But the advantages in the deal for IPC Media are less obvious

But the advantages in the deal for IPC Media are less obvious. The company currently publishes some 100 titles in the UK, includingWoman, Family Circle and Horse & Hound, magazines so established that they almost feel like part of the social fabric; prime youth brands such as NME and Loaded; and the country’s top-selling title, What’s On TV.Bailey says that the take-over by the US corporate will give IPC Media “the structure and ownership to build the business for the future”.She adds: “The past three years under Cinven have been a very good three years for the business, and we’re very proud of that, but the relationship with a venture capitalist is a transient one It’s always a question of when, not if, you’ll exit. This is the securing of a long-term future for IPC Media – and the right home.”The great thing I saw about the Time Inc people is that they run the business in exactly the same way we do, in that they’re passionate about this idea of decentralisation. That’s something I’ve been working on for the past 18 months.

It wasn’t where we’ve come from, it wasn’t the Reed Elsevier’s way of doing things, it wasn’t the business I inherited, but I just don’t think you can run a modern media company in that very centralised, hierarchical way that perhaps we did in the past.”Nevertheless, she acknowledges that the move will, indeed, come with its challenges. “Clearly, we are all going to have to re-integrate into corporate life,” she says. “In a way, the past three years have been very different for us as a stand-alone business. Now, there will be new parameters and new ways of working.”But,” she adds quickly, “the discussions I have had lead me to be very comfortable.”Bailey says that the important thing is to play IPC Media’s new position as a small cog in a big wheel smartly.

“So that you can use all of that leverage when you want to, and you can make it work for you. So that people still feel that they’re in a business where they’re very close to where the decisions are made, where ideas are developed,” she explains.She says, though, that she cannot elaborate on this; now is not the time to be making rash statements about the future. “We need to take our time, look at the core business and how we build on that and then take a look at other, new opportunities.”She is adamant that IPC Media will remain focused on its core business – magazines – and advocates caution in talking about cross-platform opportunities, saying that she won’t be coming out with “the great visionary statements” of some media companies.And though she talks about synergies with Time Inc, she says it remains to be seen where these lie.During Bailey’s time at the helm of IPC Media she has shaken up its strategy (“we weren’t clear about where we were going and why”), its structure and its people. She has had little time for sentimentality, closing titles such as Melody Maker and Women’s Realm. Some say she has been impatient for results – for example, she closed the re-launched Nova before it had time to establish itself.But she has also proved brave, launching new titles in familiar IPC areas such as the women’s market (Your Life), as well as into new terrain for the company (Web User). She has overseen the launch of many brand extensions as well as huge online investments.”It’s fair to say that I made decisions quickly,” she says “You have to be decisive.

Is that brutal?”For the past 20 months Bailey could be brutal, if she so desired She has been the numero uno. However, with the take-over expected to be approved in four to six weeks’ time, she will become answerable to Time Inc International’s president and chief executive officer, Michael Pepe – a culture shock that she says she is prepared for, and by which she is unfazed.”It’s important for me to prepare myself There may, and could, be differences,” she says “But differences don’t necessarily mean difficulties.”. Peter Jay, the BBC’s economics editor, fired a parting shot at his colleagues by warning that financial reporting was “not just for the men in red braces” of the City. Peter Jay, the BBC’s economics editor ,fired a parting shot at his colleagues yesterday by warning that financial reporting was “not just for the men in red braces” of the City.
The remarks from the veteran broadcaster and former ambassador to Washington, who steps down from his post in the autumn, were interpreted by someas a broadside against Jeff Randall, the corporation’s business editor.Mr Randall, who was previously the editor of the City-orientated Sunday Business newspaper, joined the BBC late last year – an appointment rumoured to have been unpopular with his new colleagues.Mr Jay, 64, who was often accused during his 12 years at the corporation of only making annual on-screen appearances to comment on the Budget, insisted both he and Randall were good friends.But Mr Jay, a former advisor to the Treasury, who is also son-in-law to former Chancellor and Prime Minister James Callaghan, was determined to show his populist credentials.Asked what he thought he had achieved at the BBC, he said: “It is weaning the BBC – and other broadcasters – away from the presentation of economic events as aspects of the City. I think we’ve managed to present economic events as massively important to 65 million people up and down the country.”Adding that he would be “disappointed” were his achievement to be reversed in his absence, Mr Jay, said his retirement was linked purely to his age rather than any rancour.But, in a further contrast with Mr Randall, an experienced journalist who is well respected in the City, he said he believed specialist reporters should be trained outsiders rather than journalists.Mr Jay said: “The true meaning of specialism (is) as a person whose whole previous life and education has prepared them for the role they are taking on, not just someone who has been handed a specialist title and a specialist portfolio and who brings little to the task but the trade craft of a general journalist.”With the agreement of the BBC, Mr Jay had recently been working from his Oxfordshire home rather than the London offices of the corporation’s joint business and economics unit.Although not a daily news commentator, he was prominent in the BBC’s coverage of Exchange Rate Mechanism in the 1990s and, last year, presented a series on economic history, The Road to Riches.Despite previously suggesting he would continue past his 64th birthday, the former husband of Labour peer Baroness Jay and chairman of TV-AM said he had arranged his retirement two years ago.He will be replaced by Evan Davis, currently economics correspondent for BBC2’s Newsnight, as part of a beefed-up BBC economics and business department.. One of the Edinburgh Festival’s leading venues is setting up an alternative to the prestigious Perrier Awards for comedy – to be called the Tap Water prize – in protest at the working practices of the mineral water’s manufacturer, Nestl?

One of the Edinburgh Festival’s leading venues is setting up an alternative to the prestigious Perrier Awards for comedy – to be called the Tap Water prize – in protest at the working practices of the mineral water’s manufacturer, Nestl?The Bongo Club’s move follows the call by comedian Rob Newman for a boycott of the Perriers because of the controversy surrounding Nestl? sales of powdered baby milk in the Third World.Actress Emma Thompson, who won the Perrier Award in its first year as a member of the Cambridge Footlights, yesterday joined Mr Newman in asking comedians not to take part. Other former winners include Frank Skinner, Steve Coogan and the League of Gentlemen.”The Perrier Awards should be boycotted by all right-thinking people, because Nestl?as got to be stopped,” she said.Emma Thompson, like Rob Newman, is a supporter of Baby Milk Action, a campaign encouraging breast-feeding instead of using powdered milk.

Scottish supporters are already planning to picket the award-winners’ ceremony on 25 August. And the Bongo Club, which is operated by a charity and runs a mixed programme of entertainment and comedy, has decided to have no involvement with the Perrier Awards in the Edinburgh Festival which starts this weekend.All comedy performers at the giant venue in New Street have been asked to agree not to accept a Perrier award if their show is nominated.Among those already booked to appear are Jamie Glassman, one of the team behind the Ali G show, Joel Spence and Douglas Frawley, in a show One Night Only, “depicting male identity in crisis at the beginning of the 21st century”. John Sinclair, a leading Scottish comedian, appears in Bagpipes and Angels in a show billed as “quality nonsense”.Suzanne Merrall, a co-ordinator for the Bongo Club, said details of the alternative Perrier Awards were still being finalised. But although the evening would be light-hearted, she said their point was not. “There is a problem that people don’t know Perrier is owned by Nestl?but as soon as we realised we wanted to do something,” she said.Mark Thomas, the comedian and another supporter of Baby Milk Action, may also enter the Tap Water Awards where the winner is likely to receive a tap and runners-up a glass of water.Nestl?as tried to reassure protesters. The giant company has been accused of promoting infant formula in developing countries in breach of the World Health Organisation’s code on marketing. “Many of the allegations are years out of date and have long since been rectified,” a spokesman said..