Since News Corp. acquired Dow Jones and the crown-jewel Wall Street Journal nearly four years ago, the world has undergone a financial meltdown, the Great Recession socked media spending in the key United States market, and the entire American newspaper business has gone into meltdown mode.

And, oh yes – the rival New York Times has only begun to figure out how to monetize its own content online with its recent paywall introduction, several years after The Journal successfully blazed paywall trails.

Through all of that, the venerable Journal has kept on piling up success. It is the one notable exception to the continued black hole of circulation declines at major U.S. newspapers; the paper posted an 8% increase in circulation revenue for the first quarter, its 17th straight quarter of year-over-year growth.

Print ad and overall revenues also have been rising, adding yet other unique achievements to what the Journal has been able to accomplish while adjusting to new ownership and one of the most disruptive economic periods in the publication’s long history.Continue reading...

ABC tops survey of US TV-brand popularity.

Airbus plots production increase for A320 series.

Burger King struggles as it awaits impact from new menu items.

Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other oil companies defend tax breaks.

Cisco employees brace for layoffs.

DirecTV pumps up its premium channel.

Facebook thrown under the bus by Burson-Marsteller following PR campaign against Google.Continue reading...

The fishes had barely begun nibbling at the corpse of Osama bin Laden when politicos already began assessing the impact that his demise, indirectly at the hands of President Obama, would have on Obama’s current popularity and political prospects.

The bipartisan come-together in a celebration of bin Laden’s extermination has been remarkable for this modern era of hyper-partisan politics. Obama even invited George W. Bush to participate in a kumbaya moment scheduled for the president’s visit to Ground Zero on Thursday, although Bush demurred.

But to some extent at least, where you stand even on this issue depends on where you sit.

Some polls released on Wednesday, by the New York Times and Washington Post among others, showed a definitive bump in Obama’s current standing among Americans after Navy Seals dispatched the terrorist mastermind.

Yet other surveys, most notably by the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports, showed that the president wasn’t getting much immediate political credit for taking care of bin Laden.Continue reading...

Social media bested the President last night as Twitter user Sohaib Athar live-tweeted about the raid on Osama bin Laden seven hours before Obama made the announcement on television.

The Pakistani IT consultant (Twitter handle: ReallyVirtual) didn't realize he was observing (and reporting) the US operation that resulted in bin Laden's death when he tweeted, “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event),” followed by “Go away helicopter – before I take out my giant swatter :-/”Continue reading...

Breaking news tonight: Osama bin Laden is dead with his body in the possession of the US military, according to US media reports tonight including the New York Times, above — a fact that many people found out about on Facebook and Twitter.

President Obama confirmed the Al-Qaeda leader's death in a speech that was broadcast on TV and on the White House website. Stating that "Justice has been done," without a doubt it was the defining speech of his administration, a US military victory and a milestone in US history and the war on terror.Continue reading...

Beyond the fashion, the car, the kiss and the pomp and ceremony, the Royal Wedding is as much about revitalizing the brand of the British monarchy as it is about the marriage of the couple now known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

CNN's Piers Morgan argues that the record-breaking popularity of the event is a sign that "the British monarchy is back," while the New York Times' London bureau chief, John Burns — whose daughter went to school with Kate Middleton — gave a more detailed analysis on PBS.Continue reading...

Apple location-data controversy grows.

Barrick Gold to buy Equinox Minerals for $7.8 billion.

BBC challenges detailed in New York Times.

Boeing locates source of Southwest jet rupture.

Dell looks beyond PC business.

Ford outlook is bright as fuel-efficient models gain.

Google looks for new ways to make mobile search pay.Continue reading...

AIG sells railcar sideline business.

BP's one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is no cause for celebration.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg can't put the Winklevoss twins behind him just yet.

J&J faces hurdles on Wall Street.

Los Angeles Times and New York Times lead this year's Pulitzer Prize winners.

New York's Metropolitan Opera announces free summer outdoor series.

S&P surprises by putting a negative outlook on the US.

Wal-Mart aims to bolster social and mobile presence by acquiring Kosmix.

Zillow files for $51.8 million IPO.