This is an excerpt--to read the complete article, click here.
Star Tribune files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Facing sharp revenue declines, the newspaper seeks bankruptcy protection, hoping to cut costs and restructure debt.
By DAVID PHELPS, Star Tribune
Last update: January 16, 2009 - 6:31 AM
The Star Tribune, saddled with high debt and a sharp decline in print advertising, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition Thursday night.
Minnesota's largest newspaper will try to use bankruptcy to restructure its debt and lower its labor costs.
Chris Harte, the paper's publisher, said the filing would have no impact on home delivery, advertising, newsgathering or any other aspects of the paper's operations.
"We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to make this great Twin Cities institution stronger, leaner and more efficient so that it is well positioned to benefit when economic conditions begin to improve," Harte said in a statement.
The filing, which was made with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the southern district of New York, had been expected for months. It follows several missed payments to the paper's lenders, and it comes less than two years after a private equity group, New York-based Avista Capital Partners, bought the paper for $530 million.
In its filing, the newspaper listed assets of $493.2 million and liabilities of $661.1 million.
Like most newspapers, the Star Tribune has experienced a sharp decline in print advertising. Its earnings before interest, taxes and debt payments were about $26 million in 2008, down from about $59 million in 2007 and $115 million in 2004.
The Star Tribune, with Sunday circulation of 552,000, is the 10th-largest Sunday newspaper in the U.S. Its daily circulation of 334,000 makes it the 15th-largest daily based on circulation. The paper's website, StarTribune.com, averaged 76 million page views per month during the past six months, placing it among the top 10 newspaper websites in the nation.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
TUFW Writing Students, Professor in Crash
From Wednesday's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:
3 Taylor vehicles in Kosciusko pileup
Kelly SoderlundThe Journal Gazette
A caravan of Taylor University-Fort Wayne vehicles was involved in a chain-reaction crash on U.S. 30 in Kosciusko County on Wednesday morning. None of the injuries reported was life-threatening.
A group of 19 students and one professor were traveling to Chicago to visit publishers as part of an English class for professional writing majors, Taylor spokesman Jim Garringer said.
Snowy weather and poor road conditions led to the accident involving three Taylor vehicles and other tractor-trailer rigs and cars on the road.
One Taylor van and two university-owned cars sustained severe damage. The van was destroyed by fire after all of the passengers left the vehicle, said Tim Sammons of the Pierceton Police Department.
Sammons said the injuries included from possible broken ribs and back and neck pain; none appeared life-threatening.
Six students and one professor from Taylor were taken to area hospitals, four to Whitley County and three to Kosciusko County.
Two students taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital were released, Garringer said.
No other serious injuries were reported, he said, but five other students went to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne to be checked out.
“We’re just incredibly grateful to God that these are not more serious than what they appear to be,” Garringer added.
The series of crashes began when an SUV rear-ended a tractor-trailer rig at U.S. 30 and Indiana 13, Sammons said. The vehicles then pulled over to the side of the road.
Another truck traveling west slowed as it approached the intersection and was rear-ended by the Taylor van.
A Taylor-owned Ford Taurus then rear-ended the van, sending the car spinning into a ditch and leaving the van spinning in the road.
A second Taylor-owned Ford Taurus tried to miss the van and clipped a Jeep Liberty that was stopped at Indiana 13. The Taurus then T-boned another car, police said.
Everyone got out of the van, but it began to smoke, then was destroyed by fire.
3 Taylor vehicles in Kosciusko pileup
Kelly SoderlundThe Journal Gazette
A caravan of Taylor University-Fort Wayne vehicles was involved in a chain-reaction crash on U.S. 30 in Kosciusko County on Wednesday morning. None of the injuries reported was life-threatening.
A group of 19 students and one professor were traveling to Chicago to visit publishers as part of an English class for professional writing majors, Taylor spokesman Jim Garringer said.
Snowy weather and poor road conditions led to the accident involving three Taylor vehicles and other tractor-trailer rigs and cars on the road.
One Taylor van and two university-owned cars sustained severe damage. The van was destroyed by fire after all of the passengers left the vehicle, said Tim Sammons of the Pierceton Police Department.
Sammons said the injuries included from possible broken ribs and back and neck pain; none appeared life-threatening.
Six students and one professor from Taylor were taken to area hospitals, four to Whitley County and three to Kosciusko County.
Two students taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital were released, Garringer said.
No other serious injuries were reported, he said, but five other students went to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne to be checked out.
“We’re just incredibly grateful to God that these are not more serious than what they appear to be,” Garringer added.
The series of crashes began when an SUV rear-ended a tractor-trailer rig at U.S. 30 and Indiana 13, Sammons said. The vehicles then pulled over to the side of the road.
Another truck traveling west slowed as it approached the intersection and was rear-ended by the Taylor van.
A Taylor-owned Ford Taurus then rear-ended the van, sending the car spinning into a ditch and leaving the van spinning in the road.
A second Taylor-owned Ford Taurus tried to miss the van and clipped a Jeep Liberty that was stopped at Indiana 13. The Taurus then T-boned another car, police said.
Everyone got out of the van, but it began to smoke, then was destroyed by fire.
Monday, January 12, 2009
12 Major Media Likely to Close in 2009
From 247 Wall Street -- this is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
Twelve Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009
No one working in the media industry will ever have seen a year as bad as 2009 will be. The sharp slide in advertising began in 2008, and, based on the worsening economy, there is no reason to think that advertising will improve.
Most Wall St. analysts have predicted a harsh year for the ad business. If the downturn deepens and unemployment rises above 10% most predictions about media, no matter how negative, will have been unexpectedly optimistic.
The most endangered of the media sectors is the newspaper industry. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Denver's Rocky Mountain News have already been slated for closing if they do not find buyers. They won't. The Miami Herald is on the block. Due to the remarkably poor real estate environment in South Florida, this property is unlikely to find a new home.
National newspaper chains Journal Register and Gatehouse have been delisted from the NYSE and are likely to try to auction off their operations. McClatchy (MNI), the third largest chain in the country, will struggle to make its debt service.
Scores of papers, large and small, will fold this year. Newspaper expert Alan Mutter recently wrote that any paper in a major city with two dailies is in tremendous trouble.
The magazine industry is not in much better shape although its very sharp downturn did not begin until last year. Conde Nast recently closed Men's Vogue and cut back the frequency and online operations of Portfolio. Media giant Meredith recently closed Country Home.
Two months ago, PC Magazine said it would close its print edition and operate only online. According to MIN, at least a dozen major magazines had ad page decreases of more than 20% last year including US News & World Report, Rolling Stone, Boating, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, More, and Smart Money.
A number of these magazines also had sharp page drops in their January editions. With advertising expenditures likely to fall throughout the year, it is hard to imagine how many men's magazines, car publications, food, and shelter magazines will be able to stay afloat in segments of the industry which are already crowded.
A year ago, most analysts expected that the online marketing business would be largely recession-proof. It is now clear that this is not true.
Twelve Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009
No one working in the media industry will ever have seen a year as bad as 2009 will be. The sharp slide in advertising began in 2008, and, based on the worsening economy, there is no reason to think that advertising will improve.
Most Wall St. analysts have predicted a harsh year for the ad business. If the downturn deepens and unemployment rises above 10% most predictions about media, no matter how negative, will have been unexpectedly optimistic.
The most endangered of the media sectors is the newspaper industry. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Denver's Rocky Mountain News have already been slated for closing if they do not find buyers. They won't. The Miami Herald is on the block. Due to the remarkably poor real estate environment in South Florida, this property is unlikely to find a new home.
National newspaper chains Journal Register and Gatehouse have been delisted from the NYSE and are likely to try to auction off their operations. McClatchy (MNI), the third largest chain in the country, will struggle to make its debt service.
Scores of papers, large and small, will fold this year. Newspaper expert Alan Mutter recently wrote that any paper in a major city with two dailies is in tremendous trouble.
The magazine industry is not in much better shape although its very sharp downturn did not begin until last year. Conde Nast recently closed Men's Vogue and cut back the frequency and online operations of Portfolio. Media giant Meredith recently closed Country Home.
Two months ago, PC Magazine said it would close its print edition and operate only online. According to MIN, at least a dozen major magazines had ad page decreases of more than 20% last year including US News & World Report, Rolling Stone, Boating, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, More, and Smart Money.
A number of these magazines also had sharp page drops in their January editions. With advertising expenditures likely to fall throughout the year, it is hard to imagine how many men's magazines, car publications, food, and shelter magazines will be able to stay afloat in segments of the industry which are already crowded.
A year ago, most analysts expected that the online marketing business would be largely recession-proof. It is now clear that this is not true.
Seattle P-I May Sell or Die
From Editor and Publisher. This is an excerpt--to read the entire article, click here.
NEW YORK The Seattle Post-Intelligencer confimed Friday afternoon that it is being put up for sale by parent company Hearst, and will either close or possibly become a Web-only product if a sale is not completed.
"One thing is clear: at the end of the sale process, we do not see ourselves publishing in print," Steven Swartz, president of the Hearst Corp.'s newspaper division, said in a Web story.
Swartz addressed the P-I's newsroom at about noon Friday, flanked by P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby and Lincoln Millstein, Hearst's senior vice president for digital media, the P-I reported.
Hearst said in a statement that if the P-I is not sold within 60 days, it will "pursue other options" for the property. These include a move to a digital-only operation with a greatly reduced staff or a complete shutdown.
NEW YORK The Seattle Post-Intelligencer confimed Friday afternoon that it is being put up for sale by parent company Hearst, and will either close or possibly become a Web-only product if a sale is not completed.
"One thing is clear: at the end of the sale process, we do not see ourselves publishing in print," Steven Swartz, president of the Hearst Corp.'s newspaper division, said in a Web story.
Swartz addressed the P-I's newsroom at about noon Friday, flanked by P-I editor and publisher Roger Oglesby and Lincoln Millstein, Hearst's senior vice president for digital media, the P-I reported.
Hearst said in a statement that if the P-I is not sold within 60 days, it will "pursue other options" for the property. These include a move to a digital-only operation with a greatly reduced staff or a complete shutdown.
The Media and Kurt Warner's Faith
There's a really neat story about Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner currently appearing on Dr. Robert Kellemen's blog. Here is an excerpt. To read the entire story, click here.
"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am." - Kurt Warner
It has become part of the sports landscape. Athletes congregate on the field after a game to pray or offer a sound bite thanking a higher power.
It rarely makes the news.
Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner understands this. The man who led this organization to its first home playoff game since 1947 knows that discussion about resurrections comes only in the context of career revivals and that tape recorders shut off when faith references start up.
During a visit to The Oprah Winfrey Show, Warner "basically had three sentences to say, so, in the middle one, I made sure I mentioned my faith, because how could they cut it out?" he said. "I went to watch the show on replay . . . and they cut it out!"
Warner, 37, is right. There is dishonesty in telling his story if you ignore what drives him, especially if you accept its role in one of the NFL's great success stories. In five years, he went from a 22-year-old stock boy at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grocery store to Super Bowl MVP. He has morphed again, from unemployed veteran to record-setting starting quarterback with the Cardinals, who on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., will try to advance to the NFC Championship Game by beating the Carolina Panthers.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Oops--Plagiarist Caught, Blog Shut Down
This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
NEW YORK (AP) - Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said Tuesday that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post.
As a result, Walsch's blog on the spirituality Web site Beliefnet.com has been shut down. The Web site said in a statement that Walsch had failed to properly credit and attribute material from another author.
Walsch had written about what he described as his son's holiday concert two decades ago in which children were to hold up letters spelling "Christmas Love." One of the children held the "m" upside down, so the audience got the message "Christwas Love," according to the retelling.
Author Candy Chand said in an interview Tuesday that she stumbled onto Walsch's post when she ran "Christmas Love" through an Internet search engine. She immediately recognized her own words, from her story based on her son's kindergarten Christmas pageant. She contacted Walsch and Beliefnet.
NEW YORK (AP) - Neale Donald Walsch, best-selling author of "Conversations with God," said Tuesday that he unwittingly passed off another writer's Christmas anecdote as his own in a recent blog post.
As a result, Walsch's blog on the spirituality Web site Beliefnet.com has been shut down. The Web site said in a statement that Walsch had failed to properly credit and attribute material from another author.
Walsch had written about what he described as his son's holiday concert two decades ago in which children were to hold up letters spelling "Christmas Love." One of the children held the "m" upside down, so the audience got the message "Christwas Love," according to the retelling.
Author Candy Chand said in an interview Tuesday that she stumbled onto Walsch's post when she ran "Christmas Love" through an Internet search engine. She immediately recognized her own words, from her story based on her son's kindergarten Christmas pageant. She contacted Walsch and Beliefnet.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Book Lover Bush
From an e-mail newsletter by management consultant John Pearson:
President George W. Bush is a book lover. Besides reading through the Bible each year, along with a daily devotional reading, the President read 95 books in 2006. He finished 51 books in 2007 and read at least 40 in 2008.
Karl Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, reported all of this in a Wall Street Journal column on Dec. 26, 2008. Rove and the President had a little reading contest going over the years. Rove won each year (his top mark was 110 books in 2006). Amazing.
The next day, in the same paper, Peggy Noonan predicted, “I suspect reading is about to make a big comeback in America, that in fact we’re going to be reading more books in the future, not fewer.” In her column, Noonan listed the wide range of books she had devoured in 2008.
Rove commented on Bush’s equally diverse selections and said Bush explained that he had lost the contest “because he’d been busy as Leader of the Free World.” Rove added, “The reading competition reveals Mr. Bush's focus on goals. It's not about winning. A good-natured competition helps keep him centered and makes possible a clear mind and a high level of energy.
"He reads instead of watching TV. He reads on Air Force One and to relax and because he's curious. He reads about the tasks at hand, often picking volumes because of the relevance to his challenges. And he's right: I've won because he has a real job with enormous responsibilities.”
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
