Do you remember the 1990 Jamboree?

Do you remember the Beacon Journal 1990 Jamboree on Sunday, August 5, at Clay’s Park Resort?

The family-style outing included games for all with prizes. Photos of the Jamboree were featured in the September, 1990 issue of the Sidebar, the employee publication.

On the cover of that issue was Sally Flynn with her daughter, Bridget, in the backpack.

Flynn left the Beacon Journal in March, 2003 after 26 years in retail advertising. And Bridget, now 17 and shown here, will be a senior at Green High School next year.

You will have to excuse the reproduction of the cover which was scanned from an old Sidebar.

And, oh, by the way, the Information Systems team of Linda Torson, Rob Zonar, Bob Tigelman, Margaret Eshelman, Terry Yancer, John Vicars and Dan Ickes took top honors in a best of three volleyball contest. In softball, a hastily put together team from Circulation, Production and Information Systems defeated the Newsroom entry in two consecutive games.

Good newspapers with smaller staffs?

History shows good newspapers can be put out with smaller staffs, according to a feature this week in Slate, the daily magazine on the web owned by the Washington Post Company. The article by Slate editor at large Jack Shafer asks how many journalists can a newspaper jettison before its hair falls out and its ribs start showing?

Dollar-pinching publishers are now paying experienced reporters and editors to leave their jobs. Buyouts will soon reduce the Los Angeles Times to 850 journalists, about three-quarters of its peak.* The San Francisco Chronicle has announced plans to cut the newsroom from 400 to 300. The San Jose Mercury News employed 400 journalists seven years ago and will soon have only 200 crashing the keyboards. Similar stories can be told about the Dallas Morning News, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, and other newspapers. Foreign bureaus are being shuttered, and full-time arts slots at newspapers in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Chicago, and elsewhere have been eliminated or downgraded.

The connection between quality and head count would seem intuitive, but a dip into the microfilm archives of the New York Times and Washington Post shows that decent newspapers have been produced with far fewer hands.

There’s a little bit more to it than that however. Read the complete article on our website (click on the headline) and then leave your own comment here or e-mail it to hliggett@sbcglobal.net

Chiffon needs some help

Chiffon Staebler, a former BJ copy editor caught by the staff cuts, is now working
on a master's thesis and needs some help.

Do any of our retirees or others  know the size of the newspaper in 1973 and 1975?
(How many inches wide and how many inches deep?)

Chiffon is finishing up her master's thesis and needs the dimensions of the paper
from 1973-1975. The size of the newspaper has changed over the years.  She needs
the dimensions to determine the newshole.          

Does anyone recall any information on changes in newspaper size?

31 employees laid off from Mercury News staff

By Pete Carey
Mercury News
The Mercury News laid off 31 employees from its newsroom staff Monday, blaming declining advertising revenue and a challenging market for newspapers across the country.

An additional 15 newsroom workers have voluntarily resigned in recent weeks. The paper now has a newsroom staff of 200, about half what it was in 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom.

"It's very hard to see this many talented people leave the staff in this way," said Executive Editor Carole Leigh Hutton. "Layoffs are painful, no matter how necessary. But there are still more than 200 dedicated journalists in this newsroom, and it's our opportunity now to guide this newspaper into the future."

The bursting of the dot-com bubble eroded the paper's help-wanted advertising, but a more lasting challenge has been the advent of free online classified advertising.

The Mercury News Web site is one of the Bay Area's most popular Internet news sites, but still brings in only a small part of the paper's total revenue, which has declined 36 percent since 2000.

Sylvia Ulloa, local president of the Newspaper Guild, which represents many newsroom employees, observed that the layoffs fell heavily on Guild members. "This pain should have been shared by everybody in the newsroom, not just the rank-and-file members," she said.

However, Ulloa said the newspaper's managers have told the guild not to expect any more layoffs for the fiscal year, which began Sunday.

Click on the headline for a list of those laid off.

Thrity Umrigar book reviewed in BJ

Thrity Umrigar’s latest book, If Today Be Sweet, got a big play on the Books page (page E3) of the Beacon Journal on Sunday in a review by Barbara McIntyre, a freelancer who does reviews for the BJ.

The novel by the former Beacon Journal staff writer who now teaches creative writing and journalism at Case Western Reserve University, came out March 29. You can read our notice of the book which was posted on this blog on May 12, 2007. Or you can just type Thrity in the search box above to see recent posts about Thrity.

You also might want to visit Thrity's website: http://www.umrigar.com/

Don’t miss the great interview of her. She gives the BJ a plug as a still great newspaper. And also see the articles–especially the one titled “Good Night, Fran.:”

http://www.umrigar.com/articles/column4.html

Click on the headline to see the Sunday review in the Beacon Journal.

Rx questions from Bob Abbott

OK Group:
Need some more info if possible...

I'm reasonably familiar with the 10-year ITU/CWA contract that I left under...Even happen to have a copy of it. But I'm at a loss with the other union contracts and they might give us some leverage.

So...here's what I need (even from those of you that were under that ITU/CWA contract...)

Did your contract have any mention of a Rx card or Rx coverage at the time of your separation/retirement? (Probably not)

Did you have a form of Rx coverage or card at the time of your separation/retirement? (Probably)

(Sidebar...if you were getting that coverage during the effective dates of the contract it is almost the same as being in the contract) (At least that what the lawyer says.)

Did you have a separation/retirement letter stating the benefits that you would have after your separation/retirement? (Probably)

Now...here's a biggie...please be honest... (even though the company isn't being honest)...

Did the fact that if it was stated in your letter of separation/retirement that you had Rx coverage how much of a factor did that Rx coverage play into your decision to retire or take an early retirement incentive?

Let's do it like the professional poll takers do it...

The Rx coverage was...

+A major factor in retiring/separating...

+An important factor in retiring/separating...

+Just part of the package of retiring/separating...

+Not of any real significance in your decision...

+No significance whatsoever...

One last question...

Was it inferred or said that the Rx coverage would not be or might not be available in the future if you didn't take the program as it was and at that time.

As always...if you are talking to some others or are aware of their position on any of these questions...throw them in. Numbers are important and our small group of activists could certainly use some support in numbers...if not with cash.

This is important...if you can get back to me in a week or two we'll see what that might do to try to put some pressure on the BJ. They are digging their heels in and it's going to be tough.

We need to find a weak spot and some of this might be it...we can't afford to leave any stone unturned...

thanks

bob abbott

Par Ridder did no wrong, says Papa Tony

Embattled Star Tribune Publisher Par Ridder and two colleagues have the summer to sweat out whether they'll be ordered off of their jobs.

The judge officiating the courtroom battle between the Minneapolis paper and its rival St. Paul Pioneer Press said Wednesday that it could be at least two months before he decides whether to grant the Pioneer Press the temporary injunction it wants to block Ridder and two other ex-Pioneer Press employees from working at the Star Tribune for a year.

"I'd be real surprised if that's before the end of the summer," Ramsey County District Court Judge David Higgs told the court Wednesday.

Written closing arguments are due July 16.

Higgs comments closed a three-day injunction hearing, part of a Pioneer Press lawsuit against the Star Tribune that accuses Ridder and the two other employees of stealing confidential information and breaking noncompete agreements as they exited for their new jobs in March. The job hop also netted Ridder a $600,000 severance package, Pioneer Press attorney Phil Sechler noted in court.

At issue in the hearing was whether the noncompete agreements of Ridder, Jennifer Parratt and Kevin Desmond are valid, and whether their presence at the Star Tribune creates "irreparable harm" to the competing Pioneer Press. Parratt was hired as director of niche publications for the Star Tribune and Desmond is senior vice president of operations.

A key highlight Wednesday was a videotaped appearance by Tony Ridder, Par Ridder's father and former head of the dismantled Knight Ridder newspaper chain to which the Pioneer Press belonged. In an odd "Father Knows Best" courtroom moment, the elder Ridder beamed down from a large screen on the wall, testifying that Par "had full authority" to waive the noncompete agreements without getting approval from higher-ups at the Knight Ridder chain.

"He did not have to get permission from corporate," Tony Ridder said.

Tony Ridder also testified that Art Brisbane, former senior vice president of operations for Knight Ridder, told him: "I believe I gave him permission, I just don't remember it." In videotaped testimony shown Wednesday, Brisbane was indecisive about whether Ridder would have needed corporate approval to waive the noncompetes, including his own.

Click on the headline to read the full story by Jennifer Bjorhus of the Pioneer Press

BJ publisher makes bid for Osprey Media

Black Press Ltd., owner of the Akron Beacon Journal, has put in a takeover bid to purchase a fellow Canadian newspaper group, Osprey Media Income Fund.

The bid of $404 million in Canadian dollars ($377 million U.S.) tops an offer from Quebecor Media Inc., which had agreed to purchase Osprey in May.

Black Press, owned by David Black and his family with a 19.4 percent minority ownership from Torstar, owner of the Toronto Star, has offered $1 more per share for Osprey than Quebecor offered. Quebecor offered $7.25 Canadian per share ($6.76 U.S.); Black has offered $8.25 Canadian ($7.70 U.S.).

Black on Wednesday said he felt that the group of 20 daily newspapers, 34 nondaily newspapers and other publications was worth more than Quebecor was offering.

Black said he is in a buying mode.

``I am bullish for newspapers,'' he said. Black said he is looking to purchase other newspapers, including in the United States, ``but there's limits to the kind of capital we can bring. I'm quite interested in the field. I think newspapers have a great future. I know I'm beginning to be a bit of a minority there. It's time to buy for me.''

Black said he is not interested in selling the Beacon Journal. ``I really like the situation.''

Black Press owns 150 community newspapers and 15 regional Web operations in Canada, Washington, Oregon, Honolulu, Hawaii and Akron.

Osprey Media is one of Canada’s leading publishers of daily and non-daily newspapers, magazines and specialty publications. Its publications include 20 daily newspapers and 34 non-daily newspapers together with shopping guides, magazines and other publications. Osprey also engages in the distribution of inserts and flyers and commercial printing for third party publications. Osprey Media’s extended market products provide flyer distribution to over 1.0 million households across Ontario.

Osprey Media’s 20 daily newspapers offer combined average daily circulation of 332,176 while its non-daily newspapers (both paid and unpaid) offer combined average weekly circulation of 380,798.

Among the dailies is the Niagara Fallls Review, the newspaper of record in Niagara Falls since 1879 which has been publishing daily since the 1930s,

See more information on Osprey's website.

Click on the headline to read the full story by Beacon Journal business writer Betty Lin-Fisher

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Thursday, January 28, 2007, oage C7, col. 5]

KSU shooting survivor dies of heart attack

Jim Russell, 60, hit by Ohio National Guard gunfire May 4, 1970, is first to die of nine wounded students.

Mr. Russell, 60, died of a heart attack Saturday at his home in Deer Island, Ore. He was the oldest of nine students wounded on that spring day 37 years ago and the first of them to die.

``He used to say, `I had five great years at Kent State and one really bad day,' '' his widow, Nelda Pelosi, said Wednesday.

Click on the headline to read the obit by BJ staff wrter Carol Biliczky.

[Source: The Beacon Journal,, Akron, OH, Thursday, June 28, 2007, page B5, col. 5] ]

McClatchy stock jumps 7 percent

NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. (MNI.N: rose more than 7 percent on Wednesday after falling steadily for the past seven months.

It was not immediately clear why the share price rose. A company spokeswoman declined to comment.

McClatchy, based in Sacramento, California, publishes the Sacramento Bee, the Miami Herald and more than two dozen daily U.S. newspapers.

The company has been the subject of takeover speculation among some analysts and investors, despite its two-tier stock structure that gives the McClatchy family more control over the publisher than other investors.

Chief Executive Gary Pruitt has said that he wants the company to remain publicly traded, but that going private could be a long-term option.

No plans to fire Par Ridder, says Chris Harte

There are no plans to fire Par Ridder, publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said Chris Harte, chairman of the Star Tribune Co., despite a threat from the owners of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that they may seek criminal charges unless Avista lets Ridder go. [Harte is a former BJ publisher.]

Testifying in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul on the second day of what's expected to be a three-day hearing to determine whether he can continue at his post with the Star Tribune, Ridder said he never used data from the Pioneer Press to harm it.

A contrite Par Ridder defended himself in court Tuesday against allegations that he stole financial information from his previous employer, the Pioneer Press.

He testified he'd thought about deleting Pioneer Press information contained in spreadsheets he shared with his new colleagues to show them the formatting, but "there was just so much information -- it was massive," he said. "But I wish I had."

The day drew to a confrontational close as plaintiff's attorney Phil Sechler accused Ridder under cross-examination of taking from St. Paul things that he had guarded closely when he was that newspaper's publisher.

"It's as if you had the secret formula to Coca-Cola, and you took it to Pepsi," Sechler said.

Ridder disputed the importance of some of Sechler's points, offered to correct him at other times and sometimes avoided a yes or no answer to questions that clearly sought one.

A ruling from Judge David Higgs may come in a week or more, say legal observers.

Click on the headline to read the full story from Matt McKinney and Steve Alexander, Star Tribune staff writers

Some observations from Dick McBane

The old days at the ABJ are worth remembering. It was a special time at what was then a special newspaper. Here are a couple of observations which you may or may not choose to use on the blog.

The Incredible Shrinking News Hole

Before leaving Akron on the morning of Tuesday, June 19, for a return to the metro Atlanta area, I picked up a copy of that day's Akron Beacon Journal. While the quality of the product still seemed to be good, I was most impressed by how slim it was; how limited in news content.

That impression was reinforced a couple of hours later at a lunch stop in Marietta, Ohio, when I picked up a copy of Marietta A.M., the Marietta edition of the Parkersburg, WV, News. While I didn't actually measure the news columns, the Parkersburg News was easily twice or more the size of the Beacon Journal in space devoted to news coverage. Whatever it lacked in quality, it more than compensated for in quantity.

Needed: A Few Good Copy Editors

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not my favorite newspaper, but it is now the one that I peruse daily. Its news coverage is quite comprehensive and generally well done. However, it has a nasty habit of perpetrating some real clinkers on a fairly regular basis. The most recent was the subhead on the lead story on page one of the Sunday, June 24, edition.

It read: "An unlikely, close-knit bond develops between ancestors of slaves and the ancestors of their slave masters."

Surely, there must be someone among the copy editors at the AJC who knows the difference between ancestors and descendents. I can only imagine the author of this very good story pulling her hair out when she saw the Sunday paper.

I can also imagine the reaction of Ben Maidenburg if this had been the ABJ in the old days.

Dick

Par Ridder says he took confidential data

The publisher of the Star Tribune, Par Ridder, testified in court Monday that he knowingly shared confidential St. Paul Pioneer Press data among senior executives at the Star Tribune, a move the Minneapolis paper's owners now say was a mistake.

Ridder's videotaped testimony came in the first of what's expected to be a three-day hearing that could decide his immediate future. The Pioneer Press is suing the Star Tribune and Ridder -- who in March left his job as publisher of the Pioneer Press for the same post at the Star Tribune -- seeking damages, the removal of top executives and assurances from the Star Tribune's owner that it will not continue to poach top talent.

The hearing has offered the most detail yet in a civil case that accuses Ridder of breaking a pledge of loyalty to the Pioneer Press and swiping the paper's financial information when he left, moves that the suit charges were part of an effort to jeopardize the paper's future.

This week's hearing is to determine whether Ridder and two other executives who followed him across the river, Kevin Desmond, the Star Tribune's senior vice president of operations, and Jennifer Parratt, director of its niche publications, should be removed from their jobs at the Star Tribune for at least a year. Desmond is on the job; Parratt, while being paid, is not allowed to work for the paper until the legal issues are decided.

Legal observers say it could be a week or more before Ramsey County District Judge David Higgs makes his ruling.

Ridder, in videotaped testimony presented by Pioneer Press attorneys, also said he took a set of noncompete agreements that prohibited him and his senior management team from going to work for the rival Star Tribune. Previously Ridder, 39, has said that he had been released from the agreement.

Click on the headline to read the full story of Star Tribune reporter Matt McKinney,

Detroit Guild ratifies contract

By what Guild president Lou Mleczko's describes as a "good margin," members of the unions representing the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News and the janitorial staff passed a 3-year contract, ending six months of negotiations, with the Detroit Media Partnership.

Unions representing pressmen, mailers and the Teamsters also passed their proposed contracts.

"In light of the difficulty of the newspaper industry and the situation in the state of Michigan, we feel it's as good a contract as we could have gotten," said Mleczko after the union members' votes were tallied at about 3 p.m. today.

The contracts will last until 2010.

The negotiations were the most difficult in 30 years, Mleczko said.

The contract retains daily overtime, which the company proposed eliminating.

However, health-care costs have increased, and employees won't get a company match for 401K retirement investments.

Diane Weiss, a Free Press photo editor who worked on the union negotiations committee, said members' votes were crucial.

"We need the company to see that we care about the contract," she said.

The unions represent 1,409 employees of the partnership, the Free Press and the Detroit News.

The media partnership manages business operations for the Free Press, which is owned by Gannett Co. Inc., and the News, owned by Media News Group.

[Source: Amber Hunt in Detroit Free Press]

Mleczko is a former BJ staffer.

McClatchy stock drops to lowest level since 1998

June 22, 2007 5:58 PM ET
Shares of The McClatchy Co. dropped 2.3 percent in heavier-than-average trading Friday, ending a tough week for the newspaper publishing company.

The Sacramento-based company -- publisher of The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald and 29 other daily newspapers -- was hard-hit by a 10.4 percent decline in revenue last month, largely attributed to an 11.5 percent drop in advertising sales. Most of the nation's daily newspapers, from The Los Angeles Times to Washington Post, are battling a drop in advertising revenue and circulation.

McClatchy chairman and chief executive officer Gary Pruitt said the company expected the dramatic decline, especially with a 4.7 percent increase in pro forma revenue in May 2006. McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) bought Knight Ridder Inc. -- then the nation's second-largest newspaper -- in June 2006, selling off some assets while keeping other more profitable newspapers.

Pruitt, who was a guest speaker at a media-related investors conference in New York City this week, also said the company would consider selling its stake in CareerBuilder.com, which it also owns with Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) and Tribune Co. (NYSE: TRB). He added that circulation at McClatchy newspapers would likely continue to decline until early 2008.

The comments addressed concerns but hurt McClatchy shares, which fell 87 cents in the final three days of the trading week, much of the drop Friday.

Shares on Friday dropped 58 cents to $25.07, including falling to $24.87 during intraday trading -- its lowest price since October 1998. More than 1.3 million shares were exchanged, about 400,000 more than the average daily volume during the past three months, according to the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares of McClatchy, the largest publicly traded firm in the Sacramento region, have dropped 44.2 percent from its 52-week high of $44.95.

Private Security Companies in Iraq: A PEJ Study

Exactly how many Americans are serving in Iraq and what they are doing there might not seem like complicated questions. Stories in the media regularly talk about the 150,000 U.S. military personnel in the Iraq theater, but report little on private security.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism has done an extensive survey on
some 30,000 employees of U.S. and European-based Private Security Companies (PSCs), who work in some of Iraq’s most dangerous areas.

These PSC employees are not like other contractors in Iraq. Many of them carry weapons and are hired to protect important people, facilities and convoys. They have been involved in firefights and scores of them, the exact number is unclear, have perished. Yet there are many basic unanswered questions about these armed forces, which add by 20% the number of foreign troops in the country.

As a starting point, the financing can be difficult to track. Some PSC personnel are paid directly by the U.S. government, while others work as sub-contractors or sub-sub-contractors for other companies doing business in Iraq.

The issue of who is in charge of them in the field also can be confusing. While PSCs work alongside the U.S. military in Iraq, ultimately they serve at the discretion of the groups that hire them. Those employers may be the government, but they could also be some third party.

One thing is clear. Private security companies are doing jobs once largely undertaken by the military. And experts say they are being used in unprecedented numbers in the war in Iraq.

Click on the headline to read the full report.

AP Stylebook now available

"BlackBerry" is in, and "widower" is out. "Hip-hop" finally makes the grade, and so does "boogie." It's the 2007 edition of the "AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law," now available in both print and online versions.

Norm Goldstein, editor of the 2007 version, says in a release that emphasis this year rests on the great functionality offered by subscription-based online access. "The online Stylebook provides searchable, instant access, with constant updates as well as notification of changes," Goldstein says. "It also allows the addition of a user's own entries to create a private stylebook."

The always closely-watched new entries include: carry-on; mentally retarded; Swift boat. Changes and updates include: daylight saving time; editor-in-chief; European Union. Deletions: widower; Laundromat; Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

Cost of the spiral-bound book is $17.95 for general orders, with discounts for members of the news cooperative. Go to http://www.apbookstore.com for details on pricing and ordering.

Police say little about death of San Jose editor

A day after veteran San Jose Mercury News reporter Richard Ramirez was found dead in his home, newsroom staffers have still not been told how he died or who found him, according to Executive Editor Carole Leigh Hutton, who said the lack of information is frustrating to a devastated staff.

Hutton said police have yet to say if he was murdered, committed suicide or died of some freak accident. "There is no police report, nothing," she said. "We have nothing offered to us. We just know that it was at his home because of one of our group papers over there that found out."

"They are being very tight-lipped," Hutton, who joined the paper just last month, said about the Livermore, Calif. Police Department. "It is very frustrating, especially for people who are his friends. It is hard for them not to have all of the details. We just know that they are conducting an investigation."

Ramirez, 44, was found dead in his home Wednesday, according to the Mercury News, which posted first word of his death on its Web site last night. A 23-year veteran of the paper, Ramirez was married and active in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

The editor said the lack of information only allows people to speculate about the worst. "We extrapolate from the investigation that it was not natural causes, but that is not to say it was homicide or suicide," she said. "But they don't normally investigate heart attacks."

The surprise death comes less than three years after former Mercury News reporter Gary Webb committed suicide and six years after photographer Luci Houston was murdered by her ex-husband.

"People are devastated," Hutton said about the newsroom today. "It is horrible to lose a colleague anytime, but when there is uncertainty or confusion around it, it is even tougher to shoulder that. I wish they would make a determination and tell us so we have some kind of confirmation of what happened."

Ramirez, a veteran reporter and editor who served for the last 12 years as assistant to the executive editor, was discovered Wednesday morning in his Livermore back yard, with a fatal injury the Alameda County Coroner's Office described as a knife wound in his midsection

ABC says it was outbid for Paris Hilton interview

How much is an interview with Paris Hilton worth? Representatives of ABC News said yesterday that they had lost to NBC for the first interview with Paris Hilton after her release from jail next week because ABC was unwilling to make a "high six-figure deal" with Ms. Hilton’s family.

NBC executives did not deny that they had had discussions about interview rights with Ms. Hilton, though the news division said yesterday that it could not yet confirm any interview would take place.

The spokesperson for NBC News, Allison Gollust, insisted, however, that "NBC News does not pay for interviews — never have, never will."

Job cuts loom at ABC, Honolulu Advertiser

ABC News to trim abut 35 jobs
ABC News president David Westin has announced a two-year process "to take a fresh look at ABC News from top to bottom. ... We haven't made final decisions about everything we're considering, but to give you a sense of the ultimate outcome: After we've added positions in some areas and cut positions in others, we will trim about 35 jobs from ABC News staff worldwide. We will do all that we can to minimize the effects on those of you affected.
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Honolulu Advertiser offers buyouts to 86
The Honolulu Advertiser, owned by Gannett Co., is offering enhanced retirement packages to 86 workers in an effort to reduce its staffing.

In a letter to employees Thursday, publisher Mike Fisch said the company wants to reduce its workforce by 30 positions "to adjust our operating plans to meet the new market realities."

Fisch said the company is asking employees 55 and older with up to 20 years of service to consider the retirement offer, which is being made to both union members and non-members.

He did not specify the details of what he described as an "attractive benefits package