Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism from the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

Chris Ariens of TVNewser writes that the recently released ratings for the new Fox Business Network show that it’s running at about the same pace as the early days of Fox News.

Ariens writes, “The first public ratings release of Fox Business shows the 9-month-old network is performing close to what Fox News Channel was doing in its first year.

“In July 1997 Fox News averaged 14,000 viewers in Total Day and 25,000 viewers in prime time. The network launched in October 1996. Fox Business is averaging about 8,000 in business day and 20,000 in prime time. FNC is also a general interest news channel while FBN is niche network, in a much more crowded, and mostly digital, environment. FBN is only on one analog cable system: NYC’s Time Warner.

“FBN is still far behind market leader CNBC. The NBCU channel averages 284,000 viewers during the day and 191,000 in prime time. FBN is available in close to 40 million homes while CNBC is in 94 million.”

Read more here.

The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) recognized Restaurants & Institutions and The Scientist as 2008 Magazines of the Year among publications of 80,000 or more circulation and less than 80,000, respectively.

Computerworld.com, the online product of IDG’s Computerworld magazine, was named Web Site of the Year for 2008, while Network World, also from IDG, was honored for the Multi-Platform Presentation of the Year.

In addition, CIO and CSO magazine and the CIO.com Web site, all from publisher IDG Group, swept ASBPE’s 30th Anniversary competition honors. The special anniversary prizes recognized the best print publications from 2000–2007. CIO was recognized for publications with a circulations of 80,000 or more, while CSO won in the same category for magazines with circulations less than 80,000.

Completing the sweep was CIO.com, which was recognized as the top Web site from 2002–2007, the former year being the first time ASBPE recognized the Web Site of the Year in its annual Azbee Awards of Excellence editorial and design competition sponsored by the only professional business-to-business editors association in the U.S.

Rob Douthit, the auto editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the paper’s former business editor, confirmed to Talking Biz News on Tuesday that he is taking the paper’s buyout offer and leaving next month.

Douthit writes and edits weekly auto reviews and trend stories about the automotive industry. Douthit also leads coverage of the metro Atlanta area’s fast-growing northern and western communities, including Cobb County, northern Fulton County and Forsyth County.

He served as a business editor for the Journal-Constitution, and led coverage of Atlanta’s major corporations such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot and Southern Co. He has also been responsible for the Journal-Constitution’s national business coverage.

Douthit previously served as the business editor of The Record of North Jersey, where he led business coverage of an area that included metro New York. Before that, he was business editor of the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina, where he also served as a correspondent for a local Fox TV station and hosted a weekly business news radio show.

Douthit is a member of the Unity Journalists organization, the Southeastern Automotive Media Organization and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He graduated from Radford (Va.) University in 1989. 

Terry McGraw, the CEO of McGraw-Hill Cos., discussed the performance of BusinessWeek magazine during the company’s second quarter conference call on Tuesday, noting that its ad pages were down 11 percent for the quarter.

McGraw also stated, “The advertising outlook at BusinessWeek is challenging. Ad pages to the issue of July 28th are off 17.3 percent, and that’s according to Publisher’s Information Bureau, PIB. At the same time, BusinessWeek’s circulation is growing and new syndicated studies indicate that our audience is younger and more affluent than in years past.”

The company’s stock is rising today as the earnings were better than analysts expected. 

A conference call transcript can be found here.

Maria Saporta, the longtime business columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says that she has turned in the paperwork to accept the paper’s buyout offer and will be leaving next month.

Saporta has written a column for the paper for nearly two decades, chronicling the movers and shakers in the Atlanta business community. She’s at least the third person on the business desk who has accepted the buyout offer.

Before becoming a business columnist in 1991, Saporta was a business reporter for the newspaper. She spent eight years covering various beats, including economic development, international business, conventions, tourism, the Georgia Dome, Underground Atlanta, and the Coca-Cola Co.

Saporta began her career in 1980 with The Macon Telegraph. She received her master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State University in 1980. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Saporta, an Atlanta native, is of European heritage and speaks French fluently.

Saporta has served two terms as president of the Atlanta Press Club and currently chairs the Club’s Debate Committee. She also was named one of the 100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend in 1999 and 2000.

Disclosure: I worked with Saporta on the Journal-Constitution business desk from 1994 to 1997.

Michael Bush of Advertising Age writes that Apple needs to start talking more to the business media now that questions are coming up about the health of its CEO and its succession planning.

Bush writes, “The irony, of course, is that in the age of transparency, new media and blogs, the notoriously tight-lipped Apple is one of the few companies that manage to get away with a we-don’t-have-to-respond approach to media relations. But in light of the recent questions surrounding Mr. Jobs’ health, some argue it’s time to start telling its life-after-Jobs story.

“‘The difficulty they have is the very real possibility that in Steve Jobs, Apple has created a person that cannot be replaced,’ said Rob Enderle, principal analyst, Enderle Group. ‘It’s one thing to have a PR campaign that talks about life after Jobs, but would a PR campaign convince you that there would be life on earth if the sun went out?’

“But if you’re thinking that the company will open up to address Mr. Jobs’ health and maybe its succession plan, don’t hold your breath.”

Read more here.

Georgina Prodhan of Reuters reports on the comments made by Marjorie Scardino, the CEO of Pearson, which owns The Financial Times, about News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and his latest acquisition, The Wall Street Journal.

Prodhan writes, “It’s hard to dislike a man who loves newspapers so much, says Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Financial Times owner Pearson.

“’He’s made a lot of changes,’ Scardino told journalists on the day Pearson reported forecast-beating results, choosing her words carefully, but adding that the idea that editorial independence would be preserved at the Journal ‘didn’t last very long.’

“Scardino said she didn’t envy the Journal its circulation of 2 million, about four times that of the FT, saying the FT was a ‘niche newspaper’ with a lower cost base. She did, however, praise the journal’s managing editor, Robert Thomson, who just happens to be a former editor of the FT’s U.S. edition. Her verdict on Murdoch? ‘He loves newspapers. It’s hard to dislike a man for that.’”

Read more here.