Colorado newspaper bought by mayor it criticized

Editor& Publisher reports that Colorado's oldest newspaper, the Weekly Register-Call has been bought by a mayor it once criticized. Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman, purchased the publication after its 93-year-old publisher died in May.

The newspaper, which is about 40 miles west of Denver, is the state's oldest after the closing of the Rocky Mountain News
The newspaper will be merged with its competitor, Gilpin County News.

Editor of the Gilpin County News, Aaron Storms, says the mayor won't have any control over editorial content of the combined newspaper.

But the Register-Call's current editor, Debra Krause has been dismissed. She says the mayor bought the newspaper to silence criticism of him.

View the story here.

Playboy may be up for grabs

The New York Post reported today that Hugh Hefner's Playboy Enterprises is quietly for sale. The well-known empire is reportedly being shopped around for $300 million but no interested parties have stepped forward to make an offer, New York Post sources said.

The iconic brand has been doing a lot of cost cutting and in the most recent quarter, the company said it lost $13.7 million. Revenue is also down for Playboy.

From the article:

"The empire's iconic bunny ears are one of the most identifiable trademarks in the world, but the empire has fallen on hard times as the Internet and video-on-demand have eroded its core brand, the magazine."

Google thought about buying a newspaper

In an interview with the Financial Times, Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Google said that the technology giant has considered purchasing a newspaper, www.ft.com reported today.
Schmidt elaborated that Google has since decided against an acquisition or charitable donation to avoid a conflict of interest.
From the article:

"'Clever ideas about sheltering newspapers in non-profit structures had been suggested to the Google.org foundation but they are unlikely to happen without some massive, massive set of corporate bankruptcies”, Mr Schmidt said.

View the full story here.