Reluare duminică, 21 august 1994

As Ratings Languish, CNN Faces Identity Crisis

Date: 22 August 1994

By Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert

CNN, the cable channel that altered the nature of television news, is finding it tough to compete by the very rules it helped establish. So successful has the Cable News Network been in changing the television news culture that the broadcast networks, which used to hold back footage of international events for their own evening newscasts, now offer these images to their affiliates throughout the day. Rival cable channels, trying to emulate CNN's accomplishments, now offer round-the-clock coverage of local news, entertainment news and courtroom news.

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When Ratings Peaked

Date: 22 August 1994

CNN's ratings generally soar when big news is breaking, and that is especially true when the channel provides live coverage that no other network can match, as in the early days of the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Following are the events that brought CNN its highest ratings. In contrast, the channel's average rating for a 24-hour period so far this year is 0.6, or about 378,000 households. (One cable rating point is currently equivalent to 630,000 households; in past years the figure was slightly less.)

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Simpson Case Has California Debating Muzzles for Lawyers

Date: 21 August 1994

By B. Drummond Ayres Jr

Most states have either laws or bar association rules governing pretrial publicity, though enforcement is usually lax. California, however, has no such regulations to enforce, and now, because of the O.J. Simpson spectacle, some of the state's lawmakers are moving to change that. Noting that judges in the Simpson proceedings have had to step in twice to halt leaks by lawyers on both sides, State Senator Quentin L. Kopp, an independent from San Francisco, has introduced legislation that would forbid prosecutors and defense lawyers to say anything outside court that might adversely affect a case. Trial participants, especially witnesses and jurors, would be barred from selling their stories to the news media until 90 days after the close of a trial.

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The Nation: Baseball Walkout Is a Throwback; Strikes: They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

Date: 21 August 1994

By Louis Uchitelle

Louis Uchitelle

BASEBALL, with its memories and heroes and old records to be broken, brings so much of the past into American lives. Certainly the Major League baseball strike is out of the past: a traditional, fist-in-the-face defiance of management that seldom succeeds anymore for other striking workers. For them, strikes -- the few that they try -- are becoming a different animal. The press coverage of the 760 striking players is prolific. And since many lives are touched by the absence of baseball in August, the players have leverage. But contrast that with another old-time strike. Nearly 8,000 workers walked out in July at four tire manufacturers. These companies account for nearly 10 percent of all American-made tires. But who hears much about their plight? Tires are so plentiful they often sell for a discount.

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A New Head For Scripps

Date: 22 August 1994

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The E. W. Scripps Company said last week that Lawrence Leser had been named chairman, succeeding Charles E. Scripps, who is retiring. Mr. Leser, 59, has been the company's president and chief executive since 1985. William Burleigh, chief operating officer, will succeed Mr. Leser as president. Mr. Burleigh, 58, has been executive vice president since 1990.

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Job Cuts at Petrolite

Date: 22 August 1994

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Petrolite Corporation said last week it would cut about 200 jobs in its United States and Canadian oilfield chemicals business, and take a $12 million charge against earnings in its fourth quarter, which ends in October. Of the total charge, $5 million relates to severance costs over the next year and the remaining $7 million will cover the closing of unspecified operations and sales of underutilized assets. Petrolite said the moves were necessary to return the company to profitability in the 1995 fiscal year.

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Lufthansa Reports a Profit

Date: 22 August 1994

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

Rising passenger and freight traffic helped Lufthansa A.G. to its first midyear profit since 1989 and raised hopes of its first dividends since 1991. The German airline said today that its pretax profit surged to 187 million marks, or about $121.4 million, in its second quarter, from 24 million marks in the period a year earlier.

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Pinault Invests in Bookseller

Date: 22 August 1994

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

Francois Pinault has paid two billion French francs, or about $370 million, to add France's best-known bookstore chain, Fnac S.A., to his retail empire. Mr. Pinault, the head of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, paid 3,065 francs a share to acquire a 64.6 percent stake in Fnac from the Credit Lyonnais Altus division.

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Revlon Says S.& P. Erred In Its Report

Date: 22 August 1994

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

Revlon Inc. said yesterday that its third-quarter operating income would rise by at least 100 percent from the corresponding period a year ago amid a 10 percent increase in sales. It made its forecast in an unusual statement disputing a negative report by the Standard & Poor's Corporation. The Standard & Poor's credit-rating report is "inaccurate," Revlon's president and chief executive, Jerry W. Levin, said in a statement.

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 22 August 1994

International A3-7 RUSSIAN STABILITY GROWS With inflation down and political opponents focusing on elections, Russia is settling into a period of stability, though the country has been in turmoil for so long that the calm makes Russians deeply apprehensive. A1

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