Category

news business

06.25.08

Buyouts 2.0 Web2.0, new media, news business | (2)
In an interesting twist, William M. Hartnett of the Palm Beach Post has been Twittering his buyout meeting. Some highlights: - No details yet on layoff severance package if buyouts don't meet job cut goals. Just "less generous." 9 minutes ago from web - Guy in front row is staring at the ceiling. 7 minutes ago from web - Separation pay taxed at normal rate, unless received as lump sum. 13 minutes ago from web - They'll be "exited" that day. Sounds menacing. 15 minutes ago from web - Last ...
06.24.08

More Lee Abrams goodies* news business | (0)
Abrams interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic: JG: Why were you surprised to find out that your company has reporters based in Iraq? LA: I was in Los Angeles, sitting in this casual little meeting waiting for someone to show up, and there was this lady who had just got back from four years in Iraq, I forgot her name, I met 300 people in two days, and she was telling me about security problems, bullets in the background and all that, and it really struck me that there should be pictures of her with Iraqi children in the newspaper to ...
06.21.08

Newsrooms may be cutting staff, but online jobs seem to be everywhere journalism, news business | (4)
A few days ago my superior/colleague (though not for long) Danny Sanchez posted about some open job positions in the journalism world. With all of the talk about newsroom cutbacks and staff layoffs it is refreshing, and I imagine comforting to those just coming out of j-school, to see that there are in fact still jobs out there for the talented, intrepid and somewhat lucky job seekers. So, I figured I'd follow his lead and post a list of jobs that are squarely focused in the online world. The market seems to be more welcoming right now to the Web journalists ...
06.19.08

So it begins: OC Register to outsource copy editing to India journalism, news business | (1)
From Doug Fisher and Media Bistro, apparently the Orange County Register is going to start a pilot program where they will outsource their copy-editing duties to India. To me this is simply a tragedy. There are those that feel copy editing is the most mechanical of all of the journalism duties in the newsroom, fixing grammar and running spell check on stories. This couldn't be further from the truth. Copy editors have to know almost more than the reporters so that they not only know when something is wrong, logically and semantically as well as grammatically, so that they know when ...
06.15.08

Biased or not biased, that is the question journalism, news business | (0)
The current issue of the American Journalism Review has an excellent article by Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi analyzing the charges of media bias in our current political campaign and in general. I urge you to read the full article, but one portion stood out to me: The public doesn't really understand how the news is made. That might sound elitist, except that much of the daily suspicion cast on reporters' work seems to stem from naïveté and reflexive public cynicism. Ask journalists about a recent accusation of bias and watch their eyes begin to roll. Julie Mason, the Houston Chronicle's White ...
06.14.08

Cedar Rapids, Iowa journalism, news, news business | (0)
I think that front page says it all. Kudos to the Gazette for managing to still put out a good product both online and in print despite being directly affected by the flooding. Good thing I'm moving closer to that area soon...*gulp*
06.12.08

The transparent newsroom journalism, news business | (0)
From Mastering Multimedia: "The story of how a small newspaper opened its editorial decision making process to the public in order to gain credibility with great results. A case study produced by Innovation Media Consulting on American Newspaper about The Spokesman Review newspaper in the United States." Now this is the type of newsroom innovation that needs to take place. Not measuring journalists' bylines, not cutting paper length and not plastering the news Web sites with every piece of technology and doodad that comes out. If you earn the respect of your readers again, you will earn their money.
06.06.08

Tribune to Measure Journalists’ Productivity, May Cut Pages journalism, news business | (0)
From Editor & Publisher: Tribune executives sketched out the future of its publishing division during a Q1 conference call with media and investors Thursday afternoon -- including accelerated plans to "right-size" its newspapers. One of the main strategies outlined by Tribune Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels involves measuring the productivity of journalists. "This is a new thing," he said. "Nobody ever said, 'How many column inches did someone produce?'" Michaels knows, and then proceeded to tell listeners, that in Los Angeles the average journalist at the Los Angeles Times produces about 51 pages a year, while in Harford, Conn., the average is more ...
04.23.08

Scarborough Newspaper Audience Ratings Report 2008 news business | (0)
Consumer shopping research firm Scarborough Research, a Nielsen Media affiliate, has released its 2008 Newspaper Audience Ratings Report. The SNARR, besides just being a fun word to say, can be a useful and quick measure for newspapers, but it is not a perfect measure. CLICK HERE to read the report. (PDF) What does all of this mean? The numbers are basically a measure of your organization's market penetration, meaning what percentage of the audience in a specific 'Designated Market Area' you have. In this case, the DMA is a specific grouping of counties that is in the newspaper's coverage area. This is an OK ...
04.22.08

Randi Rhodes resigns from Air America; the Internet strikes again! journalism, media, news, news business, radio | (0)
Randi Rhodes, progressive radio talk show host for Air America, has resigned due to comments she made about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She apparently called Hillary a f**king whore and it was all caught on tape and put up on the great equalizer, YouTube (Warning! Some foul language). Mark Green, president of Air America Media, told FOXNews.com that Rhodes terminated her contract Wednesday after she refused to apologize on air for her remarks. "We sought an apology, because of what she had said…like Imus, like David Shuster," Green said. "She refused and instead last night informed us she was terminating her contract ...
04.17.08

‘Toronto Star’ lays off entire Web staff journalism, movies, news business | (0)
Hat tip: Danny Sanchez In a huge purge Torstar Corp., owners of Canada's largest-circulation newspaper, the Toronto Star, is laying off 160 people, including the entire 10-person Web team. This comes as a shock during a time where one would think the Web team might be the safest place to be (at least I'm hoping so, *gulp*). Most of the job cuts, taken through severance packages, were already expected, but laying off the 10-person Internet staff came as a surprise, said Maureen Dawson, an official with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. "Their message to the world is that they're all ...
04.16.08

Buyouts galore, it’s a journalist blowout sale! Everything must go! journalism, news business | (0)
'Modesto Bee' Offers Buyouts to One-Fourth of its Employees 'Tampa Tribune' Offering Buyouts to Half of All Employees NY Times: 'We expect layoffs' 200 Jobs to Go at 'Seattle Times' CBS layoffs signal financial squeeze on TV stations Online Photo Gallery Depicts Sad Life In Post-Layoff 'Mercury News' - Link to photos is broken, CLICK HERE to see. Yeah, so more bad news out of the newsrooms. Or is it? Jack Schafer at Slate.com talks about the good news about the bad news coming out of newsrooms. In summary, newsrooms are getting rid of those that have sat in their cushy positions for far too long, cost ...
04.12.08

Newseum opens in Washington D.C. news, news business | (0)
The LA Times has en excellent photo gallery of the Newseum opening in D.C. yesterday.
04.11.08

Sam Zell might sell LA Times to Geffen journalism, media, news business | (0)
According to LA Observed: Just passing along what I was told this morning from a possibly good source — no confirmation, no independent reporting, no warranty implied. But my contact travels in the right circles to have picked up the scent and reports hearing from "three excellent sources (all with first hand information)" that David Geffen is in talks with Sam Zell to buy the Los Angeles Times from Tribune. The talks are serious enough, my source hears, that the moguls may have been close to a deal last week. For what it's worth. Hmm, with this and the feds not standing ...