………Some of the well-known titles with dramatic single-copy declines included W, down 41.7 percent to about 25,000 for an average issue; Newsweek, down 41.3 percent to about 62,000 (Newsweek had decreased the number of copies on sale, noted a spokesman); SmartMoney, down 37 percent to about 26,000; Time, down 34.9 percent to about 90,000;……….

AVOC

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February 16, 2010

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American Media is undergoing substantial change and none too soon

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By Wendell Dawson, Editor, AVOC. Inc

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Hardly a week goes by without news of newspaper failures, challenges and TV News Viewers declining.   We now have so many news sources that readers can now discriminate and determine bias.

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Local media is having challenges also.   Our two weeklies do not do a very good job of covering local government and civics in depth.    Advertisers have much influence on their coverage.   Voters seek information from other sources including blogs and emails.    Journalism Professor Lee Becker, an Oconee County resident, recently commented on the lack of coverage by our local weeklies.   LOCAL WEEKLIES IGNORE TOWN HALL.    http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/2010/02/second-oconee-county-town-hall-meeting.html

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Nationally, critics on the Left tend to single out FOX News and Talk Radio for special criticism and opprobrium.   Critics on the Right (and increasingly the Middle) point out problems with the networks, New York Times etc.   I do watch FOX News, among others, for national news.   While I am no particular fan of Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Geraldo Rivera, I am a fan of the Bret Baier Special Report and from to time, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.   There is no better newsman than Brit Hume nor better analyst than Charles Krauthammer.

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For the morning lineup, I like Fox and Friends for morning news and light entertainment- and the pretty & smart ladies don’t hurt!   Sometimes, if they get too silly or boring, I switch to Morning Joe on MSNBC for a reasonably balanced view of issues.

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The MSNBC lineup of Keith Olbermann and Chris Mathews is terribly biased to the point of little credibility.    Katie Couric of CBS and George Stephanopoulos of NBC Today show are both liberals and have been very friendly with Democrats- Stephanopoulos served in the Clinton Administration.   The View on ABC and David Letterman on CBS are very liberal to the point of bad manners and turning off many average Americans.

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Time Magazine, Newsweek and U S News all have become too liberal for me.I subscribed to all in the past but none of them now.   Their circulations are way down.   While they blame the Internet, and that is true partly, they, like the NY Times, are just too biased in their reporting and opinions to retain credibility.   One can find more balanced U S news in newspapers in the United Kingdom and Canada.   There are many publications and sources, including various polls, online, that can allow one to have ample access to reliable news and opinion.

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A sampling of headlines and articles on the media tends to support my views on the media and shows a trend that Journalists should observe and take heed.

MEDIA LINKS 10

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COURIC FACES PAY CUT; DEEP LAYOFFS HIT CBSNEWS...2-3-10 DRUDGE

She makes enough to pay 200 news reporters $ 75,000 a year!

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New York Times ad outlook dim, shares fall –REUTERS 2-10-10

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0910698720100210

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NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co (NYT.N) warned on Wednesday that print newspaper advertising will continue to decline, sending shares down nearly 9 percent, even as the company slashed costs to reach a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit.

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Magazines’ Newsstand Sales Fall 9.1 Percent – NY Times -2-8-10

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/magazines-newsstand-sales-fall-91-percent/

…….Magazines’ newsstand sales plummeted in the last six months of 2009, and subscriptions dropped as well.

Newsstand sales for the 472 consumer titles in the United States measured by the Audit Bureau of Circulations declined 9.1 percent, to 39.3 million, in the last half of 2009 versus the same period a year earlier, the organization reported this morning. That follows an 11.12 percent decline from July through December 2007 compared to July through December 2008.

Some of the well-known titles with dramatic single-copy declines included W, down 41.7 percent to about 25,000 for an average issue; Newsweek, down 41.3 percent to about 62,000 (Newsweek had decreased the number of copies on sale, noted a spokesman); SmartMoney, down 37 percent to about 26,000; Time, down 34.9 percent to about 90,000; Good Housekeeping, down 30.7 percent to 395,000; and Redbook, down 30.1 percent to 126,000.

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Morris Publishing Group to seek prepackaged bankruptcy deal - AB-H 1.13.10

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011310/bre_548713998.shtml

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FOX NEWS – Roger Ailes 1.9.10

Roger Ailes the 'most successful news executive of last 10 years'... NY TIMES 1.9.10

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/media/10ailes.html?hp

In the fall of 2008, Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, went to his boss, Rupert Murdoch, with two complaints: he had heard that Mr. Murdoch was considering endorsing Barack Obama for president in The New York Post, and he had read a book excerpt in Vanity Fair suggesting that Mr. Murdoch was sometimes embarrassed by the right-leaning Fox News.

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Mr. Ailes threatened to quit, a person familiar with the conversation said. Instead, Mr. Murdoch soon rewarded him with a new, more lucrative contract — he made $ 23 million last year in salary, bonuses and other compensation, more than Mr. Murdoch — and The New York Post endorsed John McCain

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…………he has built Fox News into the profit engine of the News Corporation. Fox News is believed to make more money than CNN, MSNBC and the evening newscasts of NBC, ABC and CBS combined. The division is on track to achieve $ 700 million in operating profit this year, according to analyst estimates that Mr. Ailes does not dispute.

This outsize success has placed Mr. Ailes, an aggressive former Republican political strategist, at the pinnacle of power in three corridors of American life: business, media and politics…….

.In addition to being the best-paid person in the News Corporation last year, he is the most successful news executive of the last 10 years, and his network exerts a strong influence on the fractured conservative movement………….

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Marc Thiessen Coolly Skewers Unhinged Lawrence O’Donnell – MSNBC Analyst -2-12-10

http://www2.nationalreview.com/video/video_homie_021210_B.html

1-19-10 CABLE NEWS RACE –Election Night

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DRUDGE

http://www.drudgereport.com/

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CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES. JAN. 19, 2010
ELECTION NIGHT
.FOXNEWS HANNITY 6,809,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 6,399,000
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 5,228,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,446,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 3,338,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 3,241,000
CNN KING 1,681,000
CNN COOPER 1,508,000
CNN BROWN 1,308,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,274,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,236,000
CNN BLITZER 1,135,000
CNNHN BEHAR 845,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 798,000