THURSDAY'S LINKS: Peltz Ready to Stir Up Trib, Tab War in London, UNESCO Condemns Journo Killings

By: E&P Staff In today's links, new shareholder Nelson Peltz is seen putting the squeeze on Tribune, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists in Iraq, and British media types gear up for a major newspaper battle on the streets of London.


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UNESCO Chief Condemns Journalist Killings in Iraq
UN News Service: The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today condemned the recent murders of several journalists in Iraq, calling the attacks an ?alarming campaign against freedom of the press in the country.? Director-General Ko?chiro Matsuura said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned about the unrelenting violence against journalists and media workers in Iraq." He urged those rebuilding the country to work with media organizations to devise measures that ?make respect for the fundamental human right of freedom of expression an absolute priority.?


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On the Pavements of London, Battle Lines Drawn Between Newspaper Giants
Independent: One is the world's most powerful media tycoon; the other is the head of Britain's pre-eminent newspaper dynasty. And when London's new evening tabloid, TheLondonPaper, is launched, the two are expected to go head to head in a vicious and increasingly hostile circulation war on the pavements of the capital. The battle will pit Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media tycoon and a long-standing scourge of the establishment, against the Fleet Street magnate Jonathan Harold Vere Harmsworth, the fourth Lord Rothermere.


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Peltz Seen Putting Squeeze on Tribune Co.
New York Post: Added clout from shareholder activist Nelson Peltz could spell trouble for Tribune Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons. FitzSimons so far has maintained the support of many shareholders with his efforts to boost the company's sputtering stock price through minor asset sales and a major share buyback. But if Peltz decides to apply pressure, FitzSimons could be forced to take bolder steps, faster.


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YouTube Video Policy Takes on iTunes
Guardian: YouTube's plan to provide "every" music video free is a "nail in the coffin" of the paid-for online content business model and potentially threatens the dominant position of Apple's iTunes, according to City analysts. The video filesharing website, where 100m clips are watched every day, is in talks with Warner Music and EMI to offer music video downloads for free. Revenue will be provided by advertising.


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Beijing Might Issue Regulations Aimed at Censoring Online Videos
Wall Street Journal: China may issue new regulations to censor online videos, extending the government's efforts to control the Internet into a burgeoning new type of Web content. But it remains unclear exactly who would be targeted by the regulations -- service providers or individual video creators -- and how the rules would be implemented.


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Blame 'NY Times' Decline on A-Rod?
Russ Smith in New York Press: The New York Times has reached such an extraordinary level of self-parody that a charitable observer might be excused for letting the paper?s growing imitations of posts on The Daily Kos slide, shrugging it off as a temporary losing streak, sort of like the Yankees of the late 1960s. However, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Bill Keller and Gail Collins are prominent in American culture and as a moribund media still takes its cues from the Times, it remains useful to point out the paper?s most flagrant embarrassments.


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Oversized Graphics: Invasion of the Space Snatchers
Gilbert Cranberg on Nieman Watchdog: If people want a visual medium, they can turn on the TV set, which no newspaper can rival no matter how much is invested in graphics. Readers subscribe to newspapers for text, not for artwork. To the extent that newspapers substitute overly-generous graphics for news and opinion they shortchange readers and alienate them. When I see splurging on graphics I wonder, ?Where was the editor??


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'NYT Mag' Writer, Photographer Injured In Lebanon Missile Attack Return to Work
A writer and photographer on assignment for the New York Times Magazine were injured in a missile attack in Southern Lebanon before the Israeli-Hezbollah cease-fire and have returned work, the writer wrote in an e-mail yesterday. Reporter and author Scott Anderson -- who recently published Moonlight Hotel -- and photographer Paolo Pellegrin were on assignment for the magazine in Tyre on August 8 when the attack occurred.