N.J. | Court advisor: give GCI $542K in legal fees

A court-appointed fact finder has recommended Gannett be reimbursed $542,000 in legal fees the company incurred in a lawsuit against a N.J. municipality seeking public documents in electronic formats more easily analyzed than paper ones.

Gannett won the suit against Raritan Borough in 2012, three years after filing it on behalf of its six N.J. newspapers: the Asbury Park Press, Courier News, Courier-Post, Daily Journal, Daily Record and Home News Tribune.

The case dragged on largely because the borough repeatedly filed new motions, all unsuccessful, challenging parts of state Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone’s rulings.

Ciccone appointed a special master in April to determine how much Gannett was entitled to receive in legal fees.

Asbury Park | In memo, nurturing and optimizing

Here's part of a memo that Hollis Towns, the top editor at the Asbury Park Press, sent to staff this week; I'm particularly struck by the phrasing in the second paragraph.

From: Towns, Hollis
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 11:01 AM
To: ASB-APPNEWSROOM; ASB-DesignStudio; Grzella, Paul
Cc: Marymont, Kate; Kane, Michael G. (Rochester); Donovan, Tom
Subject: Local Information Center announcements

All,

I’m happy to announce that James Flachsenhaar has been named Managing Director of Content and Audience Development for the Asbury Park Press and our sister newspapers, the Courier News, Daily Record and Home News Tribune.

In the newly created position, Flax will oversee the development of content for shared and unique key newspaper audiences. Strategies will include the nurturing of audience relationships, the elevation of topics about which customers are passionate, and the optimization of content for various digital and print platforms.

Flax had been general manager and editor of the Daily Record, Morristown, a post that will be filled by Daily Record Local Editor Joe Ungaro. Flax had previously been executive editor of the Courier News, Somerville, and The News Tribune of Woodbridge. He will be based here.

Flax will be a great addition. His ideas, energy and creative thinking will be very beneficial to the entire management team.

Minus, of course, more than a few laid-off staffers

"We have the same commitment to our communities that we’ve always had."

-- Paul Grzella, general manager and editor of the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, N.J., speaking to The Star-Ledger about the paper's planned move to a Somerville office. He said the newsroom’s dedication to readers won't change.

Earlier: HNT among three N.J. papers losing nearly half their combined newsroom jobs.

In New Jersey: first a paywall. Now, your purse

For the New Jersey Press Media Newspaper in Education program, it's come to this.

How to give a reader their 15 minutes of flame

Recently, a very unhappy reader wrote a letter of complaint to the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, N.J. The subject: Jay Jefferson Cooke, whose column appears three times a week.

Cooke

"Am I the only one in the Home News area," Neil R. Smith wondered, "who is fed up with Jay Jefferson Cooke? Creative feature writing should be just that, not the (HEY BABY) shout outs to his (Peeps) we don’t know or really care about. For him to think that as a writer he needs to school us in the Ebonics of the Hood, give me a break. This is Jersey. If he is so in love with Philly (the greatest place in the world baby) how about sending him packing there and bring back some quality writers. But then again, you won't. I'll not be bothered by that, as I won’t read another edition.”

Yesterday, Cooke published the letter in his column, addressing Smith's concerns under the headline: "A dearest reader gets his 15 minutes of fame."

He wasn't exactly sympathetic.

A cookie cutter future for the smallest newspapers

Editors of Gannett's top newspapers are scheduled to meet Aug. 16-18 at Corporate's headquarters in McLean, Va., to revamp their newsrooms, following the latest round of layoffs. The meeting for the benefit of the "T-31" papers has exposed a divide within the U.S. newspaper division and its 80 titles, prompting renewed speculation about the future for the smaller ones.

To the best of my knowledge, Corporate has never publicly disclosed a list of the T-31s, defined as the largest revenue producers; I posted one earlier this month, which I assembled with the help of a Gannett Blog reader.

The NT-31s (for "not top") are the other 49 community papers, and are spread across the nation: from Gannett's first newspaper, the Star-Gazette in Elmira, N.Y., to the 10 titles in the Media Network of Central Ohio, to The Californian in Salinas.

Conventional wisdom suggests the NT-31s will continue to be starved of resources through layoffs and other austerity measures, much like what's happening to the larger dailies.

But given their already shrunken capacities, the NTs will be among the first to go Web-only, perhaps after a period where they become zoned editions of larger nearby Gannett papers. Call it a cookie cutter future. (A featured example, discussed below, is today's editions of three NTs in New Jersey; I've embedded images of their front pages, left.)

The best summary of where the NTs may be headed came July 12, from Anonymous@1:08 p.m. Following is the text.

'Why you get forgotten'
I am so very sorry to be the one to tell you this, but . . . the company decided a couple of years ago that you ain't worth the time, money and fuss. That's why you have editor/ad directors/GMs and not publishers. That's why you don't get included in company meetings. That's why you get forgotten about in conference calls. While your margins remain good, the actual dollars you have in play remain low. So, even though Muncie, Ind., has a much higher NIBT return than Indianapolis, the cash flowing through The Indianapolis Star's ledger makes them and the other T-31s worth the most of Corporate's attention.

For example, at Corporate, we track the NT-31s as a single entity, rolling up all the numbers into one spreadsheet, as if the combination was a single site. Of course, the NT-31s still have their own unit numbers (for now) and Evan Ray still digs into them when he sees group performance taking a dip.

Future: strip shopping malls
But, harsh reality here: The NT-31s will soon be like bank branches in strip shopping centers. They will have a sign, a front counter, maybe a person or two -- but all other real functions will be at the main office somewhere else.

Sure, we will always look for ways to spotlight a few of you folks: You get your share of the President's Rings, for example, and one or two of the Freedom of Information award finalist spots. Hey, what about Guam! Let's give them a shout-out 'cause they are interesting and fun! Keep hope alive.

But, truthfully, your value to the company has been relegated to giving street cred to the National Network Footprint of Gannett, so we can say we have XX properities in XX states serving XX audience. So, we really need to get your expense numbers as low as possible. Fewer FTES, just enough lifeblood to keep you alive but not strong enough to do much more than that. Keep your salaries low, your expenses lower, your management lowest.

So, long answer to a short question: The NT-31s will get the Passion Topics rollout in webinars, PowerPoints and conference calls -- with regional training for those clustered near T-31 sites.

Now, if you want to start another thread: How many of the NT-31 sites make more money (not just percentage NIBT, but total cash) than some of the T-31s? I bet there are a few of those small sites that do better at the end of the day than a few of those so-called larger-market sites.

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.

[Images: today's editions of three NT-31 newspapers in New Jersey that have become satellites of one, larger N.J., paper: the Asbury Park Press, Newseum. The three are the Courier News in Somerville, N.J.; the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, and the Daily Record in Parsippany. The combined staffing in their newsrooms was cut nearly in half, to about 53, in February. Today, for example, all the papers have substantially the same front pages]

Ex-N.J. pub quits Kansas daily after just 14 months

Skip Hidlay had been publisher of McClatchy Co.'s Wichita Eagle since March 2010, after leaving the top executive's job over two Gannett dailies in New Jersey: the Courier News and the Home News Tribune.

Hidlay

Today, the Eagle said he had resigned, effective immediately. Hidlay did not disclose his immediate plans, according to the paper's story.

However, it quoted him saying: "I have felt for some time that I was ready for a new challenge after 31 years in daily journalism. I want to make better use of my knowledge of strategic communications and digital journalism, my writing and editing abilities, and my talent for community leadership and marketing."

[Photo: Eagle]

In a must-read column, laid-off N.J. sports editor raps Gannett: 'We're all victims of corporate greed'

Several readers have sent me the text of laid-off sports editor Frank DiLeo's column today in the Daily Record -- a column they were surprised to see in print. (Me, too.) The paper, in Parsippany, N.J., is one of three Gannett dailies losing nearly half their combined 99 newsroom employees this week in a work consolidation.

"Everyone is cheering and wondering how it ever got into the paper,'' one of the readers told me. "It is not available on the Daily Record's website. Please publish it as a post on your blog."

The column appeared under the headline, "In the game of life, there are few winners."

By FRANK DILEO

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.'' -- Mark Twain

The Daily Record sports department has strived over the years to bring you the best coverage of Morris County athletics as possible. Whether it was online or in print, in a weekly newspaper or a daily, we took great pride in the service that we provided for the community.

But all that work, all the sacrifices we made are worth nothing.

For the second time in two years, I am being laid off from my job as sports editor of the Daily Record. This despite being a 35-year-old manager who has received nothing but praise and exceptional reviews, always put his employees first, and truly cared for the community. In my 12 years with the company (Gannett), I have received almost every local, state and national award for my field, from headline writing to page designing and much more.

I even won the first New Jersey Press Association award for innovation a few years back.

It's ironic that in such a short time, I became a dinosaur.

Why was I laid off . . .  again? I wish I knew, as do the other great folks here who put in decades of service only to see their career come to an end with no explanation.

I worked hard to build my career, only to be left with a few weeks of severance and reminders of what used to be.

Those of you who know me well know that I don't put much stock in emotion. But I can't help but to feel like a rube on the midway for thinking that someone as young, talented and loyal as I was would be able to stick with a company after proving time and time again that there was nothing I couldn't or wouldn't do for the good of the corporation.

I've worked through pneumonia many times, bronchitis, pleurisy, broken ribs, migraines, a gallbladder that stopped functioning for six months and many other ailments that I ignored doctors orders to stay home. All for the good of the company. This is where it got me.

But I am not alone in my bitterness.

Many great people worked their last day at the Daily Record on Friday. Nearly half the staff has been let go from an already thin crew. Folks that have been for over 30 years had to reapply for their positions and drive to Neptune, some of us had to do it four times in a span of two weeks, to be asked the exact same questions as the previous trip.

Why?

You'll have to ask Gannett management that question yourself, because I've never received anything resembling an explanation.

My guess is that we're all victims of corporate greed, just like millions of folks out there going through the same thing.

Things like truth, honor, work ethic and integrity mean nothing on an Excel spreadsheet. It's all about profit margins.

Gannett is not alone in this new world order of treating customers like an annoyance and employees like dogs who should be happy with whatever scraps are leftover.

Pick any major company, and you'll find an indifference to customer service and quality.

The Daily Record, more so its parent company Gannett, is no different.

Many talented, innovative, caring people were let go today. Meanwhile, the empty suits at corporate collect six and seven-figure salaries while accepting massive bonuses.

Please don't take this as knock against the Daily Record's bosses. They're great people who truly care about the community and this newspaper. Corporate greed everywhere has run amok, and we the people are left to deal with the consequences of its wake.

But it still hurts . . . again.

Frank DiLeo can be reached at frankdileo1107@yahoo.com.

Earlier: How Gannett's "transition pay" benefit replaces severance

A cardboard box on an empty desk. A final conversation. Job applications and phone calls going unanswered. Please share your layoff story in three or four paragraphs. Post replies in the comments section, below. Or e-mail via jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: today's front page, Newseum]

Layoffs | Explaining GCI's transition pay benefits

Amid a fresh round of layoffs among three N.J. newspapers this week, readers are once more asking about benefits paid to laid-off Gannett workers. Starting with the massive July 2009 layoffs, the company replaced traditional severance with what it calls the transition pay plan. From Corporate's FAQ, supplied today by a kind Gannett Blog reader:

Q. What are the TPP benefits?
A. The TPP provides one week of benefit for every year of service up to a maximum of 36 weeks. There is a minimum of three weeks and all payments are offset by state unemployment benefits. When you combine the TPP benefit with the state benefit you will receive an amount equivalent to 100% of your former weekly pay.

Q. Why is Gannett adopting this plan?
A. The plan provides a substantial benefit to employees as they transition from Gannett to a new job. It also allows Gannett to reduce its transition costs. Many major U.S. companies with employees in multiple states provide this benefit. Some of them are General Electric, PNC, Goodyear, Maytag and Levi Strauss.

Related: read and download the full three-page FAQ

N.J. news cuts: 'You can do a lot more with more'

Louis Hochman left the Daily Record in Parsippany, N.J., a year ago for a job with AOL's journalism start-up Patch.com. In a column this week, he wrote about his interview with Asbury Park Press Publisher Tom Donovan, who on Monday disclosed plans to consolidate the newsrooms of the Record and two other N.J. papers: the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick and the Courier News in Bridgewater. Under the plan, a combined 99 newsroom jobs will be cut to 53. From Hochman's column:

He didn't talk about the current consolidation in terms of cost savings. He talked in terms of greater efficiencies and smarter strategies, more intelligent ways for the papers to pool resources with one another and with the Monmouth County-based Asbury Park Press. It's true that sometimes you really can do more with less. But you can do a lot more with more, and every time a major cut is announced, some of that potential is lost.

He also wants to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge

"We still have a very significant number of local reporters full-time in those markets. . . . We're not ceding any of those markets from a local content standpoint."

-- Asbury Park Press Publisher Tom Donovan, insisting that readers shouldn't expect a drastically different product after the current roster of 99 editorial staff members drops to 53 on Feb. 4 at three other Gannett N.J. newspapers. His remarks came in an interview today with Patch.com.

Earlier: In Louisville, Ky., how to damn Gannett with faint praise

Memo reveals N.J. newsroom reorg timetable

Following is text of a memo from Asbury Park Press Publisher Tom Donovan regarding the just-announced reorganization of three of the other N.J. newspaper newsrooms. The plan reportedly would reduce the combined 99 editorial positions to just 53. (The reference to "LICs" is to Local Information Centers, the name Gannett uses for its newsrooms.)

What's striking in Donovan's memo is the complete absence of any reference to cost savings, which I imagine is the real driver here; Donovan instead presents this solely as a move to improve editorial content.

Restructuring of the Organization
The restructuring of our LICs is designed to create an organization that can advance our breaking news capabilities, watchdog reporting, enterprise content and depth of local news and information across a diverse set of media platforms to best serve our readers and advertisers. To achieve this goal, we will begin the procedure of restructuring the organization and have created this Employee SharePoint site to assist you in preparing for the process.

As you begin the process of reviewing the new job opportunities in the East Brunswick, Somerville and Morristown information centers, which are outlined on this site, read the directions carefully before you begin.

We understand the concerns that many of you have regarding future employment with Gannett’s Northern three New Jersey Newspapers (N3). This site is designed to assist you with navigating through the position selection, application and interview process. You will find position descriptions, the revised organizational charts and a link to submit your name for consideration for up to two positions. Again, we encourage you to carefully review the job opportunities in preparation for an upcoming interview. 

After you apply for a position, a human resources representative will contact you to schedule an interview time. The first round of interviews will be for the managerial positions and will be conducted on Monday, Jan. 17, in Neptune. The first round of interviews for all other positions is on Tuesday, Jan. 25, also in Neptune. In some cases you may be asked to do a follow up interview. The deadline for applying for managerial positions is noon on Friday, Jan. 14. The deadline to apply for all other positions is Friday, Jan. 21.

You will be interviewed by HR Managers from other Gannett sites who are familiar with our business and our new job requirements. They will provide local management with feedback based on their interviews and local managers and executives will make the final candidate selections.

Questions: If you have questions regarding the application process or any of the positions, please contact the Human Resources Department at the Asbury Park Press. They can be reached by e-mail at hr@njpressmedia.com.

Thank you

Tom Donovan
Vice President
Gannett East Group

Reports: Three N.J. newsrooms to be consolidated; Asbury to take news lead, as 99 jobs get cut by half

The three papers are the Courier News, Daily Record and Home News Tribune, according to reader e-mail, and Gannett Blogger comments. Under the reorganization announced about an hour ago, the Asbury Park Press will produce the bulk of local news stories, while the remaining staffers will focus on producing "topics" content, says Anonymous@3:05 p.m.

The 99 current staffers must apply for 53 remaining positions, my tipsters say. "NO SEVERANCE," says 3:05 p.m. "Just some 'transitional pay program.' Everyone's gone by Feb. 4; not even a month's notice."

In an e-mail, a reader told me: "Nothing in writing; they are talking on a conference call now. . . . Content being changed: We will keep putting out a daily newspaper, but they are completely changing what we do."

[Updated at 5:29 p.m.: I've now posted Asbury Park Publisher Tom Donovan's memo, laying out the reorganization's timetable.]

Among six N.J. dailies
As a whole, Gannett's six-paper New Jersey Group has struggled financially for years. This afternoon's news follows speculation here that a major reorganization was in the works. And it explains why the three affected dailies escaped layoffs during a November round that cost an estimated 253 jobs at 63 other GCI papers.

Asbury, meanwhile, has emerged as an editorial production center. It is one of five hubs for the Design Studios, which will design and build pages for groups of newspapers. The other hubs, being rolled out over two years, are in Des Moines; Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, and Phoenix.

The drive time between Asbury Park's main office at Neptune (mapped) and the three dailies ranges from 40 to 75 minutes, according to Google Maps.

Latest circulation

• Asbury Park: Monday-Friday, 112,683; Saturday, 119,593; Sunday, 160,322
• Courier News: Monday-Saturday, 18,293; Sunday, 22,134
• Daily Record: Monday-Saturday, 23,054; Sunday, 25,743
• Home News Tribune: Monday-Saturday, 34,962; Sunday, 42,352

[Image: today's Daily Record, Newseum. It features a story about Phyllis Schneck, a local summer resident killed in Saturday's attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at Tucson, Ariz.]

Hubs | Marymont said providing latest details

Regarding the five newspaper page design and production hubs, Anonymous@7:34 p.m. describes a meeting yesterday between the head of Gannett's News Department and editors of the New Jersey papers:

Kate Marymont met with tie-wearing editors of N.J. papers today, then with copy editors, designers and paginators at the Asbury Park Press. Although still corporately fuzzy on many of the details, she cleared up some things about the new "hubs" -- now called design centers or design studios -- they haven't made up their minds about the name.

Marymount said that, last week, editor-types, managers and tech squads met in D.C. to talk about the hubs, and that this week, designers were meeting and that there were two models at which Gannett was looking for each of the five hubs. One would have a chief operating officer/manager/head honcho from the editorial/management/production side, and immediately under this person would be the creative director. The other model would have the creative editor on top, with the managing editor underneath.

The hub itself would be divided into groups, corresponding to a newspaper or group of newspapers or a group of tasks. Each group would have a head person, followed in descending order by designers and paginators.

Except for high-end glossy magazines -- she said there were about 10 nationwide in Gannett -- niche publications such as associated weeklies and special sections would be handled by the hubs in the same way as the dailies. (Only 78 papers are included in the hubs -- Detroit, USA Today and Guam are excluded).

Employees will have to apply for jobs in the hubs. Depending on how it is handled locally, copy editors may face the same issue. Regarding the hubs, Marymount was asked whether Gannett employees would be given precedence in the hiring procedures. Her answer: "Not necessarily."

She said that the hubs would be part of Gannett, but not part of their host newspapers.

She said that it was expected that equipment would begin installation at Asbury by the beginning of 2011, with rollout of hub operations in the spring, starting with Asbury, East Brunswick, Somerville and Parsippany.

She was a bit more hazy on when the recruitment (her word), interviewing and hiring of the hub leaders would take place, although she said she was currently involved in writing job descriptions.

That's all I remember. Sorry if my memory isn't as complete as it should be or if I have misunderstood anything Marymount said. Feel free, colleagues, to pitch in and have at it.

What can you add to this excellent report? 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.

[Image: yesterday's Asbury Park Press, Newseum]

N.J. papers launch new blog, 'bureau' in cafe

In a new online venture sure to be watched across the company, Gannett's N.J. newspapers are collaborating on a blog reporting area community news. Some of Freehold InJersey's content will be published in print versions of local newspapers.

An introductory post doesn't identity those papers, but it seems likely they will include Gannett's six papers in Central New Jersey: the Asbury Park Press, Courier News at Bridgewater, Courier-Post at Cherry Hill, Home News Tribune at East Brunswick, Daily Record at Parsippany, and The Daily Journal at Vineland.

The new venture's twist: Freehold InJersey has established a tiny satellite bureau in a coffee shop, Zebu Forno, on Main Street in Freehold Borough.

"At a computer workstation surrounded by diners and patrons,'' editors say in a post, "the staff of Freehold InJersey will conduct interviews, work on stories, and produce multimedia content for this groundbreaking website. Passers-by can stop to ask the latest news, share a tip, or learn how to post their own stories to the open-source news site."

The site is published with off-the-shelf Buddy Press software.

Flaws found in Asbury's team-written story policy

Asbury Park Press Executive Editor Hollis Towns (left) says publishing stories written by a New Jersey Devils employee is OK, because readers are told that writer Eric Marin is an employee of the professional hockey team.

But that disclosure occurs unevenly, I found in a review of stories on the paper's website. Just two of the six Marin stories that I identified say explicitly that he works for the team; a third says only that Marin writes for the team's website. As I post this, the other stories failing to disclose he's an employee are here, here and here.

Towns's position on the ethics of publishing Marin's stories earned the paper a rebuke today from the Society of Professional Journalists, which compared the stories to "glorified press releases." Towns had told The New York Times: "I think journalists get hung up on certain lines of what's ethical more than the readers."

On the issue of attribution, SPJ said in a statement: "An Internet search shows that the Asbury Park Press ran Devils stories by Eric Marin, a Devils employee, with the label 'Special to the Asbury Park Press' or 'Special to the Press' or 'correspondent.' Other Gannett newspapers used the same 'Special' designation, which is commonly used for work by freelancers or stringers."

The statement continues: "When the Times's story exposed the newspaper's hidden relationship with the team, the papers added a tag line: 'Eric Marin works for the New Jersey Devils and writes for newjerseydevils.com.'"

As I found today, however, those additions didn't occur on every story.

[Photo: Park Press via NYT]

SPJ scolds N.J. papers over team-written stories; it says 'glorified press releases' cheapen journalism

The Society of Professional Journalists's Ethics Committee said today that it is "dismayed" that Gannett's N.J. newspapers are publishing stories written by a New Jersey Devils employee, effectively allowing the professional hockey team to cover itself.

"The public expects journalists to be ethical — including fair and impartial — and holds us accountable when we fail," committee Chairman Andy Schotz said in a statement. "We hear constantly from people upset about eroding standards by news organizations."


Hollis Towns, executive editor of one of the papers, the Asbury Park Press, recently told The New York Times he was comfortable with the arrangement because the paper had disclosed the relationship with the team to readers. "I think journalists get hung up on certain lines of what's ethical more than the readers,'' the NYT quoted him saying.

SPJ disagreed, saying in its statement: "Economically squeezed journalists might seek more efficient ways to cover news, but ceding journalistic duties to newsmakers and giving space to what could be seen as glorified press releases is a poor choice. It cheapens journalism."

N.J. papers publish team-written sports stories

The arrangement between Gannett's six N.J. newspapers and the New Jersey Devils's employee-writer may be a coup for the pro hockey team, says The New York Times, but it "puts the papers in the odd position of publishing news coverage supplied by the entity being covered."

The executive editor of one of the papers, Hollis Towns of the Asbury Park Press, tells the NYT: “As long as it served our readers and we told them where that content was coming from, the readers were fine with it. I think journalists get hung up on certain lines of what’s ethical more than the readers.”

Related: A recent story by the Devils employee, Eric Martin

Skip Hidlay has a feeling he isn't in Jersey anymore

[Hidlay, Gale, Toto]

"From the Jersey shore to Wichita, Kansas. Talk about culture shock. Do we even speak
the same language?"

-- A reader commenting on the The Wichita Eagle's website about today's announcement that Skip Hidlay has been named the paper's publisher. Hidlay has been publisher of Gannett's Courier News and Home News Tribune in New Jersey for the past two years.

[Dorothy Gale, on the other hand, had a feeling she wasn't in Kansas]

Tips | N.J. publisher said out, now Kansas-bound

That's according to an anonymous poster at 1:52 p.m. in Real Time Comments, above. The publisher in question is Skip Hidlay of the Courier News and the Home News Tribune. I'm working off my iPhone, with limited web access. Can anyone confirm this -- or add details?