Live blogging Friday: New Financial Rules, New President

We'll live blog our workshop in Chicago on Friday.
If you can't make the free workshop, stop by and follow some of the action at "Covering the 2009 Financial World: New Rules, New President."

On Twitter, we will use the hashtag #BizJ.

Golden: NAA meeting not a secret

Editor & Publisher reports that Michael Golden, vice chairman of The New York Times Co. and chief operating officer of The New York Times Regional Media Group, defended Thursday's Newspaper Association of America meeting in Chicago, saying there was nothing secretive about it.
From the article:
"The characterization in The Atlantic that this was a 'secret meeting' was inaccurate," Golden, who attended the event, told E&P Friday. "If it were secret, there wouldn't have been a sign on the door saying 'NAA meeting.' This was a meeting that had been planned for weeks -- you can't get these people together without planning it over a period of time."

View the full story here.

Local TV stations in Chicago form news service

Four local TV stations in Chicago will begin combining their coverage efforts and sharing content next week in an effort to save money, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Tony Capriolo, a WMAQ sports producer, has been selected as managing editor of the service, which will be based at WBBM's headquarters across from Daley Plaza but separate from Channel 2's news operation. Each participating outlet will provide two news crews and an assignment editor, and they remain on their station's payroll. Capriolo is an employee of the service, paid for by participating stations.

While the service will save its member stations money otherwise spent on covering the same event or story, some worry that it will make it easier for the stations to lay off employees who are no longer needed.
The stations, on the other hand, say that the move will allow them to cover more angles and stories than they could before.
Click here to read more.

Financier trying to buy Sun-Times Media Group

A Chicago businessman is trying to attract investors in an effort to put together a bid to buy the Sun-Times Media Group, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

Mr. [James] Tyree, CEO of Mesirow Financial Inc., told Crain's he has reviewed Sun-Times' books and discussed a possible bid with CEO Jeremy Halbreich and other company executives. Though his plans are still at a "very early stage," Mr. Tyree says he has talked with several potential co-investors, including a private-equity firm, about forming a group of four to 25 "to keep this great institution in Chicago."

Tyree acknowledged the challenging position facing the industry as a whole, and the Sun-Times Media Group in particular, hinting that he thinks the company needs to become smaller if it hopes to regain profitability.
Click here to read more.

Crain launches its first business newspaper outside of the states

Crain Communication Inc. launched its first city business newspaper outside of the United States today, according to How-Do, a site that covers the media industry in the North West of England.

The weekly paper is called, Crain’s Manchester, a new venture that adds to the company's business publications in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland. Crain’s claims the publication will be the first city business weekly of its kind in Western Europe, according to the story.

The paper's Web site, http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/, was also launched today.

To read the report click here.