Post-Logies presenting: Karl’s greatest hits. Karl Stefanovic appeared to be a little… over-tired when presenting TODAY the morning after the Logies. We have compiled a highlights package for your enjoyment:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUcWJU7yaZ0[/youtube]

300 rejections in four months leads to creative job hunting. An unemployed Melbourne journalist, frustrated at having come up empty handed after applying for 300 jobs in the past four months, has turned to personal PR in an effort to stand out to potential employers. Rohan Smith, who finished his degree at Melbourne’s Monash University last year, said the frustration at not being able to land a role as a journalist due to the recession and an increasingly competitive job market in Australia was the inspiration behind him writing a media release about himself, taking out an advertisement and making a YouTube video:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI8iqDTrrXk[/youtube]

— The Full Story

Eurovision TV songstress stands against domestic violence — complete with her own bruises. When Ukrainian singer Svetlana Loboda was interviewed by Eurovision TV about her entry in the famous song contest, amusing language slips ups failed to diminish her greater message. About 25 seconds into the video, the (Russian?) guy interviewing Loboda in English asks what Crikey can only assume was supposed to be “Can you tell us a little about your country?”; however, he fails to pronounce the last syllable.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYiwX_xu6Y[/youtube]

Five minutes in Loboda’s translator tells the interviewer she wants to use the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform for her message about a “greater social problem”, “family violence and abuse”. Pointing to the bruises on her face, Loboda expresses a desire to see women unite globally against domestic violence for the sake of their children. Heavy stuff for a contest better known for sequins, hot pants and ABBA. — Eleri Harris

In Britain legal costs threaten journalism, editors tell MPs. Appearing before the UK culture, media and sport select committee, the Guardian ‘s Alan Rusbridger and Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye , said the press was growing wary of running controversial stories about large companies and rich individuals because of the potential cost of dealing with legal action. Rusbridger said that the Guardian had spent £90,000 on pre-publication legal work to make sure a recent series on tax avoidance was free of errors. “With these kinds of sums, work it out for yourself: there are very few organisations that are going to do that kind of journalism in future faced by that kind of penalty.” — Guardian

Czech media are in deep trouble. Once one of the most vibrant media markets in Central Europe, with the print sector long boasting healthy circulations and the television industry pulling in tidy advertising revenues, the Czech Republic is experiencing one of its blackest years. Plummeting advertising revenues and falling circulations and viewership have devastated the accounts of the country’s media companies. But in their desperate search for money, the established media houses have so far made clumsy moves. Instead of redesigning their advertising offers and restructuring their operations with a view to maintaining their journalistic strength on new platforms, most Czech media rushed to slash editorial costs, mostly by firing journalists and throwing staggering discounts at advertisers. — Business Week

American newspaper layoffs get nasty. In the current economy and newspaper industry downturn, it is not unusual that a newspaper like the Reading (Pa.) Eagle would lay off 50 employees, as it did last week. But what has some departed staffers irked even more is the lack of severance pay, even for some with more than 30 years at the paper. They also received just two weeks of extended health care, according to newspaper officials. A story in the Friday paper reported the layoffs, but made no mention of the denied severance or health benefit decisions. It said the cutbacks represented about 12% of the paper’s work force. — Editor and Publisher

Things get desperate at the New York Times. We knew times were tough at The New York Times but we didn’t realize they were “stealing vodka” tough. We’d hate to see what the kids at the Boston Globe will resort to.

— Media Bistro