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thedrifter
12-26-06, 07:31 AM
Blogger not Shock-ed by decision
By Jay Fitzgerald
Boston Herald General Economics Reporter

Sunday, December 24, 2006 - Updated: 04:54 PM EST

Hachette Filipachi Media last week may have pulled the plug on its controversial photo magazine Shock after just eight issues. But a former Green Beret who now uses Massachusetts as his base is vowing to keep up the fight against the French media giant who he says illegally published one of his Iraq War photos without his permission.

“Even with Shock out of circulation, the battle with HFM has only just begun,’’ said Michael Yon, in an exclusive e-mail interview with the Herald as he prepared to go back to Iraq for more war reporting for his popular Web blog(www.michaelyon.blogspot.com).

“They have consistently refused to negotiate a settlement.”

Shock, an American knock-off of the French magazine Choc, got off to a rough start last spring when its first issue ran a cover photo of an American GI cradling a dying Iraqi girl hurt by a roadside terrorist attack.

The only problem: Yon, who has gone to Iraq several times to chronicle the war, took the now-famous photo — and he said HFM used it without his permission.

After the two sides couldn’t reach a settlement agreement, bloggers across the country rallied behind Yon, organizing a boycott of HFM’s magazine products such as Shock and Car & Driver. They contacted stores, readers and others, urging them to pull Shock from newsstands, among other things. The grassroots cyber campaign became so intense that HFM U.S. chief executive Jack Kliger was forced to send letters pleading with stores to carry Shock and blasting Yon as a publicity-seeking ideologue.

Last week, Kliger announced that Shock would no longer be printed and fired the magazine’s eight employees, though HFM plans to retain Shock’s Web operations.

HFM cited disappointing newsstand sales for its decision.

Yon, in an e-mail received on Saturday, said he learned about Shock’s demise while flying to Qatar before heading back into Iraq.

“My first thought was, TARGET DESTROYED,’’ said Yon.

“But later, I wondered if that phrase wouldn’t leave a false impression that the fight was over, because from a legal standpoint, it’s not even really begun. The failure of the magazine doesn’t cancel out my copyright or leave the publisher off the hook.” Yon stopped short of saying the furor over his photo was the sole reason for Shock’s demise.

Others have noted HFM, which has also discontinued publication of another of

its U.S. magazines, is facing the same problems of other media giants in the cyber age: Readers are flocking to the Internet for news.

But Yon said the bloggers’ boycott “delivered a devastating blow” to Shock.

“The blogosphere is capable of becoming a virtual-guerrilla at times, and in that context HFM’s hugeness translates into vast vulnerabilities,” said Yon, using the language of insurgency to describe the campaign against Shock.

“HFM is powerful in the way a freight train is powerful, and they are also vulnerable over those long stretches of track. They cannot operate effectively if the blogosphere is constantly harassing them in innovative ways.”

Yon said he’s legally pressing ahead with his case against HFM — and may take action against retailers that refused to yank off newsstands the edition of Shock that used his photo.

HFM has said it purchased Yon’s photo from an agency and didn’t know Yon owned its copyright when it published its first edition.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-26-06, 07:32 AM
SHOCK TALK: AWFUL & OUT

By KEITH J. KELLY

December 22, 2006 -- SHOCKING news - Shock is dead.

Hachette Filipacchi Media CEO Jack Kliger pulled the plug on the controversial picture magazine Shock yesterday after only eight issues. Eight people including Editor-in-Chief Mike Hammer were handed their walking papers.

"I'm still stunned," said Hammer late yesterday afternoon.

"I know it's about figures and not people, but I wish we could have had a chance to show how good it could have been."

The February issue, its last, goes on sale in January.

Somehow the company claims it will keep the magazine going as a Web site, but that sounds like it will be a bit of a stretch since it has no dedicated staffers left in America.

It marks the second title that Hachette has closed this year. Earlier, it pulled the plug on Elle Girl, its teen title.

Kliger now joins Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore as CEOs who don't seem to have too big a problem firing people at the height of the holiday season.

And the folding of Shock proves that what succeeds in Europe will frequently have zero traction when it leaps the Atlantic with an Americanized version.

The monthly Shock is based on weekly French magazine Choc, which was one of the more successful launches in France in years.

The American version became ensnared in controversy almost from Day One when it ran a picture of an American soldier cradling a wounded Iraqi girl who was fatally injured in a roadside ambush.

The photographer, Michael Yon, objected, claiming that the photo had been purchased from a photo agency that had never obtained the proper rights.

Hachette apologized and offered to make a settlement, but when talks broke down, the photographer launched a campaign that succeeded in getting the magazine yanked from some large retail chains.

That hurt the magazine, since it was designed to be supported mainly by newsstand sales.

However, the company eventually succeeded in getting issues put back on the shelves.

New Harry

Amazon.com has been swamped with Web orders for the new J.K. Rowling book, which the author's own Web site revealed yesterday would be called, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Amazon said it was "one of the most eagerly awaited books of all time."

Meanwhile, Rowling revealed that she recently visited the set of the film based on the fifth book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which is slated to hit cinemas in July.

Scholastic, the American publisher that has taken its lumps, is hoping for a mega hit to rescue its fiscal soul once again. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which was released in July 2005, has become the all-time best seller in American history with 15.5 million copies in print, including 13.5 milion in hardcover.

There is still no pub date for the seventh book.

Gift idea

There are still apparently thousands of people remaining inside Time Inc. who have not been fired, and some of them are coming up with new and innovative ideas that will make life a lot easier for people in the holiday season.

Deede Dickson, vice president of Time Direct Ventures, is rolling out its gift subscription idea to a far wider audience with more participation from non-Time Inc. magazines this year. Unlike the traditional gift subscription to a single magazine, Giftscriptions allow the recipient to pick from among 50 titles that he or she wants to receive.

Last year, the program had a smattering of Condé Nast titles, including Allure and Glamour, but this year it is increasing the offerings and adding The New Yorker to the mix for the first time.

Hearst is also participating for the first time, which means two of the most popular magazines in its stable, Cosmopolitan and O, the Oprah Magazine, are available along with Good Housekeeping and Esquire.

"It's an easy gift solution for every gift giver," said Brian Wolfe, the head of consumer marketing at Time Inc. (Yes, we know it was his division that fired 27 people a few days ago.)

keith.kelly@nypost.com

Ellie