Media Industry

The beleaguered newspaper industry saw its stocks surge briefly Tuesday on news that media titan Rupert Murdoch had offered a large premium for Dow Jones & Co. But the settling of share prices by day's end seemed to agree with the assessment of the experts: Most newspaper companies are not like the one that owns the Wall Street Journal. "With all due respect to all the other newspaper companies," said Alan D.

CBS Corp., producer of "60 Minutes" and the hit crime series "CSI," said Thursday that its first-quarter earnings fell 6%, hurt by the sale of radio stations and lower syndicated TV income. CBS, which also operates outdoor advertising and publishing units, said net income fell to $213.5 million, or 28 cents a share, from $226.9 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. The latest quarter included a tax charge related to the sale of some radio stations. Excluding items, earnings rose 8% to $253.

Once hailed as a sign that this war-torn country was coming back to life, Afghanistan's burgeoning media have fallen on troubled times. Reports of official intimidation and harassment of reporters have risen over the last year. Journalists say that local authorities and political bosses, unaccustomed to public scrutiny and criticism, are lashing out and even resorting to thuggery to protest or prevent unflattering coverage.

Women and minorities are largely absent from radio station ownership, thanks to a surge in media consolidation. A public-interest group study made that case Tuesday, arguing that the groups were woefully underrepresented as radio stations increasingly are swept up by big chains headed by white males.

General Electric Co. and Financial Times publisher Pearson reportedly are discussing making a joint bid for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. A privately held joint venture combining the Financial Times of London, Dow Jones and business channel CNBC was said to be in preliminary talks. The talks were reported Sunday by both the Financial Times and the Journal in online reports.

Members of the Writers Guild of America overwhelmingly approved bargaining proposals for upcoming contract negotiations with film and TV producers. Of the 3,176 ballots cast in Los and New York, 96% voted to approve the "pattern of demands," which outlines the issues the guild plans to put on the bargaining table when contract talks begin July 16. Voter turnout was the highest in recent years, guild officials said.

Walt Disney Co. is forming a new unit to distribute movies, TV shows, children's programs and other entertainment around the world. Disney's move, to be unveiled today, is part of a larger strategy to further exploit the fast-growing international market.

Advantage Rupert. With General Electric Co. and Pearson taking themselves out of the bidding Thursday for Dow Jones & Co., billionaire Murdoch's path to landing the parent of the Wall Street Journal is further cleared.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo learned the hard way that decisions involving Paris Hilton brought sharp scrutiny. Her 23-day sentence -- and the subsequent controversy over her early release and reimprisonment -- unwittingly exposed the overcrowding of L.A. County jails.

washington -- Federal rules try to limit media power by prohibiting a company from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same city. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. faces no such hurdle in its pending deal to acquire Dow Jones & Co. and with it the country's second-largest paper, the Wall Street Journal, even though it owns a broadcast TV network and a cable news channel that blanket the country. Some Democrats say such national combinations should be scrutinized as well.