While browsing the Web, these tidbits were found:
The American Society of Newspaper Editors has canceled its annual convention because of the expense involved. Apparently, and not surprisingly, people can't afford to come this year. No one said this, but there are also a lot fewer people who could come.
Cuts abound
The Boston Herald trimmed 20 jobs.
The Lakeland Ledger (that's out in my beach stomping ground of Florida) is planning buyouts. No word on how many.
New York's Newsday is going to start charging for online news. I weighed in on this in an earlier post.
The paper in Wilmington, N.C. is getting rid of its press room.
In Buffalo, N.Y., 52 newspaper folks are now out of work.
In Memphis, that number is 18.
There will also be layoffs in Albany, N.Y. The Times-Union says it will slash operating costs by 20 percent.
And the Belo layoffs have begun in Providence, with 74 out of jobs.
And now for the most shocking news ...
The NY Post has dropped gossip queen Liz Smith after 33 years. OK, you know it's bad, bad, bad when a big name like Smith has no home paper anymore. Time to start hoarding canned goods!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Goodbye Rocky Mountain News
Friday's will be the final edition of this 150-year-old newspaper. Denver is now a one-newspaper town.
snips from an LA Times story (linked below)
Buyers are scarce for newspapers, which are almost universally distressed. The owners of four newspapers filed for bankruptcy protection this week alone.
Tribune Corp, which owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and six other dailies, filed for Chapter 11 in December.
At the Rocky Mountain News, some people were frustrated that Scripps, one of the few newspaper companies in good enough financial health that its bonds are rated investment grade, did not hold on and try to outlast the Post. Boehne said it wasn't feasible.
Denver dignitaries mourned the end of a local institution.
"We have lost an important voice in our community," Mayor John Hickenlooper said.
At the Rocky Mountain News, reporters were worried about their futures and that of their profession.
"The fewer news outlets there are, the fewer stories there are," said reporter Sara Burnett, 35. "There are all these stories out there, and these are stories that are never going to get told."
http://www.new.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=55786952839&h=vWncO&u=R89u6
snips from an LA Times story (linked below)
Buyers are scarce for newspapers, which are almost universally distressed. The owners of four newspapers filed for bankruptcy protection this week alone.
Tribune Corp, which owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and six other dailies, filed for Chapter 11 in December.
At the Rocky Mountain News, some people were frustrated that Scripps, one of the few newspaper companies in good enough financial health that its bonds are rated investment grade, did not hold on and try to outlast the Post. Boehne said it wasn't feasible.
Denver dignitaries mourned the end of a local institution.
"We have lost an important voice in our community," Mayor John Hickenlooper said.
At the Rocky Mountain News, reporters were worried about their futures and that of their profession.
"The fewer news outlets there are, the fewer stories there are," said reporter Sara Burnett, 35. "There are all these stories out there, and these are stories that are never going to get told."
http://www.new.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=55786952839&h=vWncO&u=R89u6
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hitting home
A friend of mine was laid off today. I knew her when she was an intern -- and one of the best ones we ever had. She was feisty and spunky and a good writer and not afraid to ask questions and most importantly, she had no qualms about leaving the newsroom to stalk someone down to get her answers.
Here's to knowing she'll land on her feet. If not in journalism, well, it's journalism's loss.
Here's to knowing she'll land on her feet. If not in journalism, well, it's journalism's loss.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Epic fail
Another newspaper company is filing for bankruptcy. This time it's the Journal Register Co., which owns about 20 papers located near Philly and Cleveland. The company blames crappy advertising revenues.
It could also be because the company still wants to hand out bonuses for failure.
"Under a proposal filed as part of the bankruptcy case, the company has asked for permission to pay as much as $1.7 million in bonuses to 30 top officers and key employees, should the Journal Register meet certain reorganization goals, including closing more papers and eliminating more employees. Those officers have already been paid $450,000 for a previous round of cuts, according to court papers."
I love how these guys are going to give themselves bonuses for laying off people and helping to put another nail in their own chain's coffin. Not to mention the likely downgrade in quality after losing even more employees.
According to the story I read at philly.com, the company is in roughly $1 billion in debt. So these bonuses are for what? Not losing even more money?
Ah, but give them some kudos. They did sell off the corporate jet and stop management bonuses and country club memberships. Unfortunately for the lower-level employees, they also laid off at least 112 workers and closed down 34 papers.
It could also be because the company still wants to hand out bonuses for failure.
"Under a proposal filed as part of the bankruptcy case, the company has asked for permission to pay as much as $1.7 million in bonuses to 30 top officers and key employees, should the Journal Register meet certain reorganization goals, including closing more papers and eliminating more employees. Those officers have already been paid $450,000 for a previous round of cuts, according to court papers."
I love how these guys are going to give themselves bonuses for laying off people and helping to put another nail in their own chain's coffin. Not to mention the likely downgrade in quality after losing even more employees.
According to the story I read at philly.com, the company is in roughly $1 billion in debt. So these bonuses are for what? Not losing even more money?
Ah, but give them some kudos. They did sell off the corporate jet and stop management bonuses and country club memberships. Unfortunately for the lower-level employees, they also laid off at least 112 workers and closed down 34 papers.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Too little and way too late
I've noticed several papers are considering, or have decided to, charge for viewing news on their Web sites. Personally, I think this is something that should have happened from the get-go instead of spitting it out there for free. I think it's going to be a tough sell at this point.
I myself won't be signing up to pay for the privilege although I do check on papers' sites now to see what's up. But I won't pay for it; I know this because I also won't pay to read a story from the archives ($2.95 for ONE story?!!?!?) But seriously, I've gotten used to getting my news from the television. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But the last time I saw a Dallas Morning News, the first 10 pages (after the front) were all briefs anyway, which is about the same amount of news as I get from the TV. So really, I'd only be reading the section fronts because the insides are just crap nowadays.
I've only scanned the DMN online a few times but I haven't seen any of the absolutely embarrassing mistakes that I've seen on other sites. I'm guessing the DMN at least attempts to edit its online copy. Back when I was at Denton, only edited copy was posted.
I was reading a column posted on the Chicago Tribune's site earlier and saw "Battletar Galactica." Listen, misspelling the name of the show you're writing about doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Neither does saying, "in the proceeding three episodes."
Did you lay off ALL the copy editors?
I myself won't be signing up to pay for the privilege although I do check on papers' sites now to see what's up. But I won't pay for it; I know this because I also won't pay to read a story from the archives ($2.95 for ONE story?!!?!?) But seriously, I've gotten used to getting my news from the television. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But the last time I saw a Dallas Morning News, the first 10 pages (after the front) were all briefs anyway, which is about the same amount of news as I get from the TV. So really, I'd only be reading the section fronts because the insides are just crap nowadays.
I've only scanned the DMN online a few times but I haven't seen any of the absolutely embarrassing mistakes that I've seen on other sites. I'm guessing the DMN at least attempts to edit its online copy. Back when I was at Denton, only edited copy was posted.
I was reading a column posted on the Chicago Tribune's site earlier and saw "Battletar Galactica." Listen, misspelling the name of the show you're writing about doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Neither does saying, "in the proceeding three episodes."
Did you lay off ALL the copy editors?
Friday, February 6, 2009
The truth of one newspaper
While I was trolling through Web sites reading about The Dallas Morning News’ latest round of layoffs, I came across another gem from fall 2008.
The article, from the Dallas Observer, dealt with the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which released from stats last October. The DMN, like most papers, saw a drop from the previous year of nearly 10 percent. This puts it circulation for Monday to Friday at about 339,000.
Then the story turns into one of the saddest, most pathetic – and anger-inducing – ones I have seen.
From a Belo exec comes this quote:
“The overall declines in circulation can be attributed to planned business initiatives specifically aimed at improving audience quality."
"Our continuing strategy is to concentrate on delivering high-quality, engaged consumers to our advertisers and provide them with the strongest possible return on their investment. We are pleased with the efforts we have made to date."
In other words, we are pandering to our advertisers, so if our circulations drops, it’s OK as long as it’s getting rid of the poorer readers in a crappy parts of town who don’t shop much. And by the way, we used to be a newspaper but now we’re really more of a Green Sheet with some text tossed in for good measure.
I’m sure I don’t even need to point out that this isn’t the purpose of a newspaper. And it tells me all I need to know about the DMN and why no one is reading it. And hey, I live in a GOOD part of town. I’m in the same zip code as the former prez.
Disgusting.
I’m not alone in this thought, based on some comments under the story.
From Jamal: so they're weeding out all the shitty readers? awesome strategy.
From Mellon: Once I realized I wasn't of the audience quality deserving of the daily temple proclamations, I contained my shame as best I could, gathered up the mocking remnants of my quarterly altar offerings, and slunk away voluntarily into my nothingness. Now I wander lost in the wilderness, without knowledge or moral direction. Some day, when my shattered self-esteem finally heals, I hope to gain employment as a night soil gatherer.
I hate to point out the obvious, but once again, newspapers can be rightly accused of underestimating the intelligence of their (former) audience.
And this is one of those times when, though I know that democracy depends on a watchdog press, a publication bending over backwards to please it’s advertisers while ignoring God-knows-what kind of news in lower-rent neighborhoods makes it hard to feel bad if it goes under. It’s obviously not doing its job anyway.
The article, from the Dallas Observer, dealt with the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which released from stats last October. The DMN, like most papers, saw a drop from the previous year of nearly 10 percent. This puts it circulation for Monday to Friday at about 339,000.
Then the story turns into one of the saddest, most pathetic – and anger-inducing – ones I have seen.
From a Belo exec comes this quote:
“The overall declines in circulation can be attributed to planned business initiatives specifically aimed at improving audience quality."
"Our continuing strategy is to concentrate on delivering high-quality, engaged consumers to our advertisers and provide them with the strongest possible return on their investment. We are pleased with the efforts we have made to date."
In other words, we are pandering to our advertisers, so if our circulations drops, it’s OK as long as it’s getting rid of the poorer readers in a crappy parts of town who don’t shop much. And by the way, we used to be a newspaper but now we’re really more of a Green Sheet with some text tossed in for good measure.
I’m sure I don’t even need to point out that this isn’t the purpose of a newspaper. And it tells me all I need to know about the DMN and why no one is reading it. And hey, I live in a GOOD part of town. I’m in the same zip code as the former prez.
Disgusting.
I’m not alone in this thought, based on some comments under the story.
From Jamal: so they're weeding out all the shitty readers? awesome strategy.
From Mellon: Once I realized I wasn't of the audience quality deserving of the daily temple proclamations, I contained my shame as best I could, gathered up the mocking remnants of my quarterly altar offerings, and slunk away voluntarily into my nothingness. Now I wander lost in the wilderness, without knowledge or moral direction. Some day, when my shattered self-esteem finally heals, I hope to gain employment as a night soil gatherer.
I hate to point out the obvious, but once again, newspapers can be rightly accused of underestimating the intelligence of their (former) audience.
And this is one of those times when, though I know that democracy depends on a watchdog press, a publication bending over backwards to please it’s advertisers while ignoring God-knows-what kind of news in lower-rent neighborhoods makes it hard to feel bad if it goes under. It’s obviously not doing its job anyway.
Unfortunate timing
A Belo employee admits that laying off 500 people while issuing 2008 bonuses to execs isn't the best timing in the world.
He also insists that no 2009 bonuses are scheduled. He never says why the 2008 HAD to be given out. Cause the execs were expecting them? What about all those people who expected to have a job?
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/02/morning_news_publisher_discuss.php
He also insists that no 2009 bonuses are scheduled. He never says why the 2008 HAD to be given out. Cause the execs were expecting them? What about all those people who expected to have a job?
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/02/morning_news_publisher_discuss.php
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