Freesheets
In December 2008, angry protesters branded both Geir Haarde, Iceland’s then prime minister, and David Oddsson, then head of the country’s central bank, as «Iceland’s bin Laden» - blaming them in equal parts for the country’s complete financial meltdown (see my photos below). Now, the former
Freesheets
Could we see Schibsted mount a take-over attempt of Johnston Press following yesterday's announcement of the latter company appointing the former media group's ex-CEO, Kjell Aamot, as a non-executive director? Nah, I can't really see that happening, but it's an interesting appointment.
Freesheets
Well, let's not exaggerate the profit, freesheet giant Metro International is back in the black with a modest profit for Q2, but is still in the red for the first half of 2010 (key headlines here). However, the world's biggest publisher of free dailies has seen
Blogging
On Metro, Foursquare, the future of freesheets, Facebook-journalism and creative disruption. Okay, so the headline of this post is pretty much the subtitle of this blog, but I often come across posts on interesting developments that I have limited time to blog about and know I easily will forget if
Freesheets
While new CEO of pan-European media group Schibsted, Rolv Erik Ryssdal, is hard at work trying to charm the analysts of the world’s financial centres, its now retired CEO, Kjell Aamot, is giving the odd talk closer to home and sharing some fascinating tidbits while he’s at it.
Freesheets
The decision to award this year's Nobel Peace Price to Barack Obama took the world by surprise, but it turns ut at least one newspaper was ahead of the game. Based on the artists booked for the Nobel Peace Price cermony in Oslo 12 December, Metro Sweden, the
Freesheets
News of The Evening Standard going free has been a major trending topic these last few days - both among London's Twitterati and in the Twingly channel I've set up on journalism & media (in beta, password-protected but see screengrab below). We may speculate whether or
Finance
Björgólfur Gudmundsson is not only a bank chief in hot water,as The Telegraph describes him today: with his bankruptcy an era in Icelandic media history comes to an end. Now that both Jon Asgeir Johannessen's investment vehicle Baugur and Björgólfur, also the former owner of West Ham
Acquisitions
Metro International divests Italian operation but enters into franchise agreement to maintain global advertisment reach. I was going to call his post "Metro International shrinks further", but felt depressed about the prospect of writing yet another gloomy post on newspapers when it struck me that isn't
Acquisitions
'The financial crisis is forcing media to implement unusual cost cutting measures,' the female leader for the country's journalist union has admitted to The Norwegian Office of Enlightenment after the blog's investigations revealed all yesterday's Norwegian newspaper stories to be April Fool&
Freesheets
Edda Media-owned Sarpsborgsavisa will cease publication 28 May, it was decided yesterday. The freesheet is the third newspaper in the county of Östfold to see its owners pull the plug within less than seven days. Only last Tuesday, Norwegian newspaper group A-pressen announced it would close local newspaper Moss Dagblad
BusinessModel
Yes, freesheets are challenged, but that's down to the collapse in the print classifieds market, and Mecom is hardly the best example of a company brought down by its frees. In an article yesterday, The Financial Times (FT) suggested the freesheet model could be the first victim of