New York Times, Guild reach agreement

The New York Times Company and the Newspaper Guild of New York have reached a conceptual agreement on a new five-year contract. The tentative compromise reached late today with the aid of a mediator is subject to ratification by Guild members. At the request of Mediator Martin Scheinman, details will not be released until language is finalized. The Guild Negotiating Committee has voted to support the settlement, which preserves a Defined Benefit Pension, protects the jointly trusteed medical plan, and includes increases in compensation. We will provide more information in coming days, and a ratification meeting will be scheduled in the near future.

See story

Tom Moore makes a baseball trade

Tom Moore is back for the ninth year on Tom Giffin's Roy Robbs World Series staff. 

"We have 218 teams this year, including one women's group from Japan," Tom reports. "And this year I traded in my former bodyguards for these two ladies...Meg and Kim."

Online revenue to overtake print

Digital media this year could exceed the $35.8 billion that U.S. print magazines and newspapers garnered in ad revenue in 2011.   

See report     

Lisa Abraham to speak at Author! Author! event

Beacon Journal food editor Lisa Abraham will be speaking November 14 at the Our Lady of Elms Author! Author! series. She is the author of Famous Chefs & Fabulous Recipes.

A native of Niles, Ohio, Lisa is a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Abraham is the recipient of numerous writing and reporting awards and has been named best food columnist by the Association of Food Journalists and was twice named best lifestyle columnist in the Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards.

  A newspaper writer in Ohio for more than twenty-five years, she previously worked for The Blade in Toledo and the Tribune Chronicle in Warren. Her work regularly appears in newspapers across the country through the McClatchy-Tribune news service. When she’s not working, Abraham can be found at home in her kitchen, cooking up food and fun with her husband, Richard Hart.

This fall marks the 26th season of Author! Author! at Our Lady 0f the Elms. In 1987  the Elms Alumnae Association inaugurated a three session book and author luncheon/lecture/signing series.  The program gave national and local authors the forum to speak to avid readers in the Akron area.

The series has hosted more than  120 well-known authors and has hosted an audience of more than  325 constituents per venue for years.  In addition the series has raised more than $450,000 in scholarship dollars for young women to receive an Elms education.  Scholarship dollars are raised through patron tickets, sponsorships, and book sales.

Event Schedule:
11:00 am Doors open, Books available for purchase
11:30 am Light buffet luncheon begins
12:20 pm Auditorium doors open
12:30 pm Author talk begins
1:45 pm Book signing am dessert

Get Ticket information

Newsweek to end print editions

Newsweek magazine, which will be 80 next year, will have its last printed edition Dec. 31, 2012. The octogenarian will be completely digital in 2013 as Newsweek Global.

IAC/Interactive Corp, Newsweek’s parent company, reported a $7.3 million quarterly loss from its media operations, which include Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek’s print advertising is in a freefall – down $334 million, or 70%, from 2007 to 2011.

Computer tablets have grown from 13 million to 70 million in just two years. Thirty-nine percent of Americans get their news from a digital source.

To read the entire article, click on  http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/18/news/companies/newsweek-print-edition/index.html

Connie Bloom art quilts on display

Former Beacon Journal editor/reporter/columnist Connie Bloom's art quilts are being featured through Oct. 27 in A Celebration of American Crafts show at the Don Drumm Studios and Gallery, 437 Crouse Street, around the corner from the University of Akron's Infocision Stadium.

Connie is a “textile artist,” meaning she puts together fabric that looks like paintings. She hand dyes, hand paints and hand prints much of her cloth.

 

Other stops for Connie next year are Heart of Ohio Quilt Guild in Newark, April 16-17; Talk & Trunk Show, Calico Hearts, in Ravenna, May 14; Talk & Trunk Show, North Coast Needlers, Rocky River, Aug. 13; and a pet portraits workshop in Rocky River, Aug. 17.

Connie’s shop is on the third floor of Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market Street, where her phone number is (330) 472-0161.

Reading of printed page plummets

In only a decade the percentage of Americans reading a printed newspaper has fallen from 41 percent to 23 percent, according to a Pew Research Center poll. More and more, we are reading our newspapers digitally rather than in print -- Internet, hand-held, etc. 

Book readings in print are down 8 percent and, for magazines, 7 percent since 2006.

While watching the news on television remains at 55 percent, only 34 percent of those younger than 30 watch (49 percent did in 2006).

To read the entire article, click on http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/10/15/study-less-than-a-quarter-of-americans-read-newspapers/?shared=email&msg=fail

Jim Ricci's mother dies at 98

Former Beacon Journal reporter Jim Ricci's mother died. The email from Jim:

= = = = = = = = = = =

Fellas, I want you to know that my mother, Cecilia Ricci, died
yesterday at age 98.

She had a great run. Her decline began only a few
weeks ago, and she was under hospice care for only a few days.

Of course, we in the family are sad, but also grateful for the long, spirited life she had.

= = = = = = = = = = =

“Yesterday” was Friday, Oct. 12. Jim’s email to friends was forwarded to BJ Alums blog by former BJ reporter Bill Hershey (now with the Dayton Daily News).

Jim left the BJ for the Detroit Free Press, joining former BJ managing editor Scott Bosley as part of the “Akron Mafia” in the newsroom. 

Jim’s next stop was the Los Angeles Times, as a Pulitzer Prize finalist columnist till his 2008 retirement.

Jim has two daughters by first wife Kathy (they were married 30 years), Annie the opera singer and Laura the artist. He has a son and a daughter by his current companion, Carrie, a TV and film executive. 

Dawidziak is frightful again

Current Plain Dealer and former Beacon Journal television writer Mark Dawidziak and his wife, Sara Showman, are still frightening people. 

This time it’s “an evening of folk tales and true ghost stories” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Nordonia Hills Branch of the Akron-Summit County Library at 9458 Olde Eight Road, Northfield.

Mark and Sara, who live in Cuyahoga Falls, have been presenting Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain shows in the area for years. Sometimes they include daughter Becky.

Beth Hertz writes Medical Economics cover story

Beth Thomas Hertz wrote  the cover story for the latest issue of Medical Economics magazine discussing how primary care physician earnings remain flat.

Read the story

Traveling top retirees topic

Rosetta Blanton and cousin Lonnie Thomas are headed for Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Tom Moore is bound for Fort Myers, Florida; Tracy McClellan is hoping to return to Albuquerque, New Mexico; and John Olesky is preparing to fly to Paris, France.

All that came out of the conversation today at the monthly lunch for Beacon Journal retirees and their family members at Papa Joe’s Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension.

Rosetta Sholdar Blanton will be visiting her birthplace. Lonnie’s mother also was born in Hopkinsville. Rosetta’s mother and Lonnie’s mom were sisters and Hopkinsville natives. Rosetta’s husband, BJ engraving retiree Watson Blanton, died in 2009. 

Rosetta and Lonnie live near each other in the Merriman Road and Palisades areas of Akron.

Rosetta will be visiting her brother, who still lives in Hopkinsville.

Rosetta told how she sold the last of the 10 acres that her and husband Watson owned in Clearwater, Florida. The buyer kept upping the price because it was the last land left that hadn't been developed and built on in that area. Rosetta kept saying: "Can't you give me a little bit more?" The buyer did, again and again, so Rosetta got thousands of dollars more than the original offer.

BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore will leave next week for former BJ Sports Editor Tom Giffen’s Roy Hobbs Baseball World Series for older guys in Fort Myers. The tournament, which has nearly 300 teams, lasts into November. Tom writes and publishes the daily newsletter for the players, plus whatever else Tom Giffen wants him to do. Giffen pays Moore for his skills and provides Moore with lodging.

Tracy McClellan, daughter of retired printer Gene McClellan, who died in March 2012, has sold Gene’s vintage cars and motorcycle but still is trying to dispose of the Mogadore home that Gene had. 

That’s where Tracy is living till she can settle pop’s affairs and return to her husband, Ken, in their Albuquerque home. They moved there while Tracy works on her law degree through the University of New Mexico.

Tracy’s sister, Erin, lives in California. Their brother, Dean, lives in Japan.

Newsroom retiree John and former State Desk reporter Paula will be flying to Paris for an Oct. 25-Nov. 2 stay (between WVU Mountaineer football games, of course), John’s 8^th anniversary present to Paula. While they’ve been to 50 countries together, it’s the first visit to Paris for John, unless you count a stop at Charles DeGaulle Airport on the way from Venice to New York City.

Retired printer Al Hunsicker also joined the lunch bunch.

The sextet provided the third-highest attendance at the monthly chat-and-chew events since August 2011.

BJ retirees, family and friends are welcome to join the party at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Papa’s Joe Restaurant on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension.

How does media stop plagiarism?

Mallary Jean Tenore in Poyntner.com writes about ways to prevent plagiarism at college newspapers and maybe in real-world newsrooms, too.

Penn State’s student newspaper The Daily Collegian, suspended a writer for plagiarizing and fabricating quotes by Sue Paterno, the widow of former coach Joe Paterno. This was the paper’s second plagiarism case this year. 

In September, Arizona State University’s State Press and Columbia University’s Daily Spectator both revealed that their students had plagiarized.

Problems include:

Taking information from another source, which may have plagiarized the information.

Relying heavily on source material rather than getting the information first-hand.

Quoting what a person says on TV.

Some colleges are requiring their student newspaper’s reporters to provide sourcing notes with their stories and then send out the story to the sources quoted asking if the quotes are accurate.

Some train their reporters about plagiarism, although plagiarized quotes were in stories written by reporters who had been trained.

Some use plagiarism-detecting software to see if identical or similar wording is used elsewhere on the Internet.

The author suggests that some of these tactics might be used in mainstream newsrooms, too. Plagiarized stories appeared in NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time, CNN and The Boston Globe.

To read the full story, click on http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/journalism-education/190754/10-ways-to-prevent-plagiarism-fabrication-at-college-newspapers-and-in-any-newsroom/

Attending lunch with Linda McElroy

Beacon Joural friends  attended a lunch at the Golden Corral on S.Arlington St. with Linda McElroy, Becon Circulation Accounting Department retiree who was in town from North Carolina. Atrtending the 11:30  lunch were Bob Craiglow and his wife, Pat, Mike Jewell and Janet Hall in the one photo.and Cheryl Sheinin, Linda, Martha (Cookie) Lipford and Noreen Dimmerling. Not in the photos but attending the luncheon were Mick Dimeff and Carol Eubank. 
(Photos and infro from Carol Eubank)

Joseph Kovach funeral Mass is Thursday

Joseph Anthony (Joe) Kovach died from the complications of Alzheimer's disease on September 27, 2012.

He was born June 21, 1956 in Akron, Ohio. Joe graduated from Garfield High School in 1974. He made his living as a journalist first working as a reporter for the Ashtabula Star Beacon. He came back to the Akron based Babcox Publications as a writer and eventually as editor of several of their magazines such as Import Car. He later moved to Michigan and was employed for 15 years by Crain Communications where he was an editor for Auto Week Magazine. As a writer, Joe loved words and loved to read. He was an avid sports fan with a special love for the Cleveland Indians. Joe will be missed by his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, John (Yotz). He is survived by his mother, Mary; and sister, Cindy Kovach of Akron; brothers, Tom and John (Kris) Kovach; niece, Ava; and nephew, Sevi of Austin, Texas; and many cousins.

Joe's family is grateful for the people who cared for him during his illness including the therapists at Bath Manor, the staff at Arden Court especially his guardian angel Ren, and the staff at Hickory Ridge Nursing home. At the end, Joe received care and support from the staff at City Hospital's Acute Palliative Care Unit especially from his cousin and good buddy, Mike Klein; who is a nurse practitioner there.

Cremation has taken place. A Memorial Mass will be held on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 11 a.m. at St. Vincent Catholic Church, 164 W. Market St. in Akron. Fr. Joseph Kraker celebrant. Further interment will be private and held at the convenience of the family.

(Anthony, Akron, 330-724-1281, www.anthonyfh.com)
[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Tuesday, October 2, 2012, page B5, col. 2]

Bored readers deserting newspapers

Everyone blames the Internet for newspapers’ plummeting bottom line, but a Journalism & Mass Communications Quarterly says the newspapers are the problem: They need more engaging and stimulating content.

Study authors Rachel Davis Mersey, Edward C. Malthouse and Bobby J. Calder suggested "a question of the day around a major, local or even barely known but interesting news story that runs on the front page and is designed to encourage conversation among readers and between readers and the newsroom."

Yesterday's newspaper models don't work in today's high-tech, quick-satisfaction world. 

To read the article, click on http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120927174912.htm#.UGmTI6dqErs.email

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies at 86

In a note to all New York Times company employees, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., announced the death of his father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, at 86. In 1963, Sulzberger became publisher of the paper, family owned since 1896.

In a statement, President Obama honored Sulzberger:

Over the course of more than 30 years, Arthur helped transform the New York Times and secure its status as one of the most successful and respected newspapers in the world.
He was a firm believer in the importance of a free and independent press — one that isn’t afraid to seek the truth, hold those in power accountable, and tell the stories that need to be told.
Arthur’s legacy lives on in the newspaper he loved and the journalists he inspired.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

See obituary

Tribute paid to Kathy Fraze on retirement

By Tom Moore

After 39 years with the Beacon Journal, Kathy Fraze, writer, editor, teacher called it quits.

The staffers paid tribute to her with a video that recalled how she had been so helpful to each....recalling how she had saved their butts more than once from mistakes that could have been embarrassing for paper and reporter had they appeared in print.

One staffer said Kathy had taught his journalism class at Kent State and then hired him later on.

Editor Bruce Winges read off a list of her accomplisments and positions she has held over the years.

She received several gifts, including a picnic basket filled with goodies for her trip to Ireland and an engraved cake knife. Of course there was a cake.

And I think she summed up what we all feel when leaving a place that has been our life for so many years...the people you work with and the comradely therein

She cited an incident in 1980 when folks showed up only to find the lifeline of the paper was on the blink...the telephone system.

A telephone repairman was called and while he yanked a wire here and there, the staff discussed the latest murders and other stories that came to mind to pass the time since this was before the new electronic age of cell phones and the internet.

The repairman looked up from his work and said: “Boy, what a great place! I”d love to work here.”

In addition to the staff, two retirees were present to welcome her into the retiree ranks...Mike Needs and Tom Moore. Both worked closely with her over the years and sure agree to the praise the staff had for a great newswoman. 

Happy retirement, Kathy.

Drowning in Internet tsunami

Newspapers aren’t the only ones drowning in the Internet tsunami. Magazines, books, TV, movies and music have been inundated, too, among others. 

It has been a decade of what economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction.”

Newsweek technology editor Daniel Lyons writes:

“Newspapers are getting wiped out because they didn’t  realize they were in the information business. These companies are in the business of spotting what’s new, yet they were blind to the biggest change to hit their business."

Also: “The Internet robbed them of their mini-monopolies.”

To read how the Internet so rapidly and drastically altered so many industries, click on http://2010.newsweek.com/essay/a-decade-of-destruction.htm

Journalism in the age of Twitter

Kelly Fincham, on Poynter.com, discusses how journalism students need to learn how to use Twitter in their lives and in their careers.

Some of the points:

-- It is not about what you had for lunch or what color your nails are. It’s about developing a network and a beat.

-- Students need to realize the value of Twitter as a storytelling and verification tool.

-- Your tweets are public and they will be around a long, long time.  A poorly thought-out tweet can come back to haunt you just like all those drunken photos on Facebook. Can this get me into trouble 10 years from now?

Kelly teaches journalism at Hofstra University. She has been a journalist in the U.S, Ireland and Australia for 30 years.

Read the entire article at http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/journalism-education/188408/what-every-young-journalist-should-know-about-using-twitter/

Retail ad retiree Lloyd Long dies at 87

CUYAHOGA FALLS -- Lloyd E. Long, 87, died peacefully Sept. 21, 2012. Mr. Long was born in Keota, Iowa and had resided in Cuyahoga Falls since 1950, moving here from Stow.

He retired from the Akron Beacon Journal in the early 90's as a retail advertiser with over 20 years service and had previously worked at the Record Courier for over 20 years. He was a Veteran of World War II having served with the U.S. Army, had fought in the Battle of the Bulge, received a Purple Heart, was a past member of the Kent Lions Club and had been a Soap Box Derby official. He enjoyed golfing and had a hole in one in his senior golf league and also enjoyed bowling and outdoor sports and watching baseball, football and basketball.

Preceded in death by his wife, Lauretta Mae; and son, John R.; he is survived by his son, Richard A.; granddaughter, Leslie M. Vesper (Keith); great-granddaughter, Jackson and Isabel Vesper; and brother, Harold Long of Avon Lake, Ohio.

There will be no calling hours. A Funeral Service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday, October 2, 2012 in the Abby at Crown Hill Burial Park, Dr. Richard A. Hasler officiating. In lieu of other remembrances, memorials may be made to Ohio Parkinson's Foundation, P.O. Box 271, Tallmadge, OH 44278 or Crossroads Hospice, 3743 Boettler Oaks Dr., Green, OH 44685.

[Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Sunday, September 23, 2012, page B5, col. 6   ]