MediaFile

Online and second-hand retailing has not crushed the book industry, contrary to doomsday predictions that the Internet would kill traditional publishing.

In fact, Penguin publishers said the Internet has in many ways been a boon for booksellers as a tool for marketing, experimentation, and reaching out to a new generation of readers.

The publisher has discovered that unlike in the music industry, people still want to own a physical book.

“There is a lot going on in the music publishing industry that is not going on in the book industry. Consumers don’t want albums, they want tracks, and in publishing, people want books, not chapters,” Penguin Chief Executive and Chairman John Makinson told journalists earlier this week.

(Reuters)

• Political satirist Jon Stewart has renewed his contract with the Comedy Central cable TV channel in a deal that will keep his award-winning mock newscast “The Daily Show” on the network through 2010. (Reuters)
• WPP, the world’s second-largest advertising and marketing services firm, posted third-quarter underlying revenue growth of almost 5 percent on Friday, near the lower end of forecasts and knocking its shares. (Reuters)
• Mexican broadcaster Televisa said its third-quarter net profit fell, hurt by higher income taxes, and warned of weaker television revenue for the year. (Reuters)
• Fear of a possible writers’ strike is rapidly spreading from Hollywood to Madison Avenue. (New York Post)
• Google reported a 46 percent rise in profit that topped analysts’ expectations, as revenues grew 57 percent and comfortably outpaced expense growth, reassuring investors. (Reuters)

(Photo: Author Anne Enright, Reuters file)