Ithaca Journal General Manager Bruce Estes today concludes his three-part explainer about this weekend's formal launch of a regional production hub serving the Journal, the Press & Sun-Bulletin at Binghamton, and the Star-Gazette at Elmira."All three of the newspapers will be produced from central design and copy editing operations," says Estes, who also is managing editor. "Those desks will be supplied by news and photos produced by reporters, photographers and editors at each newsroom in those three communities. Keeping that distinctly local flavor will be a critical part of this effort."
Today's column relies very heavily on a gardening metaphor. And like a garden, it's full of shi -- err, fertilizer! So, here are three more steps, to spinning the death of a newspaper:
1. Use negative language. "Changing the helter-skelter page plans the Journal and most daily newspapers have used for decades will be the big change readers will see on Monday. We'll shift to more standardized grids. That will make designing pages less time consuming." [Jim says: Helter-skelter? Pul-leeze! It's called being quirky and distinct. Standardized grids! Oh, boy; sounds so much like McDonalds!]
2. Allow plenty of wiggle room. "Sometimes all three of us will choose the same news story -- perhaps an article on proposed regulations for natural gas exploration. In that case the article would likely appear in the same spot for each newspaper." [Sometimes? Let's check back in three months to see the actual percentage.]
3. Blame it on the excuse du jour. "This plan will reduce the number of people needed to produce all three newspapers. That is the sad part of it. Jobs held by some very good people can no longer be sustained in the economic downturn. There is no escaping that painful reality embedded in this plan." [Hah! Divide $875,000 by the average cost of employing one of your copy editors -- say, $60,000, with benefits -- and the inescapable suddenly looks, well, escapable.]
Bottom line: The Journal tells readers their paper "gets a new look on Monday." Did customers ask for a new look? Or did they ask that you stop making changes that only degrade your website -- like forcing a split in articles, solely to drive up page views?
"I sure hope these 'grids" are not 'frames,'' reader Brutus_R_Yates says, in a comment on the column. "It is bad enough we have stories with video's attached that start with ads that you can't mute. This whole split the articles onto two or more pages while requiring you to still scroll down to reach the link to the next page is annoying, too."
Related: installments No. 1 and No. 2 in the Estes series.
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.
Thank god it is the last week of Estes bullshit! Consolidation is on the way and goodbye to your local newspaper and to the advertisers, Binghamton DON'T give a shit about your small ads. Period!!!
ReplyDeleteJim should do fertilizer commercials. This blog and his head are full of it.
ReplyDeleteJim, if you think copy editors ANYWHERE in BIE are making $60,000 a year, you're out of your mind.
ReplyDelete2:15 PM wrote: "Binghamton DON'T give a shit about your small ads. Period!!!"
ReplyDeleteThis comment makes no sense to me. There will still be separate ad layouts for each paper.
2:53 pm: You read my post too quickly. I said "the average cost of employing one of your copy editors" with benefits.
ReplyDeleteTypically, benefits (mostly medical costs) add 50% to wages. So, if copy editors averaged $40,000 in annual pay, the copy editor costs $60,000.
Also, I was erring on the side of caution. What's a more accurate figure for average wages? $40,000? $30,000?
Benefits add 50 percent to wages?
ReplyDeleteJim, do you think about this stuff before you type it?
Also, benefits are a unit cost and not a percentage of wages. Doesn't matter what you make in most cases; the cost of benefits is set.
No wonder you're not a reporter.
Wow. Just wow.
ReplyDeleteJim, can you keep your retarded bullshit off the blog? Either stick to sourced info, or don't post.
"Jim, if you think copy editors ANYWHERE in BIE are making $60,000 a year, you're out of your mind."
ReplyDeleteJim's credibility takes another hit. He's like a boxer in that regard.
"Down goes Jim! How can he take this much punishment?"
Oops -- forgot. He'll take that literally and say I'm threatening his life.
Actually, adding 50% to a person's salary is a correct rule of thumb for determining how much he/she costs his/her employer. Cheers!
ReplyDelete$28,000 is a better guess. So, with 50 percent added, that is just over $40,000.
ReplyDelete"Actually, adding 50% to a person's salary is a correct rule of thumb for determining how much he/she costs his/her employer. Cheers!"
ReplyDeleteUnsourced info. Unreliable. No credibility.
This move to consolidate copy editing and design for several upstate New York papers is perfectly in line with the character of Gannett. This company is the Wal-Mart of journalism. It uses its large opertions to produce a fairly standardized product that is produced as cheaply as possible.
ReplyDeleteStandardized product done cheaply equals?????
ReplyDeleteHummmmmm
Can we say substandard results?
Yes we can!
If there's one thing Jim knows about, it's wiggle room.
ReplyDeleteEstes: = credit= trying is a waste of time. Binghamton does not give a crap. All three papers will look exactly alike come Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteAnd of the 38 people left in Elmira maybe one gives a crap. SAD
Estes is trying damn hard to save his own ass! No amount of justification can turn the paper around, advertisers are pissed off with the poor quality of their ads, not getting proog copies in time and those ad services assholes in Binghamton are treating the ads from Elmira and Ithaca as second class advertisers and what is Estes doing about it? As usual, from his past three writing, white washing the whole issue. Time for you to take an early retirement Estes and go into gardening.
ReplyDeleteFertilizer + koolaid = Job security. Way to go, Estes.
ReplyDelete