Mediagazer: New York Times Forecasts Further Drop in Ad Revenue (William Launder/Wall Street Journal)

1:40 PM ET, September 27, 2013

Top News:

Tribune prepares for cost-cutting, says no targets for expense reduction have been issued — Tribune newspapers, including L.A. Times, prepare for cost-cutting — Tribune newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, may be due for another round of cost-cuting. Above, at the Tribune Tower in Chicago.

Discussion: Robert Feder, Politico, Radio & Television …, Talking New Media, Chicago Sun Times, Strange Attractor and @megjameslat

Robert Feder:

Tribune boss orders $100 million in cuts — It's not clear how they're supposed to do it, but Tribune Co. executives have been ordered to come up with $100 million in budget cuts, sources said, as the company prepares to spin off the publishing side of the business.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Chicagoist, Los Angeles Times, bizjournals, @logandobson and Change of Subject

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Attention v. relationship economy — Oddly, Google chief economist Hal Varian analyzes newspapers' problems and prescribes solutions strictly from an old-media perspective — based on attention to marketing messages — rather than an internet (namely, Google) perspective of relevance and relationships.

Discussion: Inside, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @jayrosen_nyu, @digiphile and @mathewi

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Google's chief economist understands media better than some industry executives do — Hal Varian, Google's chief economist, talked about the challenges facing the newspaper business in a recent presentation in Italy, and showed that he understands those challenges better than most media executives.

Discussion: International Journalism …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the ‘pathetic’ American media — Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control' — Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism - close down the news bureaus …

Discussion: Gawker, Mediaite, FishbowlNY, Politico, The Huffington Post, @johncusack, @jesselynradack, @ggreenwald, @briankeene, @tweetsintheme, @barryeisler, @froomkin, @pgourevitch, @miamijournalism, @jackshafer, @ryanchittum and New York Magazine

Jim Romenesko:

GateHouse Media: Our bankruptcy filing ‘is not a reflection of any operational problem’ — GateHouse Media has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Michael Reed says in a memo that “with the challenges facing our industry and the impending maturity of our secured debt next year …

Discussion: Poynter and St. Louis Business Journal

Bloomberg:
GateHouse Files for Bankruptcy as Part of Fortress Plan

Discussion: PR Newswire, Wall Street Journal and The Beacon-Villager News RSS

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Reuters cuts raise questions about company's consumer strategy — Today, the Newspaper Guild, a union that represents approximately 400 employees of the global information provider Thomson Reuters, announced that management is seeking “to eliminate five Guild positions from the recently …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review and BuzzFeed

The Newspaper Guild of New York: Next, Reuters targets five jobs in demise of website project

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Top NBCU Digital Exec Lauren Zalaznick to Depart Company — Well-known NBCUniversal exec Lauren Zalaznick, who has recently been working on the media giant's growth into new digital arenas, is leaving the company, according to an internal memo. — A longtime veteran of NBCU …

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline.com, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and @awallenstein

GNM press office:

Alex Koppelman joins the Guardian as US News Editor — The Guardian announced today that it has hired Alex Koppelman as US news editor. The announcement was made by the Guardian's US editor in chief Janine Gibson. — Koppelman will be a senior member of the editing team and will help set …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and @nxthompson

William Launder / Wall Street Journal:

New York Times Forecasts Further Drop in Ad Revenue — Overall Revenue to Rise, Though, Thanks to Stronger Circulation — New York Times Co. expects to report around a 3% decline in print and digital advertising revenue for the third quarter, Chief Executive Mark Thompson said Thursday …

Discussion: Reuters and MoneyBeat

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Conflicts of Interest: CNN adjusts ethics policy around Crossfire — Yesterday we reported that Crossfire host Newt Gingrich may have broken ethical rules for conflicts of interest set forth by CNN's EVP of standards and practices Rick Davis. — Today, those rules appear to have changed.

Discussion: TVNewser, The Huffington Post, TheBlaze.com, Mother Jones, @politicokevin, Mediaite and Vanity Fair

Angela Washeck / 10,000 Words:

Plagiarism and Attribution Tests for Journalists: A Must or Not? — If there's anything journalists know, it's how not to plagiarize in our writing. Right? Right?! Wrong, apparently. — Wednesday Jim Romenesko broke the news on his blog that Digital First Media (DFM) …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

BuzzFeed Dominates on Facebook, BBC Tops Twitter, Study Says — BuzzFeed, “the media company for the social age,” has mastered at least one social network. — A NewsWhip study released on Thursday showed that the social sharing-focused site had far and away the most engagement on Facebook …

Discussion: Poynter, Journalism.co.uk, The Whip and @tomgara

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

James Murdoch Named Chairman of Sky Deutschland Supervisory Board — The deputy COO of 21st Century Fox, which owns a majority stake in the German pay TV firm, replaces Chase Carey. — German pay TV operator Sky Deutschland said late Thursday that James Murdoch, deputy COO …

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg, Deadline.com, NASDAQ.com and Rapid TV News

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:

Press regulation debate nears final reckoning — Privy council will decide on 9 October whether to approve industry's royal charter or to enshrine PM-backed all-party version — The marathon battle to introduce a new system of press regulation will come to a head on 9 October …

Wall Street Journal:

Bloomberg News to Shuffle Management — Hays to Get Expanded Role; Hertzberg to Retire — Bloomberg L.P.'s news division announced significant management changes that will result in a smaller number of editors reporting directly to Editor in Chief Matt Winkler.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Reuters, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, Talking Biz News and Digits

Chris Rauber / San Francisco Business Times:

Former Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond launching left-wing nonprofit news site — Tim Redmond, the longtime editor and “voice” of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, says he's launching a nonprofit news site with a distinctly left-wing perspective. — Redmond's plans for the new San Francisco …

Discussion: sfbg.com

Lance Murray / Dallas Business Journal:

Gannett to sell $1B in bonds to fund $2.2B Belo acquisition — Gannett Co. will sell $1 billion in bonds to help pay for its planned acquisition of Belo Corp., the Dallas-based owner of television stations. — The Washington Business Journal reported that McLean, Va.-based Gannett (NYSE …

Discussion: bizjournals