Times-Reporter increases type size.

Welcome to your new Times-Reporter was the headline across the bottom of page 1 in the New Philadelphia-Dover Times Reporter. Here is the note to readers from the publisher and editor.


Dear Readers,

Despite today’s wintry ways, there’s a little springtime in our step.

We’re sporting a new look, one that we think is a perfect fit for these modern times.

The process that we began last fall concludes today with a new, easier-to-read presentation, including a larger text size for our stories.

We’ve also splashed some color onto our updated logo and added new content, including a daily lifestyle section (Monday: Food; Tuesday: Health and Fitness; Wednesday: Seniors; Thursday: Travel; Friday: Arts and Leisure; and Saturday: Homeworks and Religion).

For the first time, you’ll see changes in our Sports section. We’re adding more columns and hooking up game statistics with their related stories to name just a few of the changes.

We think in time the new Times-Reporter will feel just as comfortable as the old one.

If you have a comment about our new look, e-mail us at editor@timesreporter.com. We’ll post a sampling of comments in the next installment of our online feature “Ask the Editor.”

If you have a comment about our new look, e-mail us at editor@timesreporter.com. We’ll post a sampling of comments in the next installment of our online feature “Ask the Editor.”

Regards,

Jac Clay, Publisher

Dick Farrell, Editor

Another BJ south reunion in Florida

By JOHN OLESKY
For our Feb. 8-23 stay on Siesta Key, off Sarasota, Florida, Paula and I had our usual reunion with former Beacon Journal folks.

Cecily and Terry Dray came from their Avon Park, Florida, home to our rental on Siesta Key. Terry gave up a day of golfing for the reunion. Terry has trimmed his golfing from nine to seven times a week. He eliminated a second 18 holes on Saturday and Sunday. Terry, of course, was the superb makeup man in Composing Room for those who can remember back that far in newspaper history.

Don Bandy, the rewrite man in the newsroom who made cub reporters look good (and some older ones, too), came from his Bradenton, Florida home. Don has been spending time in Naples with his brother and sister-in-law, who were hospitalized. Don lives in the same condo complex as his sister.

Dave and Gina White, also composing room expatriates, didn't make it this time. But Paula and I had a great time at their Venice, Florida, home in September, when we flew down for the University of South Florida football game in Tampa against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

We spent time recalling our BJ days and catching up on former BJ folks who have died in recent years. And doing a lot of laughing, since the BJ was a fun place to work in "the good ol' days."

After luxuriating in temperatures as high as 80 degrees on Siesta Key's beach, Paula and I returned to Ohio to find that we couldn't get the doors to my van opened, or the hatch, too, because vehicles don't do well sitting for 15 days in an airport parking lot when the temperature can't get above freezing. And then the battery died after we drove to our Columbus motel, requiring a 3 a.m. jump start by hotel personnel.

It was enough to make us want to hop another flight to Florida until the Ohio weather becomes tolerable.

This was our 20th trip together, from China to Turkey to Mexico to the Caribbean, in our 40 months together. But traveling will be put on hold till I recover from my Tuesday, Feb. 26, surgery for an artificial right knee.

Say 'Goodbye' to the Albuquerque Tribune

The Albuquerque Tribune published its last issue on Saturday, February 23, 2008. Albuquerque is a difficult name to spell and the Tribune will be a difficult name for some to forget. It also is difficult to "Google" up an image of that last front page.

We have, however, posted on our website a farewell written by Phil Casaus, an Albuquerque native, who was editor of The Trib for 1,746 days until its end. And with pure sentiment we have included photo illustrations of the staff by the Tribune's Charlotte Hill.

Please click on the headline to take a look. And if any of you can find an image of that last front page, please send it to us.

BJ endorses Clinton, McCain

The Beacon Journal today endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain for president.

Click on the headline to see the editorials.

We passed 70,000 mark for viewers

We passed the 70,000 mark this week on the number of visitors to the BJ retirees blog. There were 675 visitors the past week or an average of 96 visitors a day which is down a wee bit since not much interesting has been available for posting. There have been 1,463 items posted.

How about sending us some into and photos on what you have been doing lately. You have BJ friends who have scattered from JSK land all over the world who would like to hear what you have been up to.lately.

Zaidan featured on BJ politics Video of the Day

Retired Beacon Journal political columnist Abe Zaidan is featured in the video of today on the new politics site of Ohio.com, the Beacon Journal web site.

Dan Kader. who coordinates the BJ’s politics site shot the video interview with Zaidan The first pare is on the site todaty and the second part will be posted tomorrow.

Click on the headline to go there now.

BJ also did well in food ad lineage

An article reprinted from 1970 Tower Topics which reported the BJ ranked 15th among newspapers for the number of lines of news printed caught the eye of retiree Dave Boerner. Boerner says he also recalls the BJ was No. 1 in the nation in food advertising penetration about that same time or at least that ad lineage for supermarkets was phenomenal.

We asked around and Harold McElroy who was in the business department at the time writes:

Can't find any stats prior to 1998 on the Internet. Editor & Publisher no help.

I do recall that we were in the top ten for food adv for our class of subscriber base. We did better than Cleveland, Detroit, Miami & Charlotte.

We differed with the national media measurement organizations in several areas. I don't remember if the local food advertising was one of them. We won all of the disagreements in measurement issues.

We attributed the linage to Albrecht (Acme) and the need for Kroger, A & P and a few short term marketers to close in on their market share. None ever did.

Blog Note: We would appreciate comment or email from anyone who might know a little more about this.

Star Trib pays $3.8 million legal fees for Pioneer Press

The St. Paul Pioneer Press and its corporate parent MediaNews Group Inc. paid $3.8 million last summer to sue the Star Tribune, a tab that the Minneapolis paper eventually paid after losing the case, according to financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The fight began shortly after former Pioneer Press publisher Par Ridder skipped across the river in March of last year to head the Star Tribune, taking a laptop computer full of confidential data that he later shared with at least two high ranking Star Tribune executives, both of whom have since left the paper.

A Ramsey County District Court judge ruled in September in favor of the Pioneer Press, saying Ridder could not be trusted to refrain from using the St. Paul data to hurt the paper's business. Ridder resigned shortly after the ruling. The Star Tribune paid its competitors' legal fees in December, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by MediaNews Group of Denver.

The company reported a revenue drop of 7.9 percent in the second quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to the same period a year earlier, but profits rose 34 percent on the sale of land and a building in Salt Lake City.

Click on the headline to read Matt McKinney's story in the Star Trbibune and check out comments with the story.

Media jobs fall to 15-year low

U.S. media employment in December fell to a 15-year low (886,900), slammed by the slumping newspaper industry. But employment in advertising/marketing-services -- agencies and other firms that provide marketing and communications services to marketers -- broke a record in November (769,000). Marketing consulting powered that growth.

Here's the reason behind the disparity: Marketers still invest in marketing, but they have options far beyond paid media: digital initiatives, direct marketing, promotions and events, just to name a few. That creates more opportunities for consultants to help define strategies.

Agencies also have adapted, expanding beyond simply creating and placing ads. Indeed, Ad Age DataCenter research has shown that U.S. marketing-communications agencies collectively in 2005 for the first time generated less than half of their revenue from traditional media and media planning/buying.

Want more evidence of tumult in media? Consider performance of stocks in the Ad Age/Bloomberg AdMarket 50 since May 2002, when U.S. measured media spending began to recover from the last recession. Since then, four of five agency stocks and 15 of 26 marketer stocks have risen. But a majority (11 of 19) media stocks have fallen.

Click on the headline to read the story in Advertising Age. You a;lso can dpownload a PDF file on the ad market and media jobs since last year.

Pressroom retiree Graydon Kouri dies

Graydon T. Kouri, 74, passed away February 13, 2008 in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

Born in Winfred, S.D., to the late Fred and Ida (Nassif) Kouri on September 8, 1933, Graydon was a longtime resident of North Hill, currently living in Medina, and attended St. Bernard Church. He had many loves including bowling, golf, playing cards, woodworking, carpentry, traveling and sports, but of all of these, his wife, children, grandchildren and family were his greatest loves of all.

Graydon worked for Orth Printing Co. before working at the Akron Beacon Journal. He retired from the Beacon in 1981. [Kourii was a pressroom employee] Just before his retirement, he started with his family Ex-Cel Printing Co. where he was the Owner/Operator from 1980 to 2000.

Graydon was preceded in death by his brothers, Frances and Bob and sisters, Genevieve and Pearl. He is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Betty; children, Christine (Onie Heffley) Kouri, Rene' (Jim) Sams, John Graydon (Nancy) Kouri, and Mary Stuffelbeam; grandchildren, Dawn Marie (Anthony), Joe B., Tom, Megan, Cory, Cheyenne and Layal; great-grandchildren, Trey and TJ; brother, Fred (Fran) Kouri; his dogs, Mercedes and Rocky; and many other loving nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Monday, 9:30 a.m. at St. Anthony Church, 83 Mosser Place, Akron. Visitation will be Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. at HENNESSY-BAGNOLI FUNERAL HOME, 936 N. MAIN ST., AKRON. Graydon's final resting place will be Holy Cross Cemetery.
[Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Sunday, February 17, 2008]

BJ's Ken Love, PD staff win ONPA awards

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's photography staff has been named best in the state for the eighth year in a row by the Ohio News Photographers Association. The PD also won best picture usage by a large newspaper in the state.

Ken Love of the Akron Beacon Journal was named ''Clip Photographer of the Year'' from points he accumulated in the association's monthly clip contest in 2007.

Love and Beacon Journal photographer Phil Masturzo also received ''awards of excellence'' for their work over the past year. The winner was Chris Russell from the Columbus Dispatch.

The Beacon Journal photo staff was named the third best in Ohio for newspapers with circulations of more than 100,000. The Columbus Dispatch took second. The Beacon Journal staff also placed third in the ''picture usage'' category.

Ninety-eight photographers from across the state submitted 1,404 entries in the 57th annual news photography contest judged Friday and Saturday at Kent State University. Judging the competition were Jim Gehrz from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Karen Pulfer Focht from The Memphis Commercial Appeal and Jack Ziblukis, associate professor of journalism at Arkansas State University.

Chris Russell of The Columbus Dispatch was named News Photographer of the Year. Plain Dealer photographer Lisa DeJong placed second, and her colleague Gus Chan placed third.

Hiney Printing Co. owner dies

Kenneth M. Hiney, Jr., 73, of Naples, Florida, passed away on Monday, February 11th, 2008, at Physician's Regional Medical Center Pine Ridge.

Ken was the owner of Hiney Printing Company located in Akron, Ohio, following the death of his father, Ken, Sr. Ken obtained many accomplishments during his professional career. He was awarded the Graphic Arts Man of the Year in 1985, The Distinguished Service Award in 1999, and the Presidential Citation in 2001 from the Akron Club of Printing House Craftsmen.

He received the community Service Award in 1997, and was Honorary Founder of the Victim Assistance Program 1973-1998. He was Man of the Year for Ducks Unlimited in Akron, Ohio and was very active at the Naples banquets and also State. He served on the Development Committee from 2004 until the present.

Ken was a proud member of the Shriners of North America, Tadmore Shriners, The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, the Grand lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, and Billow Chapter No. 483. He was also a life member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

He was preceded in death by his father, Kenneth M. Hiney, Sr., and mother Mildred Hiney. He is survived by his loving wife of 24 years, Robbi; son, David A. Hiney (Peggy) of Akron, Ohio; daughters, Gina McAree of Fishers, Ind., and Traci Borkowski (Michael) of Weston, Fla.; eight grandchildren, Natalie and Matthew Hiney, Gabrielle, Graham, Cedric, Ciara and Marcella McAree as well as Zachary Borkowski. Also surviving are an abundance of close friends.

Family and friend are invited to a memorial gathering on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Fuller Funeral Home, 1625 Pine Ridge Rd., Naples, FL 34109. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Ducks Unlimited, Inc., O
[Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Saturday, February 16, 2008, page B6, col. 5]

Here's Bobby Cutts verdict coverage

Because the murder attracted national attention, we are posting the Beacon Journal front page reporting the murder verdicts against former Canton police officer Bobby Cutts Jr, in the murder of his girlfriend Jessie Davis and her unborn child. Here is Phil Trexler’s lead:

CANTON: Prosecutors say he killed, in part, because of the unwanted expense of a new baby.

It is the murder of his unborn daughter that has defense attorneys fighting to save the life of Bobby Cutts Jr.

''We're going to try to save his life, absolutely. . . . We're going to keep fighting, and fight for his life,'' defense attorney Myron Watson said Friday.

His words came moments after a jury convicted Cutts of the deaths of Jessie Marie Davis and her nearly full-term fetus.

Cutts, 30, a former Canton patrolman, could be sentenced to death after a Stark County jury found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder. The charges stem from the unlawful termination of a pregnancy and the killing of a viable fetus.

He was found guilty of a lesser charge of murder for the death of Davis, 26. He was also convicted of aggravated burglary, child endangering and two counts of abuse of a corpse.

Life sentence is other option

The same jury that convicted him will reconvene Feb. 25 to hear testimony and recommend a sentence. The best that defense attorneys can ask for is a life sentence with eligibility for parole after 25 years.

Click on the headline to read the full story

Bruce Sherman killed KR, quits newspapers

Because of the great interest of our viewers, this story by Mark Fitgerald in Editor & Publisher is being posted in full and verbatim

Man Who Forced Knight Ridder Sale
Says Goodbye to Newspapers

By Mark Fitzgerald
Bruce Sherman, whose Private Capital Management (PCM) investment firm nearly single-handedly forced the sale of Knight Ridder -- ushering in the era of Wall Street antipathy toward newspaper stocks -- formally bid the sector goodbye in a series of regulatory filings Thursday.

In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), PCM said it no longer owned any stock in The New York Times Co., Lee Enterprises or Belo, and that it was effectively done as an investor in The McClatchy Co.

Sherman had signaled months ago that he was through with newspaper investing for now, and Thursday's filings amounted to a final housecleaning.

Still, it was remarkable to see all those 0.0% ownerships of class in filing after filing because PCM not long ago had serious stakes in the nation's biggest publishers.

In September of 2005, for instance, PCM owned a gigantic 37.61% of McClatchy common stock. Thursday, the firm reported that it directly owned no shares at all, and was simply managing on behalf of an investor a tiny portfolio of 9,164 shares.

In that same period, PCM owned a 15.07% stake in the Times Co., an 18.96% stake in Lee, and a 22.31% stake in Belo. It also had substantial positions in Gannett and a small amount of Tribune Co. stock.

PCM was once both an angel and an irritant to publicly traded newspaper companies, buying up their stock -- but also agitating certain chains when he thought their stock performance was lagging.

Knight Ridder was his most famous target. In a November 2005 letter to Knight Ridder's board, Sherman demanded that what was then the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher "aggressively pursue the competitive sale of the company." Nine months later, Knight Ridder had been sold to McClatchy, which then sold off a dozen of the dailies to other companies.

It could be said that PCM stirred the hive of institutional investors and shareholders impatient with the plunging stocks of newspaper companies. Since Knight Ridder's forced sale, the ownership of Tribune and Dow Jones changed hands, the New York Times and Media General have come under attack from restive shareholders, and Belo and E.W. Scripps effectively distanced themselves from the newspaper business with spin-offs.

You can click on the headline to see the article in Editor & Publisher or write:
Mark Fitzgerald (mfitzgerald@editorandpublisher.com) is E&P's editor-at-large.

LA Times gets new top editor

The Los Angeles Times has named Russ Stanton, the paper's current innovation editor, its new top editor. He replaces Jim O'Shea, who was forced out for resisting another in a series of staff cuts. Shea left in January after just 14 months on the job.

Mr. Stanton, who has been running The Times’s Web site, will take charge of an deeply unsettled newsroom that in less than three years has lost three chief editors, all of whom publicly protested the shrinking of the news staff.

Many editors and reporters resented the treatment of Mr. O’Shea — not to mention his predecessors — and for years the newsroom has been at odds with the paper’s publisher, David D. Hiller, and its corporate owner, the Tribune Company.

Mr. Hiller also named Jack D. Klunder, who has been in charge of the newspaper’s circulation department, to the new post of president of the newspaper, overseeing all the business operations. And he announced that David P. Murphy, who has headed the newspaper’s lagging advertising sales department, would be leaving.

Click on the headline to read a New York Times story or check Editor & Publisher for a story by Joe Strupp.

NY Times to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs

The New York Times will bow to growing financial strain and eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs this year, the executive editor said Thursday.

The cuts will be achieved “by not filling jobs that go vacant, by offering buyouts, and if necessary by layoffs,” the executive editor, Bill Keller, said. The more people who accept buyouts, he said, “the smaller the prospect of layoffs, but we should brace ourselves for the likelihood that there will be some layoffs.”

He said, “We intend to move quickly, to get any cuts past us so that we do not spend a year bleeding slowly.”

The Times has 1,332 newsroom employees, the largest number in its history; no other American newspaper has more than about 900. There were scattered buyouts and job eliminations in the newsroom in recent years, but the overall number continued to rise, largely from the growth of its Internet operations.

The New York Times Company has made significant cuts in the newsrooms of some of its other properties, including The Boston Globe, as well as in nonnews operations. Executives say the overall headcount is 3.8 percent lower than it was a year ago. But with the industry’s economic picture worsening, the company is under increased pressure from shareholders — notably two hedge funds that recently bought almost 10 percent of the common stock — to do something significant to improve its bottom line.

The Times Company stock, which topped $52 in mid-2002, sank below $15 in January. The interest of the hedge funds has generated a slight rebound. Shares closed at $18.84 Thursday, partly in response to news of the probable layoffs.


Click on the headline to read the full story in the New York Times.

LA Times to cut 40 to 50 newsroom jobs, others

The Tribune Co., struggling with declining revenue, Wednesday said it would cut staff by 400 to 500 people companywide, or around 2% of the Chicago-based media company's workforce. At the Los Angeles Times, 100 to 150 jobs will be eliminated, 40 to 50 in the newsroom, through a combination of attrition, voluntary buyouts and, if necessary, layoffs, Publisher David D. Hiller said’

Tribune Chief Executive Sam Zell announced the news this morning in one of his frequent "Talk to Sam" e-mails to all employees. The job cuts are focused on the corporate staff and the company's nine newspapers, including, besides The Times, the Chicago Tribune, Newsday in New York, the Orlando Sentinel, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.

The decision was reached during meetings Monday and Tuesday among senior executives at Tribune's Chicago headquarters, said Hiller’

For the moment, Tribune's broadcast division, consisting of KTLA-TV Channel 5 and nearly two dozen other stations around the country, will be spared. Fox TV veteran Ed Wilson, hired just last week to run the broadcast operation, will be given time to evaluate his business and make his own personnel decisions later, according to a Tribune executive familiar with the situation.

The job eliminations will come swiftly. Hiller said all the people affected would be out of the company by the end of March.

As in previous buyouts and layoffs at the L.A. Times, most departing employees will receive two weeks' pay per year of service, but this time there are two new elements. First, Hiller said that any buyouts next year would involve far smaller severance packages -- probably one week's pay per year of service. "Anyone who's been thinking about taking advantage of such a program might want to think seriously about this one," he said. Second, the cash to finance the buyouts will come from the overfunded portion of Tribune employees' cash-balance pension plan. Hiller said that Tribune officials have determined that the defined-benefit plan has about $300 million more than it needs to meet future obligations to retirees.

Click on the headlin to read the full story by Thomas S. Mulligan in the Los Angeles Times

Here's the roundtable for BJ Retirees Lunch

Bob Pell, Norma & Ed Hanzel, Al Hunsicker, Gene McClellan, Tim Hayes & Tom Moore

Bob Pell and daughter Cathy Sandstead and Norma and Ed Hanzel

The top photo shows all who braved the weather to attend the monthly BJ Retirees lunch at Papa Joe's in the Valley on Wednesday. All except Bob Pell's daughter, Cathy Sandstead of Gulf Breeze, Florida, who took the photo. Cathy, who was visiting home, is shown with her father in another photo. She does a nice job as a photograper. Tom Moore took the other two photos.

Tim Smith is home from heart surgery

Since our report that Tim Smith would undergo heart surgery at Akron City Hospital on Ash Wednesday, we have received a number of inquiries from viewers asking how he is doing.

He is doing remarkably much better than this blogger did ater a tiny quadruple bypass in 1992.
Ah, the wonders of modern medicine.

Here's an emai report from the Kent State professor that proves my point:

I am home at last, home at last. Tired, sore, in need of rehab, but alive and well and as cranky as ever following a six-way bypass. I’m looking into getting into the Guinness Book.

PD makes top 10 list for design

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is among the top 10 award winners in the Syracuse University / Society for News Design competition announced today The winners (12 winners named because of ties) are, in order, the Los Angeles Times; The New York Times; National Post; Zaman (Turkey); St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times; The Boston Globe; The Plain Dealer, Cleveland; Hartford Courant; Chicago Tribune; Dallas Morning News; San Jose Mercury News; San Francisco Chronicle.

The judging groups awarded eight Gold medals — details were previously listed on this blog — three to the L.A. Times, one each to The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and The Guardian. Of those, none of them were agreed upon by the entire judging panel as the Best of Show, and since that award must be unanimous, there is no Best of Show this year.