Circulation of broadsheet newspapers is shrinking. Some say readers are put off by the unwieldy size of the pages, so some newspapers are reinventing in smaller formats. “At Britain’s Independent, total circulation has risen by about 15% from last year thanks to its small edition. This month it dropped its broadsheet edition altogether. As many as 30 papers from around the world are thinking about doing something similar.” Can the key to circulation health really be that simple?
Blog
Bacon Painting Too Expensive – Likely To Leave UK
“A major work by Francis Bacon seems fated to leave the UK after the Tate reluctantly decided yesterday that it could not afford even to contemplate the £9.5m price tag.”
Children’s Author Pleads Guilty To Abusing Children
Prolific children’s book author William Mayne recently confessed to having sexually abused little girls who came to visit him. “Will anyone, having read such details, want to read stories by Mayne again? Or want their children to read them? Even if they are innocent as can be, his stories for younger readers, about a bobbed, big-eyed seven-year-old called Netta, can hardly escape being contaminated by the interest we now understand he took in eight-year-olds. Then again, a book cannot be judged by its author.”
Art Gallery Of Ontario Woos Back Patrons
“The falling-out between the Art Gallery of Ontario and its longtime benefactors Joey and Toby Tanenbaum has ended, as the gallery announced Wednesday that Joey Tanenbaum will immediately rejoin its board of trustees.”
Toting Up The Saatchi Fire Loss
“A warehouse fire in Leyton, east London, is estimated to have sent £50m of modern art up in smoke. More than 100 pieces owned by art mogul Charles Saatchi were among those inside. It said the fire appeared to have started in a separate building in the warehouse complex, some distance from the art storage unit.”
Artists To Sue Storage Company
“Artists and collectors are preparing to sue Momart, the art storage company, for negligence after the warehouse fire in which hundreds of works were destroyed.”
Rowling: Flattered By Fan Fiction
JK Rowling has given her blessing to the flourishing genre of web fan fiction that uses her characters in new stories. “Thousands of fans have written their own stories based on the world of Harry Potter, which are published on the net. The release of the third Potter movie is expected to boost the already hugely-popular fan fiction phenomenon.”
But We’re Still The Network Of Youth And Rebellion! Really!
MTV Networks is refusing to run ads for the documentary Super Size Me, in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald’s food for a month, inducing horrifying health problems. MTV executives called the ads “disparaging to fast food restaurants” by way of explaining their decision.
Indigo Pulls The Plug On Amazon Suit
Indigo Books & Music, the publishing giant that has been bankrolling the Canadian industry’s lawsuit against the Amazon.ca, has abruptly pulled the plug on the suit, withdrawing its support and cutting off funding. Industry officials say that they simply cannot afford to continue the legal battle against Amazon, which is being allowed to operate its site without complying with rules governing foreign-owned bookstores, because it has no ground-based Canadian presence.
Is Painting Back In Good Graces?
“In the past two decades, cutting-edge galleries and museums have focused on everything but painting. The halls were chockablock with installations, photo-based work, conceptual art, new media, and digital and video art. But a fundamental shift has taken place. Suddenly painting is allowed to exist again.”