USAT Sports Media names editing, sales execs

Corporate said today that two executives -- one from Yahoo, the other from Spanish-language TV network Univision -- have been named to new senior positions within the USA Today Sports Media Group, which has oversight for all sports content and related advertising sales across the U.S. newspapers and TV stations.

Dave Morgan will be senior vice president of content and editor-in-chief, and Peter Lazarus will be senior vice president, head of multimedia sales. Both will start tomorrow, according to a statement from Corporate.

Although the statement doesn't say so, Morgan and Lazarus will presumably report to Sports Media Group President Tom Beusse, who was hired in January. Beusse, in turn, reports to USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke. (And he reports to CEO Gracia Martore.)

From today's statement:

Morgan

"Morgan was previously the executive editor of Yahoo North American Audience, where he built Yahoo Sports into the number one online sports destination in the country and created a 24/7 news team to support all programming and breaking news. Under Morgan's direction, the Yahoo Sports audience consistently beat those of all other major sports properties, and set a sports web site record with more than 40 million unique visitors during its coverage of the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver."

Lazarus

"Lazarus comes to the USA TODAY Sports Media Group from Univision Communications, where he was executive vice president of network sales, overseeing all advertising operations for the Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision networks. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of sales and business development at IMG Sports and Entertainment, and spent nearly 10 years in several senior positions at NBC Universal, including senior vice president of its sports and Olympic sales division. In both 2006 and 2007, he was named to the Sports Business Journal's annual '40 Under 40' list which recognizes the most promising young leaders in the sports industry."

Consolidating edit under USAT
Morgan's appointment as editor in chief raises questions about the future role of Corporate's News Department, now led by Vice President Kate Marymont. Historically, the News Department has overseen editorial for all U.S. community newspapers in terms of major content initiatives.

Today's announcement would have Morgan encroaching on that territory, however. It also would be another example of Gannett-wide editorial being consolidated under USA Today. Last spring, the remnants of the old Gannett News Service -- known as ContentOne at the time -- were broken up, with the editorial portion getting moved to USAT under Executive Editor Chet Czarniak.

Although it's likely a coincidence, Lazarus shares a background with Gannett's chief marketing officer Maryam Banikarim: They both worked at Univision and NBC Universal, although in reverse order.

Welcome, Nos. 17 and 18!
Including the appointment of Laura Del Greco in August, Morgan and Lazarus bring to at least 18 the number of top executives promoted or hired to new senior positions since Hunke announced a restructuring of USAT in August 2010l. 

GCI switching all sites to Facebook commenting

In a major shift in its social media strategy, Gannett is adopting Facebook-driven commenting on all websites for U.S. community newspapers, TV stations, and USA Today, according to a memo distributed to employees on Friday.

The deployment follows tests in four pilot markets that "resulted in increased civility in comment threads, increased participation from local public figures and a increase in Facebook referrals," the memo says.

Two of the test sites were at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and The Des Moines Register. I do not know the locations of the other two markets.

Facebook accounts generally reveal a user's real identity, which then appears with comments they post. During the tests, editors assumed readers would be less likely to make personal attacks or engage in other unacceptable behavior if their identities were known. Readers who don't establish Facebook accounts would no longer be able to post comments.

In spot checks I've done since the U.S. Community Publishing (USCP) tests began in early August, I've noted a significant decrease in the number of comments -- a point not discussed in the memo. The memo also doesn't disclose the impact on pageviews or any related loss in advertising revenue.

Full memo text
Gannett Digital Announces Facebook Comments Deployment 
After a successful pilot, Gannett Digital is pleased to announce the general deployment of Facebook Comments on all USCP and Broadcast sites as well as USATODAY.com. The Facebook Comments platform allows any visitor to your website currently logged into Facebook to leave a comment on an article using their Facebook identity. In the four pilot markets this resulted in increased civility in comment threads, increased participation from local public figures and an increase in Facebook referrals.

Deployment Timeline
The rollout of Facebook Comments will start with USA TODAY Travel and all Broadcast sites the week of November 7th.  The USCP phased rollout will begin the week of November 14th. The remainder of USATODAY.com will launch the week of November 28th. The full deployment schedule will be available on the project SharePoint site Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Audience Impact
We expect the change in commenting systems will require audience education in the form of explanatory articles at the time of the change, an FAQ, clear language on the comment page to make it clear that users need to be logged in at Facebook.com to participate, and links to the FAQ and the article on the change. Facebook comment threads will replace existing Pluck comments on all non-archived stories. Pluck persona pages will no longer include comments left by a user. In addition, Facebook Comments will be added to the mobile sites for each USCP and Broadcast market, to present users with a consistent experience across platforms. At this time we are not replacing other site features and functionality powered by Pluck, but will be exploring alternatives in the coming months.

Implementation
Detailed implementation instructions, moderation training materials and schedule, as well as a recommended audience education plan will all be available on the project SharePoint site on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Oct. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Oct. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Fort Myers | $240K museum donation clarified

The News-Press' recent $240,000 gift to a local children's museum is mostly in the form of free advertising and other promotion, rather than in cash, I confirmed today, after reporting the donation by the Florida newspaper earlier this week.

Although the Golisano Children's Museum of Naples said in a news release that the Fort Myers paper had "donated $240,000,'' a Gannett Blogger questioned the amount, as well as my speculation that a contribution that size would necessarily have come from the Gannett Foundation.

So, I asked Publisher Mei-Mei Chan about the gift. In an e-mail today, she wrote:

"This was a three-year partnership with modest cash and mostly trade. There was no Gannett Foundation funding involved. We’ll strive to be more clear with partners in future press releases!"

Prior to writing my first post, I contacted a museum spokeswoman to make sure the release was authentic. Now, I wish I had first checked with Chan, too.

Oct. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Exhibit A in why Corporate's P.R. policy has failed

In an interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross broadcast today, New York Times media correspondent David Carr freely admits that his column Monday about CEO Craig Dubow's $37.1 million exit payout was "mean," and notes that he didn't bother calling Corporate for comment before the piece was published.

Carr

Why? Last spring, Carr says he spent four days trying to get Corporate to comment for an earlier column on GCI executive bonuses. Instead, Corporate called Sunday night just before his deadline to say it wouldn't have any comment, according to Carr.

"And I just said, 'Really? You're a newspaper company. You're a publicly held company. These bonuses are a matter of public record. And you have nothing to say about them?'" he told Gross. "And I just found that appalling."

In fact, in the column he does quote a "spokeswoman" pointing out that 70% of executive compensation is noncash and dependent on future performance.

The P.R. foot dragging, though, affected the tone of Monday's column, he told Gross. "I think some of that was sort of reflected in the fact that A) I didn't bother to call them and that B) I was angry after I'd written about their last set of bonuses, that they were clearly living a life beyond consequences and they just stepped up again and gave this guy a huge bag of money going out the door."

Carr also tells Gross, host of her widely followed Fresh Air show, that he was surprised at the huge response he got from the column, including on Twitter. "This thing is rolling over and over again, being re-tweeted thousand of times," he says.

Connecting GCI to the Occupy Wall Street movement, he says regular folks are sick of the "trashing of great American institutions."

Gross commands a large, global audience, according to her website: "Each week, nearly 4.5 million people listen to the show's intimate conversations broadcast on more than 450 NPR stations across the country, as well as in Europe on the World Radio Network."

The part about Carr's Monday column starts at about minute 12:20:

Lansing | For one reporter, 'Occupy' is personal

From Todd Heywood's story today in The Michigan Messenger:

Barbara Weiland stopped at the Occupy Lansing encampment in Reutter Park yesterday morning to drop off knitted hats and scarves she had made. She ended up taking up a sign and marching with a small contingent to the downtown Lansing Bank of America branch where the group protested the bank’s bailout money and foreclosure practices.

Weiland, 39, is a former reporter for the Lansing State Journal. She was laid off in June along with 700 others across the Gannett News system. It was the latest in a continuing process of scaling down by the news giant designed to strengthen faltering stock price returns. Weiland was called into the offices of the publisher at about 5 p.m. on June 21.

“We found out that morning that there would be 700 layoffs,” Weiland said. “I was told about 5 p.m. So they got a full day out of me.”

Weiland’s eight years of service were rewarded with eight weeks of severance pay, she says — one week for each year. But for the former reporter, what really burned was that Gannett CEO Craig Dubow retired in October, walking away with a $37.1 million retirement and disability agreement.

Oct. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

When might another furlough get announced?

Amid speculation about another first-quarter furlough, I reviewed the timing of furlough announcements for the past four big ones, in hopes of predicting the next. (I'm excluding two, this year, that were limited to certain highly-paid U.S. newspaper workers.)

Three of the four were announced after the start of the quarter in which the furloughs were to be taken. That suggests Corporate could wait until the last minute to announce any for the first quarter of next year. 

The following table shows the four furloughs since 2009. They were all for one week's duration. The exception: In the second quarter of 2009, certain highly paid employees were required to take off two weeks.

Urgent: Board elects director to new, 10th seat

Corporate just announced that the board of directors has elected as a new member a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, a move that adds a 10th seat to the board.

Ness

Susan Ness was as an FCC commissioner from 1994 to 2001, where, Corporate said in a statement, "she played a leading role on spectrum policy issues, championed competition and spectrum auctions, and fostered new technologies, including digital television, digital satellite and terrestrial radio, wireless broadband and unlicensed services."

She is now head of Susan Ness Strategies, a communications policy consulting firm that she launched in 2002.

Ness is the first director elected since Gracia Martore was made chief executive, and Marjorie Magner was elected board chairman. The board represents the interests of shareholders, and has broad responsibility for hiring GCI's top executives as well as for directing strategic planning.

For details on how much directors get paid, please read this page in the annual proxy report to shareholders.

How directors get chosen
The board's Nominating and Public Responsibility Committee is charged with identifying individuals qualified to become board members, according to the proxy report. It recommends to the board candidates for election or re-election, and considering from time to time the board committee structure and makeup. This committee met three times in 2010. Its current members are Arthur Harper, Scott McCune and Neal Shapiro.

The committee "historically has relied primarily on recommendations from management and members of the board to identify director nominee candidates, the proxy report says.

"However," it says, "the committee will consider timely written suggestions from shareholders. Shareholders wishing to suggest a candidate for director nomination for the 2012 Annual Meeting should mail their suggestions to Gannett Co., 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va., 22107, Attn: Secretary. Suggestions must be received by the secretary no later than Jan. 24, 2012. The manner in which the committee evaluates director nominee candidates suggested by shareholders will not differ from the manner in which the committee evaluates candidates recommended by other sources."

USAT | Study: Tablets tap new source of readers

The new Pew Research Center study found that 33% of tablet news users say they are turning to new sources for news on their tablet, sources they had not turned to on other platforms such as television or their desktop computer.

And of those, USA Today ranked No. 1 among newspaper apps for tablets such as the iPad.

The 894 users were surveyed by telephone July 15-30, according to Pew's report today.

The question was: "What news source or sources do you get news from on your [iPad/tablet/tablets] that you did not get news from before?"

Among newspapers, here was the breakdown of the top five:

• USAT: 10% 
• The New York Times: 9% 
• The Wall Street Journal: 7% 
• Local newspapers: 5% 
• The Washington Post: 3%

Oct. 24-30 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

WUSA | Martore visits nameless inner-city orphans

[Gracia Martore and Oliver Twist]

I ask you: What are the odds?

An estimated 200 volunteers descended on an elementary school in southeast Washington's predominantly poor, African-American community on Saturday as part of the annual Make a Difference Day of volunteering launched by Gannett's USA Weekend in 1992.

And of all those volunteers, the company's WUSA-TV chose one in particular to interview and quote -- extensively.

"On a crisp autumn day," correspondent Andrea McCarren says in her report, "at an inner-city school scarred by budget cuts and the passage of time, a transformation is underway. On this Make a Difference Day, Gannett CEO Gracia Martore is leading the charge."

Indeed, there was Martore, in a blue Make a Difference Day t-shirt that barely concealed her wireless mic pack, industriously stacking books and telling McCarren:

"Gannett's mission is to inspire the greater good in the 100-plus communities that we serve. In addition to providing news and information that is important to our readers and viewers in those communities, we feel compelled to make a difference in those communities."

Has Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim been re-reading Charles Dickens in her new, post-Robin Pence world?

My favorite part of the WUSA transcript are the quotes attributed to the beneficiaries of Martore's noblesse oblige. They're identified as follows: "a young boy," "a girl nearby," "another classmate," and "a little girl."

(I'll add: Please, sir, I want some more identification -- like that important white lady over there!)

That's Martore (center) in the frozen frame of the video:



Earlier: GCI's board of directors visits an Iowa workhouse. Plus: Martore directs another $15,000 in Gannett Foundation money to her alma mater.

Three reasons to expect first-quarter furloughs

1. History and 'comps'
Gannett has ordered one-week unpaid furloughs every first quarter since 2009, mostly for U.S. newspaper employees. Yet, each one has created a dilemma known among investment professionals as bad "comps" -- short for comparables. Here's what that means.

Wall Street expects companies to crank out higher profits every quarter. As GCI's revenue has nosedived, the only way to bolster profits has been through cost-cutting. In this year's first quarter, for example, Corporate saved $10 million furloughing workers.

But absent another round of furloughs in next year's first quarter, Corporate must gin up $10 million in extra revenue just to stay even with this year's first quarter. That doesn't seem likely, however.

2. Wither revenue?
GCI's overall revenue has fallen, year over year, in each of the past three quarters because advertising sales in the biggest division -- U.S. newspapers -- keep tumbling. In the most recent quarterly report, published last week, total revenue fell 3.5% from a year ago, to $1.27 billion. Print advertising was worse: It plunged 8.5%, the biggest quarterly decline in nearly two years.

That's especially worrisome because print ads accounted for nearly half the quarter's total revenue -- nearly the same as a year ago.

Corporate has tried to make up for those losses by investing in new businesses -- for example, the DealChicken daily deals site that is now in nearly 50 U.S. markets.

But any gains from those initiatives will take many months to produce tangible results. Meanwhile, other once-promising investments have withered: GCI just shut down its Moms Like Me network amid heightened competition for the female consumers it targeted. And, I've been told, the PointRoll advertising services subsidiary has lost its footing.

3. Investor impatience
Ultimately, Wall Street cares about one thing: the company's stock price. And Gannett's has been heading south nearly all year long.

Friday, it closed at $11.16 a share -- way off the most recent high, $18.93, reached last February. To be sure, other newspaper publishers' stocks have plunged, too.

But investors don't have to bet on newspapers. Indeed, some are pulling out. Earlier this month, GCI's single-biggest investor -- JP Morgan Chase -- disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had slashed its stake in the company. As of Sept. 30, Morgan owned nine million shares, or 3.7% of all GCI's stock. That was down from 22 million only three months before, when it held 9% of all.

Furloughs alone may not reduce payroll costs enough, depending on what happens with ad sales during the current quarter. That's because GCI simply has fewer employees to furlough, so the savings aren't as great.

This year's $10 million in furlough savings was less than the $12 million in Q1 2010 -- and only half the $20 million in Q1 2009. No wonder. GCI had 41,500 employees at the start of 2009 vs. 32,600 at the start of this year.

If revenue falls even more in the current quarter, GCI might take more drastic steps, such as layoffs. Wall Street wouldn't mind.

During last week's quarterly conference call with media stock analysts, the first question put to CEO Gracia Martore was about plans for more cost cutting. She tried steering the conversation in another direction. "What we are much more focused on is creating revenue opportunities to grow the top line,'' she told one analyst, Craig Huber.

Still, Martore left little doubt about the alternative. "We will continue," she said, "to do the good job that Gannett has always done in being fiscally disciplined."

Earlier: Corporate's January memo ordering the last round of furloughs.

NYT's Carr: Dubow's six-year tenure was 'a disaster'

From David Carr's Media Equation column in today's New York Times, about former CEO Craig Dubow; Carr takes no prisoners in this one: 

His short six-year tenure was, by most accounts, a disaster. Gannett’s stock price declined to about $10 a share from a high of $75 the day after he took over; the number of employees at Gannett plummeted to 32,000 from about 52,000, resulting in a remarkable diminution in journalistic boots on the ground at the 82 newspapers the company owns.

Dubow

Never a standout in journalism performance, the company strip-mined its newspapers in search of earnings, leaving many communities with far less original, serious reporting.

Given that legacy, it was about time Dubow was shown the door, right? Not in the current world we live in. Not only did Dubow retire under his own power because of health reasons, he got a mash note from Marjorie Magner, a member of Gannett’s board, who said without irony that “Craig championed our consumers and their ever-changing needs for news and information.”

But the board gave him far more than undeserved plaudits. Dubow walked out the door with just under $37.1 million in retirement, health and disability benefits. That comes on top of a combined $16 million in salary and bonuses in the last two years.

And in case you thought they were paying up just to get rid of a certain way of doing business — slicing and dicing their way to quarterly profits — Dubow was replaced by Gracia C. Martore, the company’s president and chief operating officer. She was Dubow’s steady accomplice in working the cost side of the business, without finding much in the way of new revenue. She has already pocketed millions in bonuses and will now be in line for even more.

Forget about occupying Wall Street; maybe it’s time to start occupying Main Street, a place Gannett has bled dry by offering less and less news while dumping and furloughing journalists in seemingly every quarter.

Earlier: In April, Carr wrote about "nice paydays" for GCI's top brass -- even after furloughs.

Related: USA Today editorial offers five good reasons why Wall Street breeds protesters.

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 6

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Fort Myers | A $240K grant to children's museum

The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., has donated $240,000 to a children's museum in nearby Naples, for a play area where kids will learn to use environmentally friendly materials as they experience life on a construction site, the museum says in a news release.

The Golisano Children's Museum says it will be Collier County's first "learning environment devoted exclusively to child's play." It's scheduled to open in February.

The news release does not disclose the source of the $240,000, but it's almost certainly coming from the Gannett Foundation, which makes grants to non-profits in communities where the company does business. A singe grant that size is unusually large for the foundation.

Earnings | Lost in the chatter, a startling number

By now, you probably know Gannett's print advertising revenue fell 8.5% in the third quarter from a year ago; that figured prominently in news accounts about Monday's quarterly financial report.

But did you know it was the biggest quarterly drop in nearly two years? You must go way back to the fourth quarter of 2009, still deep in the Great Recession, to find a greater decline. That's when print ad revenue fell a whopping 18%.

Given the fact the U.S. economy is officially growing again -- albeit at a snail's pace -- the continuing falloff in print ad revenue doesn't bode well for GCI's future.

That's because no matter what people say about the future of digital, the company's fortunes remain lashed to paper: 47% of GCI's $1.3 billion in Q3 revenue came from print advertising. Throw in circulation revenue, and the figure rises to 68%.

Bottom line: As goes print, so goes the rest of the company.

Related: this spreadsheet shows quarterly year-over-year changes in GCI's revenue by category: from print advertising to broadcasting, going back to Q4 of 2009.

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Sponsors | By snail mail, $25 in contributions

I just received $20 from a frequent contributor in Ohio who told me I needn't acknowledge it with an official Gannett Blog thank you card: "I already know you appreciate my donation." I sure do!

I also got $5 from a reader who didn't provide a return address. "A helluva job reporting on the $37M payoff for Dubow," they said in an enclosed note. "The irony of our contribution of $5 to support your unearthing these numbers is not lost on me, but it's all we can afford right now. You have our prayers and thanks as well."

No contribution is too small. With these donations, I'm now at 22% of my quarterly goal. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $272
• Advertising: $620

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. To pay by credit card or PayPal, please use the "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash/checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

USAT | Homepage gets Jeep ad wallpaper

Maybe I'm just noticing this for the first time, but: USA Today's homepage is wallpapered right now with Jeep advertisements -- including the far-left and far-right margins that ordinarily are white space. I've indicated those areas with arrows in the screenshot, above. Is this a first?

Earlier: Founder Neuharth says full-page Jeep ad wrap in July 2010 is "low point" among any decision made by USAT publishers.

Lawyer reportedly defends press releases as news

The Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, which represents more than 120 employees at The Indianapolis Star, says in a post today on its Facebook page: 

This week, Gannett's labor lawyer actually defended the notion (and with great vehemence) that the Star should be able to publish unaltered press releases in news positions in the paper. Explaining to him that this was journalistic heresy was like casting pearls before swine.

Banikarim urges USAT votes in best-paper contest

Following is a memo sent this morning by Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim and Sandra Micek, head of marketing for USA Today. It appears this was sent across Gannett's workforce of more than 30,000 employees.

From: A message from Maryam Banikarim
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 8:49 AM
Subject: USA Today Makes the hot List!

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but our friends at Adweek are putting together a Hot List posing the question:

Which national newspaper in your opinion helps set the news agenda and has an equally impactful print and digital platform?

USA Today is listed along with The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and a write-in “other.”

Who knows who will win such a thing, but if you’d like to cast your vote for what we all know is the true national newspaper -- whether measured by print circulation, sparking the national conversation daily or our state-of-the-art web and mobile sites -- click here to cast your vote: http://events.adweek.com/hot-list/newspaper

Best, Maryam Banikarim & Sandra Micek

Earlier: Banikarim tells Adweek that USAT readers aren't focused on being elitists.

Jobs railed against money-obsessed Apple execs

From an Associated Press story about a much-anticipated new biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, written by Walter Isaacson:

Jobs calls the crop of executives brought in to run Apple after his ouster in 1985 "corrupt people" with "corrupt values" who cared only about making money. Jobs himself is described as caring far more about product than profit.

He told Isaacson they cared only about making money "for themselves mainly, and also for Apple — rather than making great products."

Related: The New York Times' story about the book.

[Image: cover of Steve Jobs, which is going on sale Monday]

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Here's what we know about GCI's own paywalls

As The New York Times Co. today reports more growth in digital subscriptions, it is worth noting what Corporate said during Monday's earnings conference call about its own experiments with paywalls at three U.S. newspapers: nothing.

And here's what media stock analysts asked about those experiments during the call: nothing.

Now, contrast that with CEO Gracia Martore's remarks during the second-quarter call, when an analyst asked for a progress report:

"I think the most important thing that you need to focus in on is that those folks who are paying, are paying for content. They are absolutely passionate about and that the level of engagement and time spent on those sites is several times what it is on a normal website. So incredibly high engagement and we're working on a number of other items right at the moment. A few more tests and a few other things that will result in us looking at this in a more meaningful way as the year progresses. But it's a little early for us to share any more details."

Given the importance of these trials, which began in July 2010, it's striking there's so little known publicly about the outcome.

Earlier: Does Chief Digital Officer Payne sound like he believes in paywalls?

NYT Co. says it now has 324,000 digital subscribers

The New York Times Co. continued to attract paying subscribers to its flagship website in the third quarter, bolstering a new revenue stream that has helped offset a decline in advertising revenue, the company said today.

The publisher now has 324,000 paid subscribers to the various digital editions of the paper, including e-readers and its website, compared to 281,000 at the end of the second quarter, according to this New York Times story. Those figures do not include the 100,000 users who receive access to NYTimes.com free through a sponsorship by Ford Motor.

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Zanesville | Daily at the center of an exotic story

The Times Recorder of Zanesville, Ohio, is at ground zero of one of the strangest stories in a long time: Local resident Terry Thompson released caged lions and other exotic animals from his property, then fatally shot himself Tuesday night, law enforcement authorities say. By late today, 49 of 56 animals were dead, and only a monkey was still loose.

USAT | Carol Stevens bolts for law group PR post

Carol Stevens, who was managing editor for news at Gannett's leading title, is taking a job as director of the Communications and Media Relations Division at the American Bar Association, the trade group for legal professionals said today. She starts Nov. 7.

Stevens

She was named ME in April 2004, following a USA Today management shakeup after the Jack Kelley scandal. She was editorial page editor prior to that promotion.

Following a reorganization last year, USAT has listed Stevens and other managing editors without titles in a group called the Newsroom Management Team, according to the paper's website. It's unclear whether Stevens will be replaced; on its website, USAT's media news page hasn't reported her departure yet.

In her new job, the law group says, Stevens will oversee a staff of 20, and be responsible for managing communications and media relations for the ABA, which has main offices in Chicago and Washington. Stevens will be based in Washington.

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

'Blue ball of death' said meeting its own demise

[Sculpture as installed on 11th floor of Gannett Tower] 

Anonymous@7:21 p.m. yesterday agreed that CEO Gracia Martore handled herself well during a company-wide question-and-answer session with employees after the release of the third-quarter earnings statement.

Wrote @7:21: "One of the questioners asked if it was true that the blue ball was gone from the 11th floor. She laughed and said that it was, and added that it is a piece of art and is being treated accordingly."

That question might have baffled many of Gannett's more than 30,000 employees who don't work at Corporate headquarters in McLean, Va. For all of those, here's the story about that now-infamous sculpture, one at the center of Corporate's controversial decision to fire three USA Today employees just before Christmas 2001.

Related: a short video of the blue ball.

[Photo: "Blue Ball of Death," by Flickr user ladygypsy]

DealChicken | How much Phoenix grosses monthly

Gannett's original daily deals site, in Phoenix, is now averaging $250,000 in gross monthly revenue -- 10 times more than when that DealChicken site got launched in September 2010, CEO Gracia Martore told Wall Street stock analysts during yesterday's third-quarter conference call.

That's impressive. But it's not the whole story.

GCI shares a big chunk of that revenue with the merchants who offer the deals -- about half, according to the last figures I saw published. What's unclear to me: How much commission does GCI pay the salespeople who sell deals to merchants? In other words, of that $250,000 gross, how much does GCI actually keep?

Also, Phoenix is perhaps the biggest of the more than 50 markets where DealChicken is being launched, so it's unlikely other markets will come close to the monthly gross now being racked up there.

By the numbers | Tracking the stock buyback

On July 18, Corporate disclosed that the board of directors had approved the resumption of a $1 billion stock repurchase program, where the company can buy GCI shares when prices are low. Yesterday, Corporate gave Wall Street a progress report on third-quarter buybacks with the quarterly earnings statement. Key numbers:

2.7

million: number of shares repurchased

$9.99

closing price of GCI stock yesterday

$10.37

average price per share Corporate paid for Q3 buybacks

$13.01

closing stock price when buyback resumption announced

$781

million: how much more Corporate can spend on buybacks

$864,000

how much Corporate saves in annual dividends on shares just repurchased

Related: Corporate's historical GCI stock price lookup tool.

Oct. 17-23 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Here's why so many of you are getting laid off

"If could elaborate a bit on what you think you could still do on the cost side?" 

-- Alexia Quadrani of JP Morgan Chase & Co., posing the first question to CEO Gracia Martore during today's third-quarter earnings conference call with Wall Street stock analysts. Other analysts also quizzed Martore about additional cost-cutting steps in the call's question-and-answer session.

Here's a transcript of today's Q3 conference call

It's by Seeking Alpha, and covers this morning's conference call with media stock analysts on the third-quarter earnings statement. Here's the transcript of the presentation, led by CEO Gracia Martore. And here's the Q&A with analysts. (Note: I haven't read through these yet.)

By the close of trading today, investors voted with their feet: Gannett's stock closed at $9.99 a share, down 95 cents, or 8.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index both closed down about 2%.

Urgent: Profit, revenue dip -- but meet forecasts; investors pummel shares: GCI dives more than 7%

From a MarketWatch story: 

Gannett said today its third-quarter profit dropped 1.6% to $99.8 million, or 41 cents a share, from $101.4 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The McLean, Va., media company's adjusted earnings fell to 44 cents a share, from 52 cents a share. Revenue dropped to $1.27 billion, from $1.31 billion. Wall Street analysts expected Gannett to earn 44 cents a share on revenue of $1.27 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research.

Investors gave the report a thumbs-down right after markets opened: GCI's stock is down 81 cents, or 7.4%, to $10.13 a share. Earlier, in pre-market trading, investors were upbeat: The stock was up 7.4%.

Gracia Martore, in her first meeting with Wall Street analysts since being named CEO, will host a telephone conference to answer their questions at 10 a.m. ET. Corporate will webcast the call, which is open the public in listen-only mode. Tune in here.

Related: Here's the company's financial statement.

Oct. 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Oct. 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 4

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Stock | Ahead of Q3 report, price target gets cut

Gannett shares fell sharply in after-hours trading today after investment advisor Benchmark Co. cut its price target, ahead of the release Monday of what's expected to be another weak quarterly financial report.

GCI plunged $1.64 a share -- 15% -- to $9.30, according to Google Finance. Shares had closed at $10.94, up 16 cents, in regular trading after Benchmark set a new target of $14, down from $18.

Monday, GCI is expected to report third-quarter earnings of 44 cents a share vs. 42 cents the year before, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Financial. They are forecasting revenue of $1.27 billion vs. $1.31 billion on another decline in print advertising.

For investors, the biggest worry is whether GCI's long-running slump in print advertising worsened during the July-September period, the Associated Press says. During the second quarter, print advertising fell 7% year-over-year.

Monday's report will be the first since Gracia Martore was named chief executive after Craig Dubow's retirement for health reasons. She'll discuss results and answer analyst questions during a 10 a.m. ET conference call.

That call is open to the public on a listen-only basis, and will be broadcast from GCI's website; details, here. Plan to listen via this link.

On eve of shutdown, DealChicken chases 'moms'

Gannett is trying to convert hundreds of thousands of Moms Like Me users into DealChicken subscribers, according to an e-mail pitch I got early this evening -- a day before the scheduled shutdown of the Moms network. Here's the e-mail:

DealChicken knows moms really rule the roost, and the henhouse budget. That’s why DealChicken has been saving moms like you barrels of bucks. How? By hatching deals on the best local restaurants, salons and fun, family-friendly activities near you, at massive discounts. 

Sign up to get emails featuring the day’s freshest deal. DealChicken has launched in over 20 cities already, but is still on the move! (Find out if DealChicken is headed your way.) With 50% to 90% savings, it’s time to get cracking!

Related: A Moms discussion leader in Cleveland is seeking signatures on a petition to save the network. Here's the petition.

Oct. 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Martore's golden parachute: up to $34.1 million

News of Craig Dubow's $37.1 million retirement and disability payout last week couldn't have come at a worse time. Disclosed in a regulatory filing, it arrived amid Occupy Wall Street protests meant to shame Corporate America into reforming executive pay. The result: even more attention on Dubow's bounty.

Martore

Yet, lost in the mix are details about how much Gracia Martore, 60, could get under different scenarios in her new role as Dubow's successor. One Gannett Blogger asked me specifically about her golden parachute: what she'd receive in the unlikely event Gannett was sold, a so-called change in control.

I'll start there, using the latest figures from the spring proxy report to stockholders. The following estimated payments upon her exit would almost certainly be higher when Corporate discloses her new compensation as CEO in the days ahead.

Change in control: $34,068,711, as follows:

• Pension: $12.4 million
• Stock options: $2.5 million
• Restricted stock awards: $4.2 million
• Severance: $8.1 million
• Excise tax gross-up (so she needn't pay income taxes on this payout): $6.9 million

On disability: $23,580,013

• Pension: $8.5 million
• Options: $2.5 million
• Restricted awards: $4.2 million
• Disability benefits: $4 million
• Additional benefits: $4.4 million

On her death: $20,495,790

• Pension: $6.7 million
• Options: $2.5 million
• Restricted awards: $4.2 million
• Life insurance: $2.7 million
• Additional benefit: $4.4 million

Via conventional retirement: $13,366,790

• Pension: $6.7 million
• Options: $2.5 million
• Restricted awards: $4.2 million

Related: Martore was paid $8.2 million last year -- double what she got in 2009.

How's your retirement looking? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Dubow gets $15M in disability pay, while . . .

"A U.S. Army sergeant on 100% disability gets about $32,000 a year. Driving a huge media company into a ditch sure beats driving a Humvee." 

-- Tom Kenworthy, in a comment this morning about former CEO Craig Dubow's disability benefit, included in his overall $37.1 million exit payout. Kenworthy's comment appears on the Poynter Institute's Romenesko+ blog.

Here's the new GCI-owned US Presswire contract

John Harrington of Photo Business News & Forum got his hands on the proposed new contract between photographers and US Presswire, the sports photo syndicate Gannett bought last month for an undisclosed amount.

Harrington picks apart the contract exhaustively, line by line.

As GCI gravitates to more low-cost content, the contract offers another window into the financial impact on photographers and others.

Related: photogs discuss the contract on the Sports Shooter forum.

Oct. 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 2

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Lewis on Gannett pledge: 'These people are lying'

[Detail of proxy report's Page 46 breaks down disability payouts] 

Peter Lewis, a former New York Times writer and Stanford University professor, uses those four words to describe Gannett's recent pledges to serve the consumer. Now a consultant, Lewis was reacting on his blog yesterday to spreading news that former CEO Craig Dubow is collecting $37.1 million as he leaves the company. Here's Lewis:

These people are lying. The corporate goal is not to serve the consumer; it’s to maximize profits and pay packages for top executives. Can anyone argue that Gannett newspapers and journalism are better today, and that news consumers are better served?

How did Mr. Dubow and Gannett serve the consumer? They laid off journalists. They cut the pay of those who remained, while demanding that they work longer hours. They closed news bureaus. They slashed newsroom budgets. As revenue fell, and stock prices tanked, and product quality deteriorated, they rewarded themselves huge pay raises and bonuses.

This is the sort of stuff that causes people to occupy Wall Street and main streets in cities across the country.

Earlier: Also criticizing Dubow's eight-figure payout: Daily Kos, and The Atlantic.

Sponsors | From Virgina and the Dakotas: $35

Via snail mail, I've just received $20 from an anonymous reader somewhere in Virginia. And by PayPal, I've received $15 from a reader in the Dakotas. Thank you! With advertising sales, I'm now at 15% of my quarterly goal. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $247 
• Advertising: $341

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

Occupy Wall Street marches on Murdoch's home

They're heading uptown today to get in the face of some of New York's richest tycoons, according to this New York Daily News story.

Murdoch

A "Millionaires March" will visit the homes -- or, more realistically, the gleaming marble lobbies -- of five of the city's wealthiest residents, including News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and conservative billionaire David Koch.

Marchers want to present the moguls with oversize checks to dramatize how much less they will pay when New York State's 2% tax on millionaires expires in December.

Hello, readers from Big Lead Sports and First Draft

Welcome to Gannett Blog, where hundreds of you are landing today via a link off Big Lead Sports' homepage, to my post about CEO Craig Dubow walking away with a $37.1 million retirement and disability payout.

While you're here, check out all my posts tagged Sporting Scene. And please keep coming back. (About Big Lead Sports.)

Meanwhile, a belated welcome to hundreds of readers streaming in from First Draft, which posted a similar link yesterday.

Earlier: Also criticizing Dubow's eight-figure payout: Daily Kos, and The Atlantic.

Sponsors | A $10 gift pushes me past $500

A reader in Delaware just made that donation via PayPal. With advertising sales, I've now reached 13% of my quarterly goal. The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $213 
• Advertising: $305

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.

Oct. 10-16 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Fort Myers | Among hurricane apps, who's first?

In her newest monthly On the Road newsletter touting good work across Gannett, Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim says of The News-Press at Florida's Fort Myers:

"The News-Press Hurricane Hub mobile app is the nation's first and most comprehensive source to track Atlantic and Gulf storms, with more than 60,000 downloads."

This led me to search the Web for hurricane apps, where I found one for iPhones: "Hurricane," produced by a company called Kitty Code. Here's the description on Apple's site (emphasis added):

"Hurricane™ gives you the ability to track these storms on the go using your iPhone or iPod Touch. Released in 2008 as the first Hurricane Tracking app for iPhone."

Here's how Apple's site describes the News-Press Hurricane Hub app:

"The Hurricane Hub is your comprehensive guide to the hurricane season, whether you live in an area impacted or you're just interested in major storms."

(Not mentioned on Apple's site, of course, is that the News-Press app is also available for phones powered by the competing Android operating systems.)

A year ago, Macworld ranked Hurricane No. 1 in a review that did not mention Hurricane Hub at all.

So, who was first to market: Fort Myers or Kitty Code?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Here's everything wrong with Corporate America

It's departing Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow's $37.1 million retirement and disability payout, according to Daily Kos, the widely read left-leaning political blog. As news of Dubow's eight-figure benefit spreads further across the Web, Kos diarist quaoar writes today: "It demonstrates why Americans are fed up enough to take to the streets -- not just on Wall Street, but across America."

Daily Kos has broad influence, in no small part because of its mammoth traffic: The site averages 538,402 visits a day. Read the more than 70 comments on quaoar's post.

Earlier: Why The Atlantic's Goldberg might occupy Wall Street.

The industry news event beating Dubow's exit?

It may be Gannett's decision to close the Moms Like Me network, says Poynter Institute business analyst Rick Edmonds. In a post today, he says:

Gannett has long touted the mom websites as a digital hit — targeted to a demographic that had lots to talk about with each other and was a good fit for advertisers of baby goods, summer camps and the like.

Instead we now learn that Moms Like Me joins a long list of industry business-model misfires and provides fresh evidence of how hard it is for newspaper companies to scale and sustain a digital-only venture.

The failure of Moms Like Me casts a sobering light on the current age of experimentation, as newspaper organizations cast about for new revenue streams to compensate for declining print advertising.

Your reaction
Edmonds includes several of your comments on the Moms announcement.

Earlier: Craig Dubow resigns due to disability. Plus: He gets $37.1 in retirement and disability benefits.

Why Goldberg might occupy Wall Street: Dubow

Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, writes about just-departed CEO Craig Dubow, and his $37 million retirement and disability payout: 

The Occupy Wall Street protests don't actually move me, in part because the goals of the movement are at once inchoate and ridiculous (as Caroline Baum at Bloomberg View points out); in part because I'm allergic to drumming circles; and in part because I think a regulated capitalist system is more or less a good thing. But news like this makes you despair. Does Craig Dubow actually believe he's worth $37 million? How much does a man need to live comfortably? How much can Craig Dubow eat?

Oct. 3-9 | Your News & Comments: Part 5

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

Listing all the forces running against Gannett

"The newspaper business is awful, the economy is not helping, USA Today is not having a good year, the local newspapers are not doing well. They’ve done what they could, but they’ve been really swimming upstream." 

-- Douglas Arthur, managing director at investment banking firm Evercore, in a new Washington Post story about newly appointed CEO Gracia Martore. The Post also quotes yours truly saying: "If the board wanted big change, they would have looked for someone outside the company. But I think what they wanted was more of the same."

The 'improbable payoff' to Martore's life story

From a Washington Post article last night about Gannett's newly appointed CEO:

Gracia Martore has one of those bios that reads like a Great American Success Story: Granddaughter of Italian immigrants. Father died when she was a kid. Held down three jobs to get through Wellesley College. Learned a skill and worked like the dickens.

As with most such success stories, this one has a somewhat improbable payoff.

Read the rest of the Post article, here.

Sponsors | Wow: $135 in new contributions

Most of those gifts came from donors who've given before: $50 from a Michigan reader who's given nearly $200 in the past; $50 from California ($155 before); $20 from Arizona ($45 before), and $10 from Ohio ($70 before). Plus, I received $5 from a new supporter in Canada.

In a PayPal note accompanying their gift, one reader was kind enough to say: "Great Dubow/Martore story. Keep it up!"

With advertising, I've now hit 11% of my goal. Oh, Canada, indeed! The breakdown:

• Reader donations: $203 
• Advertising: $251

I'm trying to earn $4,000 quarterly, through donations of $5 per reader, plus advertising sales. Please use the PayPal "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash and checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.