The Bad Business of Media Mergers
Date: 14 January 2000
By Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach
Tom Rosenstiel
Op-Ed article by Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach says news coverage probing potential impact of America Online-Time Warner merger has focused on whether reporters and editors will face new conflicts of interest; says this is wrong question, and hard to identify; says real issue is that megamergers are bad business strategy for journalism; says history of recent mergers suggests that when media companies synergize their brands, they do not add to them, they dilute them; says theory of free press is that there would be independent voice that could comment on and monitor influence of powerful institutions in society; asks if public can rely on small cadre of behemoth corporations to monitor themselves (M)
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Questions Abound as Media Influence Grows for a Handful
Date: 13 January 2000
By Laurence Zuckerman
Laurence Zuckerman
Analysis of America Online-Time Warner proposed merger focuses on media influence that has grown for handful of companies; says public debate over power of Big Media seems to have grown quieter since 1980's, even as industry has become increasingly concentrated; holds critics cite power of media companies themselves to shape public debate on issue, largely by ignoring it; says critics also say Wall Street is not likely to stop trend since it, along with top media executives, profits handsomely from corporate deals; holds politicians in Washington are also unlikely to act, for fear of alienating large media owners and losing large campaign contributions; consumer advocate Ralph Nader says he is dismayed by America Online-Time Warner deal; photo (M)
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Editorial Observer; Does It Matter Who Owns What?
Date: 13 January 2000
By Verlyn Klinkenborg
Verlyn Klinkenborg
Editorial Observer by Verlyn Klinkenborg on his reservations about AOL-Time Warner merger; says layers of potential conflict in new world of news gathering are enormous, and wonders who will remember who owns whom and where ethical lines must be drawn; says another, subtler risk is that sheer size of this corporation will take toll on creativity, in content or business operations, all the way down the line; says this merger represents move toward uniformity and away from diversity, toward globalization of consumerist, mass culture that is best purveyed by globalized mass corporations (M)
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Leaving the Cocoon
Date: 14 January 2000
Editorial says Hillary Rodham Clinton should be pleased with good reviews she got for composure and humor on David Letterman show, but now she needs to show she does not have to hide behind her advance team and press spokesman; says she has yet to show how well she can survive as independent operator outside cosseted world of spinners and loyalists; says New York likes its politicians available and open to questions from constituents and reporters on any and all subjects
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IOWA INSURER AGREES TO BUY INDIANAPOLIS LIFE INSURANCE
Date: 13 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
American Mutual Holding Co, life insurer in Iowa owned by policyholders, agrees to buy Indianapolis Life Insurance Co for $368 million in cash and stock; American Mutual will convert to shareholder-owned company later this year (S)
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DELTA TO BUY BACK STOCK AND TAKE CHARGE FOR AIRCRAFT
Date: 13 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Delta Air Lines Inc will buy back as much as $500 million of its shares and take pretax $320 million second-quarter charge for early retirement of 24 aircraft (S)
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COMPANIES TO INVEST IN INTERMEDIA AND ITS DIGEX WEB UNIT
Date: 13 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Intermedia Communications Inc is getting $300 million in investments from Microsoft Corp, Compaq Computer Corp and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co to help it expand its telephone and Web services; Microsoft and Compaq will each buy $50 million stake in Intermedia's 81 percent-owned Digex unit, which manages Web sites for other companies (S)
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LIBERATE AGREES TO BUY TV TECHNOLOGY FROM 2 COMPANIES
Date: 14 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Liberate Technologies Inc, maker of software that lets cable companies provide interactive television services, to buy interactive television technology jointly owned by Source Media Inc and Insight Communications Inc for about $182 million in stock (S)
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Firms' Multimillion-Dollar Fees For Big Merger Are Just a Start
Date: 13 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co and Salomon Smith Barney Inc are likely to reap about $50 million each for helping broker America Online Inc's $165 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc; deal may yield another $100 million in fees for two banks (S)
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Metro Business; Office Vacancy Rate Is at a 10-Year Low
Date: 14 January 2000
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Cushman & Wakefield says Manhattan's office vacancy rate at end of 1999 fell to 6.7 percent from 8.5 percent year earlier; says vacancy rate is at its lowest point in decade (S)
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