The publishing industry has taken a real shine to bullies of late, Leslie Kaufman writes. According to World Cat, a catalog of library collections worldwide, the number of English-language books tagged with the key word “bullying” in 2012 was 1,891, an increase of 500 in a decade. Several publishing houses, including Random House, Simon Schuster and Harlequin, have even started antibullying campaigns pegged around the books. The surge reflects the broader cultural recognition of the problem, spurred in part by several high-profile cases of cyberbullying that resulted in suicide.
Ted Williams, a freelance writer for the National Audubon Society for the past 33 years, has been reinstated to his job after inciting a controversy that pitted bird lovers against cat lovers, Christine Haughney reports. Mr. Williams wrote a column for The Orlando Sentinel on March 14 identifying Tylenol as an effective poison for feral cats, which are among birds’ deadliest predators. The Audubon Society suspended Mr. Williams on March 15. He has since apologized on the society’s Web site, and his column will return in its July-August magazine.
A Supreme Court decision last week may have copyright ramifications almost as far-reaching as a decision in 1984 to allow Sony’s Betamax to record broadcasts, Eduardo Porter writes in his “Economic Scene” column. The court, in a 6-3 decision, sided with Supap Kirtsaeng, a Thai math student who generated around $900,000 in revenue by reselling textbooks his friends and relatives sent him in the United States. The publisher John Wiley Sons had argued that Mr. Kirtsaeng was infringing on its copyright by importing its books without permission, but the court held that Mr. Kirtsaeng’s right of first sale banned the publisher’s right to imports.
McCann Erickson New York, one of Madison Avenue’s largest agencies, is ramping up its efforts in social media like Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest, Stuart Elliott writes. A division of the firm that specializes in social media is being expanded to more than 30 employees and is being renamed McCann Always On. McCann Always On will work on assignment for 15 brands sold by clients like General Mills, L’Oréal and Nestlé.
Temp Tee, a whipped cream cheese product sold by the Kraft Foods Group, has begun a campaign aimed at curing “matzah fatigue,” or the culinary exhaustion that accompanies the dietary strictures of the Passover holiday, Stuart Elliott writes. The campaign, with an estimated budget of less than $100,000, began this month well in advance of the holiday and features Jamie Geller, an American-born Israeli food writer and chef who is the founder of the Kosher Media Network. Ms. Geller provides recipes using Temp Tee on her Joy of Kosher Web site, videos on YouTube and other social media postings.
CBS announced Tuesday that it had completed a deal to acquire half of TVGN, formerly the TV Guide Network, Bill Carter reports. The deal puts CBS in partnership with Lionsgate and fulfills a longstanding goal of adding a general entertainment basic cable network to the company’s media portfolio.
Ghost Beach, a two-man indie band from Brooklyn, is using a digital Times Square billboard to ask the public its opinion of music piracy, Ben Sisario writes. The stark, text-only spot lasts 30 seconds and asks observers to “pick a side” on Twitter, as #artistsforpiracy or #artistsagainstpiracy.