Star-Trib Guild protests ditching of copy editors

Update: Ken Krause leaves a comment below that Janet Moore, one of the Guild chairs, is a former Beacon Journal business reporter.


Letter from Minneapolis Star-Tribune Guild to editor Barnes on ditching copy editors:

January 14, 2010

Nancy Barnes

Editor, Senior Vice President

Star Tribune

425 Portland Ave.

Minneapolis, MN 55104

Hand Delivered and by Email

Dear Nancy,

Last week you outlined a series of steps the Newsroom needs to take to help make the Star Tribune a “successful information company.” Those steps include a workforce reduction of “about 30 positions” in the Newsroom, the majority of them from the Guild. They also include the painful and ill-advised elimination of an entire craft — copy editing. A-scale copy editors represent 424 years of service to the Star Tribune; we believe their loss will likely affect the quality of our newspaper and website.

While our members understand more than most of their colleagues across the country the difficult challenges facing our industry and this institution, we believe the fallout from the impending job cuts will be devastating to our newspaper and website. We are formally requesting that you broaden the buyout offer to include all job titles, including reporting, under Section 7, Article 13 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in an effort to mitigate that pain. We understand that you are averse to cutting “news-gathering” positions; however, we believe that retaining some editing and production positions would make the transition to a smaller operation smoother and less traumatic to those employees remaining.

In addition, we understand that you plan to place at least two managers in the Guild. Remember, the Guild contract requires first consideration of certain job classifications when filling vacant positions. When the Star Tribune board ordered cuts throughout the building several months ago, a reasonable person could conclude those reductions would be done to cut costs. However, we don’t understand how giving a manager a Guild job constitutes a job cut. Instead, it appears to be creative shell game to move the salaries into the Guild so you can claim savings on the management side.

 Also, posting eight new jobs while eliminating 30 others begs the question: How many jobs will be eliminated?

Creating a smaller newsroom requires a cohesive, well-planned and executed strategy. You may have crafted these proposals, but it is up to our members to carry them out and to live with the consequences of your actions.  

We would appreciate a prompt response to our request and questions. As always, Guild leadership is ready to meet with you to discuss positive solutions to the challenges facing us.

Sincerely,

 Janet Moore/David Chanen

Co-chairs, Star Tribune Newspaper Guild

CC: Mike Klingensmith, publisher, Star Tribune

Mike Sweeney, chairman, Star Tribune

Cal Deshong bruised in fall

When Cal Deshong, 91, a regular at the BJ alums monthly lunch at Papa Joe's, didn't show up today, I emailed him to see what was up. Cal's reply:

Hi, John, sorry I couldn't make it today.... I wanted to thank you personally for that good write-up you gave me when I hit 91. Speaking of HIT... that's what I did Monday afternoon.

I went out thru my garage for the BJ and the mail and on the way in something happened ... I went head first onto the concrete floor.

I did a good job on my face around my right eye and bent the frames of my glasses ... also peeled some skin off my right arm below the elbow.

I've fixed all that pretty well... but I have some sore ribs on the right side. ... outside of that I'm fine...

Thanks for checking, John...

-- Cal

A BJ love story: paths that crossed and changed lives

People, like planets, go along in their separate orbits. But then paths cross and criss-cross even more and good things happen.

Take retired Beacon Journal printer Carl Nelson. He was working at a Zanesville newspaper. But he came to Akron to be near his then-girlfriend. Well, that relationship fizzled out and Carl found himself singing in a church choir but his mind wandering to two of the choir's female singers.

"I went up to them after choir," Carl said at the monthly lunch for BJ alums at Papa Joe's, "and said, 'Would you like to go out to dinner with me?' "

Both women had the same reply: "Which one of us?" Carl, not being slow on the draw, said, "I picked the shorter one." That would be Barbara, who grew up in Canton.

Well, one thing led to another and Carl and Barbara got married. They still are, and have been, for 51 years.

What about the other choir possiblity? She married someone else, Carl said, but tragically her husband died within five years.

Carl and Gene McClellan, also at Papa Joe's for the monthly Wednesday lunch, both worked at Akron Legal but later switched to the Beacon Journal, because it had better benefits.

Carl also regaled the lunch bunch with his tale of the time he picked up entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. at the Columbus airport. Sammy was scheduled to perform in the Columbus area. Carl had a new car so he was designated Sammy's driver from the airport to the hotel. The story involves Sammy's quest for female company and his tonsilatory habits. That's as far as I dare go on here. But it is hilarious.

The Zanesville newspaper also had Carl picking up Edie Gorme and husband Steve Lawrence at the Columbus airport.

Others laughing at the Papa Joe's lunch were Cathy Moore, there with her dad, Tom Moore, a BJ newsroom retiree known for using the term "goddammit" more than anyone in Akron newspaper history, and John Olesky, another newsroom retiree. Cathy is still fixing up her new home in Cuyahoga Falls after her retirement from 35 years of being part of the Washington, D.C. governmental bureaucracy.

If you'd like to share in the laughter and stories of yesterday and today, be at Papa Joe's on Akron-Peninsula Road at Portage Trail at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month. You'll miss out on a lot of fun if you don't.

Newspaper reporter comes in #184 in careers

A new ranking of 200 jobs in the US in 2009 puts newspaper reporter  as #184.

In the study from careercast.com, newspaper reporter came in between Seamen (#183) and Stevedore (#185)..

Beating out reporter were Janitor (#83), Teacher (#116), Maid (#131), Bus Driver (#137), and Chauffeur (#160). Huffington Post points out.

But, being a newspaper reporter is better than being a Photojournalist (#189), a Dairy Farmer (#197), an Ironworker (#198) and at #200, a Roustabout. A roustabout, the internet says, is an unskilled, temporary laborer employed in something like an oil field.

Click on the headline for a full list of rankings by comcast.com

Newspapers still do the news gathering

The Project for Excellence in Journalism reported today on a new study of how news is created and gathered–still by newspapers.  Here’s the story.

How News Happens: A Study of the News Ecosystem of One American City

Monday, January 11 — For all that the media landscape is expanding, a new study of how the news is created and gathered in one American city finds that what the public learns is still overwhelmingly gathered, synthesized, and framed by traditional media—particularly now much-diminished local newspapers.

The study, by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, examined all the news reported in one city, Baltimore, Maryland, for a week and then took an even closer look at six key storylines that ran through the news in that week.

Inside those storylines, the study found that much of the news people received revealed little new information. Indeed, eight out of ten stories were repetitive and contained no new information.

Of the stories that contained significant new information in these key storylines, 95%, came from traditional media—most of them newspapers. These stories then tended to set the news agenda for other media outlets.

The report also finds that the increasing universe of new media, including blogs, Twitter and local websites, played a key role, but mostly as an alert system and as a vehicle to disseminate stories others had produced. Interestingly, traditional media now used these new technologies more heavily than did new media.

The study also finds that the official version of events is becoming more important as news is posted faster, before any enterprise reporting is applied. Press releases appeared verbatim in first accounts of events, though often not cited as such, and then became news accounts as they careened across the net. The study also found instances of plagiarism–—reposting stories without attribution.

These are some conclusions from the study, which examined the 53 outlets that produced local news in Baltimore during the week of July 19-25, 2009.

The six storylines included:
    * The release of the governor’s plan to cut the state budget
    * Announcement that a local university would help develop the swine flu vaccine
    * A short-lived plan to put listening devices on buses
    * The sale of a historic local movie house
    * A shooting of police officers
    * A combination of six different events that all concerned juvenile justice in the city

This study was designed and produced by PEJ, a non-partisan, non-political institute that is part of the Pew Research Center in Washington , D.C.

Click on the headline to read the full report.

Want to laugh? Join us Wednesday at Papa Joe's

If it's the second Wednesday of the month, then it's time to join us for lunch and laughter at 1 p.m. at Papa Joe's Restaurant on Akron-Peninsula Road at the Portage Trail Extension intersection. Current and former BJ folks, regardless of which department is/was yours, are welcome to laugh along with us. That's our only agenda. Plus the vittles. Call John Olesky at (330) 388-4466 if you need more details or encouragement. Bring a friend, too, if you want. We're friendly folks. Cheerful, too.

See you there. Prepare to laugh and enjoy the old days and today's events in your life.

BJ Alums blog logo -- in Arabic!

This  email was received from former BJ reporter Cathy Strong:

I thought you'd be interested in a screen shot of the ABJ Blog site as it is displayed for me. Notice the Arabic translation at the top of the screen (as they assume I read Arabic better than English, I guess). hee hee

Cathy

Cathy, who is now teaching journalism in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was asked further about the Dubai economic situation, which generally is not good after a decade of tremendous modernization and growth/. Cathy replied:

As for the Dubai economic situation ... Our university is actually sponsored by the Abu Dhabi royalty, so we are sweet. In fact, the day the Dubai debt default was announced there was an announcement that Zayed was getting US $1 billion for its new Abu Dhabi campus.

This is good news for me because I think this money will also go for the setup of the convergence journalism (multi-platform media) that is my baby.

Cathy

Panama, pickpockets, pinky

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)

Prodigious Panama project, purloining pickpockets, punctured pinky.

That’s what Paula and I encountered on our Panama Canal cruise, my ninth since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal.

It was the first time through the Canal for both of us. Like most people, I knew that there were monumental problems before the 1914 Canal opening and thousands of deaths from disease and accidents. But I was astounded by the immensity of the project. Gigantic cuts gouged through the Continental Divide landscape made humongous Caterpillar trucks look like Tonka toys. During our 9-hour, 50-mile transit, I watched in fascination as 26 million tons of water rushed into and out of each lock compartment to raise and lower the ships.

Pickpockets filched Paula’s camera in Costa Rica with the ruse of “helping” us find an ATM. A woman in a “uniform” that helped her blend in with authorities lured us a distance away before her accomplice took the camera. I felt my back wallet pocket slapped. But they got nothing from me because that’s not where I carry anything of value on trips.

My finger got cut on a sharp rock as we walked from a rainforest waterfall. I extended my left hand onto a rocky wall to brace myself. The wound required four stitches from the Coral Princess doctor.

Onboard, we went to a performance by piano virtuoso Chris Contillo, who told the audience that he was from Cuyahoga Falls. Afterward, we learned that Chris lives on High Street in the Sill School area with his wife and their two children.

Another trip highlight was a visit to an Embera Indian village in Panama. We rode an hour by van to a dock, then spent another hour in a dugout canoe going up the Chagres River to the tribal village. Our guide was a blonde from Seattle who married an Embera man.

Otherwise, we did the usual things: Watched cliff divers at Acapulco, saw monkeys and crocodiles, and, in Mexico, rode a boat around Cabo San Lucas’ Land’s End arch and snorkeled off Hualtulco’s Entrega Beach. We also made port stops in Costa Rica, Colombia and Aruba. That extended the number of countries that I've visited to 33.

When we flew home to Akron, the temperature dropped 60 degrees and we went from sweating to shivering.

If you want to see photos from our cruise, click on the headline.

How about YOU? Have you taken a trip lately, a cruise or flight to another country or even a week or a month in another state? Or had a life event? Or would like to just catch us up on your life since the BJ, or about your spouse, children and grandchildren?

Email John Olesky at    jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net

Or Harry Liggett at        hliggett@sbcglobal.net

We'd like to hear about it, with photos. We know your co-workers would, too, because the number of hits to this blog spike when we run items about BJ alums.

Mary Beth quoted in Wall St. Journal article

The Beacon Journal's Mary Beth Breckenridge is quoted in a Wall Street Journal article about taking down Christmas decorations.  Click on the headline.

A media cartoon appropriate for the season

Charles Buffum, chief of our New York State Desk, purloined this season-appropriate cartoon by Ted Rall of Universal Press Syndicate.

Jekel named Times-Reporter publisher

Tom Jekel, who has guided the New Philadelphia-Dover Times-Reporter as interim publisher and editor since Oct. 8, Tuesday was named publisher of the newspaper.Jekel, who joined the company Sept. 3 as editor, was promoted to publisher by Kevin Kampman, \president of GateHouse Ohio, a division of The Times-Reporter’s parent company, GateHouse Media.

Jekel replaces Jac A. Clay, who had served as Times-Reporter publisher from December 2007 through October 2009, when he resigned to pursue other business opportunities.

Jekel, 57, previously served as general manager of community newspapers for the Indianapolis Star. He has a long career in journalism and the newspaper industry, starting in 1976 in his native Wisconsin and including newspaper work in Iowa, Michigan and Indiana.

He is a 1975 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, holding a bachelor of arts degree in journalism. He is also a 2000 graduate of the American Press Institute Executive Development Program in Reston, Va.

Jekel and his wife Diane are temporarily residing in New Philadelphia while they look for a permanent home.

Click on the headline to read the full story..

McClatchy hit $4.29 this morning

McClatchy Company (MNI) exceeded the 10-day average volume in trading today.

PRICE SNAPSHOT
At 10:32 AM ET, 1/05/2010

LAST     CHANGE TODAY
$4.29     +0.36     +9.16%

 3-Month Price Chart

Gannet job loss over a decade

Gannett will begin this decade with about 39,000 workers vs. 53,400 ten years ago.

"That's a loss of one out of every four Gannett jobs during the past decade," writes Jim Hopkins on his Gannett  blog.  Here's his chart:

Click on the headline to go to Jim's blog

Catching up with . . . Art Cullison

When  former BJ copy editor Art Cullison was asked for an update on his life, he phoned former BJ copy editor Tim Hayes and asked Tim to pass along this information (typing, Art told Tim, “is a chore” nowadays):

Retired copy editor (and assistant state editor and TV, movie and night club reviewer) Art Cullison and his bride of 67 years, Helen Louise, have been living for the past three years in an assisted living community in Erlanger, Ky., near their son Dick. Art uses a walker to get around and says reading is difficult. Still, he keeps up with the Beacon online, reading the headlines and checking the obits. He retired from the BJ in 1985 after 36 years.

Helen Louise, a retired Copley High teacher, suffers from Alzheimer's, but she joins Art in reading the paper and watching the news on television. Art says she still recognizes him and always has a smile for him.

H.L. was active in the League of Women Voters in Akron, having served as president and organizing and moderating candidates' nights.

The Cullisons were avid bridge players, but Art hasn't been able to find a game since moving. He plays cribbage with his grandson, and says he can't wait until April when baseball season begins. Also in April, Art will turn 90. Helen Louise will be 89 in June.

Their address is

3900 Riggs Avenue
Longhouse Room 204
Erlanger, KY 41018

Telephone: 859-342-4018

=====================

Art would appreciate hearing from former co-workers, by phone or by U.S. mail or by email at   alcullison@insightbb.com


A January 28, 2008 BJ Alums blog report, based on Mark Price’s BJ story, recalled League of Women Voters president Helen’s 1962 task as moderator of Akron’s 1st Neighborhood Forum. On the panel were Levi L. Smith, director of the Institute for Civic Education at the University of Akron; Mayor Edward O. Erickson, Paul Belcher, chairman of the mayor’s financial task force, and Neal Heintz, city finance director.

See  the BJ Alums blog story and photo.


Art was a ferocious defender of grammar and the English language. When Art and the late Hal Fry were on the BJ copy desk they might have formed the most learned pair west of the New York Times.

Personal Note: Once when I was Television Editor at the BJ, Art came over to my desk and opened with, “You sure talk funny.” Then he stopped dead in his vocal tracks when he realized that, yes, as a man with a cleft palate, I do “talk funny.” Eventually, Art recovered enough to make his point in a different way: Write stories so that you’re talking to the reader, not caught up in esoteric rules inflicted upon you during journalism school. I passed that idea along to reporters for decades in a slightly different manner: Write as if you are talking to your neighbor over the backyard fence. Don’t try to be a Hemingway or a Shakespeare. Make it easy for the reader to understand the story you’re telling, and the information easy to comprehend without a barrier of writing obfuscating (Art will love that word).

Art has his sense of humor, too. A June 09, 2007 BJ Alums blog article by Tom Moore reveals that:

Publisher Ben Maidenburg had forgotten his ID. When Ben came though the door, the guard asked him for his ID. Ben told him he'd forgotten it, but he assured the fellow that he worked there. The guard was not satisfied. He took Ben into the office and sitting at the old horse-shoe copy desk was copy editor Art Cullison.

“You know this fellow?” the guard asked.

Art looked at Ben and said with a straight face: “Never saw him before in my life!”

Ben had to go downstairs in the parking garage and come up through the lobby. But he did have a sense of humor, so Art didn't get the can.

=======================

Art was a regular at the monthly gathering of BJ alums at Papa Joe’s restaurant on Akron-Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension  as late as April 2007 till he and Helen moved to Erlanger, Kentucky three years ago.  (Retirees and former BJ staffers meet there at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month.}

At the Nov. 8, 2006, Papa Joe’s lunch laughfest, Art brought wife Helen because they were celebrating their 64th wedding anniversary that day.

A Nov. 4, 2005 BJ Alums article had a 1974 photo of Art and Helen enjoying a double celebration: Art’s induction into the BJ 25-Year Club on their 32nd wedding anniversary.

Click on the headline to see photos of Art and Helen Cullison.

Remember, to contact Art, it’s

3900 Riggs Avenue
Longhouse Room 204
Erlanger, KY 41018

Telephone: 859-342-4018

Email: alcullison@insightbb.com

Curt Brown to give recital January 31

Former Beacon Journal reporter  J. Curt Brown, Organist/Music Director of New Life Episcopal Church. will have an organ recital Sunday, January 31, at the New Life Episcopal Church, 13118 Church Ave. NW, Uniontown.  The recital from 4 to 5 p.m. will be feature works by J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Louis Vierne and Dale Wood performed on Rodgers Organ. Reception will follow in fellowship hall.

Manchester native among 7 CIA agents killed

An Akron area ( Manchester)  native, 39-year-old Scott Michael Roberson,.  was among seven CIA officers killed in a suicide bombing Wednesday in Afghanistan, the family told the Cleveland Plain Dealer after receiving CIA oermission to grieve publicly.

A public memorial service is planned in Akron, his sister, Amy Messner of Cuyahoga Falls said.

The PD had 16 graphs and a photo of Roberson posted at 8:36 p.m. Saurday on Cleveland.com.  The Beacon Journal used a 69-word item under FirstWORD on page A1 Sunday

Click on the headline to read the PD story by Amanda Garrett.

Goodbye newspapers (from a September 2009 post)

A Sept. 2, 2009 BJ Alums blog story quoted a Princeton study about the effects of newspapers' decline on government corruption when there's no spotlight exposing their shady dealings by newspapers. It used the death of one of the two major newspapers in Cincinnati as a case study. Click on the headline to read the blog report.

Click here to download a PDF file on the Princeton University report.



Basically, as the "Goodbye newspapers is a change for worse"-headlined blog item below indicates, politicians and bureaucrats had a field day when Cincinnati lost the competitive incentive as a one-newspaper town.  The same could happen nationally.
 
Our nation's founders realized the importance of a vibrant and free press in keeping the crooks, political and otherwise, on their toes. That's why these really wise guys made freedom of the press the First Amendment.
 
The crooks, political and otherwise, are licking their chops at the prospect of doing their dirty work without having some newspaper reporter checking into their skulduggery. 

Who needs newspapers? We all do. Without newspapers, even with the other media still around, we will all pay the price for not having a cat around while the mice run amok.

Goodbye newspapers is a change for worse

Larry Froelich, former BJ copy desk chief, has called our attention to a fabulous story in the March, 2009 issue of New Republi\c.  The headline reveals the erssence of the story

Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers 
(Hello to a New Era of Corruption)
Why American politics and society 
are about to be changed for the worse.

It is a long article, but you should click on the headline to read it all.  Here are a few quotes we picked out in a quick read.

We take newspapers for granted. They have been so integral a part of daily life in America, so central to politics and culture and business, and so powerful and profitable in their own right, that it is easy to forget what a remarkable historical invention they are. Public goods are notoriously under-produced in the marketplace, and news is a public good--and yet, since the mid-nineteenth century, newspapers have produced news in abundance at a cheap price to readers and without need of direct subsidy.

More than any other medium, newspapers have been our eyes on the state, our check on private abuses, our civic alarm systems. It is true that they have often failed to perform those functions as well as they should have done. But whether they can continue to perform them at all is now in doubt.

News coverage is not all that newspapers have given us. They have lent the public a powerful means of leverage over the state, and this leverage is now at risk. If we take seriously the notion of newspapers as a fourth estate or a fourth branch of government, the end of the age of newspapers implies a change in our political system itself. Newspapers have helped to control corrupt tendencies in both government and business. If we are to avoid a new era of corruption, we are going to have to summon that power in other ways. Our new technologies do not retire our old responsibilities

The devastation is already substantial. At the Los Angeles Times, the cumulative effect of cutbacks has been to reduce its newsroom by one-half--and that was before its parent company, Tribune, declared bankruptcy. Another company weighed down by debt, the McClatchy chain, which includes The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald, and twenty-eight other dailies, has laid off one-quarter of its workforce in the past year; according to one executive, the editorial downsizing is under 20 percent but is now cutting "close to the bone."

Newspapers are also shrinking in numbers of pages, breadth of news coverage, features of various kinds, and home delivery of print editions. All over America, as newspaper revenues plummet--by the end of 2008, ad sales were down about 25 percent from three years earlier--publishers cannot seem to shed editors, reporters, and sections of their papers fast enough. And there is more pain to come.

Should we care? Some observers, confident of the blessings of technology, refuse to shed any tears for the traditional giants of journalism, on the grounds that their troubles are of their own making and of little consequence to the general welfare. In this view, regardless of whether newspapers successfully adapt to the Internet, new and better sources of news will continue developing online, and they will fill whatever void newspapers leave. Others are so angry at the mainstream media--the reviled "MSM"--that they see the economic misery of the press as a deserved comeuppance. Let the bastards suffer.

These reactions fail to take into account the immediate realities and the full ramifications of the crisis threatening newspaper journalism.

Whether the Internet will ever support general-interest journalism at a level comparable to newspapers, it would be foolish to predict. The reality is that resources for journalism are now disappearing from the old media faster than new media can develop them.

One danger of reduced news coverage is to the integrity of government. It is not just a speculative proposition that corruption is more likely to flourish when those in power have less reason to fear exposure. The World Bank produces an annual index of political corruption around the world, based on surveys of people who do business in each country. In a study published in 2003 in The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Alicia Adsera, Carles Boix, and Mark Payne examine the relationship between corruption and "free circulation of daily newspapers per person" (a measure of both news circulation and freedom of the press). Controlling for economic development, type of legal system, and other factors, they find a very strong association: the lower the free circulation of newspapers in a country, the higher it stands on the corruption index.

 Using different measures, they also find a similar relationship across states within the United States: the lower the news circulation, the greater the corruption. Another analysis published in 2006, a historical account by the economists Matthew Gentzkow, Edward L. Glaeser, and Claudia Goldin, suggests that the growth of a more information-oriented press may have been a factor in reducing government corruption in the United States between the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.

These developments raise practical questions for anyone concerned about the future of American democracy. If the traditional ways of sustaining professional journalism are insufficient, what models are there to support the genuinely vital public functions that the press has traditionally performed?

For the past three hundred years, newspapers have been able to develop and flourish partly because their readers have almost never paid the full cost of production.

Former K-R editor, Guild leader Howell killed

Deborah Howell, a pioneering journalist who helped lead both major Twin Cities newspapers in the 1970s and '80s and later served as ombudsman for the Washington Post, died Friday after being hit by a car in New Zealand, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said.

Coleman, who is Howell's stepson, said the family received word that Howell, who was fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit New Zealand, was struck as she crossed a street near Blenheim, New Zealand. She was traveling with her husband, C. Peter Magrath, former president of the University of Minnesota.

Howell, 68, was city editor and later an assistant managing editor of the Minneapolis Star in the 1970s, and managing editor and executive editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press in the 1980s. Under her leadership, the Pioneer Press, then owned by Knight-Ridder, won two Pulitzer Prizes.

“She was a powerful force for good journalism," Coleman said.

While city editor at the Minneapolis Star, Howell also led the paper's Newspaper Guild unit. Later, when she moved from a union position to management, Howell said she "had to screw my head on a different way. But I think I was a better manager because I had been a union type, because I knew what it was we needed to do."

Click on the headline to read the Minneapolis Star-Tribune article.

An annual report to our faithful blog viewers

This year roughly 438 items were posted on the blog and we had 46,466 visitors or an average of 3,872 per month or 129 per day.

The busiest week this year was March 6 with an average 157 visitors a day or 1,096 for the week.

The leanest week was July 4 with an average of 106 visitors a day or 739 for the week.,

A look back:

To see how the blog has grown, check out this December 31, 2005 post:

The BJ Retirees blog (web log) has caught on with some of you. We are averaging 28 visitors a day or nearly 200 each week. There have been more than 8,350 visitors since the blog started in July, 2004. There were only 1,120 visits in 2004 (the first six months) and 7,180 visits this year alone. There have been 349 items posted on the blog since the beginning including 88 the first six months and 259 this year. Visitors have taken a look at more than 11,000 pages on the blog since July 2004.

A bit of Blog History:

Harry Liggett,  a March, 1995 retiree of the News Desk,  started keeping a list that year of email addressess of retired and former BJ employees.  A corrected list was emailed each month along with obits and other BJ news. As the list grew, bulk mailing became cumbersone and also did not allow use of photos., A blog (web log)  was opened in July, 2004.  We have  viewers from LA, D.C.,  New York, Paris, Canada, New Zealand and other points around the globe..   News of Beacon Journal alums  along with. breaking news and photos about the Beacon Journal and other news media is posted daily  to the blog. Our website, established in September, 2006,  is used for longer items and commentary.  The name of the  blog and  website originally was BJ Retirees, The name was changed to BJ Alums on October 14, 2008 to better reflect our viewers.
Records:: 100,000th visit was October 31, 2008.  The 1776 post entered same day.

The number of visitors by month during the last year of this decade::

January    4,146
February    4,056
March    4,681
April    3,996
May    4,044
June    3,904
July    3,605
August    3,435
September    3,624
October    3,751
November    3,675
December    3,549

FROM YOUR FAVORITE BLOG

Our faithful departed in 2009

Here is a hurried glance back at those faithful departed BJ types. Their obituaries were among more than 450 posts on this blog during the year. Our record keeping has been lacking of late so if we missed anyone, please let us know.  The departed:

Cleveland Phillips Jan. 20
WAKR’s Jerry Healey Feb 8
Barbara Patterson, wife of Jack, March 17
Robert Kamenar, freelance photographer, March 22
Ernest Infield, Wooster Record columnist, March 28
Watson Blanton March 25
Robert Cull, father of Mike, April 4
Nancy (Lile) Wise May 27
Paul Haney, voice of NASA, May 28
Bill Kennedy July 20       
Armand Lear June 5
Virginia Berger, wife of Bill, Aug. 5
Kevin Jackson, son of Gary, Aug. 6
Olga O'Neil Aug. 22
Stephen Schleis, father of Paula, Oct11
Terry Dray Oct. 25
Trammel Hogg Nov. 15
Kevin Vest, statistician, Nov. 18
Bob Nold Dec. 20

Miami Herald land sale uncertain

The status of a long-delayed sale of parking lots around The Miami Herald remains unclear as a contract deadline looms.

A contract to sell 10 acres of parking lots surrounding The Miami Herald's bayfront headquarters is set to expire Dec. 31, but it remained uncertain whether developer Mark Siffin would complete the long-delayed purchase.

McClatchy Co., the parent of The Miami Herald Media Co., said Wednesday that it had ``no news to report'' on the status of the contract to sell the property.

The deal was first reached in March 2005 at the peak of South Florida's real estate boom. At the time, Knight Ridder, the Herald's previous owner, agreed to sell the surface parking lots and the Boulevard Shops on Biscayne Boulevard to a group led by Miami developer Pedro Martin for $190 million.

Martin's group later agreed to flip most of the 10 acres to Siffin for at least $230 million, though the price to McClatchy would remain at $190 million. McClatchy acquired Knight Ridder in June 2006.

Siffin, who heads Maefield Development in Indianapolis, didn't return phone calls seeking comment. He has approval from Miami officials to build a big-box shopping center called City Square on the parkinglot site and also plannedto build a parking garagefor the nearby performing arts center.

On Dec. 8, McClatchy management told a UBS investors conference the land sale remained uncertain. Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and chief executive officer, told investors at that time ``We hope the buyer will be able to close this deal, but if that doesn't happen we are entitled to a $6 million termination fee on top of the nonrefundable deposit of $10 million we have already collected. We are in discussions with the buyer now and will let our investors know when this matter is resolved.''

On Wednesday, Elaine Lintecum, McClatchy's treasurer, said the company has no additional news to report.

McClatchy, which has been hit hard by the bleak advertising environment, planned to use the proceeds of the sale to reduce debt.

70% pay raise, but not for Cathy Strong

Posted on Cathy Strong's Facebook page:

How'd you like 70% increase in your pay? That's what was announced this week. So Govt undersecretaries are making US$18k a month. But only for Emirates!! Poor me.

= = = = = = = =

The "pay" includes 40% actual wages and 60% for benefits in the United Arab Emirate, where Cathy

is a communication and media sciences professor at Zayed University in Dubai. The United Arab Emirate is in the Middle East. For decades, former BJ reporter Cathy did similar work in New Zealand.

Click on the headline to read The National story on the pay raises, but only for United Arab Emirate citizens.

United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven independent states in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the Persian Gulf to the north, Saudi Arabia to the south and west, and Oman and the Gulf of Oman to the east. Its seven member states are Abu Dhabi (Abu Zaby), ´Ajman, Dubay, Al Fujayrah, Ra´s al Khaymah, Ash Shariqah, and Umm al Qaywayn.

See other Cathy Strong posts

Cathy Strong, Pam McCarthy plan reunion in Boston

From Cathy Strong's Facebook writing on Charlene Nevada's Wall:

Cathy Robinson Strong wrote:

You ever get up to Boston? I'm there mid-January and Pam McCarthy is coming up to see me. Wicked!!! You should join us.

= = = = = =

Cathy and Pam both are former BJ staffers with State Desk reporting experience. Cathy spent decades in New Zealand working for various media and snowboarding before going to Dubai, United Arab Emirate, to teach journalism. Pam retired from Hoover High after decades of teaching journalism and English.

Charlene, married to former BJ art chief Art Krummel, also is a former BJ reporter.

For previous BJ Alums blog stories on both Cathy and Pam, click on the headline.

Know where Paul Facinelli is today? Tell us.

If you know where Paul Facinelli is today, please email John Olesky at

jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net

or Harry Liggett at

hliggett@sbcglobal.net

We'd love to hear Paul talk today about his experiences and the outcome of the Head Start sex abuse cases.

Thank you.

Click on the headline to read previous posts on Facinelli and how he was affected by his pursuit of justice.

Pete Geiger's recollections of Paul Facinelli during Elyria exit

I got this email from former BJ reporter Pete Geiger after he read the BJ Alums blog post about Paul Facinelli being fired over his pursuit of justice in his Head Start convictions investigation (the convictions were overturned this year after two people spent 14 years in jail):

John,
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and Paula. I surely hope you're as hale and hearty as you look in your occasional BJ Alums blog photos.

A little on Paul that Andrew Putz couldn't know:

Facinelli was instrumental in getting me my one-year job at the Chronicle-Telegram when Sandy and I were on sabbatical from Mongolia in the 1997-'98 school year. He told former managing editor Rudy Dicks, "What? Pete Geiger's available? Snap him up!" Dicks did.

Facinelli was in-line for an award (Cleveland Press Club? I don't recall.) for his columns insisting on the innocence of Smith and Allen. A Lorain County bulldog assistant prosecutor named Jonathan E. Rosenbaum wrote to the award committee, telling them Facinelli wasn't worth their consideration because he, Rosenbaum, after all had won convictions. Facinelli was incensed; who wouldn't be?

Unfortunately, Paul went to a putatively hungry lawyer who urged him to sue Rosenburg. When the suit was filed, editor Andy Young fired Paul.

Paul (who was cleaning out his desk) came to me when I showed up early the next morning for work.

"Pete, did I do the wrong thing?" he asked. I told him I was a strong admirer of his writing and of his championing of Smith and Allen. I was also in his debt for helping me to get my sabbatical gig, I said. But, yes, I told him, he was wrong. He should have talked to Young or to the rest of us in the newsroom before listening to the lawyer.

His face fell and he turned back to his boxes.

There were no happy faces at the C-T for weeks because of Facinelli's departure. It was the saddest damn thing in the year before Sandy and I returned to Asia.
Pete

= = = = = = = =

Pete & wife Sandy live in the St. Augustine, Florida area, where they settled after returning to the USA because of Sandy's health problems.

To see the original story about Facinelli, click on the headline.

The story of Paul Facinelli's obsession and firing

Andrew Putz has a fascinating tale in the 2001 Cleveland Scene about how former Beacon Journal reporter Paul Facinelli got involved with investigating child sexual abuse convictions in the Head Start program for the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. It cost him his career. He was fired in 1998. Facinelli was convinced that the convictions were wrong.

After the firing, Facinelli taught math to ninth-graders at Jane Addams Business Career Center on Cleveland's East Side, his days as a well-read columnist fading fast in his rear-view mirror.

In June 2009 Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James Burge overturned the convictions of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen. Burge, after reviewing the trial transcript and court records as Facinelli did, said that he had “absolutely no confidence” in the original guilty verdicts. The two spent nearly 14 years in prison.

On Dec. 2, 2009 Lorain County prosecutors asked the 9th District Court of Appeals to overturn the acquittal.

In 2008 Jonathan Rosenbaum, who prosecuted the cases as chief assistant Lorain County prosecutor, was shot in the back by his son and paralyzed while skeet shooting. Rosenbaum was paralyzed and today is a private attorney handling civil cases.

Former BJ news editor Dave Boerner put me on the trail of the extensive details of the Facinelli story. I didn't see Dave's email till Paula and I returned from a 15-day Panama Canal cruise, my ninth since my Beacon Journal retirement. More on that, with photos, in a few days.

Back to Facinelli.

To read the long and complicated story by Putz, click on the headline.

A nice Christmas story on CNN

Click on the headline to read a nice Chrismas story about the Modest Needs Foundation, a.grass-roots charity that pools thousands of small donations to help people get through short-term financial crises. Donors direct their dollars to the requests they want to fund

The story is by Jim Kavanagh, former BJ copy desk chief, whp now writes for CNN

Mary Beth Breckenridge, still working in the trenches at the BJ, called attention to the stor.y

Retired BJ sports writer Bob Nold dies at 78

Robert L. Nold, 78, died unexpectedly Dec. 20, 2009.

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, he lived over 40 years in the Akron area. He received his B.S. in Journalism from the University of Kansas. During his tenure with the Akron Beacon Journal, he was inducted into the Akron Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions in support of amateur sports. Bob was a member of the American Baseball Writers Association and a voting member for the Hall of Fame inductees. He retired from the Akron Beacon Journal in 1996 and during his retirement he enjoyed traveling, spending time with his grandchildren and socializing with friends. He was a member of Woodland United Methodist Church.

Mr. Nold is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Autumn Delight; sons, Robert B. (Donna), Philip C. (Deborah) and Michael J. (Vivien); grandchildren, Brian, Laura, Alyssa, Kimberly, David, Sarah and Anna; and brother, John R. Nold.

A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Wednesday at Woodland United Methodist Church, with Rev. Debbie Gibbons officiating. Friends may call at the church one hour before services. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Woodland United Methodist Church, 444 N. Hawkins Ave., Akron 44313 or the Special Olympics, 1133 19th St. NW, 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20036-3604.

[Beacon Journal, Akron, OH,Tuesday, December 22, 2009, page B5, col. 3]

Merry Christmas from your favorite blog

For your nostalgic Christmas–or if you have a child asking if Santa is for real–we present this book cover and remind you of the most famous ever editorial..

Each year we recall the old New York Sun editorial: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”  This year we have added three photos and a biography of Virginia.  Just click on the headline to go there.

Now about the book cover. It’s an Akron original.

Saalfied Publishing Co. published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world.

The company was founded in 1900 in Akron by Arthur J. Saalfield who had come to take charge of the Werner Company's publishing department. During its flourishing, the company published the works of authors including Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger, P. T. Barnum, Daniel Defoe, Colonel George Durston, Laura Lee Hope, Herman Melville, Dr. Seuss, Anna Sewell, Shirley Temple, Johanna Spyri, Mark Twain, Johann Rudolf Wyss, and Robert Sidney Bowen. The company also published educational toys and games, including the game Blockhead!.

Among the artists employed by Saalfield was noted illustrator Ethel Hays. She worked on a variety of the company's juvenile titles, including Peter Rabbit, The Night Before Christmas, and The Little Red Hen. Her most notable work came after Saalfield had secured the license from the Johnny Gruelle Company in 1944 to produce Raggedy Anne and Andy material.

In April 1977 Saalfield Publishing Company shut down, and its library and archives were purchased by Kent State University.


If the kids want to hear about the Night Before Christmas, just click on Santa to see a video.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Helen and Harry Liggett in Akron, OH

McClatchy ad revenue is improving, says Pruitt

Advertising revenue is “finally” improving for the McClatchy Co., and all of its 30 daily newspapers are profitable, including The Sacramento Bee, chief executive Gary Pruitt said this month.

At the same time, the Sacramento-based company will continue to “look for every opportunity to reduce expenses,” he said.

Fourth-quarter ad revenue is expected to be down about 20 to 25 percent from a year ago. That’s bad, but much better than the 28 percent decline in the third quarter and 30-percent-plus drop in the second quarter, compared to a year ago.

At The Bee, meanwhile, a new round of labor negotiations got under way in November between the newspaper’s management and newsroom employees. On the line for employees are salaries, severance, job security and work hours.

From the employees’ perspective, “there’s a lot to be upset about” with management’s initial proposal, said Ed Fletcher, the Guild’s Sacramento unit chair.

Fletcher said the proposal would allow The Bee to reduce full-time employees into part-time workers, and trim the severance pay cap from 40 weeks to 26, making layoffs less expensive. If a veteran reporter was laid off, for example, the company could save $10,000 under the proposal.

And while McClatchy recently announced it would lift a companywide wage freeze, Fletcher said all raises are subject to ongoing bargaining.

It took a year for employees at The Bee’s sister paper in Modesto to ratify its contract, he said. “Nobody’s trying to drag it out,” he said. “There are complicated and important issues on the table.”

[Source: Sacramento Business Journal]

Huffington lists job losses: No. 7 is news media

Huffington Post  this week  posted a feature on the 10 industries expected to suffer the biggest job loss in the coming decade. Naturally news media  ranked high –Number 7with an anticipated 25 per cent drop in jobs to 245,000 by 2020.


 Much of the disappearing employment has to do with "services" that meant so much to us in earlier years. For example, fewer postal carriers will mean no Saturday delivery; decline in gas station attendants who no longer pump gas, clean windshields or check oil as it is; fewer department store clerks - Ever try to find help or pay for something? The list goes on and on.

Click on the headline to go to the article on Huffinton post about newspapers and then move to the next or previous top 10 listings to learn more about each one.

Also see our earlier story by Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher.

Strupp lists E&P as #10 on his top stories

By JOE STRUPP
Editor & Publisher 
NEW YORK Another year of changes for the newspaper industry-- and, not to mention, E&P. We saw mobile sprint forward, print decrease, employees give back, and some familiar faces depart. Still, the news is being delivered and the newsrooms continue to hum, in most places, even at reduced volume.

With that, my annual list of the Top Ten Newspaper Industry Stories of The Year:

10. E&P SHUTDOWN - Sadly, we are part of the list this year with E&P shutting down after 125 years. At the moment, talks are continuing to possibly keep us going. But if they do not prove successful, this industry "bible" will cease to exist after more than a century of chronicling everything from newspaper sales to the Pulitzer Prizes. Here's hoping it has a happy ending.

9. PULITZER PRIZE WEB EXPANSION - This marked the first year the Pulitzers accepted entries from web-only news outlets, drawing 65 entries from 37 Web sites. The Pulitzer board also acknowledged Web winners like never before, giving its national reporting prize to the St. Petersburg Times for its Politifact Web site. Politico, a predominantly Web news outlet, also was given a finalist nod. Just last month, meanwhile, the Pulitzer Board voted to allow even more Web-only entries, changing its rules for 2010 to lift the requirement that they come from sites devoted to original reporting. Bloggers, come on in!

8. EDITORIAL CARTOONIST CUTS - These artists have been losing newspaper jobs for years, but 2009 found some of the biggest cutbacks with at least 30 cartoonists forced out. Among those losing their jobs were: John Branch of the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News; Don Wright of The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post; Jim Borgman of The Cincinnati Enquirer; and Bill Day at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. David Horsey, who won a Pulitzer in 1999 and 2003, lost his job when the Seattle Post-Intelligencer went Web-only.

7. BOSTON GUILD SHAKE-UP - The Boston Globe unit of The Newspaper Guild had a bitter contract fight as The New York Times Company, its owner, sought $10 million in concessions. The union rejected one salary reduction proposal, but eventually approved another. Even that didn't end its troubles as Guild President Dan
Totten, criticized by some for poor handling of the talks, was removed from office after he allegedly broke several union policies, including charging personal expenses to a guild credit card.

6. TOP EDITORS LEAVING - A string of top newspaper editors left their jobs, and in most cases the newspaper industry. Departures in 2009 included: Ken Paulson at USA Today; John Mancini at Newsday; Jim Willse at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.; Sandra Mims Rowe at The Oregonian in Portland; Karin Winner of The San Diego Union-Tribune; Ron Royhab of The Blade in Toledo; Janet Coats of The Tampa Tribune; Michael Cooke at the Chicago Sun-Times; Cliff Teutsch of the Hartford Courant; and John Solomon of The Washington Times. Decades of experience and institutional knowledge out the door.

5. DETROIT CUTS FREQUENCY - Both the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News dropped a bombshell on the industry in March when they cut back home delivery to three days per week. That meant only the Thursday, Friday and Sunday editions would be dropped on doorsteps. Single-copy sales remained seven-days, but the decision is clearly a move away from print that others are likely to follow.

4. DENVER, SEATTLE BECOME ONE-NEWSPAPER TOWNS - The Rocky Mountain News succumbed to a long-running battle with The Denver Post, while The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave up its print version to
The Seattle Times. Although a Web version of the P-I continues, its staff is a shadow of what it was. In both cases, the paper in control of the former joint-operating agreement came out ahead. In a related note, the Christian Science Monitor went web-only.

3. BANKRUPTCIES - Journal Register Company and Sun-Times Media Group emerged from bankruptcy, while Freedom Communications and Philadelphia Media Holdings entered that difficult world. The Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, American Community Newspapers, and alternative chain Creative Loafing went in and out of bankruptcy, while Tribune Company is still there. But, on a good note, newspaper stocks began a comeback after hitting historic lows. Let's hope that continues.

2. FURLOUGH FANATICS- After cutting jobs for years, newspapers turned to unpaid furloughs more than ever in 2009 as a way to cut costs, but not people. Gannett, MediaGeneral, Advance Publications, and Lee Enterprises were among the chains that forced the no-money vacations, along with several McClatchy and MediaNews Group papers. Even The New York Times instituted them, then later offered buyouts. The furlough craze even prompted the creation of a Web site devoted to connecting furloughed employees who wanted to trade homes during their week off, www.furloughhouseswap.com.

1. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS - More than 40,000 newspaper jobs were lost in 2009, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is nearly twice the 21,000 cut in 2008 and more than any single year in the past 10 years. Even with furloughs, salary cuts and numerous retirement fund freezes, publishers lopped off a tragic number of positions, even as they sought to expand online and, of course, increase workloads for those who remain. The count at the end of 2009 is 284,220 jobs. In 1999, that number was at 424,500. If things don't slow down, any attempt to properly cover news, and write and edit it, will be lost if it hasn't been already.

Former BJ staffers land at SportsInk.com

Two Akron Beacon Journal alumni have joined SportsInk.com, an Internet sports news site, .

Dave Wilson of Cuyahoga Falls, former deputy copy desk chief and deputy metro editor at the Beacon Journal, and Cindy Robinson of Mogadore, a retail sales manager and local ad director, both started their new positions in December.

“I’m really excited about being here,” Wilson said. “We’ve been seeing for several years that the trend in journalism, particularly in online journalism, is toward microreporting. And that’s what we do here at SportsInk.com. It’s true microjournalism.”

“There are a lot of great stories that go untold in high school sports,” Wilson said. “We want to tell those stories, and tell them well, with the kind of attention the larger media can’t devote to high school sports.”

SportsInk.com., which focuses on high school sports in Summit and Medina counties, kicked off in the fall of 2009.

Robinson, a 2003 nominee for the James K. Batten Knight Ridder Excellence Award, was GM of Targeted Publications and helped spearhead bundled packages of print and online advertising for the Beacon Journal.  She sees a tremendous niche market.

 “Personally, I saw my kids' disappointment with the lack of local coverage of high school sports. This disappointment was echoed by their teammates, their coaches and their parents and crossed over to every sporting activity,” Robinson said. “At regional and state events, this sentiment was consistent with folks who lived in other parts of the state as well.

 “In the business world, I knew from my relationships with local and regional businesses they were seeking a way to reach out to this age group and traditional methods were not providing desired results.

“SportsInk.om is the perfect venue for both.  As a parent, I am excited because I can help to provide a local web site that offers ‘the inside story’ about our local high school athletes,” Robinson said. “As the sales manager, I can offer businesses a solution to their needs.”

SportsInk.com covers 35 high schools in 15 sports among five conferences in Summit and Medina counties.  The site is owned by Sports Reporting Technologies LLC, an Akron , firm that developed the web site platform through which SportsInk.com operates.

According to President Angela Charles, SportsInk.com is the pilot site for what the company hopes to become a national effort.  “We envision there being many SportsInk.coms across the country in areas that are underserved by existing media.   Our business model is to provide an affordable platform to individual entrepreneurs, small newspapers and radio stations that want to provide comprehensive high school coverage, but lack the financial wherewithal for the required technology investment.”

Sports Reporting Technologies plans to begin licensing its SportSiteWare™ platform in 2010, she said.       

Fed Report: Newspaper jobs to decline 25% by 2018

By JOE STRUPP
Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018. Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses.

BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop.

"I suspect what has happened in recent years has a big influence on how they predict the future," said newspaper analyst John Morton. "I don't know how they base those predictions. It is an unknown. A lot of it is going to depend on how the newspaper industry comes out of the recession and how successful they are in translating their business onto the Internet."

BLS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, said the prediction is not a surprise: "That is consistent with what has been happening the past three years. But I don't think the next three years will be as bad."

Expected newspaper job losses ranked behind only department stores, semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing, motor vehicle parts, postal services, printing, and cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing.

"One thing that would be supportive of newspaper employment is that 70% of daily newspapers have circulation under 50,000," Morton added. "Those kinds of newspapers have suffered far less than big city papers have. Going forward, they will suffer less."

Just for Fun Year-end Letter

Miami Herald asks online readers for donations

The Miami Herald began Tuesday asking readers of its Web site to voluntarily pay for the privilege, a new wrinkle in newspapers' ongoing battle to increase revenue from their online operations.

A link at the bottom of online stories directed readers to a separate page that accepts credit card information. A short message thanks them for making the site "South Florida's most-read news destination on the web," and asks them to support the content.

The McClatchy Co. newspaper has cut hundreds of employees in recent years as the weekday circulation of its print edition has fallen by almost 25 percent in the last year to about 163,000 and 14 percent on Sundays to about 238,000, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. By comparison, the paper says 5 million different readers visit its Web site each month.

"Miamiherald.com features all the coverage of The Miami Herald's award-winning print edition, plus breaking news and multimedia extras including video, audio, slideshows and searchable databases," the message reads. "If you value The Miami Herald's local news reporting and investigations, but prefer the convenience of the Internet, please consider a voluntary payment for the web news that matters to you."

Click on the headline to read the Associated Press story.

Oblander's son gets MBA

Comment by Terry Oblander stolen from a facebook entry:

Sunday was a day of celebration for the Oblanders. Our oldest son, Terry, received his master's degree in business administration from the University of Akron. He earned the degree while working long days and taking MBA courses on weekends. We're proud.

Letter to BJ retirees on insurance

December 9, 2009

Re: 2010 health care coverage

The rising cost of health care continues to be a problem for employers with no apparent end in sight.

Recently, we received the 2010 rates from Aetna. The rates were a 57% increase over the cost for 2009. We were expecting an increase but in a range several times less than what was presented.

The good news is that the Beacon Journal will not pass on to you any of the increase for 2010. Your current benefits and costs will remain unchanged for 2010.

If you have questions or want more information, please contact Karen Jones at 330-9963183 or me at 330-996-3184.

Very truly yours, 

 

 

Aaron Burr
Director of Human Resources

The reality about newspapers

By John F. Sturm

In the past two years, the newspaper business has faced unprecedented financial challenges. The economic meltdown and advertising recession have hit our industry hard. But make no mistake about this: newspaper media – print and digital – remains strong and will emerge from the current environment an even stronger multi-platform force.

Here is the reality about newspapers today:

1. Myth: No one reads newspapers anymore.
Reality: More than 104 million adults read a print newspaper every day, more than 115 million on Sundays. That’s more people than watch the Super Bowl (94 million), American Idol (23 million) or that typically watch the late local news (65 million).
 
2. Myth: Young people no longer read newspapers.
Reality: 61 percent of 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds read a newspaper in an average week and 65 percent of them read a newspaper or visited a newspaper website in the past week.

3. Myth: Newspaper readership is tanking.
Reality: Average weekday newspaper readership declined a mere 1.8 percent between 2007 and 2008, and about 7 percent since its peak in 2002. Compare that to the 10 percent decline seen in the prime time TV audience in 2007 alone. Meanwhile, newspapers’ Web audience has grown nearly 75 percent since 2004, to 73 million unique visitors a month.
 
4. Myth: Many newspapers are going out of business.
Reality: Newspapers, as individual businesses, by and large remain profitable enterprises – with operating margins that Wall Street analysts estimate will generally average in the low to mid teens during 2009. While that may be down from historical highs, such margins would be the envy of many other industries today. As consultant John Morton said in a recent American Journalism Review article, "Overall, the beleaguered newspaper industry's financial health has been weakened but remains healthy by most measures. In this environment, that is an achievement."
 
5. Myth: Newspaper advertising doesn’t work.
Reality: Google’s own research shows that 56 percent of consumers researched or purchased products they saw in a newspaper. Google also says that newspaper advertising reinforces online ads: 52 percent are more likely to buy products if they see it in the paper.

6. Myth: There are no creative options in newspapers.
Reality: Newspaper advertising options have exploded and now include shape and polybag ads, post-it notes, “we prints,” shingle spadeas, scented ads, taste-it ads, glow-in-the-dark, belly bands and temporary tattoos, as well as event and database marketing, behavioral targeting, e-mail blasts, e-newsletters and more.
 
7. Myth: If newspapers close, you will still be able to get news from other sources.
Reality: Newspapers make a larger investment in journalism than any other medium. Most of the information you read from “aggregators” and other media originated with newspapers. No amount of effort from local bloggers, non-profit news entities or TV news sources could match the depth and breadth of newspaper-produced content.
 
This is not a portrait of a dying industry. It’s illustrative of transformation. Newspapers are reinventing themselves to focus on serving distinct audiences with a variety of products, and delivering those audiences effectively to advertisers across media channels.
 
For more on the power of newspaper media, visit www.newspapermedia.com.

John F. Sturm is president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America.

NY Times may lay off fewer than 26

The New York Times is preparing to lay off as many as 26 Guild members.

Thanks to a last-minute surge of buyout volunteers before the Dec. 7 deadline, fewer will have to be fired than was feared.

Late yesterday, the Newspaper Guild said that the Times had accepted 74 buyout applications, including 60 from the unionized ranks and another 14 from the non-union staff and management.

Click on the headline to read more in the New York Post.

Editor & Publisher to cease publication after 125 Years

By Shawn Moynihan
NEW YORK Editor & Publisher, the bible of the newspaper industry and a journalism institution that traces its origins back to 1884, is ceasing publication.

An announcement, made by parent company The Nielsen Co., was made Thursday morning as staffers were informed that E&P, in both print and online, was shutting down.

The expressions of surprise and outpouring of strong support for E&P that have followed across the Web -- Editor & Publisher has even hit No. 4 as a Twitter trending topic -- raise the notion that the publication might yet continue in some form.

Nielsen Business Media, of which E&P was a part, has forged a deal with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a new company formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, including E&P sister magazines Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. E&P was not included in this transaction.

As news spread of E&P's fate, the staffers have been inundated with calls from members of the industry it covers, and many others, expressing shock and hopes for a revival. Staff members will stay on for the remainder of 2009.

Greg Mitchell, editor since 2002, has hailed the staff and accomplishments, including a dozen major awards and strong showing on the Web for many years. Some staff writers/editors have been at E&P for a quarter of a century. "I'm shocked that a way was not found for the magazine to continue it some form -- and remain hopeful that this may still occur," he said.

Editor & Publisher was launched in 1901 but traces its history to 1884 -- it merged with the magazine The Journalist, which had started on that earlier date.

Staff members can be contacted at:

gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com
cmckeown@editorandpublisher.com
smoynihan@editorandpublisher.com
jsaba@editorandpublisher.com
mfitzgerald@editorandpublisher.com
jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com
jrosenberg@editorandpublisher.com
rmatsuo@editorandpublisher.com


[Published December 10, 2009 in Editor & Publisher]

Mark these words about TV journalists

Mark Dawidziak, former BJ type, writes in his Plain Dealer column about  Cleveland as a stepping stone for TV journalists. Click on the headline to read the article.  Jim Kavanagh, another former BJ type, called our attention to the Dawidziak piece.  Jim is now a TV journalist at CNN.

McClatchy may join Kindle rival venture

Miami Herald Wire Report

Five of the nation's largest news publishers plan to challenge Amazon.com's Kindle electronic-book reader with their own digital format. Time, News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith announced Tuesday they will develop a format that rivals Kindle's gray ``electronic ink.''

It promises to emphasize visuals, retaining the distinctive look of each publication, as compared to the text-oriented Kindle. The Kindle has been available since 2007. Electronic books, newspapers and other publications that Amazon sells for the Kindle will only work with that device. 

McClatchy, publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, may consider joining such a venture, said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chief executive officer.

5 attend BJ Retirees lunch

Wikipedia founder fears internet effects

Larry Sanger has made his living on the Internet. He co-founded Wikipedia, one of the world’s top 10 Web sites with more than 65 million visitors monthly, and he now leads two other ambitious online projects. So why does he fear what the Internet is doing to our minds and those of our children?  

Click on the headline to see article.

McClatchy to lift wage freeze

The McClatchy Co. said today it's lifting a wage freeze that's been in effect for more than a year.

Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive of The Bee's parent, announced the news in a memo to employees. He said the freeze will be lifted at different times at each newspaper, depending on the "financial performance and challenges at each individual paper."

The wage freeze, imposed in September 2008, was one of a series of cost-cutting moves the Sacramento-based newspaper chain has taken to cope with a devastating drop in revenue. The Bee, for instance, has trimmed more than one fourth of its work force and cut most workers' pay by 6 percent. 

McClatchy is still struggling and Pruitt said 2010 may bring "additional expense cuts." In the third quarter, total revenue fell 23.1 percent from a year earlier. But he said McClatchy is "successfully navigating through these difficult economic times." 

[Source: Sacramento Bee]

Jim Lehrer: His standards for reporting

Given that its audience is only about 2.7 million, an awful lot of people missed Friday's final PBS newcast carrying the name "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Toward the end, the anchor shared the guidelines for what he called MacNeil/Lehrer journalism, and they're worth sharing with everyone:

-- Do nothing I cannot defend.

-- Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.

-- Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.

-- Assume the viewer is as smart and as caring and as good a person as I am. Assume the same about all people on whom I report.

-- Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise.

-- Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories, and clearly label everything.

-- Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.

-- I am not in the entertainment business.

For nearly a half-century, both as individual reporters and as a broadcast team, Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer have left many gifts for their profession. Foremost among them is what this list embodies: a high bar.