MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST APR 23: PEARSON INDIA & CHINA MOVE: AUSSIE TOP GEAR LINEUP
April 23rd 2008 02:45
ACP ANNOUNCES EDITORIAL LINE UP FOR JUNE LAUNCH OF TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA MAGAZINE
ACP Magazines today announced three senior editorial appointments for BBC Top Gear Australia magazine, set to launch on June 30, 2008.
Ewen Page will be editor in chief, Top Gear. He was previously editor at Wheels, Motor, Street Machine and Auto Action. He was most recently editor-in-chief of FHM.
Page played an integral role in the launch of Zoo Weekly, having helped develop the Australian dummy version in the UK and worked as the title’s deputy editor in Australia.
Production editor Tim Robson is a former editor Motor magazine. Before that he was editor of motor racing weekly, Auto Action, and enthusiast monthly, Australian Mountain Bike.
Top Gear Australia is the first masthead to launch under the new publishing partnership between ACP Magazines and BBC Magazines.
Top Gear is already the world’s number one motoring media entity, with television audiences in more than 120 countries, and over 20 international versions of the magazine in 40 territories.
DESTRA AUSTRALIA FALLS – NEW INTERIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO OVERSEE A COMPREHENSIVE COMPANY REVIEW
The Australian yesterday reported that the “Opes Prime meltdown has snared yet more high-profile victims – Destra's Dominic Carosa and his crew have fallen on their swords as a result of the stockbroking firm's collapse.”
At a Destra board meeting in Melbourne yesterday, the chief executive and all non-executive directors tendered their resignations.
A new interim board, to be led by David Gordon as executive chairman, has been appointed
This is Destra’s statement to the Australian Securities Exchange:
Australia’s destra Corporation Ltd announced a new interim board of directors and a comprehensive review of the company’s strategy and business activities
This follows the completion of destra’s A$15 million rights issue, underwritten by Prime Media Group Ltd, and in which Prime has increased its shareholding in destra to approximately 44 percent.
All of destra’s non-executive directors resigned at a board meeting held in Melbourne today with the exception of Warwick Syphers, managing director and ceo of Prime.
In addition, Domenic Carosa has stepped aside as ceo and as a director of destra. He will continue to provide his services as a consultant to the company.
A new interim board has been appointed comprising David Gordon, principal of Lexicon Partners, as executive chairman, with non-executive directors Warwick Syphers and Peter Evans, who is also a non-executive director of Prime.
Lexicon Partners is a Sydney-based advisory and investment firm that has worked with many of Australia’s major media businesses.
destra’s new board has announced a comprehensive review of the company’s strategy and business activities, led by Lexicon Partners and involving management. The review will include all parts of the business and will address issues including business unit and corporate strategy, the integration and consolidation of operations and the capital requirements for the company moving forward.
Incoming executive chairman David Gordon said, “The new board will increase the focus given to consolidating the company’s recent acquisitions. Our objective is to introduce a stronger performance culture into all aspects of management.”
Warwick Syphers said, “The successful completion of destra’s rights issue enables the company to reassess and review its operational and strategic options. This review will also focus on emerging opportunities in the digital media space, appropriate resourcing, and positioning destra for future growth.
“David Gordon is one of Australia’s pre-eminent corporate advisors in the media industry and has had a long term association with Prime. David and Lexicon Partners have Prime’s full support.”
Outgoing destra co-founder and ceo Domenic Carosa confirmed his support of the new board.
“destra has been one of the pioneers in digital media over the last 15 years and I will always be proud of destra and my role in the company’s creation. destra is now entering a new phase and I have full confidence that David Gordon and Prime will take it to the next level,” he said.
destra Corporation Ltd is Australia’s leading independent (non-studio) digital media company. Its two core divisions are: destra Entertainment, one of the largest CD and DVD publishers in Australia (incorporating independent film and DVD distributor Magna Pacific); and destra Media, operator of numerous online communities including MP3.com.au, TheScene.com.au, Planet X, and Niceshorts.com.au (short films).
Destra media also incorporates Brand New Media, which creates, sells and markets a diverse range of media content to advertisers and their agencies.
Lexicon Partners is a Sydney-based corporate advisory and investment firm that has and continues to work with many of Australia’s major media businesses.
WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS BOARDROOM TUSSLE TODAY EXPECTED TO BE CLOSE CALL
Media tycoon Kerry Stokes' bid to roll West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd's board at an extraordinary general meeting today is expected to be a close call, according to AAP.
Independent media analyst Peter Cox said it was hard to tell how voting will go on Wednesday, when shareholders will decide whether to oust all but one WAN director, managing director Ken Steinke, and add Stokes and Seven director Peter Gammell to the five member board.
WAN chairman Peter Mansell told AAP it was too early to tell how voting was shaping up, given it was a complicated process involving three proxy forms for each shareholder.
He said proxy votes closed at about 1630 AEST Monday and he would have a better idea of where WAN stood once proxy counting is complete on Tuesday afternoon.
AUSSIE FUNNY BLOKE INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME
Australia’s TV Week said that satirist John Clarke will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the landmark 50th Annual TV Week Logie Awards next month.
John Clarke is being recognised for his contribution to the Australian television industry, through work as performer, writer and director.
Since arriving in Australia in 1977, the New Zealand-born comic has wooed the Australian public. He began with his trademark political satire ‘interviews’ alongside comedian Bryan Dawe on ABC radio, then moved to A Current Affair, where they were a part of the program for many years. The pair can still be seen weekly on The 7.30 Report.
John’s collaborations over the years with Australia’s leading performers – including Graham Kennedy, Max Gillies, Geoffrey Rush, Andrew Denton, Sam Neill and Gina Riley – have produced comedy gold, while his prolific writing career has spanned drama series Anzacs to acclaimed mockumentary The Games.
Clarke is now in the company of past Hall of Fame recipients such as Hector Crawford (1984), Ken G Hall (1985), Neil Davis (1986), Paul Hogan (1987), Bert Newton (1988), Bryan Brown (1989), John Young (1990), James Davern (1991), Four Corners (1992), Reg Grundy (1993), Charles "Bud" Tingwell (1994), Jack Thompson (1995), Maurie Fields (1996), Garry McDonald (1997), Graham Kennedy (1998), Mike Walsh (1999), Bruce Gyngell (2000), Ruth Cracknell (2001), Mike Willesee (2002), Don Lane (2003), Sam Chisholm (2004), Neighbours (2005), Play School (2006) and Steve Irwin (2007).
The TV Week Hall Of Fame Award is presented to a nationally known individual or program for an outstanding and sustained contribution to Australian television. Recipients of this award will have shown commitment and passion through their work – ultimately contributing to the enrichment of Australian television. While this is a lifetime achievement award, recipients may yet have further work of significance to be accomplished.
The 50th Annual TV Week Logie Awards will be held on Sunday, May 4, and televised on the Nine Network.
GERMANY’S FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE FESSES UP TO SPYING ON JOURNALIST
Deutsche Welle reports that Germany's foreign intelligence service acknowledged, and apologized, for having spied on a German journalist.
It was not the first time German agents have been caught keeping tabs on reporters. The Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) read e-mail correspondence that Susanne Koelbl, an editor at the German newsweekly Der Spiegel, had exchanged with an Afghani politician between June and November, 2006, according to a report that broke in Spiegel in the edition of the magazine published on Monday.
BND chief Ernst Uhrlau informed Koelbl of its actions on Friday and apologised at the same time. Koelbl has been reporting for years for the magazine from crisis areas in Asia's Hindu Kush mountain region.
The case is expected to be discussed by the parliamentary control committee of the Bundestag on Wednesday, the magazine reported. The committee is responsible for monitoring the BND.
Germany saw a scandal involving the BND spying on journalists back in 2006. At the time, a report emerged from the parliamentary committee acknowledging that intelligence agents had illegally spied on journalists to expose their sources.
RADIO NETHERLANDS WORLDWIDE JOURNALIST BARRED FROM ISRAEL
Radio Netherlands reports that Dutch journalist Abir Sarras, who works for Radio Netherlands Worldwide, was arrested Sunday night at Tel Aviv airport, and was told that she was refused entry to Israel.
Sarras is of Palestinian descent and holds dual Dutch and Palestinian nationality. She was planning to produce a series of reports about the 60-year existence of the state of Israel. Abir Sarras, who was born in Jerusalem, has held dual Dutch and Palestinian nationality since 2001. She began working for Radio Netherlands Worldwide last year as an editor for the Arabic desk.
According to the Dutch ambassador in Tel Aviv, the Israeli authorities’ official reason for arresting Ms Sarras was that the last time she left the country, she did so via the border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.
As a Palestinian, she could only return by that same border crossing and not, as she did, via Tel Aviv airport.
The Israeli ambassador was unavailable for comment.
FINANCIAL TIMES GROUP PLANS TO LAUNCH MAGAZINE IN CHINA
Reuters reports that Britain's Financial Times Group aims to launch its first Chinese-language magazine ahead of the Summer Olympics in Beijing to target China's increasingly affluent professionals.
The magazine would be the first in China to be published in Chinese by a wholly foreign-owned company instead of as a joint venture with Chinese investment.
English-language magazines such as Time magazine and the Economist can be sold and distributed through government-designated channels for import.
Reuters reports, “If successful, the new monthly magazine would be a coup for the Financial Times and its London-based parent, Pearson Plc, which compete with News Corp (and its The Wall Street Journal in China.
Called Rui, the Chinese word for intelligence, the magazine will have original content about wealth management and the lifestyle of China's growing business ranks, as well as stories translated from FT publications such as FT Wealth, an English-language quarterly supplement relaunched this year.
MURDOCH TIPPED TO BE READY TO BUY TRIBUNE CO’S NEWSDAY
Rupert Murdoch seems intent on buying up New York. The Wall Street Journal reports that he is now close to a US$580 million deal with Tribune Co to acquire Newsday.
Citing sources "familiar with the situation," WSJ says the terms would put the Long Island paper in a joint venture with the New York Post and some non-newspaper assets; News Corp would own most with Tribune holding less than 5 percent.
The Wall Street Journal said, “The Newsday deal is expected to wipe out as much as $50 million in annual losses News Corp now incurs on the Post, with the combined Newsday-Post operation earning roughly $50 million.
“. ... Advisers for the two sides are still getting comfortable with the regulatory and tax aspects of the deal, people familiar with the situation said. An announcement of a deal could be some time away.”
PRICE OF OIL TO FALL TO US$5 A BARREL ACCORDING TO THE ECONOMIST – IN 1999
The International Herald Tribune this week took a walk down publishing memory lane, pointing out that only nine years ago The Economist ran big with a story on oil, which was then selling at US$10 a barrel.
The magazine suggested this price may not last, and the price of oil could fall to $5 a barrel.
At the time the International herald Tribune ran that blast form the recent past, the price of oil was $117 a barrel.
DISGRACED RUSSIAN TABLOID PUTS ITS WEB SITE BACK ON LINE
Moscow Times reports that the web site of a Russian tabloid reappeared on Monday, three days after suspending operations following the publication of a story claiming that President Vladimir Putin had left his wife to marry a 24-year-old former Olympic gymnast.
It was still unclear late Monday whether the paper, Moskovsky Korrespondent, would itself remain in publication.
Billionaire Alexander Lebedev, whose National Media Company publishes the paper, said on Monday that the “reasons behind closing of the newspaper are purely economic,” Kommersant reported.
Artyom Artyomov, the company's director, told the same newspaper that Moskovsky Korrespondent is “being suspended” and that he is not going to allocate any more money to it, but that there is enough cash left in its accounts to cover severance pay for the staff.
“Chances that publication of this newspaper would be resumed are small,” he said.
WALL STREET JOURNAL THE MOST WIDELY READ DAILY NEWS PUBLICATION AMONG SENIOR ASIAN EXECS
Media Asia reports that the Wall Street Journal is the most widely read daily news publication among senior business executives in Asia, followed by the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune, according to the BE:ASIA 2008 survey by media research organisation Ipsos.
Time is the region’s most popular newsweekly, while Business Week is the top business magazine. The survey also indicated that the publication rivaled The Economist as publication of choice among chief executives.
Forbes has the highest fortnightly readership, followed by Fortune.
National Geographic led Readers’ Digest as the monthly publication of choice.
CNN led the field in cable TV news programming, while Yahoo and Google attracted the highest number of visitors among online news sites.
The survey examined the reading habits of a total of 239,743 senior executives from 49,278 companies across eight regional markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.
READING HABITS OF ASIA’S BUSINESS ELITE REMAINS STRONG, ACCORDING TO READERSHIP SURVEY
Marketing reports that despite the numerous reports of the decline of print readership, the reading habits of Asia's business elite remains strong.
The 2008 BE:Asia (formerly ABRS) readership survey from Ipsos Media shows readership among Asia's senior business executives across print and online continues to increase.
More than 70 percent of this lucrative audience reads more than one of the region's international publications, up from 66 percent in 2004 and 68 percent in 2006.
Jenny Armshaw-Heak, business development director Asia for Ipsos Media, said elite business readers, “have a voracious appetite for information from a variety of sources.
“What we are seeing is not the simple substitution of one medium for another but, with usage of all media up across the board, a desire for richer sources of knowledge and business information drawn from print, television and online."
WALL STREET MANAGING EDITOR TO QUIT AFTER ONLY ELEVEN MONTHS IN JOB
Time magazine’s web site was the first to report that sources at Dow Jones say that Marcus Brauchli, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is submitting a letter of resignation, with his departure to be announced as early as this morning.
The separation is said to be amicable and Brauchli is likely to stay with the company in a yet-to-be-determined capacity. One source says a search is already underway for the next managing editor.
New York Times says that friends and colleagues say that Brauchli, who has been in the job only 11 months, has been frustrated with some changes, and with the sense that he did not have the control over the newspaper that he was promised.
Wall Street Journal reports that its publisher, Robert Thomson, may take over as interim managing editor of the paper.
Washington Post noted that in an interview last month, Brauchli said Murdoch was "very engaged" with the paper but defended the newsroom's independence, adding that Murdoch sets "broad objectives" and lets his editors figure out how to meet them.
FREESHEETS NO LONGER THE GREAT BLACK AND WHITE HOPE OF THE NEWSPAPER WORLD AS THEY RACK UP LOSSES
Free daily newspapers, or freesheets, felt to be the last great black and white hope of the print world, are also hurting in this grim period.
This week MediaBlab reported that Murdoch’s London freesheet racked up enormous losses in its first part-year of operation..
Now Metro International SA, the pioneer and biggest publisher of free daily papers around the world, reports that its revenue fell 6.1 percent to Euro73.4 million, A$124 million), in the first quarter from a year earlier.
The company, which has a daily circulation of 23 million copies in 23 countries, was hit by problems like those facing traditional newspapers: a drop in advertising revenue and competition from other free papers.
So, like traditional newspapers, Metro is cutting jobs, shutting some papers, and planning to boost its online operations. Last month, it launched a Metro internet site, which it hopes will generate online advertising.
"The US market is probably the worst it has been since the 1930s for media companies," Metro chief executive Per Mikael Jensen said in an interview on Monday.
Metro, registered in Luxembourg and with headquarters in London, posted a net loss of Euro5.6 million for the first quarter compared with a loss of Euro10 million a year earlier. The net loss narrowed in part because of tighter controls on costs, including the closure of a paper in Poland. Metro is reviewing the fate of its Metro papers in New York, Boston and Philadelphia and could sell them to another media company, Mr. Jensen said. The three papers lost Euro2 million in the first quarter.
PEARSON NOW PLANS A DAILY BUSINESS NEWSPAPER IN INDIA, AFTER EXITING FROM ITS BUSINESS STANDARD DEAL
No sooner did MediaBlab announces that Pearson was exiting India by selling its share of a Business Standard, than the company turns around and announces it is hoping to boost its name in India, with plans to start a new daily business newspaper there.
The newspaper industry has been expanding in India thanks to advertisers trying to reach India's increasingly wealthy middle class.
India already has at least five business dailies, including HT Media Ltd.'s Indian business daily Mint, which receives exclusive content from The Wall Street Journal. But Pearson hopes that a paper backed by respected names in journalism will be able stand out and expects the new paper to launch as early as December.
Pearson's local partner is Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd., which controls India's largest business news television channel, CNBC-TV18.
As MediaBlab reported earlier this week, The Financial Times has ended its 15-year relationship with the Business Standard, which will have access to FT content until the end of this year, because of Pearson's new focus of developing the FT as a global publication, thus departing from its other ventures in continental Europe.
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