Mediagazer: Advertising Rebound Means CBS, News Corp. Weigh Dividends (Bloomberg)

1:00 PM ET, May 10, 2010

Top News:

The Media Equation: Reuters Insider, Like YouTube for Traders — For half an hour last Thursday afternoon, CNBC was the most exciting place on television. Watching Erin Burnett and Jim Cramer try not to freak out — they acquitted themselves nicely — while the market tumbled like a drunken rag doll …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Beet.TV, Media Decoder, Bloomberg and paulconley

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:
Thomson Reuters to Add Videos

Discussion: New York Magazine

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Media Notes: one editor's balancing act on the high wire of modern journalism — Rupert Murdoch insisted that the Wall Street Journal delay publishing the news that he had just fired its top editor. — “Tell them to hold it until we have a signed deal,” Murdoch told a top aide.

Discussion: Romenesko

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

How a Young Kara Swisher Got Her Big Break at the Washington Post — Over 25 years ago, a incensed Georgetown undergraduate “railed” on the phone about the sloppy coverage of her college to Assistant Managing Editor Larry Kramer, the paper's metro editor. — She told Kramer that the paper …

Asylum:

An Open Letter to Magazines (From the Internet) — Apparently magazine guys are all hurt at how the super-amazing Internet is f**king DESTROYING them with its awesomeness and unicorns with bacon wings and Selleck Waterfall Sandwiches. And what do they have? Another interview with Jennifer Aniston?

Bloomberg:

Advertising Rebound Means CBS, News Corp. Weigh Dividends — News Corp., CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. are weighing dividend increases or share buybacks as an advertising rebound spurs cash flow, after media companies cut back during the U.S. recession. — CBS may boost its quarterly dividend 60 percent …

David Kaplan / paidContent:

EW Scripps Classified Declines Slow; Online-Only Ad Revs Soar — Like most newspaper companies, EW Scripps (NYSE: SSP) is seeing a hint of light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to cost-cutting efforts, the Cincinnati-based company slimmed its net losses to $880,000 ($.02 cents a share …

Discussion: digiday and FishbowlNY

Jason Fell / Folio:

SI Digital Edit Packages Fuel Revenue, Traffic Growth — Group says online revenue is up 35 percent year-over-year. — April marked the eighth consecutive month of traffic growth online at Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Group. The publisher says SI Digital sites—including SI.com and Golf.com …

Bill Gorman / TVbytheNumbers:

Betty White Scores! Saturday Night Live Sees Best Overnight Ratings In 18 Months — Betty White ratings doubters, look away! Her preliminary 5.1 adults 18-49 rating topped even Sir Charles Barkley's episode that followed the Dallas/Philadelphia NFL Wildcard Game, which was this season's top so far.

Discussion: The Wire, Mediaite, Mashable!, ArtsBeat, The Wrap, New York Magazine, New York Post, MediaMemo and Movieline

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

‘Rupert will do anything’ — The acerbic Vanity Fair columnist and Murdoch biographer is not shy of making personal attacks on those in the business. But he was left shaken by the consequences of rattling Rupert's cage — Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at the receiving end …

Alex Ben Block / Hollywood Reporter:

Cable industry to talk convergence at confab — Execs set to gather this week at Cable Show in Los Angeles — As the cable TV industry gathers this week in Los Angeles for its annual convention, the theme is convergence with Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Nikki Finke / Deadline.com:

CNN: Is This China's Harvey Weinstein? — Meet Wang Zhongjun, China's 50-year old film and television mogul, 1/2 of Huayi Brothers Media which he founded with his youngest brother Wang Zhonglei in 1994. (Ergo, CNN's Harvey Weinstein comparison.) Originally doing advertising commissions …

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Profitable Long Form Journalism — Over the last month, I've been stuffing my iPad with books purchased online, long PDF files and other documents for later reading sessions. I'm waiting for the mind-blowing media applications, they're still in the making. Several prototypes of French newspapers I have seen are quite promising.

Discussion: Editors Weblog

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

‘48 Hour Magazine’: A Successful Time-Trial for Magazines — A small team of writers, editors, designers and programmers spent the weekend in Mother Jones' offices in San Francisco attempting to bring the magazine industry up to speed by producing an issue start-to-finish in 48 hours.

Discussion: National Media