Hyperlocal News Losing the Hype? Boston Globe Sheds Half of Your Town Staff

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The Boston Globe found a rich uncle in soon-to-be-boss, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, but that didn't prevent the Boston.com Web site from axing roughly half the correspondents for the Your Town hyperlocal news sites.

Six correspondents were pink-slipped, Globe Regional Editor David Dahl told the Boston Business Journal last week, though he didn't identify the unlucky correspondents, the towns affected by the move or the savings realized by the cutbacks.  Dahl was quoted as saying the more than 100 Your Town sites covering Boston neighborhoods and suburban communities, as well as 15 Your Campus sites assisted by local colleges, would remain up and running.

Although articles by staff reporters and freelance writers that appear in the Globe's print edition also provide content for Your Town, simple math suggests some communities are going to get short-shrifted by the remaining six or seven correspondents having to cover a broader area. The Globe, which The New York Times is unloading to Henry for $70 million (see "TUOL" post 8/6/13), has a workforce of 1,600, roughly 350 of whom are newsroom staffers, according to the BBJ article.

The five-year-old, advertising-starved Your Town experiment began inauspiciously when GateHouse Media Inc. sued the Times, alleging copyright infringement concerning content from its Wicked Local hyperlocal news sites. Given the massive staff reduction last month by AOL Patch (see "TUOL" post 8/19/13) and GateHouse Media's slow dance toward pre-packaged bankruptcy (see "TUOL" post 3/27/13), journalism industry prognosticators, who five years ago considered hyperlocal news the greatest thing since sliced bread, may be looking for new sources of "bread."

9th Circ.: Monroe Heirs Can't Benefit from Calif. Privacy Law

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Although Hollywood sex symbol Marilyn Monroe died of a drug overdose at age 36 in 1962, her image and persona have continued to generate millions of dollars for her heirs. But following an adverse ruling last week by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Milton H. Greene Archives, Inc. v. Marilyn Monroe, LLC et al (Case No. 08-56471),  her beneficiaries may have crossed the River of No Return (1954).

According to accounts in The New York Times and THR, Esq., the appellate court ruled that the Delaware-formed Marilyn Monroe LLC cannot benefit from California's right of publicity statute [Cal. Civ. Code sec. 3344] that allowed her estate to reap the financial rewards of holding onto the rights of a celebrity's name, likeness and image. Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles, but was a New York resident when her untimely death occurred, the Ninth Circuit concluded, and the Empire State's right of publicity statute [N.Y. CLS Civ. R. sec. 50(2000] does not recognize posthumous privacy rights.

Forbes Magazine's "Top Earning Dead Celebrities" macabre feature indicates Monroe generated $27 million in income in 2011, placing her behind only Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley in that category in which stars are not eager to be recognized, for obvious reasons. Her litigious Estate sued to prevent a San Francisco company from selling images of the actress without permission, perhaps following the imperative of one of the actress's films, Let's Make It Legal (1951), but ultimately, its tax planning strategy worked against it in the Ninth Circuit decision. As another of Monroe's films noted, Something's Got to Give (1961).

WGBH Buys PRI: Larger Tote Bags in the Offing?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)The prospect of shared programming costs and launching new projects spurred Boston-based public broadcaster WGBH to acquire Minneapolis-based Public Radio International, the New York Times reports.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and P.R.I. will continue to operate under its own independent flag. Already Public Broadcasting System's (PBS) largest producer of television programming such as Nova and Frontline, WGBH taking on P.R.I. is expected to bolster the former's radio presence. For P.R.I., the presence of WGBH, with whom it already collaborates (along with the BBC) to produce The World, should help address its operating deficit.

Qwikster Becomes Quicksand to Netflix: Company Abandons Split of DVD Rental & Video Streaming

Image via CrunchBaseNetflix, once-admired for its business acumen and streamlined operation that enabled it to topple Blockbuster and other video competitors, nowadays evokes comparisons to the bumbling video store clerks played by Jack Black and Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind (2008).

Less than three weeks after Netflix announced it was dividing its operations into separate subscriptions for Netflix, which would stream movies, and Qwikster, which would rent DVDs through the mail (see "TUOL" post 9/21/11), The New York Times reports today that the company will keep the two operations together under the Netflix name and Website.

The bold corporate decision to say: "Never mind," follows a firestorm of criticism and an estimated 1 million users out of the company's 25 million subscribers jumping ship to protest the lack of notice and the boost in the monthly subscription rate from $10 for the two services to a proposed $16, or $8 apiece, for Netflix video streaming and Qwikster DVD mailing.

Although he declined to be interviewed, the Times article reported a statement released by Netflix chief honcho Reed Hastings, who distinguished between "moving quickly--which Netflix has done very well for years--and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."  It remains to be seen whether subscribers, happy that the company wouldn't be split into two entities, will nonetheless absorb the higher $16 monthly subscription fee, which has not been rolled back.

NYT: Facebook "Likes" Gibbs

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe New York Times reports today that Palo Alto, Calif.-based social network goliath Facebook hopes to land former Obama White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for a senior slot to manage the company's communications.

Gibbs, 40, left the Obama Administration in February 2011, after serving two years as press secretary. Facebook has yet to make a formal offer to Gibbs, who was communications director during Barack Obama's senate and presidential campaigns.

Although his name has surfaced as a candidate to chair the Democratic National Committee, Gibbs would cash in were he to join Facebook, where he would likely receive a hefty salary and shares in the company ahead of Facebook's anticipated Initial Public Offering in 2012. Before he was purportedly poked by Facebook, Gibbs was expected to play a prominent role in President Obama's re-election campaign.

Although many members of the White House press corps would just as soon "de-friend" Gibbs, that he knows his way around the Washington, D.C. corridors of power would be an asset to Facebook, which has bolstered its lobbying efforts before the FTC and Defense Intelligence Agency, the Times reports.

France Has a Bon to Pick With Google

Image via WikipediaGoogle controls 90 percent of Internet search advertising business in France, according to a report in today's New York Times.

Responding to a government-backed analysis of online search advertising, the French Competition Authority said although Google may have abused its dominant market position, enacting further regulations to ensure competition in search advertising is not warranted.  Google denies that it has exercised dominance.

A Black Day for 'The Gray Lady'

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Falling short of the 100 staff positions targeted for elimination because not enough employees opted for a voluntary buyout, The New York Times yesterday began issuing pink slips to reporters, some of whose bylines are  recognizable to readers.

In a story culled from various media sources, including The New York Post, Gawker, and New York magazine, The Huffington Post reports that 26 Times employees will lose their jobs before the end of the year in addition to the 74 news staffers who accepted a voluntary buyout package (60 Guild and 14 non-Guild members).

Among those reportedly laid-off on Wednesday are business reporter Kate Galbraith, culture writer Eric Konigsberg, real estate scribe Josh Barbanel and national. reporter Sara Rimer (full disclosure, an acquaintance of "TUOL"'s devoted staff).

The New York Times Co. owns 19 newspapers, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Gainseville Sun, among other holdings.