Layoffs atop Reuters

Thomson Reuters has fired the business chief of its news division along with four other top executives, reports The Wrap. The move is part of a three-year rolling reorganization aimed at catching Bloomberg and Dow Jones. From my vantage point, Reuters has hired good writers and reporters but remains hard to find.

The Wrap has a vested interest in this news, as the entertainment and media website partnered with Reuters America last year (not mentioned in the breaking news update above).

*Meantime, Gannett is hiring executives.

MySpace is a bargain

The Wrap reports that News Corp. has unloaded MySpace.com for $35 million to Specific Media. Layoffs are expected to be part of the deal. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought the social network in 2005 for $580 million.

California targets paparazzi

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former movie star, signed a bill into law that makes it a crime for paparazzi to drive recklessly to get a shot of a celebrity. The California Newspaper Publishers Association protested the legislation, saying it subjects photojournalists to special prosecution for what is already an illegal act.

CNPA general counsel Tom Newston explain in an interview with The Wrap:

We don't deny there’s a big problem, we just think that this particular bill is overly inclusive. I don't represent paparazzi, I represent photojournalists and these folks drive cars. Under this law though, if you harbor an intent to capture an image then it appears to us you could be subjected to enhanced criminal prosecution.

(h/t fishbowlLA)

Four today

1. The camera always adds a few pounds... PolitiFact

2. The profit in shame... Time

3. Newspapers go upside putting ad revenue ahead of circulation... The Wrap

4. "The Rush To Be Wrong"...Jamie McIntyre

Four today

1. Who does David Segal think he is writing about the Weinsteins!? The Wrap

2. Salon.com drops six from editorial department. Gawker

3. Huffington Post and Facebook team up and make social news. BoomTown

4. Former CityBeat and LA Weekly writer Matthew Fleischer ends up at True/Slant. True/Slant

Feds want to look under journalism's hood

The new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, hinted to The Wrap that he might favor easing anti-trust laws for big media companies, but not until he takes a detailed look at all that ails the traditional news industry.

From the Wrap:

“We are strong believers in the antitrust laws and in opposing exemptions from the antitrust laws,” Leibowitz told TheWrap, “but when you think about other values, and you think about the First Amendment, this might be one of those rare industries where you must think about ways to ensure the vibrancy of news.” ...

He said, however, that the FTC examination will be “much, much broader” than simply whether an antitrust exemption is needed. The agency will look into other reasons for the current problems.

“We are going to have economists and journalists and bloggers and people from different parts of the news media, and we are going to think through [what is occurring] and what the future will look like and whether that future -- which might be a handful of newspapers and [TV] networks that don’t have nearly as much reach as they once did and 5 million bloggers -- is a good thing for American democracy,” he said.

I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of it.

(via Romenesko)