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11 Jul 2011 14:22

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World: News Corp. hacking scandal spreads to second paper

  • worse Shareholders owning stock in News Corp have sued the company in the wake of the shutdown of News of the World. The shareholders own less than 1 percent of the company combined. They’re also suing because News Corp took over Shine Group, Ltd., a company owned by Rupert Murdoch’s daughter.
  • worser Another News Corp. paper, The Sunday Times, has been accused of using identity theft (“blagging”) to steal personal information from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, including information on Brown’s son — possibly leading to their early reporting on his cystic fibrosis. That means TWO papers are now implicated. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jul 2011 11:56

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World: Rupert Murdoch’s son James liable in News of The World hack?

You would not believe the kind of migraine a long-term phone-hacking scandal causes. The younger Murdoch could face charges in both the U.S. and UK over the allegations. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2011 13:28

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World: News of the World shut down because it’s the easy way out

  • So what to do? Cut your losses. Fold the paper. Wash your hands of the whole ordeal. You can expect News Corp’s rhetoric about ‘moving on’ to start today. And that’s how you get out of a scandal with all the top executives’ jobs intact.
  • Hamilton Nolan, editor at Gawker • speaking brilliantly about the end of the News of the World. Basically, they were going downhill fast because of their hacking scandal. Instead of actually working through it, it seems like Rupert Murdoch’s son, the owner of the paper, took the easy way out and just shut the paper down. That way, they don’t have to worry about advertising, or damage control, or anything else that goes on with a scandal like this. Ultimately, News Corp. is a business that focuses on making money on top of its journalism. And it didn’t look like NOTW would be making any money for a long, long time. So they picked their best option. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Mar 2011 20:26

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Biz: James Murdoch being prepped for News Corp. takeover?

James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch, has been promoted to Deputy COO of News Corp. This move is widely considered a step towards his eventual takeover of the company. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 11:09

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Politics: LOL: Media Matters wins lunch with Rupert Murdoch in auction

  • $86,000 to ruin some rich guy’s meal source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 11:00

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Biz: News Corp. dude complains about mobile “cannibalizing” sales

  • The problem with the apps is that they are much more directly cannibalistic of the print products than the website. People interact with it much more like they do with the traditional product.
  • News Corp. Europe and Asia head (and Rupert’s kid) James Murdoch • Explaining why mobile apps are a danger to his company’s business model. Sorry James, but if you don’t like it, deal with it. The two papers that you’ve put behind paywalls so far have lost most of their readership, so clearly you understand your market. Oh, who are we kidding? You have no clue about the online or mobile spaces. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2010 10:45

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Biz: Rupert Murdoch’s paywall test doing (slightly) better than expected

  • 105k number of subscribers the Times of London has for its paywall-enforced Web sites
  • 100k number of print subscribers who also get online subscriptions as part of the deal
  • 42% the decline in the paper’s online traffic, which is much less than the 90 percent estimated source
  • » So is it a success? Depends on your definition of success. While the paper certainly is doing better than other strict paywall models (looking at you Newsday, which we did a whole tongue-in-cheek series on a while back), it isn’t exactly killing it. What the 105,000 number doesn’t tell you is that only half of those subscribers are regular readers – which, for a paper of its size, is kinda low. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the New York Times goes paywall starting next year.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

30 Oct 2010 20:00

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Biz: Cablevision, Fox finally settle whiny baby dispute – after two weeks

  • 14 number of days the cable network stalemate went on
  • 3M number of customers affected by the cable stalemate
  • eight MLB playoff games (and two weeks of football) went off the air source
  • » Why did the stalemate last so long? Well, Cablevision wanted regulatory intervention from the government, who wanted the two companies to decide things for themselves. Usually, these things last two days, tops. And it’s possible that the long stalemate has hurt Fox’s overall ratings, which are down 17 percent from a year ago. To both of these companies: Who benefits from this?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 10:29

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Politics: Rupert Murdoch definitely isn’t shy about campaign donations

  • $1 million went to the Republican Governors’ Association source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 12:05

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Biz: Would you buy a tablet-only Rupert Murdoch newspaper?

  • Only if the app is better than the WSJ app. The News Corp. main man may not win any points for his paywall push or his insanely-slow Wall Street Journal app, but he’s going to make another run at the model, instead focusing on the general interest. “We’ll have young people reading newspapers,” Murdoch said during a recent earnings call. “It’s a real game changer in the presentation of news.” Just don’t make it take five minutes to download like the WSJ app. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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