Sport mag brings forward publication date for the Ashes

Posted by Aduke Thomson on 1 July 2009 at 15:14
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

England cricketer Andrew Flintoff is to guest edit next week’s special Ashes issue of free weekly magazine Sport.

For one week only Sport will go on sale on Wednesday instead of Friday to coincide with the start of the test series against Australia in Cardiff.

Flintoff, the star member of the 2005 Ashes-winning squad, worked closely with the staff as well as setting his own questions for the captains of each of the teams.

He said: “In my career I have experienced every side of the press – good things and bad things – so I was happy to be Guest Editor of Sport this week so I could make a magazine the way I like it. I asked for a feature on my team-mates, the fans, my darts idol Wayne Mardle and some big pictures of motorbikes and base jumping. I’m not a big reader so I like a magazine with big pictures!”

Student hoax wins magazine photojournalism prize

Posted by Paul McNally on 29 June 2009 at 07:14
Tags: Magazines, Photography

It was a worthy winner of Paris Match magazine’s annual €5,000 prize for student photojournalism - a powerful black-and-white double-page spread documenting how impoverished French students were prostituting themselves and foraging through bins for food.

Until the winners admitted that all of the photos had been faked.

In their acceptance speech, Guillaume Chauvin and Rémi Hubert said they did it to expose the “voyeurism” and gullibility of the press.

“There was nothing in the rules of the competition to say that rigged photos were banned,” Hubert said.

Head of Emap’s data division leaves company

Posted by Paul McNally on 19 June 2009 at 09:28
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines

The co-chief executive of Emap’s data and insight division, Neil Bradford, has left the publisher to “pursue interests in the private equity industry”.

His responsibilities have been taken on by Emap group chief exec David Gilbertson, who according to the Independent is “reviewing the role and whether to appoint a replacement”.

Jamie Oliver magazine to be stocked in supermarkets

Posted by Paul McNally on 18 June 2009 at 11:22
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

Jamie Oliver’s bimonthly food magazine is doubling its print run to 260,000 and will now be stocked in Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsburys and Somerfield.

The title, which has four editorial staff, launched six months ago in WHSmith only and is due to publish its debut ABC figure in August, the Guardian says.

BBC Magazines pre-school title to launch on 24 June

Posted by Nikki Wicks on 11 June 2009 at 15:12
Tags: Journalism, Magazines

BBC Magazines has announced a 24 June launch date for its new pre-school title Waybuloo, which aims to develop children’s social and emotional learning.

The magazine will accompany the CBeebies television series of the same name and will be edited by children’s education specialist Stephanie Cooper.

The fortnightly title will be targeted at three- to five-year-olds and have a cover price of £2.35.

B2B feels downturn as Apax ‘writes off’ £300m spent on Emap

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 11 June 2009 at 10:13
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines, Media Business

The extent to which B2B publishers are feeling the effects of the downturn has been illustrated by a report suggesting Apax has written off its £300m investment in Emap’s B2B magazine division.

According to a report in the Telegraph, private equity firm Apax told investors in March that it has written down the value of its investment in the business to zero.

Apax paid £1.3bn for the B2B division of Emap in a joint venture with Guardian Media Group.

According to Media Guardian, the £300m which has been written off by Apax represents the group’s own money. It also borrowed to finance the deal, so it is effectively saying that if it sold Emap now it would only get roughly half its money back - as it would have to pay off creditors first.

It is only a paper loss - because Apax and GMG will have been planning to hang on to Emap for at least a couple more years yet.

But it is a sign of the extent to which the recession has hit B2B values. And it also a sign that Guardian Media Group may now be regretting the decision to invest so much of the £334.8m in made from selling half its stake in Trader Media Group in 2007 in Emap.

According to GMG chief executive Carolyn McCall, Emap is currently generating operating profits of £100m a year.

Apax declined to comment.

Press Gazette website technical problems

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 3 June 2009 at 08:52
Tags: B2B Magazines, Journalism, Magazines

Our main website www.pressgazette.co.uk has been down intermittently over the last day due to some technical problems transferring it from our old owners Wilmington to our new owners Progressive Media Group.

Normal service should be resumed very shortly.

You should be able to read this because it is on our blog-server which is separately hosted.

9.30am update: www.pressgazette.co.uk now seems to be back up and running normally.

Time Out seeks cash for international web expansion

Posted by Paul McNally on 27 May 2009 at 07:17
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines, New Media

Time Out founder Tony Elliott has said he is considering selling a stake in the company to raise enough money to fund its online expansion.

Elliott has been the sole shareholder in Time Out since he set it up in 1968. Its overseas editions are joint ventures or licensed to local publishers.

“We want to develop in Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, in Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Elliott told the Times.

“We’d certainly not look to launch magazines in places like Paris or Los Angeles without a developed website in place first.”

Updated: Q breaks embargo on Glastonbury line-up story

Posted by Paul McNally on 26 May 2009 at 12:20
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

Q magazine, one of the official media partners for the Glastonbury music festival, yesterday broke the embargo announcing this year’s line-up.

The Bauer Media title published the final list at 10am yesterday morning on the Q4Music.com website, 12 hours ahead of an agreed 10pm embargo.

A source at Q told Press Gazette that the embargo break was “a genuine mistake”. An editorial meeting was due to take place today to discuss what happened.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis told BBC News: “There was a bit of panic rippling through the air. However, we quickly got the right line-up on our website - because the actual line-up that was out was incorrect - and managed to speak to all our partners to make sure they got the right one.”

The Guardian, another festival media partner, rushed out a story shortly before midday on Guardian.co.uk.

A message posted on the Guardian Music Twitter feed explained: “We had to rush it out as Q broke the embargo.”

Q editor Paul Rees was approached for a comment but had not replied at the time of publication.

Sport magazine returns next month after sale to UTV

Posted by Paul McNally on 22 May 2009 at 12:01
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

TalkSport parent company UTV has bought the UK edition of free weekly magazine Sport for an undisclosed sum.

The 317,000-circulation title disappeared from London’s streets last month after French owner Sport Media et Strategie went into administration.

According to the Guardian, Sport will relaunch on 12 June. Its 20 staff will move into the TalkSport offices in London.

Sunday Times mag design pioneer John Donegan dies

Posted by Nikki Wicks on 14 May 2009 at 10:17
Tags: Magazines, National Newspapers, Newspapers

The man who designed the original Sunday Times magazine, has died.

Cartoonist and graphic designer John Donegan joined the Sunday Times in the early 1960s and went on to design the magazine which when on to set the style in art direction a the time. Launched in 1962, the magazine was the first national newspaper colour supplement.

Donegan was perhaps better known for his work as a cartoonist, contributing to Punch (1975-1991) and the Sunday Express weekly strip Waldo (1981-84).

Special edition of Heritage for World Magazine Congress

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 27 April 2009 at 16:19
Tags: Customer publishing, Magazines

The PPA has teamed up with Archant Specialist magazines to produce a one-off special issue of Heritage magazine to promote the World Magazine Congress being held in London from 4-6 May.

According to the PPA:

“The magazine will have a bespoke cover, a welcome page from the event organisers and news, interviews and features about this year’s event.

“The magazine will also include features on a number of Britain’s leading heritage sites, including a sixteen-page ‘Best of Britain’ supplement, giving delegates a run-down of the nation’s finest castles, museums, heritage days out and historic homes and gardens to enjoy during their visit.”

See www.pressgazette.co.uk for breaking news from all the most important sessions.

Life at Marie Claire without the gloss

Posted by Mark Sheerin on 7 April 2009 at 13:26
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Journalism, Magazines, People, Television

A new reality TV show takes the viewer behind the scenes at the US Marie Claire.

Starring as editor-in-chief is British journalist Joanna Coles, who revealed to the Evening Standard why she agreed to be involved: “I grew up with the BBC and the ITV in the 1970s and those incredible fly-on-the-wall documentaries, and I really wanted some of that.”

As a result, Coles often appears without make up, looking exhausted. She said: “There’s quite a lot of reality in there.”

Running in Heels starts at 10pm tonight on The Style Network (Sky channel 253).

Parkinson scorn for Jade Goody funeral coverage

Posted by Mark Sheerin on 7 April 2009 at 12:24
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Journalism, Magazines

Within days of her funeral, Michael Parkinson has attacked Jade Goody on the pages of Radio Times.

He criticised the dead star for representing the “paltry and wretched” side of British life. Her death, he told the magazine, was “not the passing of a martyr or a saint or, God help us, Princess Di.”

Sir Michael had even less kind words to say about the industry which made Goody famous. Sky News reports him saying: ”I have been a journalist for 60 years and I am appalled by what’s happened to my profession. She was exploited mercilessly by the media.”

But The Sun reports that Parky once wanted to interview Jade himself saying: “She has a fascinating back story.”

World Magazine Congress comes to London: Full line up of speakers

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 1 April 2009 at 10:37
Tags: B2B Magazines, Consumer Magazines, Customer publishing, Magazines

The PPA has revealed its full line-up of speakers for the World Magazine Congress - which is being held in London for the first time in two decades next month from 4-6 May.

(more…)

Suzanne Moore is latest journalist to resign from New Statesman

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 23 March 2009 at 09:04
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines, National Union of Journalists, People

Journalist Suzanne Moore used a Mail on Sunday column yesterday to launch an excoriating attack on the New Statesman and to explain why editor Jason Cowley’s decision to let Alastair Campbell guest edit the mag had prompted her to resign as a contributing editor.

She is the latest in a series of journalists to depart the left-wing weekly since Jason Cowley joined as editor from literary magazine Granta with a promise to invest in the quality of writing. (more…)

Nuts approaches University Challenge star Gail Trimble

Posted by Paul McNally on 24 February 2009 at 10:13
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

University Challenge star contestant Gail Trimble is being pursued by Nuts magazine for a “tasteful photoshoot”, she revealed today.

The student at Oxford University’s Corpus Christi college led her team to a 275-190 victory in the quiz show final last night.

The 26-year-old told BBC Breakfast: “Would you believe it, my brother received a Facebook message from Nuts yesterday morning saying: ‘Can we have your sister’s email address, we want her to do a tasteful shoot’.

“So of course he sent them an answer saying: ‘Seriously mate, would you give your sister’s contact details to Nuts?’”

Former Cosmo editor: Weekly mag coverlines make me sick

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 23 February 2009 at 10:16
Tags: Consumer Magazines, Magazines

Former Cosmopolitan editor Linda Kelsey has said she is “shocked, bewildered and disgusted” by what has happened to women’s magazines” in recent years.

Kelsey, who edited Cosmo for five years in the mid Eighties, has written of feeling an “overwhelming sense of nausea” browsing a magazine shelf.

She cites coverlines such as Closer - “Incest Mum Shoch: Sex with my son sets me on fire”; Bella - “Why I want my daughter to be a hooker like me” and Thats Life! - “What was sticking out of his bum?”.

Kelsey suggests that the increasingly sensational mag coverlines are the result of the increasing use of reader focus groups by publishers.

She writes: “The idea of a magazine as a girl’s best friend, an entertaining pick-me-up…has disappeared.”

Her conclusion:

“Now women themselves, by buying these toe-curling weeklies, are colluding in the view of themselves as worthless.

“My hunch - or rather hope - is that as the recession bites, people will want to know once more what to do with their leftovers, and that knitting needles will be put to use in turning a ball of wool into a sweater, rather than for stabbing your best friend’s eyes out and living to tell the tale in a tawdry magazine.”

Centaur profit forecast slashed following warning

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 23 February 2009 at 08:30
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines, Media Business

Analyst Roddy Davidson at Altium Securities has cut his 2009 profit forecast for business publisher Centaur from £11.3m to £4.7m after it announced on Friday that recruitment advertising revenues were down 66 per cent.

Davidson said: “The company is in an awkward position. They are managing the business in a responsive and proactive way but the market seems to be falling off at such a pace that it is having a very pronounced impact on profitability.

“You can obviously reduce cost to protect margins but you can’t do that indefinitely without cutting into the muscle of the business.”

Centaur shares dropped 30 per cent to 23.75p on Friday following the profit warning.

Reed Elsevier expected to report robust full year figures

Posted by Dominic Ponsford on 16 February 2009 at 11:58
Tags: B2B Magazines, Magazines, Media Business

Reed Elsevier is expected to report “robust” profit growth in its final figures this week, despite failing to sell off its B2B publishing division Reed Business Information, the Independent reports.

According to the FT, Reed is close to agreeing a new deal to extend $2bn of debt by three years.

The FT reports that Reed has about $5bn of debt to refinance before 2012.

RBI staff are currently holding a postal ballot over industrial action in protest against redundancies.