Bulletin | News Corp. jumps 66% from a year ago, as newspaper publishers pull back from deep lows

[Roller-coaster year from 52-week low of $5.61; bigger view]

Capping a second consecutive year of tumultuous change, stocks of major newspaper publishers today staged a huge comeback from a year ago, with company shares soaring well above broader stock-market averages.

News Corp.'s stock rose 66%, ranking it No. 6 among companies I follow, according to preliminary closing figures moments ago. Shares finished the year at $15.92 -- a huge turnabout from their 52-week low of $5.61. The rankings:

• Lee: up 746%
• McClatchy: up 343%
• E.W. Scripps: up 215%
• Gannett: up 86%
• New York Times Co.: up 69%
• News Corp.: up 66%
• Washington Post. Co.: up 13%

For comparison, here's the performance of major stock-market indexes:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: up 19%
• S&P-500: up 23%
• Nasdaq: up 44%

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[Source: Google Finance]

Fox-Time Warner Cable feud nears 11th hour

[Fox TV is rallying support via its Keep Fox On site]

Barring a last-minute settlement tonight in a retransmission fee squabble, News Corp. says millions of Time Warner Cable customers in Los Angeles and other cities will lose Fox Broadcasting stations at midnight tonight.

"The companies are fighting over how much the cable operator should pay Fox stations for the right to retransmit their shows, sporting events and local newscasts,'' The New York Times says. "Fox is demanding about a dollar for each cable subscriber each month, which analysts say could set a precedent for broadcasters that want more money from cable and satellite operators."

The contracts expire today at midnight. Fox could then take its signal off Time Warner Cable systems in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities. Negotiations between programmers and distributors are often prolonged and painful, the NYT says, "but they rarely occur in public the way the feud between Fox and Time Warner Cable has."

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As industry shrinks, News Corp.'s workforce grew

Even after a dip from last year, News Corp.'s company-wide employment has grown in recent years -- as other newspaper publishers slash-and-burn payrolls. The number of workers rose 25%, to 55,000, as of June 30 of this year vs. June 30, 2005, according to the company's most recent annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (Chart, above, shows total full-time and part-time workers at June 30 for each of the years indicated.)

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About this blog

Welcome to News Corp. Blog! I'm a former USA Today editor and reporter, now starting a second journalism career online. This site went live on Dec. 31, 2009, in beta test mode. Depending on the initial response I receive, I expect to maintain this blog for the benefit of NWS' 55,000 employees and other stakeholders.

Jim Hopkins
Publisher and Editor

San Francisco, Calif.

Paywalls | Amid Arianna's doubts, where's NWS?

The New York Times floats the notion today that publishers are drawing closer to charging for online content, a 180-degree turn from a nearly 15-year-old practice that's proved disastrous for the industry. "Indeed," report the NYT's Richard Perez-Pena and Tim Arango, "in the next several weeks, industry executives and analysts expect some publications to take the plunge."

Yet, their story cites only a few examples, and none of them involve News Corp. sites -- despite all the recent bluster from CEO Rupert Murdoch over striking a deal with one search engine, in return for exclusive access to content at The Wall Street Journal and other NWS sites.

Whatever the industry-wide outcome, skeptics abound on whether publishers are serious about making the switch. Blogger Alan Mutter told the NYT: "We’re looking at some sort of an inflection point, at least in attitude. But I haven’t seen much realistic, hard-headed thinking about how that's going to happen, so I don’t know how much is really going to change. And Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington (left) "predicted that much of the talk of media's mining the Web for new revenue would never become reality -- and that if it did, free sites like hers would benefit,'' the Times says.

What do you hear about for-pay products and firewalls at your site? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Stroudsburg | Fronting today

News Corp.'s Pocono Record

• Stroudsburg, Pa.
• President: Joe Vanderhoof
• Managing Editor/Online: Marta Gouger
• Contact us list

Got a News Corp. front page to recommend? Find it in the Newseum's page one database, then post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: Newseum]

How the attempted plane bombing was played

A Nigerian man is accused of attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight with 278 passengers and 11 crew members as it landed in Detroit yesterday. How select newspapers played the story on page one, starting with The Wall Street Journal (bigger view):

The New York Post (bigger view):

The New York Times (bigger view):

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[Images: Newseum]

Post-employment, shopping for health insurance

My company-subsidized medical coverage ended when my severance benefits stopped: October 2008. I then went on COBRA, the coverage mandated by the federal government; it generally lasts for 18 months.

But now my COBRA coverage effectively is ending, because my former employer -- Gannett Co. -- has canceled its contract with my preferred HMO here in San Francisco, effective Jan. 1. That means I'm now shopping for health insurance in the so-called individual market, without the benefit or guarantee of group rates, because I'm self-employed, so without access to an employer's plan.

My experience looking for a new medical plan may offer lessons to anyone who's considering leaving News Corp. -- either voluntarily, or through a layoff.

Here's a look at the costs:

• I paid $150 a month during my final year as a USA Today employee, for full-service coverage, with a relatively low deductible. That was for just one person: me.
• On COBRA, my premium shot up to nearly $400 a month for the same benefits.

With my COBRA ending, I want to continue coverage through my current HMO, Kaiser Permanente, because I like my doctor and the other services there. So, I've narrowed my search for a new plan to two possibilities offered by Kaiser:

• a "conversion plan," offering essentially the same benefits I got through Gannett. It costs $621 a month, with a $1,500 annual deductible. Mind you, that's still for just me alone. Under this plan, there's no medical review, so I wouldn't be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• a high-deductible plan that costs much less: $277 a month, with a $3,000 annual deductible. But unlike the conversion plan, pre-existing conditions could make me ineligible.

I'll let you know how it all shakes out.

Questions for you: What's your experience been with coverage at News Corp.? And if you've left the company, what was it like to get health insurance if you, like me, shopped on the individual market?

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Farewell | Another newspaper blog bites the dust

The author of McClatchy Watch called it quits yesterday, after 27 months of maintaining his blog about the publisher of the Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and other dailies. From his final "Time to exit" post:

Newspaper watchdog bloggers will mostly be hobbyists who don't do it for the money. For the past several months I have averaged 2,000 hits on weekdays, about half that on weekends. Not bad for this little blog but not a solid business model -- my monthly income from this blog was never more than about one sixth of my mortgage payment.

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Hyannis | Fronting today

News Corp.'s Cape Cod Times

• Hyannis, Mass.
• President and Publisher: Peter Meyer
• Editor in chief: Paul Pronovost
• Contact us list

[Image: Newseum]

Fox News | VP Glick leaving for new venture

One of the Fox Business Network’s first employees, Alexis Glick, is leaving the network for an unnamed new venture, The New York Times' Media Decoder Blog is reporting. Glick is vice president for business news for "the low-rated business network, where she hosts the 9 a.m. hour, titled 'Opening Bell,'" the blog says. "Fox Business said in a news release that a variety of the network’s 'signature talent would anchor 'Opening Bell' in the interim."

WSJ | Committee called Murdoch's 'whores'

"He pays them and they do his bidding.
They're his whores."

-- Slate press critic Jack Shafer, on why he says The Wall Street Journal's five-member editorial integrity committee didn't protest more over the forced resignation of top editor Marcus Brauchli. Shafer was one of dozens of people quoted in a new GQ story about the 2007 sale of the Journal to press baron Rupert Murdoch.

WSJ | GQ reports on 'vulgarian' Murdoch's takeover

In a fascinating new story, "The day the Journal died,'' GQ magazine -- better known as a men's fashion glossy -- aims its gun barrel at the two-year-old sale of The Wall Street Journal to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch. "It was a stunning turn of events whose significance is still coming into focus,'' the magazine says, as it recounts a litany of predictions about where the Australian "vulgarian" Murdoch would take the storied newspaper.

The story continues: "Some of these predictions have come true and some have not, but one thing is undeniable: Competition between [The New York Times] and the Journal has never been more vicious than it is today. In the past year the Times has questioned the merits of an acclaimed Journal story and suggested that a right-wing agenda dictates the Journal's news coverage. Journal publisher Robert Thomson has declared that the Times is "uncomfortable about the rise of an increasingly successful rival."

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[Image: GQ]

Stock | In big turnaround, NWS shares gain

Less than two weeks before the end of the year, shares of major newspaper publishers have staged a huge comeback from a year ago, when several were in danger of bankruptcy. The year-to-date performance of seven stocks I follow, according to Google Finance:

• Lee: up 871%
• McClatchy: up 316%
• E.W. Scripps: up 199%
• Gannett: up 75%
• News Corp.: up 64%
• New York Times Co.: up 42%
• Washington Post. Co.: up 12%

For context, News Corp. shares closed Friday at $15.70 vs. a 52-week low of $5.61.

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WSJ | Paper's magazine to boost frequency

The magazine, called WSJ., will shift publishing to six issues a year from its currently quarterly schedule starting in March, and its circulation will be nearly doubled, to 1.5 million, the company says in a statement.

WSJ. was launched in September 2008, and is now distributed to 800,000 of the paper's readers in 17 of the largest geographic markets, as part of the Journal's Weekend Edition. "WSJ. will continue to be included in copies of the Journal in those markets but will now be distributed to all subscribers in the U.S. and made available in the Weekend Edition on newsstands across the country," the company says.

With the March issue, the magazine will be published five other times a year: in May, June, September, October and December.

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[Image: the magazine's December issue cover]

How blogging makes you crazy -- if you choose

If I hesitate to resume blogging, it is the knowledge that it can consume your life -- if you allow it to. Always-on journalism, where writers use web-based software to report and publish stories, means you can work 24/7 -- unless you establish boundaries and sensible work hours. Last April, for example, I posted 310 times to one of my other sites, Gannett Blog -- an average of more than 10 posts a day. That's nuts. But not so uncommon.

In the new movie Julie & Julia, a young journalist in Queens nearly destroys her marriage when she becomes convinced that her blog's readers had become vitally dependent on her for something ultimately inconsequential: kitchen recipes. Nikki Finke, the powerful blogger about the film industry, is portrayed in a New Yorker magazine profile in October as a vengeful woman who rarely leaves her home to meet any of the industry titans she so often attacks. Ditto for writer Emily Gould, whose controversial New York Times Magazine cover story last year shows that she, too, cycled through two relationships as she allowed herself to be drawn too-deep into her job as a blogger for leading media gossip site Gawker.

Readers: What's it like to be a 21st century worker, where BlackBerries and other devices mean you are expected to work anywhere, anytime? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: the NYT cover for Gould's "Blog-Post Confidential" article]

Memos | If this is a holiday greeting . . .

. . . what does a layoff notice read like?! In his Holiday Greetings 2009 memo, CEO Rupert Murdoch (left) takes an almost all-business approach to wishing everyone well. How's this for the introductory paragraph:

"This has been one of the most challenging periods in our history, but, as I wrote to you in February, the steps we are taking today will define the character of our company for many years to come."

Media gossip blog Gawker's got the full memo. Enjoy!

Got a favorite memo? Send it my way! Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

WSJ | Under Baker, D.C. bureau said 'tilting right'

That's the assessment of media columnist David Carr of The New York Times, who writes today that The Wall Street Journal's deputy managing editor, Gerard Baker, is helping engineer a more conservative tone in the newspaper's Washington bureau. The column has already drawn a strong objection from top WSJ editor Robert Thomson, according to the Romenesko blog.

Thomson, owner Rupert Murdoch's controversial pick to lead the paper, appointed Baker a little over a year ago; Baker is a former D.C. bureau chief for The Financial Times. "According to several former members of the Washington bureau and two current ones," Carr writes, "the two men have had a big impact on the paper’s Washington coverage, adopting a more conservative tone, and editing and headlining articles to reflect a chronic skepticism of the current administration. And given that the paper’s circulation continues to grow, albeit helped along by some discounts, there’s nothing to suggest that the Journal’s readers don’t approve."

Carr cites several specific examples where headlines appeared off-kilter, or stories gained a right-leaning edge during the editing process. In a memo, however, Thomson accuses Carr of carrying water for a nervous senior management at the the NYT: "Yet more evidence that The New York Times is uncomfortable about the rise of an increasingly successful rival while its own circulation and credibility are in retreat,'' Thomson writes, according to a memo cited by Romenesko.

Updated at 12:59 p.m.: Now the NYT's top editor, Bill Keller, has swung in, defending Carr's column as "scrupulously fair and, if anything, understated,'' according to this New York Observer piece.

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Deals | Lachlan Murdoch said out of Nielsen bid

That's according to the New York Post and PaidContent, which says "a group led by James Finkelstein and Pluribus Capital Management has acquired a half-dozen titles from Nielsen, including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek and Backstage."

Lachlan Murdoch and his Illyria investment company had been interested in the deal, paidContent reported earlier, and he was supposed to be part of the final group. But the Post's Keith Kelly says Murdoch has dropped out of the final bidding. The NYP, of course, is part of the News Corp. empire.

Lachlan has lately been raising money for investments, most recently by selling all his non-voting shares in NWS.

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Stocks | Major media shares jump higher

On the heels of rosier forecasts at this week's UBS media conference, companies I follow closely saw their shares rise smartly in recent trading today:

• Gannett: up 9% to $13.04
• New York Times Co.: up 3.6% to $9.26
• News Corp.: up 2% to $14.87

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Lachlan Murdoch sells last of non-voting shares

The son (left) of CEO Rupert Murdoch sold 2.3 million Class A News Corp. shares at an average price of $12.29 each, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Two weeks ago, he also sold 2.3 million Class A shares, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting.

"With the transactions," the WSJ says, "Lachlan Murdoch has sold his non-voting News Corp. stock. Each of Rupert Murdoch's children, including Lachlan, received 4.3 million Class A News Corp. shares in 2007, as part of an agreement to settle a family dispute over how to share the Murdoch family stake in News Corp. The stakes were valued at $100 million each at the time."

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Murdoch: Online news aggregators guilty of 'theft'

From his Op-Ed in today's Wall Street Journal:

There are those who think they have a right to take our news content and use it for their own purposes without contributing a penny to its production. Some rewrite, at times without attribution, the news stories of expensive and distinguished journalists who invested days, weeks or even months in their stories—all under the tattered veil of "fair use."

These people are not investing in journalism. They are feeding off the hard-earned efforts and investments of others. And their almost wholesale misappropriation of our stories is not "fair use." To be impolite, it's theft.

Carey: Don't expect deals anytime soon

Speaking at an investor conference today, Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said the recent Comcast deal for NBC Universal wouldn't be reason enough for News Corp. to look for any similar deals, MarketWatch says. "In the current economic environment, the company is primarily interested in investing in its existing businesses rather than acquiring, Carey said."

If Rupert is the cat, who's the mouse?

Google, of course, says blogger Ken Doctor, posting on the latest jousting between Murdoch and the titan of online search:

"It’s quite a cat-and-mouse game. The cat is Rupert Murdoch, a lion in the winter of his career. Astoundingly, he’s become the leading spokesman for American journalism. The mouse is the crafty Google, adjusting its algorithms and its tactics, faster than publishers can bemoan, 'who moved my cheese!'"