The Archives
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06.25.08Buyouts 2.0In 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 ...
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06.24.08More Lee Abrams goodies*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 ...
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06.19.08So it begins: OC Register to outsource copy editing to IndiaFrom 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 ...
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06.14.08Cedar Rapids, IowaI 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*
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04.23.08Scarborough Newspaper Audience Ratings Report 2008Consumer 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 ...
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04.17.08‘Toronto Star’ lays off entire Web staffHat 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 ...
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04.16.08Buyouts galore, it’s a journalist blowout sale! Everything must go!'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 ...
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04.12.08Newseum opens in Washington D.C.The LA Times has en excellent photo gallery of the Newseum opening in D.C. yesterday.
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04.11.08Sam Zell might sell LA Times to GeffenAccording 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 ...
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04.10.08Daytona Beach News-Journal going up for saleIn the wake of a lawsuit from corporate shareholders, Cox Enterprises, the owners of the Daytona Beach News-Journal announced today that they would put the paper on the market. From the Orlando Sentinel: A sale of the newspaper has become the only option in light of the latest legal loss against Cox Enterprises, the Atlanta-based corporate partner. "We do not yet know the form this sale will take or the timing, but we know that it will be sold as a going and continuing business," reads the letter posted on the newspaper's Web site and jointly signed by board members. The News-Journal has ...
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04.08.08Morning reads, both journalism and nonSam Zell: A Tough Guy in a Mean Business - I've had mixed feelings about Zell since he became my current pseudo-boss. On the one hand he is willing to take risks and branch out in new directions (so he says). On the other hand he is only willing to do that if it increases the bottom line, not if makes for better journalism. That's the nature of the news business though, there's no way around it. (p.s. I love the picture above, courtesy of the New York Times.) Tribune Turns to Radio to Revive Empire - Another article about Zell/Tribune-deal. ...
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12.20.07Sam Zell finalizes deal to take Tribune privateASSOCIATED PRESSSo today was the day that billionaire Sam Zell took the Tribune Company private (includes video). As some of you may know and many of you may not, I am employed by a Tribune-owned company now, The Orlando Sentinel. Because of this, Zell's deal and press conference held a little more importance to me than it did before, though even before I had been watching this story.I must admit, at first I had my doubts about this deal before it happened. It worried me that someone that had no journalism experience was buying one of the biggest media companies ...
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12.07.072008 media predictionsBusinessWeek media critic Jon Fine recently listed his 2008 media predictions with the disclaimer he's been severely wrong in the past. However, his list seems a little more sound this year:Daily newspapers begin to redefine the word "daily."More than one famous band pulls a Radiohead.Wall Street Journal readers and staffers concede that the News Corp. (NWS) purchase has not destroyed their paper.Jeff Bewkes moves very quickly to remake Time Warner.New York Times Co. continues to stonewall the current media environment.Technological issues continue to make cell phones an undernourished and disappointing media platform in America.Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's half-a-loaf ...
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11.27.07FCC rule change updateIn an update to a related story I mentioned yesterday, FreePress has published a report called: 10 Facts Kevin Martin Doesn’t Want You to Know About His New Media Ownership Rules (PDF).It should be noted however that this isn't about his cable company rule changes, this is about his media ownership rule changes. Again, these two proposals seem to be come from two different people and seem almost contradictory. Am I missing something here? What is Mr. Martin trying to pull?The gist of the report is that many of Martin's claims about the news business are outright wrong and misleading. ...
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11.26.07News about the newsF.C.C. Chief Seeks Votes to Tighten Cable Rules:Oddly enough, Kevin Martin, the same man that wants to let media conglomerates basically monopolize a market, is trying to strengthen rules governing cable companies. The rule changes would limit cable exclusivity and lower rates for consumers. What's Mr. Martin's angle I wonder? By all accounts I think I would have to agree with his proposal, yet his other one regarding media property ownership is as ridiculous now as it was last time they proposed it. We'll have to wait and see how this rolls out.ABC News and Facebook in Joint Effort to ...
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