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Extra! Extra!News and headlines about the media industry July 4, 2008SERC Certifies Saxberg for Canada East VP newsguild.org The Newspaper Guild Sector Election and Referendum Committee (SERC) convened on June 30, 2008 and certified the results of the 2008 Sector Elections with regard to the position of Vice President for the Canada East Region. Barbara Saxberg garnered 451 votes, to Darren Pittman's 405 votes. July 3, 2008 NABJ Issues Warning on Layoffs Journal-isms By Richard Prince As news outlets stepped up notices of buyouts and layoffs, the National Association of Black Journalists on Thursday issued "an open letter to the entire industry" asserting that "NABJ will hold you accountable if you do not consider diversity in your hiring and, particularly, firing practices." The NABJ statement listed recent staff cutbacks around the country and cited an estimate from the American Society of Newspaper Editors that the number of journalists of color at newspapers declined by nearly 300 last year. July 3, 2008 LA Times to cut 250 jobs, including 150 news jobs Associated Press By Ryan Nakashima The Los Angeles Times plans to cut 250 positions, including 150 jobs in the print and online news departments, the paper's editor said Wednesday. As a result, the paper will undergo a makeover by the fall that will cut pages by 15% per week, eliminate some sections and trim story length. The move follows an announcement that Tribune Co. is exploring the sale of its headquarters in Chicago and the downtown Los Angeles Times office building. July 3, 2008 Despite debt default, Strib labor talks might preserve newsroom MinnPost.com By David Brauer On the surface, yesterday's debt-default news seems like another body blow for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. but the Strib's ongoing newsroom labor negotiations offer surprising hope. Although Strib publisher Chris Harte mandated a 10%, $2.5 million newsroom cut several weeks ago, I'm told contract negotiators have all but met that figure -- without layoffs, and only a few buyouts. In fact, the Newspaper Guild could get layoff protection. July 3, 2008 Save the Press New York Times By Timothy Egan My lament this Fourth of July is to ask readers to see newspapers as not just another casualty in the churn of business. Sure, reporters say stupid things and write idiotic stories. Everyone stumbles. But on its best days, a newspaper is a marvel of style and wit, of small-type discoveries and large-type overstatements, a diary of our deeds. We may still prove Jefferson's preference wrong: perhaps a nation can function without newspapers. But it would be a confederacy of dunces. July 3, 2008 Call it Frightsizing Content Bridges By Ken Doctor "Rightsizing" is one of those words management slings about when it wants to make it seem like it's making intelligent decisions in tough times. Sounds better than "panicking." But to describe the current round of newspaper staff cuts, there's a better word: Frightsizing. And Tribune is the poster boy of frightsizing: calling it an employee-owned company is high parody when those "owners" are being shown the door in massive numbers. July 3, 2008 Philadelphia papers may combine some newsroom jobs Associated Press By Deborah Yao A team of managers at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News has been appointed to oversee consolidation of some functions at the two papers in a bid to cut costs. Leading the team is the Inquirer's co-managing editor, Sandra Long, who met with the union on Tuesday to talk about the changes, said Henry Holcomb, president of The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia that represents newsroom and other staff at both papers. July 3, 2008 Deeper staff cuts likely at newspapers Reflections of a Newsosaur By Alan Mutter Even though 48.7% of the 102,120 jobs eliminated in the newspaper industry since 1990 were lost in the last three years, publishers since 2006 have failed to reduce headcount as aggressively as they did during prior downturns, according to an analysis of the industry's historic performance. How many more jobs should be cut? Precedent suggests that the industry in the last two years should have abolished 23,580 more jobs than it actually did. July 2, 2008 Baltimore Sun dropping its daily business section Baltimore Business Journal By Ryan Sharrow The Baltimore Sun will eliminate its daily business section later this month. The changes, set to begin July 29, will initially move the Sun's business coverage to the back of the "Maryland" section of the paper. A redesign of the Sun, slated to take affect by the end of August, will feature two pages a day focusing on business. The business stories will be folded into a new "uber-news" section, which will focus on local, national and world news coverage. July 2, 2008 Even with cuts, Venetoulis still wants The Sun Maryland Daily Record By Liz Farmer Despite the turmoil that will see 60 journalists leave The Sun's newsroom by the end of the month, a group of local businessmen still wants to buy the paper -- for better or worse. "Our position has always been the same and we're just staying very patient," said Theodore G. Venetoulis. Meanwhile, Guild negotiators said they were unable to extend the two-week deadline for the newsroom's approximately 250 employees to take a buyout before layoffs begin. July 2, 2008 'Milwaukee Journal Sentinel' Laying Off 10% Of Workers Editor & Publisher With ad revenue down 12% so far this year, the publishing company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Tuesday it is reducing its workforce by about 10% through buyouts, attrition, and involuntary layoffs. The cut in the staff of 1,300 full-time equivalents will be completed by the end of the year. Those taking buyouts or being laid off will receive cash severance and a healthcare benefit, Journal Sentinel Inc. said. July 1, 2008 We don't need to catch the US media's cold The Guardian By Peter Preston America's press is deeply conservative and deeply caught up with its own self-image. Recession and the advance of the internet blow mist all over the battlefield. But the crucial element in its distress is just plain, old-fashioned ineptitude: Too many companies paid too high a price to gobble up competitors in the fat years and now can't service their debt mountain as times grow thinner. July 1, 2008 'Plain Dealer' Cuts 32 Pages Per Week, Drops Four Sections Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp After weeks of speculation about pages being reduced and sections eliminated, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland is cutting an average of 32 pages per week. The Monday separate business section will be eliminated, on Wednesday a stand-alone style section and stand-alone food section will be combined into one section, Thursday's paper will see the consolidation of two stand-alone sections on arts & life and food & garden, and Friday's arts & life section will be cut. July 1, 2008 The Hedonists of Power Dissent Mag By Chris Hedges Washington has become Versailles. We are ruled, entertained and informed by courtiers. The popular media are courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are courtiers. Our pundits and experts are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games. We are being had. June 30, 2008 Newspapers, reeling from slumping ads, slash jobs Associated Press By Seth Sutel Even for an industry awash in bad news, the newspaper business went through one of its most severe retrenchments in recent memory last week. Half a dozen newspapers said they would slash payrolls, one said it would outsource all its printing, and Tribune Co., one of the biggest publishers in the country, said it might sell its iconic headquarters tower in Chicago and the building that houses the Los Angeles Times. June 30, 2008 Newspaper layoffs announced in Contra Costa Contra Costa Times By George Avalos Bay Area News Group-East Bay undertook company-wide job cuts Friday, affecting every department, including the newsroom, advertising, circulation and production. The company also said it plans to lay off 29 out of 226 employees in a newsroom operation whose journalists voted this month to be represented by the Newspaper Guild. The union-represented journalists who are being laid off will be notified on or before July 11. June 20, 2008 A.H. Belo Hits New Post-Split Low On Bad Day For Newspaper Stocks Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald Stock in A.H. Belo, the four-month-old newspaper pure-play split off from Belo Corp., hit a new low Thursday on a day when Wall Street continued bearish on nearly the entire newspaper sector. Investors may have been reacting to a sour assessment of newspaper stocks from Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert, who wrote that the industry has set new records in 2008 -- all of them bad, including three consecutive years of ad revenue declines. June 19, 2008 Hearst Chief Executive Resigns Over Policy Differences With Family Trust New York Times By Richard Perez-Pena The Hearst Corporation announced on Wednesday the unexpected resignation of its president and chief executive, Victor F. Ganzi, citing unspecified "irreconcilable policy differences" with the Hearst family trust that owns the company. Hearst owns The San Francisco Chronicle and is an investor in dozens of well-known media companies, including MediaNews and the Seattle Times Co. June 19, 2008 Register-Guard plans round of job cuts Register-Guard By Ilene Aleshire The Register-Guard newspaper is cutting 30 jobs because of what its publisher describes as an unprecedented shortfall in revenue. Publisher Tony Baker said 13 vacant positions will not be filled, and the newspaper is offering buyout and early retirement incentives. If the company does not meet its payroll reduction target through those options, layoffs will be necessary. June 19, 2008 Wall Street Journal to be 'best in world' says Murdoch The Guardian By Mark Sweney Rupert Murdoch has pledged to make the Wall Street Journal the "best in the world" and said he'll continue investing in the paper regardless of the worsening global economic outlook. He also said of his recently acquired staff that he "was surprised by how co-operative the vast majority of the journalists have been" and added that "readers have been very positive" about the changes he has implemented. June 19, 2008 Twenty Appeal Against the Cell Phone Le Journal du Dimanche By Yann Philippin and Soazig Quemener Nineteen scientists, brought together by eminent specialist in the fight against cancer David Servan-Schreiber, launch an appeal to sensitize public opinion to the risks cell phone use could pose to the brain, notably for the youngest patients. The Journal du Dimanche echoes that appeal [translated here by Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher] and analyses a disturbing phenomenon. June 19, 2008 Remembering Russert: What media eulogies remember--and forget Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting NBC's Meet the Press anchor and Washington bureau chief Tim Russert died of a heart attack on June 13. The outpouring from media and political elites only underscored Russert's status as one of most important figures in mainstream journalism. But amidst all of the accolades, critical assessments about Russert's record were scarce. June 19, 2008 NLRB Charges Filed Against Commercial Appeal Memphis Newspaper Guild The Memphis Newspaper Guild Local 33091 has filed a NLRB charge against The Commercial Appeal involving the most recent lay-offs. In bargaining sessions with the company on June 10, Guild representatives asked for more bargaining before layoffs were initiated. Guild representatives were told the company had not set a final list of who would be laid off. Two days later, 30 people lost their jobs and were escorted out of the building. June 18, 2008 Politkovskaya murder charges laid BBC News Three men have been charged over the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, investigators have said. Politkovskaya, a prominent Kremlin critic, was shot dead outside her home in the capital on 7 October 2006. Russia's Investigative Committee said a fourth man, an officer with the country's security service, had also been charged with abuse of office. June 18, 2008 Gaza Journalists Demand Israel Answer Over Killing Reuters Journalists in the Gaza Strip held a symbolic work stoppage on Monday as part of a protest to demand that Israel explain why its troops killed a Reuters cameraman in the Palestinian enclave two months ago to the day. The demonstration, during which journalists laid down their cameras, came on a day when U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unveiled a memorial dedicated to journalists killed while reporting on wars around the world. June 18, 2008 What Liberal Media? AlterNet By Sean Gonsalves You hear it all the time, especially during election season. "The media is biased" -- a criticism leveled from both the Right and Left. In fact, there's a cottage industry devoted to "exposing media bias," most of which has people in the news biz rolling their eyes. And for good reason: not that media criticism is unwarranted, it's just that most of it, to put it bluntly, is oversimplified nonsense that generates more heat than light. June 18, 2008 Printing paper a survival exercise Chicago Tribune By Phil Rosenthal When the Sun-Times Media Group held its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday, there was a lot of talk about the tough times ahead. But Chief Executive Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. also took the unusual step of praising Chicago Guild Executive Director Gerald Minkkinen, along with Sun-Times Media labor executive Ted Rilea, for working "so cooperatively together . . . to assure we retained our editorial strength while reducing our staff by almost 20%." June 18, 2008 Shooting of Reuters Journalist in Iraq Justified, Says Pentagon Associated Press By Lolita C. Baldor The 2005 shooting death of a Reuters journalist in the midst of a firefight in Baghdad was justified because U.S. soldiers believed the camera protruding from an unmarked car was a rocket propelled grenade, the Pentagon's internal watchdog has concluded. In an 82-page report, the Defense Department's inspector general also said that Reuters safety practices contributed to the death of sound technician Waleed Khaled, and the wounding of cameraman Haider Kadhem. June 18, 2008 Gannett Newspaper Revenue Down in May; NYT Co. May Results Down On 13% Slide in Newspaper Ad Revenue Editor & Publisher Gannett Co. Inc. reported after markets closed Tuesday that its May revenue dropped 10.9% from the year before on weak newspaper results that included real estate classified revenues that fell by more than a third. U.S. community newspaper classified ad revenue plunged 20.5% in May. Separately, the New York Times Co. said its May revenue from continuing operations fell 6.6% compared with last year, with much of the decline stemming from a 13.2% dip in print ad sales. June 18, 2008 Conference links independent media to democracy workday Minnesota By Steve Share The National Conference for Media Reform came to Minneapolis June 6-8, but the only labor speaker appeared to be Linda Foley, president of the Newspaper Guild, who spoke on a panel about the challenges facing traditional big city newspapers. Among the many organizations with booths in an exhibit hall at the conference, only two represented labor -- The National Writers Guild and CWA-NABET. June 18, 2008 Journalists Fleeing Foreign Countries in Record Numbers Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Journalists were forced into exile at record levels during the last 12 months, with at least 82 news people leaving their native countries "under threat or harassment," according to a survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The study, released Wednesday, revealed that more than half of those journalists fled Iraq and Somalia. June 18, 2008 House Subcommittee Votes to Stop FCC Media Ownership Rule Dow Jones Newswires By Fawn Johnson A House subcommittee has voted to block the Federal Communications Commission's rule allowing cross-media ownership in the country's 20 largest media markets. The provision is part of a spending bill that would deny the FCC any funding to implement the rule. Blocking the FCC rule could affect News Corp., Gannett Co. and Media General Inc. that own several local newspapers and broadcast stations. June 18, 2008 Seattle times files in court over sale of maine newspapers Pacific Northwest guild The Portland Newspaper Guild in Maine is being sued by The Seattle Times Co. over a dispute concerning a successor clause in the Maine union contract. A successor clause requires the buyer of a company to assume the obligations of the existing labor contract. It's great to have language like that, because it gives peace of mind in the event your company is sold. The Blethens are challenging the clause. June 18, 2008 'Til Debt Do Us Part Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald and Jennifer Saba For newspapers, it's the morning after their big binge -- a multi-billion dollar borrowing spree. They maxed out their credit cards for all kinds of neat things that seemed to break down as soon as they got them home. Now they're trying to hock their purchases, but so is almost everyone else they know. They're making their minimum payments, and the sheriff isn't at the door yet -- but the really big bills are about to hit the mailbox. June 17, 2008 After 75 Years, the Working Poor Still Struggle for a Fair Wage New York Times By Adam Cohen At the height of the Great Depression, industry convinced President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress to enact a law allowing companies to collude to drive up prices. To balance out this giveaway to big business, the law gave workers something that they had long been fighting for: the first federal minimum wage. A self-supporting and self-respecting democracy," FDR said at the time, can plead "no economic reason for chiseling workers' wages." June 17, 2008 Investigate This truthdig By Scott Ritter We're hearing quite a bit these days that it is not a journalist's "role" to question or debate policy set forth by the president. From this perspective, a reporter's only job (or "role") is simply to parrot policy formulations; any aggressive questioning about the veracity or morality or legality of any given policy would, in its own right, constitute opposition to said policy, and as such would be "taking sides." How puritanical. June 17, 2008 A Shield Law for The World Washington Post By Miklos Haraszti The United States owes a federal shield law not only to American journalists but to journalists around the world. Passage of such a law is urgently needed. By finally allowing the media to protect the anonymity of confidential sources, Congress would do more than close a fissure in U.S. press freedoms: It would also help curtail the destructive behavior that current U.S. prosecutorial habits are inspiring globally. June 17, 2008 Guild Criticism Targets McClatchy CEO Pruitt in Job Cutbacks Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Newspaper Guild locals are criticizing McClatchy for its planned cutback of some 1,400 employees, with complaints that point to CEO Gary Pruitt's last large bonus. The Lexington Guild slammed McClatchy and Pruitt following Monday's announcement that 17 staffers would be ousted. Out west, the Northern California Media Workers, posted a complaint on the union's web site that also took Pruitt to task. June 17, 2008 Tribune, MediaNews May Wind Up in Default as Ad Sales Evaporate Bloomberg By Leon Lazaroff and Caroline Salas Tribune Co., even with attempts to shore up the company's cash by selling assets and debt, could face default by the end of the year--but it's not alone. Other newspaper companies in danger of default include William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc., Journal Register Co. and Morris Publishing Group. Media and entertainment companies made up 44% of so-called distressed debt outstanding in May, the biggest share of any industry, S&P data show. June 17, 2008 Behind McClatchy Layoffs -- A Mountain Of Debt Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald The 1,400 McClatchy Co. employees targeted for layoffs can blame their job loss on the faltering newspaper economy in general, their company's specific concentration of papers in California and Florida where the housing collapse has been most acute -- and a forward-looking strategy once hailed as a way to avoid precisely this kind of pain. But, as the June E&P cover story makes clear, everything went wrong for McClatchy after the applause faded. June 16, 2008 In a Changing World of News, an Elegy for Copy Editors New York Times By Lawrence Downes I went to the Newseum, a shiny new building in Washington that news companies and foundations have erected as a shrine to their industry. Since it's my industry, too, I thought a museum, where sacred relics and texts have been placed safely in the equivalent of a big glass jar, might make me hopeful about the future. Here's what I learned: if newspaper copy editors vanish from the earth, no one is going to notice. June 16, 2008 McClatchy to Cut Work Force By 10% to Save $70 Million Wall Street Journal By Donna Kardos McClatchy Co. plans to cut its work force by about 10% amid a difficult advertising market as the media company reported a 15% drop in May revenues, hurt by a 17% drop in advertising sales. The work-force cuts at the nation's third-largest newspaper company will involve about 1,400 full-time employees through voluntary and involuntary departures as well as attrition, and save McClatchy about $70 million annually. June 16, 2008 Close MediaNews Guild Vote Sparks Uncertainty For Future Talks Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Will the close union vote at a chain of MediaNews Group papers outside San Francisco mean tough bargaining times ahead for the nine-paper group and its new guild local? While newsroom employees voted 104 to 92 for representation by the Northern California Media Workers, the vote reflects at least some opposition to a union shop, with an anti-union group ready to fan further resistance. June 16, 2008 McClatchy plans 10 percent cut in jobs Sacramento Bee By Dale Kasler The McClatchy Co., battered by declining profits and revenue, announced a 10 percent companywide cut in its workforce Monday, including the Sacramento publisher's first-ever across-the-board layoffs. The decision will eliminate 1,400 jobs through a combination of layoffs, voluntary departures and attrition. The Bee announced it will eliminate 86 jobs, 46 by layoffs. The reduction will trim the paper's work force by 8.1 percent. June 16, 2008 Total Newspaper Advertising Continued Steep Descent in Q1 2008 Editor & Publisher By Jennifer Saba Total print and online advertising revenue fell 12.8% to $9.2 billion in Q1 compared to the same period a year ago, for the largest quarterly drop since 1971. Perhaps even more troubling, the online advertising growth rate slowed dramatically. Online ad revenue in Q1 grew 7.1% to $804 million. That's compared to high double-digit quarterly growth rates, an average of 27% since 2003. June 14, 2008 East Bay Journalists Win Historic Vote for Guild Recognition onebigbang.org "This vote represents a powerful investment in the future of journalism in the Bay Area, one that's going to move us all forward, both staff and managers," said Sara Steffens, an award-winning reporter at the Contra Costa Times and a co-chair of the organizing campaign. June 14, 2008 Scripps shareholders approve company's split Associated Press By Lisa Cornwell E.W. Scripps Co.'s plan to split into two companies has cleared its final hurdle, but representatives of the Memphis Newspaper Guild expressed concern about the weaker profit margins in the new E.W. Scripps Co. "I think the split is basically going to be good for the shareholders, but I'm not sure how good it will be for the newspaper employees," said Reggie Sudduth, president of the Memphis Guild. June 14, 2008 Media Reformers: It's the Economy!! truthout By Mivhael Winship Last weekend's National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis was dedicated to the idea that there can be no real democracy without a media democracy. Yet as perceptive and informed as attendees were, sadly absent was any significant discussion of this country's economy, the vast gap between rich and poor, the way gross inequality in such desperate times is being largely ignored by the media, our candidates and the progressive movement. June 13, 2008 Tribune publisher resigns, cites differences with Zell Chicago Sun-Times By David Roeder The publisher of the Chicago Tribune said Thursday that he’s resigning, a sign that deep job cuts will start at the newspaper this summer. In his memo, Smith alluded to a clash of styles and views with Tribune Co. boss Sam Zell, who took over the media company in a highly leveraged buyout late last year. Zell repeatedly has broadcast his intention to slash costs at Tribune newspapers to meet debt payments and reflect loss of advertising. June 13, 2008 Google CEO: "Moral Imperative" To Help Newspapers Huffington Post By Michael Liedtke Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that the Internet search leader hopes its recently acquired advertising service DoubleClick will aid newspapers as they struggle to corral more online revenue. Without providing specifics about how it might be accomplished, Schmidt said DoubleClick's system for serving up online display ads could generate "significant" revenue online for newspapers. June 13, 2008 The Daily Shrinking Planet Business Week By Jon Fine There isn't much maneuverability for the American city daily, which has taken the brunt of the industry's dislocations. As crazy as this once sounded, I'm now convinced one or more major American markets will lose their daily newspaper within 18 months. Newspapers still do some things that can't be replaced. Unfortunately, we're about to find out exactly what those things are. June 13, 2008 Wachovia Analyst Cuts Rating on Newspapers -- Predicts Bigger Ad Decline Associated Press Predicting a steeper decline in advertising revenue over the next two years, a Wachovia analyst cut his rating on the newspaper sector Friday, and forecast smaller profits for five publishers. Analyst John Janedis expects total ad revenue to fall 10.4 percent in 2008 and 6.5 percent next year, which will hurt profits and revenue for McClatchy Co., GateHouse Media Inc., Gannett Co., Lee Enterprises Inc. and The New York Times Co. He reduced his rating on the sector to "Underweight" from "Market Weight." June 13, 2008 NBC’s Tim Russert dead at 58 MSNBC Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press," died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday's "Meet the Press" program when he collapsed. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert's son, Luke, from Boston College. June 13, 2008 AP have their legal vampires chasing bloggers. I blame Hilary Rosen. culturekitchen By Liza Sabater Rogers Cadenhead, founder and publisher of The Drudge Retort, has been Cease and Desisted by AP News for publishing fragments of their syndicated news articles and reports. Yes, fragments. Documentaries, archival works, opinion or scholarly writing will be all but non-existent if it means that now journalists, bloggers, historians and scholars need to pay for every single quote and/or sample they need for their work. June 13, 2008 A chance to shape how history will view our role One Big BANG By Sara Steffens, Josh Richman, Karl Fischer Here we are, at the edge of making history: the newsrooms of BANG-East Bay are deciding whether to create our own new unit of The Newspaper Guild. A vote for the Guild is a vote to get involved. That means effort. A guild is not a foreign entity, but an organic body. WE are the Guild, and the Guild is only as strong as our commitment to working together for a common cause. June 12, 2008 So what's the latest on those Strib contract negotiations? MinnPost.com By David Brauer In recent days, a cone of silence has descended over 425 Portland, where management and labor are actively hashing out a new newsroom contract. Both sides are working to avoid layoffs; I believe management wants to keep as many "content providers" around as possible -- but at reduced rates. However, the union wants buyouts -- which management finds too expensive. The union wants management cutbacks to go with labor reductions. June 12, 2008 Publisher : P-I contract talks won't be easy Romenesko Employees of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have received a letter from management announcing it had "sent a letter to the Guild terminating the current collective bargaining agreement as of July 25. The current agreement is outmoded in a number of respects, not the least of which is that it does not address new media, and it needs to be replaced." June 12, 2008 Gannett Pension Freeze Draws Angry or Concerned Employee React Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp As word of spread of Gannett's plan to freeze its employee pension and increase 401(k) contributions, rank and file workers reacted with a mix of anger and uncertainty Thursday. Gannett, which revealed that the move would save the company about $30 million in 2009, admits it is not aimed at improving employee retirement options, but in meeting an economic demand. June 11, 2008 Bob McChesney and Josh Silver at Media Reform Conference Democracy Now! By Amy Goodman "We're in a period in which journalism, as we know it, is in freefall. It's disintegrating. It's not just the content of journalism, the fluff that we talk about, it's the actual resources that the corporate community is devoting to journalism. There are communities of decent size now that barely have any journalism covering them, so if you live in a town, you won't know what's going on there anymore." -- Bob McChesney June 11, 2008 The Tipping Point for Media Reform Common Dreams By Megan Tandy There are moments in every decade when monumental struggles for social change finally tip in favor of the public interest. We've seen the relief of a 40-hour work week, the long-awaited arrival of women's right to vote, and the even longer fight to end segregation. This decade -- now -- we're facing another tipping point. Our fight is to reform our broken media system, and to stop heavy-handed corporate control of what Americans read, watch and hear. June 11, 2008 Welcome to the Starting Line ProPublica By Paul Steiger and Steve Engelberg Five months ago, ProPublica was an idea, a rudimentary Web site and a nearly empty office in Lower Manhattan. Today, we take our first concrete step in building an investigative publishing platform that will produce original stories focusing on betrayal of the public trust and abuse of power. Our goal is to do stories that would otherwise escape notice and to follow up on work done by others that demands change or is being overlooked. June 11, 2008 Newspaper offers employee buyouts Portland Press Herald By Elbert Aull Newspaper executives offered buyouts to Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram employees Monday, part of an effort to eliminate around 35 jobs, extending severance packages to employees who agree to leave their jobs next month. The move comes nearly two weeks after the newspaper announced it would eliminate dozens of jobs to offset spikes in energy and newsprint costs and a drop in advertising revenue. June 11, 2008 Extra! Extra! Running a newspaper is hard Fortune By Devin Leonard Brian Tierney and other buyers of publicly-held newspapers thought they had the perfect fix for the moribund business. It's not working. Knight Ridder blamed Wall Street when it cut staff at its Philadelphia newspapers. Tierney, who borrowed at least $345 million to take over the Philly publications, can always scapegoat his lenders. Either way, the results look depressingly familiar. June 11, 2008 The L.A. Times's Human Wrecking Ball Washington Post By Harold Meyerson On Oct. 1, 1910, a bomb set by James McNamara, an operative of the Iron Workers union, then embroiled in a ferocious dispute with the Los Angeles Times, blew up the Times building, killing 21 pressmen. McNamara was arrested the following April, convicted and later sentenced to life in prison. He died in San Quentin in 1941. The question for today is: Would a similar sentence be appropriate for Sam Zell? June 11, 2008 Total Advertising Spending Stalls in Q1 Editor & Publisher By Jennifer Saba Total advertising spending in the U.S. inched up 0.6% in Q1 compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Newspapers lost the most, as total advertising expenditures in newspapers were down 5.2%. Spending in local newspapers declined 5%, while spending in national newspapers fell 6.2%. Advertising in Spanish language newspapers dropped 5.3%. June 11, 2008 Coming Today: Gannett Expected to Freeze Employee Pensions Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Gannett is expected to freeze the pensions of company employees, according to sources at several newspapers, who said a memo on the plan is slated for later today from Gannett CEO Craig Dubow. The change is also expected to include a change in 401K match, with employees gaining Gannett stock for each contribution to their 401K fund. The move comes just days after Gannett announced it would write down its assets by about $2.5 billion to $3 billion. June 10, 2008 WOMEN-MEDIA: Conspicuous By Their Absence Inter Press Service News Agency By Miren Gutierrez Media are the gatekeepers of much of what is known in the public sphere, while journalistic stories contribute to perpetuating stereotypes, or changing them. It is quite revealing, then, to find out who is in the kitchen cooking the news. "The influence of women in journalism is one of the most central problem areas in feminist media research," acknowledges a recent report entitled "The Gender of Journalism." June 10, 2008 Congressman Dennis Kucinich Introduces 35 Articles of Impeachment Against President Bush After Downing Street "In light of the illegal war in Iraq, the systematic torture of prisoners in US custody, the illegal surveillance of Americans, and George W. Bush's refusal to carry out his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws, impeachment proceedings should be initiated immediately and a criminal investigation launched against the President of the United States." -- Marjorie Cohn, President, National Lawyers Guild. Yesterday, she got her wish. June 10, 2008 Change of Control at the Los Angeles Times Magazine New York Times By Richard Perez-Pena The Los Angeles Times has made plans to transfer control of its monthly magazine from its newsroom to its business operations and to replace the magazine's entire editorial staff, all without the knowledge of anyone in the newsroom, including the top editor, Russ Stanton. After hearing about the move, Stanton asked that the name of the publication, Los Angeles Times Magazine, be changed to avoid lending the newsroom's credibility to a product it did not control. June 10, 2008 'Dallas Morning News' to Launch Free Edition to Non-Subscribers Editor & Publisher By Jennifer Saba As newspapers across the country trim sections and hundreds of pages, The Dallas Morning News is taking a 180-degree turn by rolling out a new print product. The new offering, titled "Briefing," is a free, 16-page broadsheet that will be home delivered to non-subscribers of the Morning News every Wednesday through Saturday. It launches Aug. 27. June 10, 2008 Uncertainty as Tribune Prepares to Retrench New York Times By Richard Perez-Pena Is Sam Zell right about the newspaper business? Last week, Mr. Zell, chairman and chief executive of the Tribune Company, said the company would trim 500 pages of news each week from the company's dozen papers. The aim is a paper split 50-50 between news content and ads. Journalists may recoil, but is a thinner, flashier, more local newspaper -- with a smaller newsroom staff -- the best financial model for a contracting industry? June 10, 2008 Gannett Takes Writedown But Execs Reassure Investors: 'Transformation' Going Well Editor & Publisher and the Associated Press The nation's largest newspaper chain, Gannett Co., will write down its assets by about $2.5 billion to $3 billion this quarter to reflect the declining value of its operations in the United Kingdom and the United States. Stock in Gannett, which publishes USA Today, has lost roughly half its value in the last year, as the newspaper industry has struggled with declining revenue and circulation. June 10, 2008 Whatever Happened to Iraq? American Journalism Review By Sherry Ricchiardi For long stretches over the past 12 months, Iraq virtually disappeared from the front pages of the nation's newspapers and from the nightly network newscasts. The American press and the American people have lost interest in a war that is costing taxpayers about $12.5 billion a month, or nearly $5,000 a second, according to some calculations. The decline in coverage of Iraq has been staggering. June 10, 2008 Big Cuts in Planning at Plain Dealer Cleveland Leader Top Plain Dealer executives -- Publisher Terry Egger and Editor Susan Goldberg -- told worried editorial staff members yesterday that the business climate is so bad that the paper plans to cut 35 pages a week from its news pages and 20 percent of its workforce. Egger said they were looking at "drastic changes," according to PD reporters. That's 35 pages of less news every week or 1,820 pages a year for readers of Cleveland's only daily newspaper. June 10, 2008 Howling at the moon 61st World Newspaper Congress By Dean Singleton As a keynote speaker June 2 at the World Association of Newspapers, and without a hint of irony, Dean Singleton referred to a 2003 presentation by Conrad Black "who gave us a lecture on arrogance, of all things"--before launching his own diatribe against "too many whining editors, reporters and newspaper unions (who) continue to bark at the dark, thinking their barks will make the night go away." June 10, 2008 Murdoch has a plan. Zell doesn't. Reflections of a Newsosaur By Alan Mutter While Rupert Murdoch has gotten busy building the Wall Street Journal into an even more powerful global brand, Sam Zell seems to have no plan at all for Tribune Co., unless you count flogging the hands until morale improves. Dow Jones has a well-defined and apparently well-funded set of objectives, while Tribune is foundering amid declining newspaper sales, burdensome debt and a series of demoralizing cutbacks. June 9, 2008 Tribune Co. Plans Sharp Cutbacks at Papers New York Times By Richard Perez-Pena Tribune Company newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune will quickly cut costs by printing fewer papers and employing fewer journalists, top company executives said on Thursday. They also said they have looked at the column inches produced by each reporter and, finding wide variation, have concluded they could do without a large number of news employees and not lose much content. June 9, 2008 Isn't That Rich? The Times Discovers End of Gilded Age Advertising Age By Simon Dumenco On the day the news broke about the first newsroom layoffs at The New York Times, the paper's Home section devoted half a page to luxury bathtubs -- the kind made from "materials like stainless steel ... leather and carved wood, each one handmade and slightly different." Yet lately the newspaper has been connecting with a decidedly rough-hewn, ungilded consumer reality inspired by our tanking economy. June 9, 2008 Fears Of A Union Renaissance Forbes By Brian Wingfield Union membership encompasses just 7.5% of the private sector, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fearful of a potential resurgence. Now the group is opposing a laundry list of bills that the chamber says would make it easier to organize a union, expand worker benefits at the expense of employers and lift the caps on punitive damages sought by employees in lawsuits. June 9, 2008 'Catholic Worker' at 75: Long Ties with Union Movement AFL-CIO Now Seventy-five years ago, two priests, a nun and a devout Catholic woman named Dorothy Day scraped together $57 and printed 2,500 copies of a tabloid newspaper they called the Catholic Worker. The impact of the first issue, according to the author Dwight MacDonald, was "an ambiguous thud," but that shoestring operation was the beginning of the Catholic Worker movement, one of the most remarkable allies American union members have ever had. June 9, 2008 Philly Papers Default on Debt Payment CFO.com By Alan Rappeport Philadelphia Media Holdings, publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, defaulted on a June interest payment and is looking for new ways to repay its loans, according to a report by credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor's. The default was for the company's $85 million in mezzanine debt underwritten by the Royal Bank of Scotland. June 3, 2008 Time to Go American Journalism Review By Joel Sappell Our optimism grew when Sam Zell, soon after his highly leveraged takeover of Tribune, promised investment, not retrenchment. Then came Zell's visit to Washington, where he gruffly informed reporters and editors that their operation was bloated, a drain on the company -- and I admitted to myself for the first time that I couldn't see myself working at the L.A. Times even two years down the road. June 3, 2008 GateHouse Media Stock Hits New Low On Bad Day For Newspapers Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald GateHouse Media Inc. stock hit a new low price Monday as the swooning Dow Jones Industrial Average dragged down nearly the entire newspaper sector. GateHouse closed at $3.90, down 29 cents, or 6.92%. It had traded in a 52-week range of $4.12 to $20.15. Of the 13 publicly traded newspaper stocks E&P tracks, 11 were down on the day. June 3, 2008 WAN 2008: Inside the Wall Street Journal's integrated 'news factory' The Guardian By Stephen Brook "The whole newsdesk serves as a news factory which has clients including the print edition, online, the Asian edition and the European edition," a Wall Street Journal editor explained. Of course, reporters at the Journal complained that all multimedia had done was add to their workload -- but management defused that gripe by listing the ten most popular stories on the website because reporters "are getting quite competitive about it." June 3, 2008 JP Morgan Issues 'Negative' View of Newspapers Editor & Publisher By Jennifer Saba Former Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani launched coverage of the publishing industry for JP Morgan with a "negative view" of most traditional advertising media. The lucky breaks the newspaper industry worked last year to maintain margins -- cost-cutting and relatively lower newsprint prices -- will partly evaporate this year, with newsprint prices already on the rise. June 3, 2008 Singleton Tells Newspaper Leaders: 'Discard Our Arrogance' Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp MediaNews Group CEO William Dean Singleton urged newspaper executives at the World Newspaper Congress in Sweden to "discard our arrogance" and focus more on what the reader needs. "Once and for all, we're going to have to quit writing and editing for each other and write and edit for that consumer out there," he said, according to a report that said he chided newspaper people who "fondly remember the past as if it will suddenly reappear." June 3, 2008 The Corporate State and the Subversion of Democracy truthdig By Chris Hedges Our state, our nation, has been hijacked by oligarchs, corporations and a narrow, selfish political elite, a small and privileged group which governs on behalf of moneyed interests. We are undergoing, as John Ralston Saul wrote, "a coup d'etat in slow motion." We are being impoverished -- legally, economically, spiritually and politically. And unless we soon reverse this tide, unless we wrest the state away from corporate hands, we will be sucked into the dark and turbulent world of globalization where there are only masters and serfs. June 2, 2008 USA Today: 'McPaper' in Modern Times Advertising Age By Nat Ives Twenty-five years after USA Today zigged while everyone else zagged, the industry has learned to imitate its earliest editorial priorities -- color, brevity, sports, pop and dialogue with readers. But with newspapers now buckling before the internet, the dynamic seems to have reversed polarity. USA Today is benefiting from the serious journalism it introduced along the way, while many newspapers thin their newsrooms with budget cuts. June 2, 2008 The 100 Celebrity Diet: One part news, three parts trash. I find it quite healthy. The Tyee By Vanessa Richmond Pop culture journalism is like a misunderstood, blonde friend who seems air headed but actually gets the best marks in school, is the most fun to hang out with and the liveliest to talk to. That New York Times article by Emily Gould had 1212 comments posted after it by noon on Monday (before comments were closed). The most popular political op-ed column of the day had 102. That's not unusual. June 2, 2008 Layoffs reported at Times Co. papers in Maine Seattle Post-Intelligencer By Andrea James The Seattle Times Co., which is 50.5 percent-controlled by the local Blethen family, appears to be laying off workers at its Maine newspapers. The Newspaper Guild in Portland, Maine, sent out an e-mail announcement Friday that the Portland newspapers would lay off up to 35 employees. The Seattle Times also has said it is eliminating more than 200 positions at its Seattle paper. June 2, 2008 Who'll Unplug Big Media? Stay Tuned The Nation By Robert McChesney and John Nichols On a Thursday in mid-May, the Senate did something that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Led by Democrat Byron Dorgan, the senators -- Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives -- gave Rupert Murdoch and his fellow media moguls the sort of slap that masters of the universe don't expect from mere mortals on Capitol Hill. June 2, 2008 Study shows young adults hit by 'news fatigue' Associated Press By Karl Ritter Young adults experience news fatigue from being inundated by facts and updates and have trouble accessing in-depth stories, according to a study to be unveiled at a global media conference Monday. The research project, commissioned by The Associated Press in 2007, analyzed the news consumption patterns of an ethnically diverse group of 18 men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 in six cities in the United States, Britain and India. June 2, 2008 World Congress Hears That Circ Down in U.S. -- But Up Globally Associated Press Global newspaper circulation is rising, buoyed by demand in Asia and South America, even as readership continued to slip in the U.S. and Europe. Circulation of paid newspapers rose 2.6 percent worldwide in 2007, with the biggest jump in India and China -- which is now the largest market for newspapers with 107 million copies sold daily, according to a report by the World Associated of Newspapers. June 2, 2008 Lawmakers seek end to adminstration's 'embedded' spin doctors Broadcasting & Cable By John Eggerton Because of a small addition to a bill that passed the House of Representatives, the inspector general of the Department of Defense and the Government Accountability Office may be joining the FCC in investigating the Bush administration's "embedded analyst" program. If the amendment survives a conference between different House and Senate versions of the defense bill, it would prevent any DOD funding from being used for propaganda. June 2, 2008 Newspapers: Local Online Revenues Grow, But Share Decreases Media Daily News By Erik Sass A new survey of local Web site revenues by Borrell Associates found that newspapers are still enjoying strong growth in local online advertising--but they are losing share to pure-play online operations. Newspapers are not alone: Traditional media like broadcast TV, radio and Yellow Pages publishers will also see their market share stagnate or decrease in 2008. May 30, 2008 Reporter Ordered To Testify About Sources The Sun By Josh Gerstein A leading reporter on the national security beat, William Gertz of the Washington Times, has been ordered to appear before a federal judge next month to identify the sources for a news article about the prosecution of a Chinese spy ring based in southern California. A law professor who specializes in disputes involving the press said the case could escalate into a major First Amendment showdown with the prospect of jail time or large fines for Mr. Gertz. May 30, 2008 Three potential buyers for Blethen's Maine newspapers Crosscut By Bill Richards The search for a buyer of the Seattle Times Co.'s Blethen Maine Newspapers chain of three dailies has narrowed to three possible purchasers, but the only organization to openly declare its interest says it won't be in that group. C.J. Betit, administrative officer for the Portland, Maine, Newspaper Guild, said the union has shelved a plan to bid for the chain. May 30, 2008 Times Union to take over delivery of 2 competitors Albany Times Union By Chris Churchill The Albany Times Union will take over the home-delivery operations of two competing newspapers, The Saratogian and The Record. The Saratogian and The Record are both owned by The Journal Register Co., a struggling media company headquartered in Yardley, Pa. This month, Journal Register said it lost $72.2 million during the first three months of the year. May 30, 2008 Memphis 'Commercial Appeal' Cuts 55 Jobs, Cites Slow Ad Sales Associated Press The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis says it is cutting 55 jobs because of slow advertising sales. The Commercial Appeal, which has about 700 employees in the Memphis area, did not give details on the job reductions, saying they were still being worked out. The newspaper said the cuts will be completed by July 1. May 29, 2008 Fired Reporters Denied Immediate Reinstatement at News-Press Santa Barbara Independent By Chris Meagher A federal judge has denied immediate reinstatement for a group of eight reporters fired by the Santa Barbara News-Press, reasoning that union activity "was in large part directed at limiting [News-Press management's] exercise of its editorial discretion." Because of this, the judge wrote, a proposed injunction "fringes" on the paper's First Amendment rights. May 29, 2008 Media Reform Comes to Minneapolis Free Press The National Conference for Media Reform -- the largest gathering of its kind in the country -- will bring thousands of activists, educators, policymakers and leaders to Minneapolis next week to discuss the future of media. Among the featured speakers: Bill Moyers of PBS and Dan Rather, former anchor of CBS News; FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein; Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post; former talk-show host Phil Donahue; and author Naomi Klein. May 29, 2008 Bridging the Abyss American Journalism Review By Charles Layton Will newspapers die out? Will they always be around but in a sad, vestigial form? Or, as the print paper shrivels, will its online counterpart finally pull in enough cash to keep the journalistic enterprise alive? And how long might that take? Three scenarios sketch out some of the possibilities--but even the most rosy promises at least six more years of increasing pain. May 29, 2008 Guild wins political contributions arbitration Detroit Guild A Detroit arbitrator has ruled that the Free Press violated the Guild contract by prohibiting all political contributions by editorial employees. The arbitrator ordered that the company's revised ethics policy banning such donations "is set aside and declared null and void retroactive to the date when it was promulgated, June 25, 2007." May 28, 2008 Who Will Do The Reporting? The Atlantic.com By Megan McArdle The 21st century's dominant information distribution technology, the Internet, isn't characterized by economies of scale. As a consequence, we're seeing the disaggregation of the news business. Instead of dozens of media organizations with staffs in the hundreds or thousands, we're likely to see thousands of news organizations with a few dozen--or even fewer--employees. May 28, 2008 Goldman: Newspaper Industry Performance Likely to Stay 'Anemic' In '08 Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald In its monthly review of newspaper industry trends released Tuesday, Goldman Sachs concludes that ad revenue will remain "anemic" for the rest of 2008 -- even as easier comparables with last year show improving numbers. "Having spent time with management from Gannett, New York Times and Scripps over the past week, our sense is that investors should not expect a change in ad revenue trends into May," the firm said. May 28, 2008 Gannett Loses Its S&P 'A-' Credit Rating: Industry Slump Hurting Even Best-Regarded Chains Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut Gannett Co. Inc.'s corporate credit rating and senior unsecured debt rating to "BBB+" from "A-," further evidence that the newspaper industry slump is affecting the credit ratings of even the best-regarded publishers. S&P also assigned a negative outlook to Gannett debt, suggesting the rating could fall further. May 27, 2008 Propaganda: Networks Still Silent Huffington Post By Josh Silver You probably didn't hear about the House voting to ban Pentagon propaganda last Thursday -- since the television networks have once again conveniently failed to cover the story. But in a surprise move, a 2009 defense policy bill passed with an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), that outlaws the Defense Department from engaging in "a concerted effort to propagandize" the American people. May 27, 2008 Lost Media, Found Media Columbia Journalism Review By Alissa Quart Journalism is more or less divided into two camps, which I will call Lost Media and Found Media. I went to the Nieman conference to see how the forces creating this new division are afflicting the Lost Media world, a world of people struggling with layoffs, speedups, hiring freezes, buyouts, the death or shrinkage of film- and book-review sections, limits on expensive investigative work, the erasure of foreign bureaus, and the general narrowing of institutional ambition. May 27, 2008 Reuters Seeks New Inquiry Into Slain Journalists in Iraq Reuters By Dean Yates Reuters News said it was seeking a fresh inquiry into the 2003 killing of two journalists in Baghdad by a U.S. tank crew after a report raised new questions about their deaths. On May 15, Democracy Now posted an interview with a former U.S. army sergeant in military intelligence who said that prior to the invasion she had been given a list of targets for potential attack that included the Palestine Hotel. May 23, 2008 'WSJ' Union Chief: No Surprise Murdoch Hires a News Corp. Editor Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp The head of The Wall Street Journal's largest union says it's no surprise that News Corp. veteran Robert Thomson was tapped as the paper's new top editor, and said it remains to be seen if the choice is a positive or negative. "This is what happens when you spend $5 billion to buy a product, you will put your people in charge," said Steve Yount, president of the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, TNG-CWA Local 1096. May 23, 2008 Media General to Cut 750 Jobs, Reports Very Bad April Revenue Editor & Publisher Media General reported weak April newspaper financial results Thursday, largely on plunging revenues in Tampa and its other two metro markets -- which drove help-wanted classified revenues down 42% and real estate down 40%. The Associated Press now reports that Media General says it will cut 750 jobs by the beginning of the third quarter to reduce operating costs. May 23, 2008 Journal Communications Newspaper Ad Revenue Falls 8.6% Editor & Publisher Journal Communications Inc. reported after markets closed Thursday that its April revenue fell 5.3% to $35.91 million, driven down in part by ad revenue that was off 9.6% at its flagship Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Newspaper revenue fell 6.2% with ad revenue off 8.6% and circulation revenue down 2%. May 23, 2008 'Honolulu Advertiser' Enters Mediation With Union Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp The bitter contract battle at the Honolulu Advertiser, which has included a successful strike vote and staff cutbacks in online video and blogging, reached some sign of improvement with management agreeing to enter mediation with the union. Hawaii Newspaper and Printing Trades Council, which represents six unions negotiating with the Advertiser's parent company, Gannett Co. Inc., said the company had rejected proposals for mediation since January. May 23, 2008 The battle for labor's future Los Angeles Times By Nelson Lichtenstein When an internal fight at a trade union erupts into the news, American culture has a ready frame. It's Marlon Brando versus Lee J. Cobb in "On the Waterfront" once again, perhaps updated by a recent episode of "The Wire." But there are no shiny suits or pinkie rings in the conflict at the Service Employees International Union, where the real question being debated is the road forward for the American trade union movement. May 23, 2008 Times Union to offer buyout packages Daily Gazette By James Schlett Citing a tougher economic climate and competition for revenues, Albany Times Union management on Monday unveiled a plan to trim the paper's work force by 30 employees. The voluntary buyouts would cover 7 percent of the company's work force, said Tim O'Brien, a Times Union reporter who heads the union that represents 260 workers at the newspaper. May 23, 2008 International vote installs new leaders of Newspaper Guild CWA/SCA Canada Official election results have confirmed a turnover in leadership of The Newspaper Guild, but it will be another six weeks before the winner of the contest for Canada East Vice-President is determined. TNG's Sector Elections and Referendum Committee will conduct elections at five CWA Canada Locals which either did not hold an election or which had voting irregularities. May 23, 2008 'Wash Post' Details Buyout Of 100-Plus News Staffers Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp It looks like the seven-day waiting period for employees at The Washington Post to reconsider their buyout did not change many minds as more than 100 newsroom staffers have finalized plans to leave the paper with the buyout packages, some of which run up to two years of salary. The seven-day period passed on Thursday, one week after the employee deadline for signing up for a buyout. May 23, 2008 Justice for Dead Journalists King Features Syndicate By Amy Goodman More than five years have passed since the invasion of Iraq and the "Mission Accomplished" banner on an aircraft carrier. While these fifth anniversaries got some notice, another did not: the shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by a U.S. Army tank on April 8, 2003. Now Adrienne Kinne, a former Army sergeant who worked in military intelligence for 10 years, has stepped forward to say that she saw a target list that included the Palestine Hotel. May 23, 2008 What Does That Mean? Down East By Al Diamon The clause in the contract between the Portland Press Herald and the Portland Newspaper Guild reads, "This Agreement... shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the successors and assigns of the Publisher." But despite the apparent clarity of that sentence, the company now asserts that "there is no language in our contract that requires the Publisher to make certain as a condition of any sale of assets that the Agreement be assumed by the Purchaser." May 20, 2008 Cross-Ownership Reversal: The House Broadcasting & Cable By John Eggerton Now that the Senate voted to repeal the Federal Communications Commission's loosening of the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) is ready to push his companion bill in the House, or alternately simply adopt the Senate resolution if it will speed it to a floor vote and passage. May 20, 2008 Thomson Reuters axes 140 journalist jobs The Guardian By Katie Allen News and information company Thomson Reuters has confirmed that it is cutting 140 journalist jobs by the end of the year. Editor-in-chief of Reuters News, David Schlesinger, said "natural overlap and duplication in coverage" between Thomson and Reuters required making the cuts, half of them in Europe and the rest to be scattered around the world. May 20, 2008 Young Workers, Positive About Unions, Face Economic Squeeze AFL-CIO Now By James Parks Two new reports show today's young workers are being squeezed by high costs of living and low or stagnant wages and they want the government to do more to solve this nation's economic mess. In fact, say the reports' authors, this generation of young workers could be the first not to surpass the living standards of their parents. May 20, 2008 Union OKs contract with News Tribune Duluth News Tribune By Patrick Garmoe More than 90% of voters in the Lake Superior Newspaper Guild this week ratified a three-year contract with the Duluth News Tribune. Employees will receive 5% pay raises each year of the contract, plus the usual step increases. Employee-paid health premiums won’t increase this year but could the following two years, up to 45% for family coverage, from the current 30%. May 20, 2008 Beantown's bad news for Times New York Post By Paul Tharp The New York Times is getting dragged down again by declining business at its Boston Globe group, which Wall Street investors want the Times to dump to protect the mother ship. The Globe unit's ad revenue in April tumbled 12% in the widening economic slump, while the Times withstood serious declines with just a 0.7% drop in its ad revenue. Its 16 other regional papers suffered a 16.4% drop in ad business. May 20, 2008 Gannett revenue drops 7.7 percent in April Associated Press Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher, said Monday its operating revenue fell 7.7% in April. Total revenue for the period ending May 4 fell to $639.6 million from $693.3 million in the comparable period a year ago. Publishing advertising revenue fell 10.4% to $410.9 million. May 20, 2008 Newspapers on Upswing in Developing Markets New York Times By Heather Timmons While gloom haunts the newspaper industry in the United States and Europe, the business is flourishing in much of the developing world. In many of these markets, rising literacy rates dovetail with growing disposable income to create millions of potential readers. Circulation is rising by double-digit percentages at existing papers, while some Western media companies are forging partnerships and trying their hand at start-up companies as well. May 20, 2008 Newspaper shares -35%, CEO pay -11% Reflections of a Newsosaur By Alan Mutter Things were so tough last year that the top executives of eight of 12 publicly held newspaper companies suffered a pay cut. But things were even tougher for their stockholders. That's because the shares of the dozen newspapers dived an average of 35.7% in 2007 at the same time the average compensation of the chief executives fell by a more moderate -- but not insignificant -- 11.7%. May 16, 2008 SERC certification of election results The Newspaper Guild-CWA By Barbara Camens, Esq., TNG-CWA Legal Counsel On behalf of the SERC, I am announcing the following certified results of the Guild elections: President--Foley, 2,864; Lunzer, 3,611. Sector Chairperson--Kirkup, 2,347; Knox, 3,868. Secretary-Treasurer--Rothman, 3,834; Stevens, 2,460. Region 2--Lindsay, 658; Winton, 354. Canada East--The SERC has not yet certified the results of this race. A written decision will be announced soon. Thank you -- Barbara Camens May 15, 2008 Unionbusting 2.0 American Rights at Work By Erin Johansson At Uloop, a social networking site aimed at college students, workers were fired 20 minutes after they first discussed forming a union on the company's online message boards. The employees filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board that likely will be a test of the precedent-setting Register-Guard case, in which the Labor Board failed to recognize technological advancements in workplace communication. May 15, 2008 Investor Offers Journal Register $25 Million Cash Infusion Editor & Publisher By Mark Fitzgerald Journal Register Co., facing default on its $625 million debt this summer, has been offered a $25 million infusion of cash by a Cleveland shareholder who wants a significant ownership stake, the troubled community newspaper publisher disclosed Wednesday. May 15, 2008 Who Will Tell Us? Journalism is losing its reporters Columbia Journalism Review By Editorial The question of whether or for how long newspapers will continue to exist in paper and ink is irrelevant. What matters is that the DNA of the best journalism-investigative, public-service-oriented be instilled in the news outlets of the twenty-first century. And that takes more than just talk. May 15, 2008 Decimated: Strib to cut newsroom budget 10 percent MinnPost.com By David Bauder The Star Tribune's newsroom budget will be cut 10 percent by June 1. The reduction amounts to $2.5 million -- part of $20 million in cuts Strib management wants to deliver to lenders by June 30. Management has just entered formal contract negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom employees. According to a source, layoffs are an obvious option. May 15, 2008 MediaNews Group Bay Area Papers to Vote on Unionization Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Less than two weeks after MediaNews Group employees at nine newspapers outside San Francisco petitioned to unionize, a union vote date has been set. Union-eligible employees at the Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB), which includes nine MediaNews Group dailies in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, will vote on June 13 whether to be represented by The Newspaper Guild-CWA. May 14, 2008 New Short Contract Ends Blethen Maine Labor Battle Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp One potential obstacle in Frank Blethen's effort to sell his Blethen Maine Newspaper group may have been lifted as the tiny Morning Sentinel in Waterville reached agreement with its local Newspaper Guild on a new contract. But the new agreement, which includes a 5% raise and a $1,600 bonus payment, runs only through next January -- a clear sign that management does not want new owners hamstrung by a lengthy union agreement. May 14, 2008 McClatchy willing to sell Times stake Seattle Post-Intelligencer By Dan Richman Struggling with falling profits and revenue, The McClatchy Co. said Tuesday that it's willing to sell its 49.5 percent share of The Seattle Times Co. McClatchy's valuation of its interest in the Times Co. has declined steadily since March 2006, when it acquired the interest through its $4.1 billion purchase of Knight Ridder Inc. May 14, 2008 Strib Guild: No new management. No new labor, either. MinnPost.com By David Brauer The Star Tribune has just begun labor negotiations with newsroom employees. Meetings began last week -- editor Nancy Barnes communicated her vision Friday -- and today, the Strib's Newspaper Guild let its members know what labor said behind closed doors in a statement titled "This Is Our Newspaper." May 14, 2008 Incoming Newspaper Guild Prez: Industry Too Pessimistic Editor & Publisher By Joe Strupp Challenger Bernie Lunzer, whose election as Newspaper Guild president is expected to be certified on Thursday, said he wants to have the union "actively involved in the direction of the industry." Lunzer's comments followed the release of ballot data on the Guild Web site that indicate Lunzer had at least 3,630 votes out of 6,367 cast, with incumbent Linda Foley taking 2,737. In accordance with Guild rules, the election is not final until it is certified on Thursday. Foley had no comment on the election. May 13, 2008 Moyers, Rather to headline 'media reform' conference Finance and Commerce By Bob Geiger Less than three months before the Republican National Convention convenes in St. Paul, a decidedly more liberal group is gathering in the Twin Cities: the June 6-8 National Conference on Media Reform, sponsored by Free Press. Featured speakers are to include long-time journalist Bill Moyers, ex-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and Arianna Huffington, of HuffingtonPost.com. May 13, 2008 Monitor looking at changes in effort to remain vital Boston Globe By Don Aucoin As The Christian Science Monitor marks its 100th anniversary this year, the Boston-based newspaper is weighing changes with an eye toward remaining viable in an uncertain media environment. Like many other newspapers, the Monitor has battled declining circulation as readers have migrated to the Internet. From a peak of more than 230,000 in the early 1970s, the Monitor's average daily circulation had dropped to 56,083 as of March 31. May 13, 2008 Big media slams proposal to roll back cross-ownership rule Ars Technica By Matthew Lasar Thirteen major broadcast and newspaper groups have filed lengthy denunciations of a public interest group's appeal to redo the FCC's recent relaxation of its TV station/newspaper cross-ownership ban. Their comments once again expose the enormous divide between public opinion and big media on this issue. May 13, 2008 Newspapers to see more deals, but at lower prices Reuters By Jui Chakravorty Das and Robert MacMillan The fight to buy Tribune Co's Newsday surprised many in the media world -- not because of its high-profile combatants, but because of the price they were willing to pay to buy a newspaper. The bidding war, ended by Cablevision Systems Corp with a deal to buy Newsday for $650 million, is not indicative of where the newspaper industry is headed. May 13, 2008 Journal Register, a Shakespeare tragedy Reuters By Robert MacMillan In William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, Prospero the exiled sorcerer frees the spirit Ariel from a tree. In much the same way, Ariel Investments has freed itself from a tree as well. The Chicago-based investment firm reported in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it no longer owns any shares in Journal Register Co, the publisher of 20-some U.S. newspapers. May 13, 2008 Tribune's 'Newsday' Deal is One Step in Easing Debt Editor & Publisher By Seth Sutel Tribune Co.'s $650 million sale of Newsday is an important step toward alleviating its debt burden -- for this year. Tribune now seems to be covered on a $650 million lump-sum debt payment coming due in December as well as other near-term obligations, but analysts say it needs to get moving on other asset sales in order to be in shape to deliver on another $750 million debt payment due in June 2009. May 13, 2008 Spain drops US army murder case |