-with-other-broadcaster_51205.html

UK: Relaxing of Media Concentration Rules Challenged by Unions and MPs
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has announced that the UK's regional press will decline if the government scraps rules restricting mergers among the large newspaper groups.
More than 100 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the UK government to ask for guarantees about regional journalism before relaxing monopoly regulations or bailing out media companies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/02/nuj-local-newspaper-ownership
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1185

UK: Maxim, just Online
A great change for Maxim, which is closing its UK print edition and will become online, only in Britain, from next month.The last UK issue of the Dennis Publishing title, the June edition, will be on sale from 23 April. It seems that the Maxim's closing puts 12 jobs at risk and there would be a period of consultation about it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/02/maxim-magazine-closes-uk-print-edition

1 April

United States: Bankruptcy Hits the Sun-Times Media Group
The Sun-Times Media Group, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers, is the latest victim of the crisis hitting the US newspaper industry. Despite filing for bankruptcy protection the Group claims it will still be able to maintain its newspapers and online sites.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jAxiHCEL_lHTZQVISaxk73ZscovQ

Iran: Iran daily newspaper Khorshid shuts to cut costs
Iranian state-owned newspaper Khorshid or Sun has been closed as part of government cost-cutting.
The closure of the Khorshid comes after the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's New Year message which urged the government to rein in costs due to the global economic recession.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVU9M4N_DDI6vWLX0pr4jt8568EQ

Online Journalists: the Only Optimists According to a Pew Survey
A recent Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), which surveyed 292 members of the 1,800-person Online News Association, showed that online journalists are optimistic about the future of their profession, much more than their counterparts in legacy media, but they are worried about the media changes caused by the Internet.
 http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=160940

Spain: Madrid Press' Association Asks for a Negotiating Table to Save the Media in Crisis
The president of the Madrid Press' Association (APM), Fernando González Urbaneja, has proposed constituting a negotiating table for establishing measures against the media's crisis. During a press conference, he pressed the Government to intervene more deeply against the newspapers' crisis, criticizing its high interest in the TV but lack of concern about newspapers.

Urbaneja announced that there will be around 5000 journalist job cuts in Spain, following the recent statistics.

http://www.p-es.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2868&Itemid=62