Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday | June 10 | Your News & Comments
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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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OK, so the hate-spewing lowlifes drove Jim to dump the blog. And now they whine, complain, and post things that indicate that they still don't get it or realize that it is Jim's site and he can do or not do as he pleases. And Jim, you have had fun tweaking those jerks with your regular Ibizia-related posts. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteNow, with possible layoffs coming a few weeks down the line, are there any grownups out there with real information to share? Let's use the forum to communicate real, intelligent info while the forum exists. You know, the way it should have been used before it was overrun.
Sorry, no news here.
ReplyDeleteDid find this article about USA TODAY:
USA Today publisher sees hope in mobile platforms
By ANDREW VANACORE – 3 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — USA Today's new publisher said Wednesday he hopes to expand the newspaper's revenue from mobile phones and portable electronic reading devices, and pledged to fight The Wall Street Journal's bid for readers in hotels.
The comments from David Hunke, named USA Today's publisher in April by Gannett Co., come as the nation's top newspaper by circulation — along with the rest of the media industry — is grappling with steep advertising declines. Newspapers are struggling to find ways to get readers to pay for online content without killing the flow of traffic to their Web sites and devastating their Internet ad revenue.
As one step toward expanding its revenue sources, on Aug. 3 USA Today will start selling e-mailed replicas of its daily newspapers for about $10 a month, Hunke said at a gathering of reporters. USA Today already has been selling electronic editions for $13.95 a month, but now it is switching to a new technology provider and putting more resources into promoting the service.
Other newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, have similar products, which are not big producers of revenue. USA Today's previous incarnation of its electronic edition averaged 1,217 subscribers from October through March, the latest reporting period covered by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Hunke said it was not yet clear whether print subscribers would get the new electronic version included in their delivery service or whether they would be asked to pay the extra fee, which is the case now.
Hunke said he does not envision charging for access to the newspaper's main Web site, a step other publishers are contemplating. He added that USA Today was not represented at a recent meeting in Chicago where several newspaper executives discussed the idea.
But Hunke said mobile platforms, like Apple Inc.'s iPhone or digital reader devices being developed by Amazon.com Inc., Plastic Logic and other companies, will offer ways for newspapers to charge for news. In fact, Hunke said he regrets that USA Today didn't start by charging for the newspaper's iPhone application, which is free to download.
"I'm not sure we realized what we had," he said. "I think that's a value readers will be willing to pay for."
Hunke, who was previously publisher of the Detroit Free Press, which is also owned by Gannett, said USA Today will not follow the strategy pursued by the Free Press and The Detroit News, which cut home delivery to three days per week to reduce costs.
"Our readers are constantly moving," he said, referring to the travelers USA Today has long targeted.
On that front, USA Today is facing a tougher challenge from The Wall Street Journal. This month the Journal won a contract from Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to provide newspapers for free distribution to some guests.
Hunke said USA Today will be competing more aggressively in hotels but offered few details on the newspaper's strategy for holding on to the market, which accounts for nearly half of USA Today's circulation. The Journal is "very serious competition for us," he said.
Robert Christie, a spokesman for the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones & Co., declined to comment on Hunke's remarks.
USA Today's circulation fell more than 7 percent to 2.11 million for the October-March period, while the Journal's edged up slightly to 2.08 million, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
USA Today saw a 36 percent drop in advertising pages in the first quarter. And Gannett overall has been cutting expenses with layoffs and unpaid furloughs. Hunke would not rule out further job cuts in the second half of the year if revenue continues to deteriorate.
Someone posted this link on Gannettoid.com:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jiltedjournalists.com/
Gannett blog RIP!
ReplyDeleteAlso of interest:
ReplyDeletePublishing vets seek to start newspaper in Detroit
By JEFF KAROUB – 1 day ago
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Two veteran publishers announced plans Tuesday to launch a newspaper to fill a void left when the city's two major dailies reduced home delivery earlier this year.
Mark Stern, 63, and brother Gary Stern, 67, said they hope to publish within 60 days the first issue of a newspaper serving the Detroit area. The Detroit Daily Press is expected to sell for 50 cents daily and $1 on Sundays.
They said they were working to secure contracts with two printing plants and lease office space and were looking to hire department heads for the privately funded newspaper.
Mark Stern said the Detroit Daily Press should appeal to older readers who prefer a print copy of the paper, and its primary niche will be those who want their paper home-delivered. The newspaper also will have a Web site with a brief summary of the news for nonsubscribers.
"There is a definite need here," Mark Stern said at a news conference in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. "People are used to having a newspaper in their hand. ... That's what we're going to do — provide a newspaper."
To deal with declining circulation and advertising revenue as well as changing readership tastes, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News launched a plan March 30 to reduce home delivery to Thursday, Friday and Sunday and began offering an electronic edition.
A message seeking comment was left by The Associated Press Tuesday morning with the Detroit Media Partnership, which oversees the business operations of the Free Press and the News.
The partnership announced last month that it was laying off about 10 percent of the Free Press' staff in response to a continued economic downturn and steep decline in advertising revenue. About 5 percent of the News' staff and 7 percent of the partnership's staff also were laid off.
The Sterns said they can avoid the financial problems of the existing Detroit dailies because they won't have overhead costs such as delivery trucks, pension funds or facilities. Advertising and editorial employees will work for the newspaper, but not distributors or press operators.
"We aren't going to get into a situation that will put us in the red," Mark Stern said.
The brothers previously published daily newspapers in Detroit in 1964 and 1967; in New York in 1978; and in Minneapolis in 1980 when workers at those cities' major newspapers went on strike.
Afterward, Mark Stern said he published weekly entertainment publications in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for 22 years but was called out of retirement when he learned of the Detroit newspapers' plans to scale back home delivery.
The Sterns said they expect to start with a fairly small staff and paper, but each would grow as advertising revenue increases. Mark Stern said "several hundred people" would be needed to publish the paper but declined to discuss specific staffing levels.
Mark Stern said he expects to attract talented reporters and editors, including those who have been laid off from the Detroit dailies and many other newspapers that have cut back.
They did not release the size of their investment, but Gary Stern said they could subsidize the operation for one to two months. They said the break-even point would be a circulation of about 150,000 subscribers.