DISNEY - MEDIA STOCKS CAUGHT IN MARKET SLIDE

Tuesday's overall stock-market plunge was reflected among media listings, with Disney taking the heaviest hit, dropping 5.72 percent to $33.10. Time Warner also was clobbered, dropping 4.22 percent. Other media companies averaged drops of around 3.5 percent, somewhat less than the 4.3 percent average registered by the Dow. In midday trading today (Wednesday), the stocks remained at about their closing prices on Tuesday. Producers of TV news shows were weighing the importance of Tuesday's sell-off at about the time that the Dow dropped almost 200 points at 3:00 p.m. On CBS's Public Eye website, a video of the "lineup meeting" at which producers decide the order in which stories are presented, shows executive producer Rome Hartman walking in and calling for the stock market story to be carried as the lead item. Public Eye editor Brian Montopoli commented that the video "offers a unique insight into how the Evening News comes together."

28/02/2007