Hidden deep in vault of the webiste of Chicago free daily RedEye is the wonderful feature ‘worse album covers ever‘. Fifty uglies in a row - enjoy.
On the web, there are more of this collections. There even is a complete book devoted to this form of art.
Palo Alto city employees removed 27 Palo Alto Daily Post’s newspaper racks August 13, and brought them back to the newspaper. Next day the paper put them back.
The city says a official ordinance prohibits free-standing racks downtown. Palo Alto Daily Post publisher Dave Price thinks that the First Amendment - free speech - is being violated. Competitor The Palo Alto Daily News, which has the whole story, quoted Price:
“That right got taken away from us yesterday, plain and simple. It makes me think of book burning. That’s how backward this is.”
New papers are put on a waiting list in Palo Alto, and only get permission when other racks are not used or being abandoned. According to Price this in an unequal treatment in favor of existing papers.
Yesterday evening (Friday 15 August, 19:00) the strike at the website of French free daily 20 Minutes ended. The management and the strikers agreed to try to find a way to resolve the conflict concerning the dismissal of website editor Johan Hufnagel (see previous post).
The management said it was satisfied that the strike was terminated. The position of Hufnagel, however, is somewhat unclear. It was stated that he would not be dismissed because of serious misconduct (”faute grave”) and that his important role was acknowledged. Whether he will have a future at 20 Minutes seems uncertain.
Before the news about the end of the strike was published on the website, French bloggers posted items to support the strikers (Le Post).
Schibsted’s free daily 20 Minutos in Spain has moved from making a profit in the first six months of 2007 (€1.8m) to a loss in the same period in 2008 (-€2.6m). Total profits in 2007 were €0.6m. Schibsted called the advertsing market in Spain ‘challenging’.
“Spain’s macroeconomic developments are weak. The advertising market for print media is weaker, and this affects Schibsted Classified Media and 20 Minutes.”
Readership in Spain, however, is developing very well, it is the best-read daily in the country. Earlier also Metro expressed their disappointment with the Spanish market. (more…)
The journalists at the French free daily 20 Minutes decided on August 11 to go on strike. As the paper is not published in August, the only visible result now is a press release (August 13) on the website of the paper and lack of any news later than August 11.
The workers at the paper support by the strike Johan Hufnagel, chief of the website, who was suddenly sacked from his job on August 11 by editor-in-chief Corinne Sorin. Disputes over the use of photographs. management, tasteless articles and a research on job satisfaction were supposed to be at the root of the conflict, although Hufnagel and the 20 Minutes management refuse to speak out about the conflict. (Mediapart, Le Monde)
Next Monday 20 Minutes is supposed to be published in printed form as well. It is not yet know whether the print-workers will join the strike.
Free daily Metro (by Agora) in Poland changed its design on August 8. The masthead shrunk to the size of the title, while every front page now opens with two ‘horizontal’ stories: one with a ’story-telling’ picture.
Last week’s issues can be read on the paper’s e-reader page.
In terms of content, Metro is aiming to look more like a quality paper, and engage more readers in the public debate.
The changes will be accompanied by a major advertising campaign.
Sometimes you hate to see a free daily being launched…
“Russian newspaper Rossyiskaya Gazeta will launch a special edition tomorrow for refugees from the South Ossetia region of the Russian Federation, reported Lenta.ru.
10,000 copies will be published from Tuesday to Friday and freely distributed in areas where refugees live.
The edition may include announcements about missing relatives, information about help from the state and important numbers.
Since the start of the conflict, Russia has seen 30,000 refugees from the South Ossetia.” (via Editors weblog)
Chicago free daily RedEye (Tribune Company) underwent a ‘redesign’ according to Editor & Publisher.
God is in the details, 
as the saying goes, and this is also true for this ‘redesign’ which mainly concerns the logo where the capitals (left - old) have been changed to a lowercase font (right - new).
More important, however, is that the paper is now 1.5 inch shorter than before.
In a note to readers, RedEye Editor Jane Hirt said the page size “is now more compact to make the paper easier to handle on the bus or “L,” or on the treadmill, or in class” according to E&P.
So anyone thinking it had to do with cost cutting - saving on newsprint - is obviously wrong.
Last week also Tribune’s free Spanish language daily Hoy underwent a similar ‘redesign’ (cutdown).
Ekaterina Son will be appointed as new publisher of The Moscow Times on September 1, 2008. Ekaterina now runs Smart Money - the Russian-language business publication of the Independent Media Sanoma Magazines business editions portfolio.
Maxine Maters will be leaving the newspaper after four years of work.
The Moscow Times is an English language daily newspaper, delivered for an important part for free in Moscow to hotels, businesses and other places where foreigners dwell.
The Moscwo Times started in 1992 when it was launched by the Dutch journalist Derek Sauer. Finnish publisher Sanoma is the current owner of the paper.
Above Metro Hungary’s yesterday’s masthead (August 6), below the current one (August 7) - see previous post.
