Category Archive

Bloggers, after all, have always been a part of history – read Daniel Defoe, Samuel Pepys or James Boswell. The same is true for citizen journalists: just check out first-hand accounts of any big historical event. The difference now is the scale of distribution and the ability to search. Because of this, we in the media industry face a profound challenge, as significant and transformational as Internet 1.0.

…

First, we need to be “seeders of clouds.”…

Second, we need to be ‘the provider of tools.’ This means promoting open standards and interoperability, which will allow a diverse set of customer-creators to combine disparate types of content….

Third, we must improve our skills as the “filter and editor.” Media have always had these functions. The world will always need editing: consumers place value in others making decisions about what is good and what is not.

…

The internet was not invented just to show a replica of yesterday’s newspaper with a few banner advertisements. We cannot be the choke-hold, blocking the new creators in a bid to protect our legacy businesses.
—Tom Glocer on News Tools vs News

It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what’s going on.
—Amos Tversky

Media General
Media General has implemented many difficult but necessary expense reductions that strengthen our ability to weather the deep recession and recognize the reduced revenue streams available in our business. As a result, we are in a stronger position to take advantage of an economic recovery. We saw the rate of classified advertising declines abate somewhat in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2009, mostly in the automotive category, and particularly in our Florida, Virginia and Alabama markets. The decline in retail advertising in the current period was also less severe than in the first quarter of 2009.

Under the new structure, our leaders are responsible for the success of all of our media properties within a defined market area, not just a particular media platform…without allegiance to a particular media platform.
—Marshall Morton, CEO Media General

New York Times
“We’re seeing a loosening up of some of the ad budgets that were very much rock solidly closed in first half of the year.”
—NYT on 2Q09 Earnings call

We are undertaking quantitative and qualitative research as to how many of our readers would be willing to pay for online content, and how much they would pay. At this time, our work is centered on a metered model and a Times membership model with special offerings.
—Janet Robinson, CEO, NYT

While we continued to experience a very difficult economic climate in the quarter as well as secular changes affecting the entire media industry, we made significant progress in decreasing our cost base and reducing and restructuring our debt. Advertising revenues decreased across all major categories although the rate of decline lessened throughout the quarter. As we continue our transition from a company focused primarily on print to one that is increasingly digital in focus and multiplatform in delivery, online advertising revenues are a more important part of our mix. They made up 21 percent of our ad revenues in the quarter, up from 18 percent in the same period a year ago.

Circulation revenues increased 1.5 percent as a result of higher newsstand and subscription prices for The Times, The Boston Globe and some of our regional newspapers. We believe this shows the value our newspapers provide day in, day out to our readers.

Based on what we have seen so far in July, we expect the advertising environment to continue to be challenging. We believe the rate of decline will moderate slightly in the third quarter from what we experienced in the second quarter.

—Janet Robinson, president and CEO, NYT

Newsprint expense declined 24.5 percent, with 22.8 percent from lower consumption and 1.7 percent from lower pricing

There is a real danger this is going to be a double dip and that after six months or so we’ll have some more bad news. We could slide down again in the fourth quarter.

–Martin Feldstein on the double dip

And now, reaching for number two on the College Campus Bestseller List

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
What is it with zombies?!

—Foreclosures up 15% YoY, 1H09 v 1H08
—New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut foreclosure rates for 1H09: .3%, .68% and .61%
—National Foreclosure rate, 1H09: 1.19%
—Total filings in Q2, up 20%, YoY
—Foreclosure filing declines in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, 2Q09 v 2Q08: -14.7%, -27.5%, & -38.7%, respectively
—Foreclosure filing increased in New York & New Jersey, Q2 v Q1: 24% and 6.9%

The free fall of the economy has stopped. The economy is still contracting but slowly. We should continue with fiscal stimulus and we might need a second one.
—Nouriel Roubini

Notes on identity from the Guardian

We should have a better system for reserve currency issuance and regulation, so that we can maintain relative stability of major reserve currencies exchange rates and promote a diversified and rational international reserve currency system

—Dai Bingguo, said Chinese state councillor at the G8, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, via FT

There may come a time in the future when we think that a small, modest exposure to the renminbi – notwithstanding it being a non-convertible currency still – may be something that we may pursue. But we don’t have any plans at this moment, any concrete plans… A bit of diversification won’t hurt us.

—Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority

It’s really quite rational for somebody like Goldman, who of course made a lot of money on the backbone of risk coming into the crisis, after being bailed out, to increase risk as a natural extension of that strategy. The government has created those incentives.

It would be disingenuous to ignore the government assistance in helping to generate those earnings. Those institutions, especially Goldman, played their cards really beautifully obtaining that assistance and using that to help them weather the crisis.

—Joseph Mason, a banking professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge who previously worked at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency