• San Jose Mercury News, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Women’s Wear Daily, Media Daily News , Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11 AM

"Privacy Ends for Kennedy," a front-page article in The New York Times proclaims this morning, and the story goes on to say that Caroline Kennedy's decision to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate will put an end to the "pass" she's been given by the "notoriously rambunctious tabloid press."

Tell Steve Jobs about it. All he has to do is say he's staying home from the MacWorld trade show in January and the stories start flying again about his health. "At a conference in June, he appeared gaunt, sparking questions about whether he was suffering lingering effects from his bout with pancreatic cancer four years ago," Troy Wolverton reports in the Merc News. "This is like Brezhnev not showing up for the May Day parade," Wired.com news director Leander Kahney tells the Chronicle's Ryan Kim.

Wolverton, sounding skeptical, writes that "Apple portrayed the surprise move as a business decision." In fact, Apple said that this will be its last MacWorld, and that Phil Schiller, Apple's svp of worldwide marketing, will take Jobs' place this year.

Analyst Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, tells Kim that the move makes business sense for Apple. "Even though [MacWorld has] been historically an important show for Apple, they're basically driving people to the stores, and their advertising campaigns are putting them in people's minds, so the need for a trade show has gone away," he says.

And that may get to the heart of the matter. Media Daily News editor-in-chief Joe Mandese reported yesterday that revenues for B-to-B trade shows and events have declined 3.7% during the first nine months of 2008. ABM president-CEO Gordon Hughes is optimistic long term, but there are other signs of trade shows erosion, in both the consumer and B2B arenas. (Mandese's report is also the first time I've seen that American Business Media has re-branded trade shows and their brethren as "face-to-face media.")

Late last month, we reported that Nissan was the latest, and largest, car manufacturer to pull out of the Detroit auto show.

And yesterday, designer Vera Wang became the first major designer to pull out of the tents in Bryant Park for New York Fashion Week. "Wishing to convey a more intimate mood, the designer will stage her Feb. 19 show in her new Mercer Street store," Rosemary Feitelberg reports in Women's Wear Daily.

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