BBC News: Italian media group suing Berlusconi for defamation

L’Espresso, the publisher of La Repubblica, Italy’s second largest newspaper, is suing the Italian prime minister and media owner, Silvio Berlusconi, the BBC reports. It said that Berlusconi had not yet responded to allegations.

“Mr Berlusconi described La Repubblica as ‘subversive’, prompting L’Espresso media group to sue for defamation.

“L’Espresso also publishes a magazine of the same name, and both publications have led recent investigations into Mr Berlusconi’s personal life.

“The group also said the PM had discouraged businesses from buying advertising space in its publications.

“According to a complaint lodged with a Milan court, the group’s lawyers have also accused Mr Berlusconi of abuse of office and of flouting market rules.”

Full story at this link…

(Via EJC)

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FT.com: Publishers diversify to beat plateau in online advertising revenues

“Even for UK-specific sites, the urge to protect margins is forcing more media owners to turn to advertising networks, which gather advertising space from several sites and sell it in bulk to advertisers,” says the FT’s digital media correspondent, Tim Bradshaw.

Targeting international readers and creating subscription-based services online are also strategies being used by publishers, he adds.

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BBC: Google and Yahoo to share ad space online

Google and Yahoo have announced a two week experiment that will see the web giants take a share of each other’s advertising space.

During the trial Google will be able to put ads next to 3 per cent of search results on Yahoo.

Microsoft, which recently offered to buy Yahoo, has criticised the scheme.

“Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 per cent of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel, told the BBC.

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