Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Wednesday | Sept. 3 | Got news, or a question?

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41 comments:

  1. I've just started this new open-comments string. You can always return to earlier editions by clicking on the Real Time Comments label in the blue sidebar, to the right.

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  2. Interesting NY law for layoffs:

    http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS01/809030342/1001

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  3. Cincinnati Enquirer publisher, Margaret Buchanan announced today that they bought out 60 people – versus 50 who were targeted, including Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jim Borgman a Pulitzer Prize-winning. He’ll do one weekly, but it’s just not the same as daily….another reason to just pick-up Sunday’s issue, if at all as that’ll be online for free anyway.

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  4. Borgman is not only a spectacular talent, he's also one of the kindest human beings on the planet. This really is a terrible blow. They can get along without the rest of us, but Jim is one of a kind.

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  5. ok...some 2adpro suggestions....a previous poster that mentioned sending copy heavy ads was correct...but..things need to be organized. Send them ad shells with all the character styles done and ready, this should be in in house practice anyways.

    For ads that are repetitive, put instructions on the pasteboards so you dont have to type the same things in job direct all of the time.

    The same goes for ad instructions that are repetitive like real estate ads that are the same each week save copy and photos. Make word docs that you can simply reuse and send with each ad. We have a instruc word doc for each different type of real estate ad, it saves a lot of time.

    Instead of trying to explain every nuance and detail you want in an ad, explain it as a concept such as fall theme or halloween or thanks giving theme, say if you want photos or graphics.

    I could send jim many good looking ads we have gotten back from 2adpro. I dont want to reveal where I am because i dont want to listen to peoples crap.

    We have made it work, because its the way things are going, its a global economy. Do the advertisers complain sometimes, sure, if we give them an ad that looks like crap. But since they are selling stuff made in china, japan or korea,what can they say. Every one has a role in this, everyone.

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  6. So where did all these savings from payroll go? GCI today paid $135 million to buy a majority stake in CareerBuilder.com. I think the message is clear for those remaining few of us in community newspapers: cut papers back to barebones and bleed off the remaining money they earn for Internet purchases. Ten years from now, no community papers, but just USA Today and an array of local job and classified sites. I don't see any future in these prospects, and I don't believe it is economically viable because the Internet sites don't produce the sort of revenue GCI needs to keep USA TOday going. Also there are competing free sites that are thriving. But one thing does seem clear: GCI is heading towards shutting down community papers.

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  7. Shutting down community papers? Not this year. Five years, perhaps.

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  8. Did anyone happen to catch Mo Rocca's clip on Jay Leno last night? He was at the GOP convention and offered a short film where he was treating the convention as if it were a hurricane site, no it wasn't that funny to me. Anyway, in the clip, he stopped at print media's pressroom. While wearing a surgical mask, he said something about the smell of death being overwhelming. It made me sad. :(

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  9. A channel on a social bookmarking site dedicated to the newspaper industry:

    http://www.reddit.com/r/newspapers/

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  10. 11:02 it was the Daily Show not Jay Leno I agree it was sad.

    10:54 It's internet revenue or no review. Take you pick.

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  11. I hope the young guns don't leave journalism. They are needed. It's still a great way to live. Hang in there and help all of us transition to the new world. But don't forget, the old guys paved the way and they did it "the old fashioned way". Maybe the medium is different, but hopefully the skills will be similar.
    Chasing a great story is thrillling. And the 1st ammendment is precious.

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  12. Jim Borgman taking the buyout is a true loss. Unlike many who are taking it, he'll end up just fine, but what a symbolic moment.

    One of Gannett's top talents, best-known talents, marquee-value talents -- gone.

    Yes, the you-don't-get-it-you-newspaper-loser folks will roll their eyes, but if the company is going to trade brilliance and insight for moms blogging about deer ticks, what a sorry state of affairs.

    The Borgmans are the talents we should be BUYING, not buying out. Bah.

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  13. Could be worse. Raleigh N&O offering buyouts to the entire newsroom, cutting the paper 10 pages. It's a big money-maker, so how they going to publish. WoW.
    http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1204482.html

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  14. They are going to come back for more cuts. Look at the Charlotte Observer plan today, which also involves everyone.

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  15. I'm in Cincinnati, where a friend called this morning after hearing about the Borgman buyout and said, "It just shows how miserable it must be to work there if someone like Borgman will walk away from a job that people dream about and work their whole live to get."

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  16. Thanks 9:43, that's helpful. Though I'm not crazy about going 2AdPro, I need useful info that will help me manage the process effectively for my people, customers and answer to my director.

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  17. From 11:02: My bad, you're right, I was switching around.

    Borgman leaving is a real loss.

    I think real journalists will continue to be needed in theory, but their application or process will change dramatically. It's going to be a different ball game. New rules. As I explained to a non-newspaper person yesterday, the old bosses (gannett) can't make the money they used to and they keep trying to figure out how, doing anything they can to keep the money train moving. But time's runs out. What I foresee, eventually, is a giant Web-like system of very small newspapers (maybe one-two person shows) online with subscribers. Say you live in Birmingham. You subscribe to what you want to know: say crime, entertainment, schools. Three different bloggers (the new journalists in my opinion) supply it. Where's the world? The whole United States? It would all be specialty bloggers. Same with ads.

    Anyone else got a prediction?

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  18. So, anyone have any thoughts on the increased share in CareerBuilder that Gannett just purchased?

    All it means for us Classified Recruitment folks is more business we can't go after because CareerBuilder "has" them.

    Oh but yes....we're still supposed to make goal. Ummm...math anyone?

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  19. Speaking of young journalist ... Gannett is pushing Mogulus and mobile sites and technology - http://www.mogulus.com/gannettcorp

    Mini-summit Live until 2 p.m. today

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  20. "Say you live in Birmingham. You subscribe to what you want to know: say crime, entertainment, schools. Three different bloggers (the new journalists in my opinion) supply it."

    I think you underestimate the amount of work involved in getting solid, basic, accurate info about "crime, entertainment, schools" anywhere, much less a city the size of Birmingham. If your only labor force is (presumably) low-paid bloggers, what you'll get are press releases and axe-grinding "tips."

    You also will have huge gaps with zero information, because in practice most people are not so eager to report on themselves, even in an area like entertainment, where it would be in their self-interest to do so.

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  21. Not an exact quote, but, this was said during the mini-summit:
    "We have to get over this quality thing. Good enough is good enough." - Kerry Oslund

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  22. Hey, hey, hey ! anon 11:50
    "But don't forget, the old guys paved the way ...
    The old girls paved the way, too. And they did it while waltzing backward in high heels.

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  23. @1054: "I don't believe it is economically viable because the Internet sites don't produce the sort of revenue GCI needs to keep USA TOday going."

    I don't know where you get your numbers from, but the community papers do not "keep USA TODAY" going. We pay our own way, and turn a nice profit, thank you very much.

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  24. 3:18 I think you need to take a closer look at who is doing a lot of the printing of USA Today. These costs come out of the budgets of the community newspapers, not off the top line of revenues produced by USA Today. A lot of costs of producing USA Today are hidden that way.

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  25. anon 1:34
    My point is, it won't be low-paid bloggers. I think it will be very experienced and skilled journalists who are on their own, not working for a big chain. My web of reference might be something akin to a group of freelance writers. It will be just like it has been, the need will be there (readers) and the skill to do it will be there (journalists). The difference is how it gets from a to b.

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  26. The industry-wide meltdown under way is vividly illustrated by Borgman's buyout decision - whatever the reasons behind it. Maybe he was ready to go. But losing work such as today's "Bridge to Nowhere" cartoon is a disaster.
    The click-through future of the mighty community division's web sites will be blood, guts, drunks, pets, moms, and assorted bullshit.

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  27. Anybody have any folo news to report on the OT pay situations? Any stories on how that was handled during the storms?

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  28. Who is Kerry Oslund? "We have to get over this quality thing. Good enough is good enough." - Kerry Oslund

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  29. hey, 1:49

    babs henry said the same kinda thing about "good enough" in indy when unveiling the i.c. concept -- and then denied that she'd said it or if she had, really meant it. we shoulda seen what was coming right then.

    now she's "retired" at 55, while the survivors try to keep a once-proud ship afloat.

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  30. I left Gannett shortly after my boss said that stories didn't have to be good, but to write five or six good ones for clips!

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  31. Oslund is Gannett's vice president new media

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  32. "We have to get over this quality thing. Good enough is good enough." - Kerry Oslund

    Be it editorial content or Ad quality, This additude is exactly WHY revenue is down. If you don't have a quality product to sell, be it circulation or advertising, the patrons find somehwere else to go. Discerning buyers pay for quality, and when that is gone there is no value. Revenue is generated not by how big the company is, but by what they can deliver in each market, large or small, to drive the consumer to want and desire their product to read, or to advertise in.

    Gannett (no matter who the voice) saying "get past quality" really is that last breaking up moment of the Titanic. Nothing left to offer but life boats, and they are set to sea half empty leaving the 3'rd class to drown.

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  33. Sue C-J said the same thing about good enough being good enough. That stroke of brilliance came straight from the top.

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  34. Apparently the "good enough" line was part of the talking points delivered to everyone. We heard it at our "Say Hello to IC" meeting too.

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  35. @ Doglover: Where will the money come from? And when? You think these micro channels will make enough in ad revenue to support experienced pros? How's that going to happen, given what the advertisers are doing now?

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  36. The Titanic is exactly a good example of why good enough is not a good idea. It might have looked good enough to use substandard rivets to hold the sheets of steel together on the Titanic's hull, and what the hell, it's under the water so no one will know. A low quality rivet looks sort of like a high quality rivet, so what is the difference if we shave a bit by eliminating quality control standards? When the Titanic sank, no one could prove the substandard rivets were responsible. It wasn't until recent years that the rivets have been blamed for why an iceberg so easily knocked the iron plates off portions of the hull, causing the ship to sink. But everyone is dead now, and Harland & Wolff no longer exists, so there is no one to hold responsible.
    Sounds very familiar.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15titanic.html

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  37. Print revenue is 7 times that of online...conservatively.
    Don't expect online revenue to solve your problems. Print is critical to the revenue model. For every single traditional media brand, digital must be built, but it cannot scale at its traditional counterpart's revenue power. Digital is increasing because it came from a zero base. But Print far exceeds digital in raw revenue. It is critical to keep print dollars strong.

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  38. the sad, ironic fact is that many of us refused p.r. work because being right and telling the truth and serving the public good was what mattered to us more than money.

    now it looks like we'll get neither -- gannett has discarded integrity, and the big shots get all the money. i'm still waiting for ONE gannett executive to take a 10% voluntary pay cut to save the job of someone who produces what the public puts quarters in the vending machines to buy.

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  39. This blog site used to have some news and info you couldn't get anywhere else...now it seems to be the saddest pitty party I have ever seen.

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  40. Do other corporations have similar blogs? I am no longer a Gannettoid, but I would like to know what is going on with Freedom, Media General, Lee, McClatchy, etc. etc.

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  41. 4:10 am: There are surprisingly few blogs devoted to newspaper publishers. I posted on that fact here: http://tinyurl.com/5jxve7

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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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