Why Stephen Colbert can no longer use ‘Colbert Report’ character on CBS

After CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert told viewers that lawyers representing his old Comedy Central show said he couldn’t be “Stephen Colbert” anymore, he thumbed his nose at them with a transparent dodge, the AP's David Bauder reports.

Lawyers representing his old company complained to CBS after he revived the character he played under his own name on “The Colbert Report” — a clueless, full-of-himself cable news host. They said that the character “Stephen Colbert” was their intellectual property, “which is surprising, since I never considered that guy much of an intellect,” Colbert said on the “Late Show” on Wednesday.

The audience booed when Colbert, “with a heavy heart,” said it has been decreed that the character is kaput.

“I feel the same way, but what can I do?” Colbert said. “The lawyers have spoken. I cannot reasonably argue that I own my own face and name. And as much as I’d like to have that guy on again, I can’t.”

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Globe and Mail readership reaches 7.4 million: survey

The Globe and Mail has a national readership of 7.4 million people across all platforms, including the country’s leading digital audience of 5.6 million readers a week, the Globe's James Bradshaw reports.

First-quarter research results from Vividata, a new venture that surveys 38,000 consumers about the reach of 113 publications, suggests that 80 per cent of Canadian adults read a newspaper each week, while 70 per cent have perused a magazine.

Print readership remains relatively strong, especially on weekends, even as publications across Canada struggle with declining print advertising revenue. Seventy per cent of newspaper readers consumed stories in print only or in some mixture of print and digital formats, and The Globe’s print audience held steady at 3.9 million, trailing only the Toronto Star.

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Verizon buys Yahoo for $4.83B, marking end of an era

Google and Facebook are two of several companies that have eclipsed Yahoo, which was once valued at $130 billion. Yahoo attempted to buy both companies while in their infancy.

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Kirstine Stewart leaving Twitter; no reason given

Twitter’s vice president for media in North America, Kirstine Stewart, will be leaving the company, CP reports.

A Twitter spokesman confirmed in an email Thursday that Stewart will part ways with the social media company.

But Cam Gordon said Twitter is “not sharing any other details at this time.”

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Toronto Star puts hold on review into workplace culture after union withdraws support: memo

The Toronto Star said in a memo to its newsroom employees that it was putting a hold on a proposed review into workplace culture, after the Star’s union of employees withdrew its support for the process, the Financial Post reports.
The Financial Post story