• by Julia Dudnik Stern , December 22, 2009

Nielsen Business Media, the owner of various creative and advertising industry magazine titles, is selling and shuttering many by year's-end. Adweek is going to a new owner; Editor & Publisher is history, but Photo District News, its flagship trade show and stock-image business, remain.

Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage, Film Journal International and the Clio Awards will now be owned by e5 Global Media Holdings, a group of investors led by James Finkelstein of News Communications Inc., which publishes The Hill and Who's Who directories.

Alongside the smaller and younger book review title Kirkus Reviews, Editor & Publisher is ceasing publication after over a century. The announcement of the demise of the venerable publication spread through the Internet, causing an outcry of shock and support so widespread that the name "Editor & Publisher" reached a top-4 level of popularity on Twitter, beating out celebrity gossip such as Tiger Woods' sex follies.

Although Nielsen also sold off a line of film-industry trade shows -- including ShoWest, ShowEast, CinemaExpo International and CineAsia -- the company has retained ownership of photo-industry news publication Photo District News, the annual New York-based trade show PhotoPlus Expo and the Independent Photography Network, also known as IPNstock.