Friday, December 11, 2009

Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews Close

Abandoning some of the best known names in trade publishing, the Nielsen Company said Thursday that it would shut down Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, and sell a stable of other publications, including Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, to a newly formed media company.

Nielsen’s plans to sell had been reported for months, but the news that E&P and Kirkus would close at the end of the year was a surprise. The company declined to discuss their financial performance, but executives said they had fought declining advertising and circulation, much like the newspaper and book industries they cover.


For generations, Editor & Publisher, though not well known to the public, has been a leading source of newspaper industry news and job listings. It grew out of several publications, the oldest dating to 1884.


“In a world full of people pronouncing and posturing and declaring about the media, E&P just kept doing good old-fashioned reporting about what was actually happening,” said Geneva Overholser, director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.