Today, newspapers began a “glum” week by mortgaging their homes and doing some old-fashioned self-analyzing. Some CEOs stepped down, and journalists are noticing the current of bad news. But has all the folded print media helped blogs earn more recognition? The Pulitzer board might think so. Read on, then:
• Christie Hefner is stepping down as chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises after twenty years. The company, which eliminated 80 staffers last October, is suffering from declining ad revenue, but Hefner says that the company is strong, and she’s only leaving because she loves Barack Obama and would rather work for him than look at any more centerfolds. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• The Pulitzer Prize board has announced that it’s allowing online-only news organizations and journalists to compete for its prestigious journalism prizes. Time to refine this “deathwatch” post! [FishbowlNY/Mediabistro]
• The Times Company is now looking to sell or lease the fancy new digs that it spent half a billion dollars building. [Gawker]
• The Wall Street Journal calls the forecast for next year’s ad spending “glum,” but Gawker’s sort of relieved that it’s not “catastrophic.” [Gawker , WSJ]
• The Times’ David Carr has noticed that journalists are facing daily layoff news and a “data cloud that is crackling with panic.” But we don’t know what he’s talking about. [NYT]
• Ad Age has also caught on to this trend, and rounds this year’s media layoff count to 30,000. [Ad Age]
• The Miami Herald is now up for sale by its owner, the McClatchy Company. Any takers? No? Okay. [IHT]
