Monday, April 27, 2009

Elmira Confidential: Issue 04.27.09

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9 comments:

  1. Good bye.

    It's transition time for the Star-Gazette
    Our mission remains local news, despite changes and staff cuts
    Lois Wilson • April 26, 2009

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    Chinese proverb: Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome.



    That's why many businesses are trying new tactics these days and the Star-Gazette is no exception. In the coming days, starting with Monday's print edition, you will notice changes to your newspaper as we begin to do some things in a new way.

    Here is what you can expect:

    * The front page will have a slightly different look as we move the left-side column of story teases and the index to the bottom of the page.

    * The five-day weather forecast from WENY-TV will appear on Page 2A instead of the back page of the Sports or Twin Tiers Life sections.

    * The "What's Going On" calendar will move to different pages on different days. Look for it with the puzzles on Monday and Tuesday and in the Life section on Wednesday and Friday through Sunday. The calendar of events will reside in the Time Out section on Thursday.

    * The Local & State page will move from Page 2A to Page 3A. You'll find the lottery numbers on Page 3A.

    * The Opinion page will have a new name, Viewpoints; the Mallard Fillmore comic will no longer appear.

    * New columnists will begin to appear on the Viewpoints page, including Bill O'Reilly, Chuck Norris and Ellen Goodman.

    * Starting Sunday, May 3, look for an antiques appraisal and advice column by Terry Kovel, publisher of many guides on the topic of collectibles.

    You'll notice other small changes as the week goes along, and we'll do our best to direct you to your favorite features using the front-page index.

    Now as to why this is all happening:

    The pages of the Star-Gazette along with our sister papers, The Ithaca Journal and The Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, will be produced in one central location.

    Star-Gazette reporters and photographers will report, write and supply the local news and images that appear in this paper and you'll also see some stories of regional interest - such as news about natural gas drilling or the shooting at the American Civic Association - that were produced by journalists at the Ithaca and Binghamton papers.

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    The centralized page design operation means the Star-Gazette is losing jobs once more. The edition you now hold in your hands will be the last one designed in the Elmira newsroom. It is an incredibly sad moment for me personally and the newsroom as a whole as we say goodbye to a team of journalists who have served this community so faithfully.



    In the end, however, the streamlining of how we produce the pages of the newspaper will allow us to concentrate on bringing you more local news and sports stories.

    The Star-Gazette is not going away. We are regrouping, like many businesses, and trying new tactics.

    I know how hard it is to see something you're familiar with change. But one thing hasn't changed: This newspaper is still the No. 1 source for local news and advertising for the Twin Tiers. More than seven out of 10 adults in the region will read this printed newspaper or access stargazette.com this week. We're still the best way to get your message out from letters to the editor to news items about everything from a school budget vote to a chicken and biscuit dinner.

    Our mission doesn't change, but the way we look will change. And that's what newspapers have been doing from the beginning, changing to find the best ways to give readers the information they want and need.

    We'll keep on in that tradition as we create some new ones.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another can of bullshit! Treating your readers and advertisers as retards is the way Gannett is heading into. Hope all this koolaid drinkers will cut to the chase and say that we are closing and everything is going to Binghamton. Notice the similarity between this article and Estes. This puppets are being told by corporate exactly what to write. If it is truly reaching out to the readers, why is the paper shrinking?

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  3. Another corporate spin. Good way of telling the community that your neighbor, friends or relatives is losing their job due to the greed of Gannett. Corporate love you and will be sending more koolaid over to Elmira and Ithaca.

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  4. Good morning. See the new ABC numbers are out and it looks like circ. is in a big-time freefall all over. Does anyone have the latest numbers for the Journal-News and PoJo? The former was just under 100K after the last audit for daily papers. My guess it's down around 85K by now, with Sunday circ. going from about 122K to 105K.

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  5. Poughkeepsie, read above and see what's in store for you.

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  6. How times change - I found an old ruler out in my barn over the weekend - It was a U-BIE ruler with inches and picas. It came from the good old days when the four Utica, Binghamton, Ithaca and Elmira were very independent but did sell advertising packages together.

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  7. The Journal News looks so bad, they don't even make an effort to try to sell their paper. TJN went through a "redesign" -- and it looks uglier than ever! Compare that to the Poughkeepsie Journal -- which looks a thousand times better than TJN. The talent is obviously in Poughkeepsie, NOT White Plains.

    Hey Journal News -- keep your shitty newspaper in White Plains, and keep your hands off the Poughkeepsie newsroom ... er, information center.

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  8. Anybody seen how thin the newspaper in Ithaca is today? Gosh, it is so thin that 10 copies is equivalent to 2 copies of The New York Times as what my favorite store owner told me! Time for The Ithaca Journal to perish!!!

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  9. lohud = thud

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