An eyebrow raiser Packer style. James Packer’s Crown casino group has raised $300 million in new capital, with $100 million coming from his Consolidated Press private company. That’s a third from his private company. But Mr Packer is supposed to hold a 38% stake in Crown, which would require a $114 million payment for that level to be maintained. So on the face of it, his shareholding has been slightly diluted with the capital expanding by 9% by the 60 million shares being issued. Consolidated Press should have taken up 22.8 million shares at the issue price of $4.95 each.It’s only a small amount of money even for a diminished billionaire like Mr Packer, but its an interesting $14 million difference nevertheless. — Glenn Dyer

Fairfax gives Volvo some free advertising. Re-written press release for a new car was the main picture on Fairfax news sites yesterday:

— Crikey reader Lyndal Cairns

Guest guests from beyond the grave. Kerry Anne is on summer repeats and this ad aired during yesterday afternoon’s Antiques Roadshow:

Ways to monetize Twitter. Ten ways starting with one, charge for it. Of course, companies can already use the service for free, so what, exactly, would be new? Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, has some ideas: more-customizable profile pages, a dashboard to manage followers and tech support. Two, advertising! “It wouldn’t be so bad,” wrote Jason Calacanis, if every 10th or 100th tweet was an ad. Graphical ads would really pop on the text-heavy page. — Advertising Age

AP journalists withold bylines, personal gear in protest over company’s proposals. Reporters and photographers at Associated Press are withholding bylines and personal equipment in protest over the news agency’s proposals that would threaten job security, dramatically raise medical costs, and freeze wages. The protests come as talks continue between AP and the News Media Guild, the union that represents 1,400 editorial, technology, and support staff at AP. — News Media Guild

China said to be blocking web sites. The Chinese government has quietly begun preventing access again to Web sites that it had stopped blocking during the Olympic Games in China in August, Internet experts said on Tuesday. Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at his semi-weekly news conference on Tuesday in Beijing that the Chinese government had a right to censor Web sites that violate the country’s laws. He added that “some Web sites,” which he did not identify, had violated China’s law against secession by suggesting that there are two Chinas — a reference to the Beijing government’s longstanding position that mainland China and Taiwan form a single China. Asiaweek, a Hong Kong-based publication, reported this week that the Chinese-language version of its Web site, as well as those of the BBC, Voice of America and Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, had been blocked since early December. — International Herald Tribune

British TV audiences forced to endure massive Australia advertising ploy. Pity the Brits. Film director Baz Luhrmann is to take over entire ad breaks on UK TV station Film4 between now and Boxing Day as part of a deal to promote his new movie, Australia. Luhrmann will appear at the start of the special Film4 “roadblock” breaks and introduce several TV ads he has been involved with, including Nicole Kidman’s lavish Chanel No 5 “mini movie” and the recent Australian Tourist Board commercial. The final spot in each break will feature a trailer for Australia, which stars Kidman and Hugh Jackman and opens in UK cinemas on Boxing Day. — The Guardian

Proof: The Times can’t hold its alcohol. All things in moderation is an adage that is often applied to, say, drinking (particularly around the holidays!) but could also perhaps be recommended to the NYT.com and their tendency to launch blogs on just about every subject possible. The most recent addition to their vast array of offerings is Proof, a blog about “alcohol and the American Life.” Here’s part of the official description:”For the past 10,000 years or so, wherever humans have gathered, there has been alcohol. Some never touch the stuff. But most do…In “Proof,” contributors consider the charms, powers and dangers of drink, and the role it plays in their lives.” — FishbowlNY

The Bancroft family: dysfunctional like a fox? Through much of last year, as the Bancroft family was wrestling over whether to sell Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch, reporters covering the saga couldn’t resist using the D-word. “[M]ore dysfunctional than the house of Windsor” was how the Guardian described the Bancrofts. “It’s dysfunctional as Paris Hilton’s family is,” quipped Ken Auletta on Charlie Rose. The New York Times reported that “some advisers to Dow Jones and the family privately suggest that the family was so dysfunctional that it was almost impossible to have gained an edge on Mr. Murdoch.” Good thing for that “almost,” because today Rob Cox and Lauren Silva of Breakingviews.com take a fresh look at the numbers and conclude that, just maybe, those poor, feckless Bancrofts did manage to gain such an edge — quite a valuable one, in fact. — Portfolio