Phila. papers being revamped

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Inquirer plans to unveil a news "express" section in early February to attract busy readers, one of several strategies to boost readership that also include a sponsored TV guide and new Web sites for local car and real estate listings.

"We have a plan to turn this business around," Brian Tierney, publisher of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't want to say it's going to be easy, and certainly we're not going to solve the problems of the media industry, ... but we're going to fix Philadelphia."

Tierney said the papers' former owner, Knight Ridder Inc., cut staff — as he also did this month, reducing the number of employees by more than 100 in order to save $9 million — without having an effective plan to turn around operations. When the Tierney-led Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the papers last June, he saw that Knight Ridder had budgeted for an 8.5 percent circulation dip.

"They spent no money last year to try to grow," Tierney said Jan. 23.

Tierney, an advertising and public relations executive whose team crafted the James Earl Jones campaign for Verizon Communications Inc., said he has budgeted $20 million to spend on the papers this year, including $4 million in plant equipment upgrades, stepped-up advertising and marketing and greatly expanded home delivery of the Daily News. The company has also snagged the rights to "Philadelphia," a song sung by a local rap artist to be used in promoting its Web sites.

To appeal to busy readers who don't have time to read the entire paper, the Inquirer will unveil a special section sponsored by Commerce Bank featuring news and editorial page summaries.

Earlier this month, Comcast Corp. began sponsoring the TV guide, Tierney said. The listings now include programs found in Comcast's video-on-demand service.

The company also introduced Web sites featuring local apartment, auto and real estate listings, such as Phillycars.com, PhillyForRent.com and PhillyForSale.com. Having separate Web sites allows users to access them directly rather than having to go through the main site, Philly.com.

A redesign of Philly.com will be unveiled in about four months, Tierney said.

The company is also changing the way the newspapers are delivered.

Since Jan. 1, the Inquirer and the Daily News have been delivered in the same trucks. Tierney said Teamsters drivers had previously driven separate trucks to the same location, but the union bent on the issue in the last negotiations.

The Daily News will now be delivered to eight counties in the Philadelphia area rather than just to the city and some surrounding towns.

Tierney said the company will increase the number of distribution points for its papers — including retail locations and newspaper boxes — from 8,000 to as many as 8,700 this year. In January, 200 newspaper boxes will be placed outside McDonald's Corp. restaurants in eight counties.

Knight Ridder had 9,600 locations years ago, he said.

"Some areas were selling five or six copies and (Knight Ridder believed) it wasn't worth it," Tierney said.

The company plans to electronically track the sale of newspapers at corner boxes so it can put more copies in busy areas and find solutions for boxes with slow sales.

For now, circulation seems to have stabilized based on November and December figures, Tierney said. Print ad revenues have remained steady but online ad revenue is growing by double digits.

"Sometimes you have to change the paradigm," Tierney said. "I'm confident that if we market effectively, and test and learn, that we will continue to grow."

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LA Times retooling news approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Times Media Group said it is reorganizing the newspaper's newsroom into an around-the-clock operation with an emphasis on breaking news on its Web site and offering expanded coverage in its print edition.

"We are rebuilding our business to reflect how readers, users and advertisers are using media today," David Hiller, publisher and CEO of the Times, said in a statement Jan. 24. "People choose different platforms and products to meet their varying news and information needs throughout the day, and we are positioning the Times to be there when they turn to us."

Under the new approach, the paper will focus on offering multimedia content on its Web site as stories unfold, as well as more personalized ways to get stories. One example is MyLatimes.com, which the Times launched Jan. 24. The site uses RSS feeds — a technology for notifying users of new entries on their favorite news sites and blogs — to deliver content directly to computer users.

In its print editions, the newspaper will emphasize editorial analysis, investigative reporting, trend stories and features. Reporters also will be directed to report for both the Web and print editions.

"Our philosophy going forward is, 'Break it on the Web, expand on it in print,'" Times Editor Jim O'Shea said. "We have to change what we are doing online, and also in print, to better engage readers and users who can choose every day among myriad sources for their news and information."

To coordinate the changes, the newspaper named Business Editor Russ Stanton to the newly created position of innovation editor.

Stanton will work with editorial staffers across all divisions to manage the reorganization and will report directly to O'Shea, the paper said.

The newspaper also named Robertson Barrett, general manager of the Times' Web site since 2005, as a vice president of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.

He and Stanton will lead a team charged with retooling all of the newspaper's departments under the integrated Internet and print approach.

The Los Angeles Times is owned by the Tribune Co.

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Murdoch role in Tribune bid debated

CHICAGO (AP) — News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch's potential involvement in a joint bid for Tribune Co. by the Chandler family doesn't alter the fact that no acceptable takeover offer has yet surfaced after months of the company soliciting proposals, analysts said.

Murdoch's interest in a minority stake in Tribune emerged after the media conglomerate received the largest offer to date for its assets, an estimated $7.6 billion proposal by the Chandlers to buy the company and spin off its broadcast division to shareholders.

The family is the largest holder of Tribune stock, a legacy of their sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Times Mirror Co. properties to Tribune in 2000.

A person familiar with News Corp.'s thinking told The Associated Press on Jan. 24 that the company would be interested in contributing a low hundreds of millions of dollars in equity as a minority partner in the Chandler bid, but has not made a commitment to do so.

The goal for News Corp. would be to reduce costs on the business side of the New York Post, a money-losing but prominent tabloid newspaper, by combining some back-office functions such as production and delivery with Tribune's Newsday newspaper on neighboring Long Island, according to the person, who asked for anonymity because the negotiations were private.

Tribune declined comment on News Corp.'s reported interest, as did a spokeswoman for the Chandler Trusts, which forced the company to launch the current review process by putting public pressure on management last June to boost its lagging stock price.

The Chandlers said in a recent regulatory filing that they would contribute their Tribune shares, which they valued at $672.3 million, as part of the equity portion of their buyout bid and said they were in discussions with strategic investors about adding another $645.9 million in equity. The remainder of their buyout bid's value would come from debt financing and the TV station unit spinoff, and the filing said they had already lined up loan commitments from units of Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

What wasn't clear was whether the News Corp. funds would in essence be new money that would allow the Chandlers to boost their bid or if it would be part of the already promised funding from strategic investors.

Tribune also has received a joint proposal from Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ronald Burkle to sponsor a recapitalization of the company that would leave them in control after the payout of a big dividend to shareholders financed by the assumption of billions of dollars of new debt and a $500 million investment on their part. A third offer, for Tribune's television stations only, reportedly was submitted by the Carlyle Group private-equity firm.

The consensus on Wall Street remains that none is sufficient for the company to accept, with a small investment by Murdoch unlikely to influence that.

James Goss, an analyst for Chicago-based Barrington Research Associates, said limited involvement by Murdoch isn't likely to "significantly change the game."

"I think we're at a stalemate until we see a higher price," said Dave Novosel of the bond research firm Gimme Credit.

That leaves other shareholders and outsiders to continue speculating on whether Tribune will ultimately sell off individual newspapers, television stations or the Chicago Cubs piecemeal, a process which would likely result in a significant tax burden for the company.

"I think it's going to get broken up and sold in two pieces at least," said Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino.

Although the recent bids by the Chandlers and the Broad-Burkle team both reportedly expire in January, a final decision still may not be imminent. Tribune Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons reportedly reiterated in an e-mail to Tribune employees that the board expects to make a decision by March 31.

Tribune owns 11 papers, including the Chicago Tribune and The (Baltimore) Sun, along with 23 television stations and the Cubs.

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NY Post says reporter properly ID'd herself to Mo. suspect

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The New York Post said its correspondent properly identified herself as an employee of the newspaper before doing jailhouse interviews with the man accused of kidnapping two Missouri boys.

Lawyers for Michael Devlin, 41, say the reporter misled him, identifying herself as reporter with a university newspaper instead of a stringer for a major publication.

"Susannah Cahalan was working as a freelancer for the New York Post and she identified herself as such to the prisoner Michael Devlin," the Post said Jan. 23 in an e-mailed statement. "It was made clear to the prisoner that the story resulting from his interview would be published in the New York Post. We stand by Susannah and the story."

Devlin was interviewed Jan. 19-20 by Cahalan in the Franklin County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Devlin is accused in two counties of kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The boys were found in Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment on Jan. 12, four days after Ben went missing and more than four years after Shawn disappeared.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said Cahalan signed in as a friend of Devlin's.

A spokeswoman for the Post, Suzi Halpin, said the newspaper had no comment about how Cahalan identified herself to jail officials.

Cahalan attends Washington University in St. Louis and formerly worked for the school paper. A university spokesman said she is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences from Summit, N.J. She has not responded to attempts to reach her by phone or e-mail.

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Fleischer: Libby discussed CIA officer over lunch

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testified Jan. 29 that then-colleague I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told him over lunch that the wife of a prominent war critic worked at the CIA.

Fleischer said the conversation happened July 7, 2003, days before Libby told investigators he was surprised to learn about the CIA operative from a reporter. That discrepancy is at the heart of Libby's perjury and obstruction trial.

Fleischer, who was the chief White House spokesman for the first 2½ years of President Bush's first term, said Libby invited him to lunch to discuss Fleischer's planned departure from the White House. He said it was the first time he and Libby had eaten lunch together.

They talked about Fleischer's career plans and their shared interest in the Miami Dolphins football team, Fleischer testified. He can't remember who brought it up but he said the conversation then turned to the growing controversy over former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who accused the White House of ignoring prewar intelligence on Iraq.

"Ambassador Wilson was sent by his wife," Fleischer recalled Libby saying. "His wife works for the CIA."

Fleischer said Libby also used the woman's name, Valerie Plame, and told him it was "hush hush."

"My sense is that Mr. Libby was telling me this was kind of newsy," Fleischer said.

Fleischer said he again heard about Plame four days later aboard Air Force One from White House communications director Dan Bartlett. Bartlett was reading documents and began "venting" that reporters kept repeating Wilson's claim that Vice President Dick Cheney sent Wilson on a fact-finding trip to Niger.

"His wife sent him," Fleischer recalled Bartlett saying. "She works at the CIA."

Fleischer said he relayed that information to reporters from Time magazine and NBC. A reporter from Newsweek magazine was also there but may have walked away, he said. The reporters paid no attention to the comment, he testified.

"I never in my wildest dreams thought this information was classified," Fleischer testified.

Fleischer testified under an immunity deal with prosecutors and arrived in court with his attorneys. He said he sought the deal after reading an article about the investigation.

"I thought, 'Oh my God. Did I somehow play a role in outing a CIA operative?' " Fleischer said.

Libby's attorneys plan to argue during cross-examination that the immunity deal makes Fleischer's testimony less credible.

Prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg sought to head off that argument early in Fleischer's testimony by having him describe his deal.

"I cannot be prosecuted for what I did with the information I was provided," Fleischer said. "The immunity provides no protection for perjury."

Libby says he was surprised to learn from NBC News reporter Tim Russert that Plame worked at the CIA. Anything he later told reporters about Plame was simply a repetition of what he learned from Russert, Libby said.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's first witnesses were government employees who testified that they told Libby about Plame days before the Russert conversation. Fleischer is a key witness because, as Fitzgerald said in his opening statement: "You can't learn something on Thursday that you're giving out on Monday."

Nobody was ever charged with leaking Plame's identity. Libby is the only person charged in the case.

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