Time Inc. would like about 100 volunteers to step forward and walk the plank at some of its premier magazine titles, including, Time, People and Sports Illustrated (NYT).

The Tribune Co., which publishes the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune, lost US$121 million in the third quarter. Ad revenue is down about 10 per cent (NYT).

And from Thursday in Editor and Publisher:

The American Press Institute (API) will host an invitation-only, closed-door "summit conference" Nov. 13 in which 50 CEO-level executives will ponder ways to revive the newspaper business.

The one-day conference at API's Reston, Va., headquarters will be "a facilitated discussion of concrete steps the industry can take to reverse its declines in revenue, profit and shareholder value."

Former turnaround CEO James B. Shein will lead the discussion.

"The critical role of journalism can only be preserved if the newspaper industry can come through its current crisis," Shein, now a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, said in the API announcement Thursday. "It's important for companies to see how far along the 'crisis curve' they've traveled, and there are concrete steps organizations can take to halt and even reverse that journey. We'll use those tools to illuminate for newspaper industry leaders the urgency of their situation, and lay out the steps they will need to take to begin the renewal process."

Prominent conservative black writer Shelby Steele wrote a book called A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win. Yes he can! :)

From the NYT:

My feeling is that I stand by every word of the analysis — what is between the covers of the book,” he said in a telephone interview. “For the year I have had to apologize for the stupid, silly subtitle that was slapped on to the book.”

He made it clear that he was the one who slapped the subtitle onto the book — “in about 30 seconds” when Barack Obama was trailing Hillary Rodham Clinton by about 25 percentage points. But, he added, “subtitles are marketing devices — I hate them. I’ve always hated them.”

The paperback version will lose the subtitle.

The Globe and Mail had stories today about whether the Taliban had tried to snatch captive CBC reporter Mellissa Fung in Afghanistan's Wardak province and more on the journalistic ethics of suppressing the fact she'd been kidnapped.

From the BBC:

Governments across Europe must do more to safeguard freedom of speech for Muslim reformers who face threats from extremists, a think tank has warned.

From Reuters via TheStar.com:

Country singer Merle Haggard, recently diagnosed with lung cancer, had part of a lung removed and is recovering at home, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

The 71-year-old singer-songwriter underwent surgery Monday in a Bakersfield, California, hospital.

"I'm feeling good ... better and better each day," Haggard was quoted as saying in a statement. "If not for the love and wisdom of my wife (Theresa), I might not be around today."

From Globe and Mail Update:

Federal government officials are denying reports that Taliban prisoners were freed in exchange for the release of kidnapped CBC journalist Melissa Fung.

“No Taliban prisoners were released,” said a government official.

A Pakistani newspaper reported today that two Taliban insurgents were released to obtain Ms. Fung's freedom, but the Canadian government official said no such exchange was made: “No Taliban prisoners, et cetera, were released as part of this.”

The official said that Afghan authorities did detain several people as part of the investigation into Ms. Fung's abduction, and that some of those people have been released, although the official said he had no information that indicated that was part of an exchange.

The Yad Vashem centre has an article online about Nazi propagandas part of its Shoah resource centre. Here are some salient excerpts:

South African singing legend and anti-apartheid activist Miriam "Mamma Africa" Makeba has died at age 76. She had been performing at a concert in Italy.