Pat Dollard

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New York Times Co November ad revenue falls 20 pct

NEW YORK, Dec 24 – The New York Times Co’s (NYT.N) November advertising revenue fell 20 percent, the company said on Wednesday, illustrating how the financial crisis is aggravating dizzying revenue declines at U.S. newspapers.

Ad revenue at the publisher’s New York Times Media Group, which includes the Times newspaper, fell 21.2 percent from a year earlier because of a drop in real estate and jobs classified advertising.

Studio entertainment, automotive, book and financial services ads also were weak, the Times said in a statement.

The New England unit, which includes The Boston Globe newspaper, as well as the group representing its other U.S. papers, also fell.

Total company revenue fell 13.9 percent.

Most publicly traded newspaper publishers release monthly numbers because Wall Street scrutinizes them for sometimes minute changes, and their stocks often can rise or fall by significant amounts as a result.

For the Times, the numbers are important because it is trying to meet its 2009 debt obligations and reduce borrowing. At the same time, it is trying to save money as the newspaper business worsens.

Privately held Tribune Co earlier this month filed for bankruptcy and Journal Register Co (JRCO.PK) has filed a forbearance agreement with its lenders as it restructures. AH Belo Corp (AHC.N) and McClatchy Co (MNI.N) have amended their debt terms with lenders to avoid edging closer to violating their agreements.

The Times is considering selling some of its properties, but has not yet said which ones.

Internet ad revenue, long a source of hope among newspaper publishers battered by falling print ad sales and circulation, dropped 4 percent in the news media group. That reflects a decline in online jobs and real estate ads.

For the first 11 months of the year, Internet ad revenue in the news media group is up 10.9 percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

At About.com, the online encyclopedia that the Times owns, ad revenue fell 3.5 percent. So far this year, ad revenue is up 12.9 percent compared with last year.

New York Times shares fell 34 cents, or 5.37 percent, to $5.99 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reuters)

Americans prefer news from Web to newspapers

The Internet has surpassed newspapers as the main source for national and international news for Americans, according to a new survey.
Television, however, remains the preferred medium for Americans, according to the survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Seventy percent of the 1,489 people surveyed by Pew said television is their primary source for national and international news.

Forty percent said they get most of their news from the Internet, up from 24 percent in September 2007, and more than the 35 percent who cited newspapers as their main news source.

Only 59 percent of people younger than 30 years old prefer television, Pew said, down from 68 percent in the September 2007 survey.

The latest survey was conducted December 3-7 and released on Tuesday. Pew did not provide the margin of error.
(AFP)

Me: Might be part of the reason the NYTimes isn’t #1 “go-to’ for news:

New York Times falls for fake Paris mayor letter

The New York Times admitted Monday it was duped into publishing a fake letter claiming to come from Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe that criticized Caroline Kennedy’s senate bid as “appalling” and “not very democratic.”

“What title has Ms. Kennedy to pretend to Hillary Clinton’s seat?” read the letter, printed in Monday’s editions of the leading US metropolitan daily.

“We French can only see a dynastic move of the vanishing Kennedy clan in the very country of the Bill of Rights. It is both surprising and appalling … Can we speak of American decline?” read the letter.

Later Monday, the newspaper published an editor’s note on its website stating “this letter was a fake. It should not have been published.”

Delanoe’s press office in Paris confirmed that the text was a hoax.

The letter was received via email, and the Times said it had “violated both our standards and our procedures in publishing signed letters from our readers” because it had not verified its authenticity. The paper said it had already sent an apology to Delanoe’s office.

The incident recalled a prank call to former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin received in early November from a French-Canadian comedian posing as French president Nicholas Sarkozy.

Palin enthusiastically took the fake Sarkozy call and stayed on the phone for several minutes, despite outrageous comments from the comedian, before realizing it was a hoax.

Caroline Kennedy, the sole surviving child of John F. Kennedy, indicated last week she was seeking to enter the US Senate as a replacement to Hillary Clinton.

With Clinton leaving her senate seat to become secretary of state in Barack Obama’s administration next month pending Senate confirmation, New York state governor David Paterson is required to name a temporary replacement, who could then run as the incumbent in a 2010 election.
(AFP)