McClatchy is announcing on Facebook that five of its papers are available on the Kindle: The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram in Texas, the Anchorage Daily News and the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

The Kindle editions are delivered wirelessly once a day in the early morning, but will not be a complete version of the print edition or even the Web site of each paper. The editions will not have advertising and are free for a two-week trial. The monthly subscription price is $6.99 a month. Amazon is said to take a 70% cut of subscription revenue from newspapers. Read the whole story...

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida is in the midst of selling a magazine they own in Washington, D.C., to a Scientology publisher located in Folsom, Calif. The St. Pete's title, Governing, is being acquired by e. Republic, which has four publications, including one called Government Technology.

The Web site that included the story about the sale in last week's St. Petersburg Times also included a video ad for Scientology that cost an estimated $1 million. Interestingly, the St. Petersburg Times has been running several hard-hitting exposes about abuses in Scientology this year.

"What the heck is going on here?" asks The Hollywood Reporter. "Are publishers so hard up for cash that they'll take money from the subjects of their exposes?" Read the whole story...

Bill Moyers will be retiring from regularly weekly reporting on TV next year. Moyers, 75, received the highest award bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2006 -- it's Lifetime Achievement Emmy. His weekly show on PBS, "Bill Moyers Journal," will end on April 30, 2010.

Early in his career, Moyers worked as press secretary for fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson when Johnson was president. Since then, he has done thousands of hours of TV programming, many of them focusing on various aspects of the humanities, such as his famous interviews with Joseph Campbell about the power of mythology that first ran on PBS, Moyers' home for many years.

During the summer of 2007, Moyers delivered a prophetic speech about the importance of journalism at a conference about education. In the speech, he said, "The job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is almost as complicated as trying to hide it in the first place. One of my mentors told me that 'news is what people want to keep hidden; everything else is publicity.' " Read the whole story...

Comcast's plan to take control of NBC Universal this month has encountered a roadblock. The cable operator's acquisition of a 51% stake in NBCU is being held up because Vivendi and GE, the joint owners of NBCU, are $500 to $900 million apart in agreeing on a value for Vivendi's stake.

General Electric owns 80% of the company, and France's Vivendi owns 20%. GE needs to reach an agreement with Vivendi before it can sell majority control to Comcast. GE has placed a value on NBC Universal of $27 billion to $30 billion, say insiders.
Negotiations could drag on until Dec. 10, when Vivendi's window to exercise its option to sell its stake officially closes. After that time, Vivendi wouldn't have the opportunity to sell, perhaps even through an public offering, for another year. Read the whole story...

Bloomberg has reached out to several large global ad agencies to develop a its biggest marketing campaign ever. Bloomberg says it is seeking help with "corporate identity and design, advertising, media, digital, events and demand generation" for its portfolio of brands.

Bloomberg wants a New York-based shop with capabilities in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The search comes five months after Bloomberg hired Maureen McGuire, a marketing vet of Sears Holdings and IBM, as its first CMO.

BusinessWeek isn't mentioned in the Bloomberg RFI, but the agency search is taking place as Bloomberg closes its purchase of the weekly. The newly acquired magazine is expected to be part of the creative marketing initiative. Bloomberg spent a modest $1.3 million on media advertising in 2008, down from $2 million in 2007, per Nielsen. Read the whole story...

O, The Oprah Magazine is in the midst of a sweeping redesign that will be unveiled on the 10th anniversary issue next May. The redesign comes as the magazine, a joint venture between Winfrey's Harpo Print LLP and Hearst, comes off one of the rockiest years since its launch in 2000.

The Hearst-led redesign will be extensive, covering every page of the magazine, according to a source. It's a gamble for Hearst. Modernizing the title could alienate the magazine's nearly 2.4 million paid circulation base or Winfrey herself.

The title is Hearst's second-most profitable magazine, but it has sustained a newsstand sales slump of almost 6% in the first half of the year and an ad page slump of 26% for the full year. The title has also been plagued by staff unrest. While sources say Winfrey still seems to enjoy the magazine, the incentive for her to build on the title's past success is less intense than it is for Hearst, which badly needs a moneymaker near the top of its stable. Read the whole story...