Boston Globe to cut as many as 50

The Boston Globe said today it will offer buy-outs to all newsroom employees by the end of the month in an effort to cut as many as 50 jobs.

In a memo to employees, Globe Editor Martin Baron said, "Our industry is facing unprecedented financial pressures, most recently because of economic conditions that are the worst in many decades. We have had to adjust before to a difficult financial picture, and we now must do it again."

Both union and management employees will be eligible for the buy-outs. If too few agree to leave voluntarily, Baron said, the company will resort to layoffs.

Click on the headline to read Martin's memo to staff.

[Source: Boston.com, the Globe website. ] Click on the headline

3 is a lonely number

Retired BJ printer Gene McClellan and Newsroom retirees Tom Moore and John Olesky were the only people who braved the Northeast Ohio winter to show up at Papa Joe's Restaurant today for the monthly lunch.

So we talked about the people who weren't there.

The monthly gathering at Akron-Peninsula Road and Portage Trail is for current and former BJ folks -- retirees, those who left for other employment, those who took buyouts, etc. We meet at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month.

Maybe the weather will be more conducive to a higher turnout in February although I'll be on Siesta Key, off Sarasota, Feb. 7-21. Hopefully someone will show up to keep Gene and Tom company. And you get your photo on the BJ Alums blog.

[Photo by the waitress]

Gannett to force staff to take week off without pay

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. The announcement was reported in a New Yoirk Times story today;.

Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees.

“Most of our U.S. employees — including myself and all other top executives — will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter,” Craig A. Dubow, the chairman, president and chief executive, wrote in a memorandum to employees.

“We sincerely hope this minimizes the need for any layoffs going forward,” he added.

The company cannot impose the measure unilaterally on employees covered by a union contract, but Mr. Dubow said Gannett was asking unions to participate voluntarily. Tara Connell, a company spokeswoman, said about 12 percent of Gannett’s domestic employees were unionized.

Most of Gannett’s newspapers are small, but they include some major papers, including USA Today, The Detroit Free Press and The Arizona Republic. In this country, it also has hundreds of smaller, nondaily papers and 23 television stations.

In Britain, the company publishes 17 daily newspapers and hundreds of smaller publications.

Click on the headline to go to the Times story

Buffum doesn't want this poster anymore

The most famous 20th century depiction of Uncle Sam appeared on a World War I recruitment poster in 1917. It’s creator James Montgomery Flagg called it "the most famous poster in the world." Over four million copies were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the United States entered World War I and began sending troops and matériel into war zones.

Flagg (1877-1960) contributed forty-six works to support the war effort. He was a member of the first Civilian Preparedness Committee organized in New York in 1917 and chaired by Grosvenor Clarkson. The poster was used to recruit soldiers for both World War I and World War II. Flagg used a modified version of his own face for Uncle Sam, and veteran Walter Botts provided the pose.

Charles Buffum of New York City, who formely resided at 44 E. Exchange St. In Akron, is one of 40 million people who had a copy of the poster at one time or another. He donated his to the BJ Alums archives. .

And here is the latest version of the poster.

Elvis poster promoted by BJ

Here's the Elvis poster from Charles Buffum's collection of memorabilia sent to the BJ Alums blog.

Does anyone have any idea
what Friday this was?

What year?

Miami Herald now costs 50 cents daily

The Miami Herald raised its price Monday to 50 cents weekdays and $1.25 Sundays--an increase of almost 43 percent for the daily --but it is the first increase in 18 years.

The Herald had been selling for 35 cents a copy in Miami-Dade county and 25 cents a copy in Broward County, but with Monday's editions the price was increased to 50 cents a copy in both counties.

The Sunday Herald will increase in price from $1 to $1.25, a 25% increase.

Herald spokesperson Dory Robau blamed the increase, the newspaper's first price hike in Miami-Dade county in 18 years, on increased costs. It comes when at a difficult time, when like most newspapers The Herald is struggling to keep subscribers from defecting to other news outlets like the internet. I n March 2008, the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported The Herald had seen an 11% drop in circulation, down to 240 thousand daily copies. Recent news reports have placed estimated circulation even lower.

Reminder on retiree luncheons

BEACON JOURNAL
The Beacon Journal retirees will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday for lunch at Papa Joe’s Restaurant at Portage Trail and Akron-Peninsula Road. Retirees meet on the second Wednesday of each month.


PLAIN DEALER
The next luncheon of Editorial Retirees and Expatriates of the Plain Dealer will be at noon Friday, January 30, at Mahle’s Restuarant, 2495 Detroit Road, Westlake between Columbia and Clague roads on the south side. Cost is $12.95 RSVP by January 23:
Janet Beighle French (216) 221-2318, or email jabfr519@sbcglobal.net
JoAnn Pallant (440) 734-1923, or email japallant@sbcglobal.net

A package arrives from New York City

A package pf memorabilia arrived in the mail this week from Charles Buffum in New York City which should keep this blog supplied with memorabiia for a few weeks. Included was a mavelous book of 100 historic front pages from the Beacon Journal which was published in 1976 during the Bicentennial. Also included were a poster proclaiming Akron’s Bicentennital celebration, a poster of the famous Uncle Sam “I Want You for the U. S. Army" and another advertising an Elvis poster. You will be seeing much of it on the blog. For now, though, here is a photo and an update from Charlie on the celebrated Kathy Goforth / Charles Buffum duo who once wallked the hallowed Beacon Journal hallways and are still on the move in the Big Apple:

I don't remember how I came by the anniversary issue of stories, but it belongs in your archives. Kathy and I are moving to a smaller place nearby in a couple of months, and it is time to get real about what we do and do not need. There are also a couple of other posters in there that I don't recall whatever convinced me to save them for 30+ years. Consider them a bonus.

After a few years of renting when we sold the place we lived in for so many years, we figure it is time to start making sure we have a place we can afford to live in, and which at least has a chance of increasing in value - although that is a sucker's bet in these economic times.

Both Goforth and Buffum are still working, although we are lucky enough to do most of our writing from home. That's worth a lot in terms of not having to commute! I had lunch with Tim Smith in November; he was here for some kind of conference. I also keep in touch with Chuck Ayers, Russ Musarra, Bill Hershey, with a smattering of McBane and even a little Doug Oplinger at times. And of course, Wendy Sclight, who retired from the NY Times this past year after 38 years, is part of our extended NY family.

I may be an old fart but Kathy is as bright and wonderful as ever. It seems as though we have been together a couple of years, and stopped being bullied by you and Englehart and Maidenberg maybe five years ago. Then the holidays pop up and I have to confront the fact that my son Steve is six years older than I was when I left the Beacon for the Big A. Zounds!

Anyway, I know you are thrilled to have more memorabilia dumped on you, and you are free to leave it on somebody's car seat the way people do with zucchinis during Summer when the crop runs amok. Just don't think of trying to push it back off on me, or I'll never reveal my new address (two blocks from here) when we finally move.

Be well, Amigo,

Bicentennial poster from Buffum's memorabilia

This is the Akron/Summit County Bicentennial poster from the collection of former BJ staffer Charles Buffum. The front shows the Spirit of 1776-1976 and the reerse side carries a promotion for the local bicentennil

This is the reverse side of the Bicentennial poster:

Celebrating the U.S. A. Bicentennial 1776-1976

We know it won't be easy to match the success of Akron's Sesquicentennial Celebration. . . truth is: we are trying very hard to better it!

The Bicentennial Expo on Main Street in Akron will be just as colorful, just as full of people, and may prove more interesting than 1975's Sesqui Expo because of the diversity of the Exhibits.

The Parade on July 3rd will not have as many beautiful floral floats as the Sesqui . . . but there will be more marchers, more bands, more flags, more music. Center-stage for entertainment will be on the Plaza, with two more entertainment centers strategically placed on Main Street. And, the entertainment will be more varied. . . groups from all over Summit County will provide the best entertainment Downtown Akron ever saw!

And the Fireworks. . . oh, those Fireworks. . . everyone, young and old, sweet and sour, likes

Fireworks. The night of July 3rd, a Saturday Night, will provide the background for the greatest spectacular ever seen in Summit County skies. Yes, even more exciting than the night of July 4th, 1975.

So, please be an active, interested, part of our U.S.A. Bicentennial Celebration. . . as an Exhibitor or as a sponsor of a marching unit or band for the Parade (both, if you will). You will be glad you did.

July of 1976 should be very meaningful to all of us . . . for if there had not been a July of 1776, who knows? we may not be here at all, no Akron, no Stow, no Barberton, no Bath, no "your town".
July of 1776 set the stage for all of us, what we are, where we are, what we have. . . all made possible in that Great Year.

Let us Celebrate this 200th Birthday of The United States of America with all of the gusto, with all of the reverence, we know it deserves.
March 1, 1976

U.S.A. Bicentennial Committee for Akron and Summit County
John E. Kaiser Executive Di rector

OFFICERS
Vincent H. Johnson Chairman
Fred I. Albrecht Vice Chairman
Gerald S. McFadden Vice ChairmanSummit County Coordinator
Charles E. Booth Treasurer Allan
B. Diefenbach Secretary

COMMITTEES
Wm. M. Threatt, Jr Expo Chairman 375-2196
Mrs. W. S. Zeigler Women's Organizations 666-4356
Mrs. Toni Cologie Entertainment Chairwoman 733-2157
C.. J. Madden Parade Chairman 375-2386

Dawidziak troupe provides play for Big Read

Mark Dawidziak and his Largely Literary Theater Company are writing and performing an original play about Dashiell Hammet as part of the Portage County Big Read events. There will be 44 other exciting events for families, adults, and children as part of the Big Read presented by Hiram College’s Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature, the Portage County District Library and Reed Memorial Library.

The Big Read community-based reading programs began January 5 and continue through February, 2009. The Big Read in Portage County will focus on Dashiell Hammett’s classic detective novel “The Maltese Falcon.”

The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett by the Largely Literary troupe will be at 7 p.m. February 7 at 7 p.m. in Hayden Auditorium at Hiram College.

Dashiell Hammett’s fifth and final novel, The Thin Man, was published in 1934. Although
he lived another 27 years, he never completed another major piece of writing. Written specially for Hiram College’s Big Read festival and staged as a vintage 1940s radio drama, the Largely Literary Theater Company’s one-hour play explains how Hammett all but invented the American detective story and explores the mystery of why he then abandoned it—why he stopped writing. It is one of literature’s greatest mysteries. Free copies of the Big Read book The Maltese Falcon will be given to the first 50 people at the play.

The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate selections from American and world literature. "The goal of the Big Read is to get people excited about reading," said Kirsten Parkinson, Hiram College associate professor of English and Big Read director. "Reading sparks the imagination and allows you to have adventures from the comfort of your own home or the local library."

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.

Other Portage County Big Read highlights include visits from contemporary mystery authors, a presentation of falcons and other live birds, local police discussing crime detection, and discussions of the book throughout the region. Three Portage County high schools will also be teaching the novel in conjunction with the Big Read events. A complete list of sponsored events is available online at http://www.hiram.edu/bigread/events.html.

Dawidziak of Cuyahoga Falls is the Plain Dealer television critic and former BJ critic

Seattle Post-Intellingencer is up for sale

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which first rolled off the presses in 1863 and has been the state's longest-publishing newspaper, is up for sale, according to the paper's Web site.

The newspaper's staff was called into a closed meeting today by publisher Roger Oglesby. Present at the meeting was Hearst Newspaper President Steve Swartz, who told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer.

If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, possible options include creating an all-digital operation with a greatly reduced staff, or closing its operations entirely.

In no case will Hearst continue to publish the P-I in printed form, Swartz said.

Regardless, he said the P-I as a newspaper will not publish after the two months is up if no buyer is found.

Swartz said the company is not interested in attempting to purchase The Seattle Times newspaper.

Swartz discounted rumors that Hearst, the P-I's owner since 1921, was interested in buying The Seattle Times newspaper. He said the P-I has had operating loses since 2000, losing around $14 million this past year. Greater losses are anticipated this year, he said.

Click on the headline to read the full story by Eric Pryne in the Seattle Times

How newspapers tried to invent web--but failed

Marvin Katz calls our attention to an article on Slate by Jack Shafer headlined:

How Newspapers Tried to Invent the Web. But failed

The article describes how newspapers have tried to keep up with technology and mentions a couple of innovations tried by Knight Ridder. The article might be one to save because it gives a sort of techology timeline for the entry of newspapers into the world wide web.

Some history graphs to save:

The San Jose Mercury News broke from AOL and started on the Web in February 1995. USA Today launched a Web edition in August 1995. Later that year, the Boston Globe started its Boston.com, and the Los Angeles Times announced plans to leave Prodigy. The New York Times and Washington Post got webby in 1996. After that, few newspapers held back....More than 750 North American dailies were publishing on the Web in April 1998, and by July 1999 only two of the 100 largest dailies were not.

Newspapers deserve bragging rights for having homesteaded the Web long before most government agencies and major corporations knew what a URL was. Given the industry's early tenancy, deep pockets, and history of paranoid experimentation with new communication forms, one would expect to find plenty in the way of innovations and spinoffs.

Click on the headline to read the full article.

Modesto Bee publisher named

Eric E. Johnston has been appointed president and publisher of The Modesto (Calif.) Bee.

Johnston, who joined the Bee in 2000, most recently served as vice president of interactive media and classified advertising. He succeeds Margaret R. Randazzo, who resigned in December.

“Eric is an outstanding young executive who represents a new generation of leadership,” Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “He has proven himself on the digital side of our business. That online leadership and experience will serve Modesto well as we continue our evolution into a 21st century multimedia company.”

Johnston, 37, first served the Bee as director of online services. In 2002, he initiated a community program called “WebWednesdays,” a series of free technology classes open to the public and taught by Modesto Bee employees, himself included. Subjects have included digital photography, Web design, cyber safety and a “Blogging Bootcamp.”
[Source: Editor & Publisher]

News Biz: It could be worse, says Morton

The latest look at the news business by analyst John Morton in the December / January issue of the American Journalism Revew is heralded with these headlines:

It Could Be Worse
Although not nearly as profitable as in the past,
the newspaper industry is still making money.

“It's no secret that this is a stressful time for the newspaper business,” Morton writes. :”Already struggling with the challenge of the Internet, it now also confronts a grim economy. With revenue, profit and circulation plummeting, the result has been buyouts, layoffs and downsizing on a massive scale.:”

“Just how seriously has the industry's financial performance been affected?” Morton asks.

It may be bad, but the industry as a whole remains profitable. Here’s his report:

“Companies that have reported results for the first nine months had a weighted average operating profit margin (the total of operating profit divided into total revenue) of 11.3 percent. This is still above what is typical for most non-media businesses, but well below newspapers' average for last year's first nine months (16.6 percent) and continues the decline in average profitability that began after 2002's peak of 22.3 percent. The previous lowest average in all the years I have been keeping track was 13 percent during the 1991 recession. Cost-cutting, not better business, kept the current average margin from dropping even lower.”

Click on the headline to read Morton’s full report.

Say goodbye to the phone book?

Ohio regulators are set to consider a phone company's request to stop distributing its White Pages phone book.

Cincinnati Bell says most customers rarely use the printed residential directory any longer but prefer to look up numbers on the Web. The company has asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for a waiver so the White Pages wouldn't have to be delivered automatically to each customer.

A person could still receive a printed copy by asking for one.
[Source: Cincinnati Enquirer]

NY Times getting $75,000 for page 1 ads

Ad buyers told the New York Post that the New York Times is getting $75,000 on weekdays and $100,000 on Sundays for ads it began selling on the front page on Monday. The buyers asked to remain unnnamed.

Ohio U photo prof going to White House

Pete Souza, an award-winning photographer who has been teaching photojournalism at Ohio University, was named Monday as the chief White House photographer for Barack Obama's incoming administration.

Souza first met Obama in January 2005 as he was about to be sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois.

Souza, 54, documented Obama's first year in office as part of a multi-part series for the Chicago Tribune that included stops in seven counties, including Kenya, South Africa and Russia. He later compiled the photos in a best-selling book called "The Rise of Barack Obama," following two photo books he had previously done on Reagan

After joining the Tribune in 1998, Souza left the paper's Washington Bureau in 2007 to do freelance photography and teach photojournalism at Ohio University.

It won't be Souza's first time in the Oval Office. He was also a White House photographer during President Ronald Reagan's second term.

In addition to his first stint at the White House, Souza was a photographer for the Chicago Sun-Times in the early 1980s. Souza has also shot stories as a freelancer for National Geographic and Life magazines. And after 9/11, he was among the first journalists to cover the war in Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul.

You can see some of his photography at http://www.petesouza.com/

Click on the headline to read the Chicago Tsribune story on the appointment.

Indy Star drops prayer, but keeps chuckle

From Poynter online:

Indianapolis Star drops The Prayer, readers complain

IndyStar.com
"The Prayer, a short ecumenical petition that is prayer at its most vanilla, has been a staple of the morning read for decades," writes Star blogger Robert King. "Interestingly enough the prayer's longtime companion, a daily attempt at humor in 8-point type known as the Chuckle, kept its slot."

Phil Meyer comment on Asheville news

This comment on the Ashville Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times artlcle below Philip Meyer, the Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil and Washington correspondent of the Beacon Journal 1962-1966::

Wow! Seventy-four percent readership sounds really impressive. It hasn't been that high nationally since 1971. But if you look closely, you will find they have switched the metric on us. Scarborough now provides cumulative weekly readership in place of the old "read
yesterday" or average daily readership. In other words, Asheville might be saying that 74 percent of adults in some closely defined market area read the paper at least once in a typical week. But even that is suspiciously high.

Scarborough Research is showing only 44 percent weekly print audience for the Charlotte Observer and 36 percent for the News & Observer in their respective metro areas. (The N&O has to compete with the Durham Herald-Sun.) The current report treats the entire Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville/Anderson area as one market, and the Asheville paper gets only 17 percent weekly coverage there.

http://images.mediapost.com/pdf/NewspaperRatings2008.pdf

However you look at it, consolidating printing facilities is a good idea.

Phil

NY Times runs CBS display ad on page 1

In its latest concession to the worst revenue slide since the Depression, The New York Times has begun selling display advertising on its front page, a step that has become increasingly common across the newspaper industry.

The first such ad, appearing Monday in color, was bought by CBS. The ad, two-and-a-half inches high, lies horizontally across the bottom of the front page, below the news articles and a brief summary of some articles in the paper. In a statement, the paper said such ads would be placed “below the fold” — that is, on the lower half of the page.

In the past, The Times has printed an occasional front-page classified ad — two or three lines of text at the bottom of the page. And a few years ago it began selling display ads — which are much larger and can combine images and text — on the front pages of sections inside the paper.

But The Times did not sell displays on the first page of the first section, a move regarded by traditionalists as a commercial incursion into the most important news space in the paper.

Most major American papers sell front-page display ads, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, but some others, including The Washington Post, do not.

The Times would not disclose the rates it charges for ads on the front page. Ordinarily, such space would be coveted by advertisers for its prominence, but it remains to be seen how well it will sell in the current climate, in which ad spending is plummeting.

Blogger Note: The headlne Page News on the ad almost makes it look like news.