Editor & Publisher, which is producing some impressive work these days about the beleaguered industry it serves, this week gives us Part 1 of a series on the ever more intimate connection between newspapers and the Internet.  The Net remains much feared among many journeymen newspaper pros, they explain, but the days of ignoring the medium are gone. Forever.  Today, forward-thinking papers and their leaders are embracing the Web and all the opportunities it brings both to their advertisers and their readers.  E&P's report is rife with examples of companies that are doing it right.  "Although newspapers have been …

“The Tony Danza Show,” now in its sophomore season, looks like it won't come back for its junior year, according to industry observers who have talked to Media Life.  Ratings are quite decent in many of its markets, and Danza himself has been a trouper, doing everything possible to build audience loyalty for his daytime talker.  But circumstances appear to be working against the Buena Vista-owned strip.  “Despite Danza giving the program his all, the probability of the program coming back for the 2006-2007 is at best a long shot,” Bill Carroll, director of programming at Katz TV Group, …

When he writes about fixing Time Warner, it's hard to know if Erick Schonfeld is serious or just doing what lots of writers do--trying to be provocative, essentially as an exercise in audience-grabbing. In either case, he's succeeded in producing a piece that will be much discussed for its boldness and sweep, if not necessarily its sound business logic. Noting as millions of others have noted (depressingly) that Time Warner's stock has long been stuck in neutral, he proposes a five-point plan for fixing the company. Here are the fixes he imagines: 1. Dump distribution (including TW Cable and AOL …

Bad news for those who sell television advertising. A study released yesterday at the Association of National Advertisers TV Ad Forum revealed a significant loss of faith in TV ads among those who buy them. Three out of four markets say they believe TV advertising is less effective today than it was three years ago. Ad Age: "Almost 70 percent of advertisers believe DVRs and VOD will reduce or destroy the effectiveness of traditional 30-second commercials. Instead, they are looking at alternatives such as branded entertainment within TV programs (61 percent), TV program sponsorships (55 percent), interactive advertising during TV …

Despite all the hoopla among TV, cable, and newspaper executives about extending their brands to multiple platforms, including the emerging mobile platform, magazine executives are not all that keen to do the same thing. According to a survey conducted jointly by Media Industry Newsletter and I Want Media, the magazine world is skeptical of going mobile at this point in time. Maybe sometime down the road. Maybe not at all. But right now--no, thanks. Where's the business model? ask industry reps. "The few magazine brands that already see demand for mobile extensions of their content are very enthusiastic about the …

MTV Networks is a big believer in the power and future potential of broadband channels. It already offers Overdrive, VSpot, and, through its Nicekodeon brand, TurboNick, all of which have begun to establish traction among their targeted audiences. Next comes Loaded, the broadband channel of MTV's CMT cable unit. Loaded, to launch sometime this summer, will feature country music videos, clips from popular CMT series, and original content. CMT is a available in 80 million homes. It scored its highest ratings ever last fall when, for the first time, it aired the Miss America Pageant.

Of the 73 magazines that are competing this year for National City and Regional Magazine Association awards, most of the finalists have been there before. Topping the 2006 list is Texas Monthly, a finalist with 16 nominations, the most in the recent history of this competition," writes Jim Romenesko of the Poynter Institute. Texas Monthly has long been regarded as an outstanding example of regional magazine journalism, and over the years it has won countless prizes on both the local and national levels. "Los Angeles magazine received 13 nominations. Atlanta magazine is a finalist in five categories, Chicago and Philadelphia …

Fans of Comedy Central's "South Park" are threatening to boycott feature-film blockbuster "Mission: Impossible III," starring Tom Cruise, if the cable channel refuses to air a Scientology spoof that it recently dropped when one of its voiceover artists, Isaac Hayes, refused to participate in the episode, saying that, as a Scientologist, he thought it was offensive. "M:I III," which will be released in May, is from Comedy Central parent Viacom. When Hayes backed out of the "South Park" Scientology spoof, the show's creators quickly slapped together another episode, which aired this week. Writes Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes: …

Anyone interested in where the newspaper industry is going ought to read the excellent piece on Page 1 of today's Wall Street Journal.  After making the point (often missed) that many papers, large and small, are impressively profitable, the Journal provides one of its signature wrap-ups.  Reporters Julia Angwin and Joe Hagan explain all the various ways U.S. papers are adapting to their ever-more-challenging environment.  Their mission: find new, younger readers.  How?  What are industry leaders actually doing all day long while paid think-tank brainiacs work off on the side, calculating strategies for the future? Some companies have launched …

It's not often that a senior executive in the newspaper business willingly admits what others often whisper in quiet corridors: when it comes to breaking news--and sometimes even less urgent matters--the Internet is more and more the place readers can find the latest, best-sourced stories.  The exec here is Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, who made his brave, bold comments in a speech before the Royal Society of Arts in London.  "We have reached a point where the newspaper is in the middle of a fragmented world of interest groups aligned around zones of politics and passions and …