Westchester daily eliminates 26 jobs -- 11% of all, pushing Gannett-wide layoffs, other cuts near 300

[Updated at 6:53 a.m. ET with latest figures, East Group details.]

Gannett's newspaper layoffs and other job losses jumped yet higher late yesterday, to an estimated 280 across at least 45 sites, as The Journal News in Westchester officially confirmed it had imposed especially deep cuts.

Hasson

The N.Y. daily said it eliminated 26 jobs -- fully 11% of its workforce. Of those, 17 came from the newsroom, dropping total employment to 206 vs. 232. "The reduction in our payroll is necessary as we adjust to the changing marketplace,” Publisher Janet Hasson told the paper.

This latest round of layoffs is the largest since June 2011, when the company eliminated 700 newspaper jobs. The company had about 18,000 employees in its U.S. Community Publishing division at the end of last year.

The Journal News was one of the larger newspapers that hadn't previously been counted in this spreadsheet showing site-by-site totals. Its weekday circulation is 66,000, and Sunday is 86,000, according to the March 31 AAM report. Indeed, of 82 newspaper sites nationwide, we've heard from just over half. Many of those missing are in the East Group, and have relatively small circulations.

It's important to note that layoffs won't necessarily hit all sites across the USCP. Some have been able to hit cost-cutting targets from Corporate by eliminating travel, page counts and other expenses.

MIA: the East Group
A sampling of other papers still not included at the moment includes many in the East: The News-Press at Fort Myers, Fla.; the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, and The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.

Today's paper, Newseum

As well, I don't have any information about five of the six New Jersey dailies. And beyond Westchester, I haven't seen anything for the other five N.Y. papers. Conspicuously absent, for example, is the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. East President Michael Kane also is publisher of that paper, and his group is based in Rochester.

Officially, at any rate, USA Today isn't included in this round, nor are the 17 dailies in the U.K. Newsquest division. And for the most part, other company divisions have been spared, including the broadcasting division, Gannett Publishing Services and CareerBuilder.

However, Gannett Government Media, publisher of Army Times and other titles, laid off 17 in early July, after ordering third-quarter furloughs just two weeks before.

Gannett, the nation's No. 1 newspaper publisher, employed just under 31,000 worldwide across all divisions at the end of last year, according to the latest published data.

Earlier: Gannett launches stealth round of layoffs; more than 100 expected in days ahead.

Related: Corporate's list of all national and international sites.

Is your site here?
Please check this read-only spreadsheet to see the latest figures for your site. Then post any new information in the comments section, below. Or write confidentially to jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Tallahassee | Sunday back to $2, with an apology; price reduction followed 15% circulation decline

In a blog post today, Executive Editor Bob Gabordi writes about the Tallahassee Democrat's "big" mistake in conjunction with the Gannett-wide launch of paywalls last year.

"In the face of expanded readership, a year ago April we raised the price of the Sunday newspaper to $3 in vending machines and retail outlets," he writes. "We have since reduced the price to $2, but we did so quietly, and without saying we were sorry for the miscalculation."

Gabordi doesn't detail the price increase's impact on circulation. But the paper's overall Sunday sales -- including home delivery -- dove 15% to an average 39,685 copies by the end of last year from 46,801 in 2011, according to GCI's annual reports. That was a significant decline when Corporate was focused on shoring up Sunday circulation across the U.S. newspaper division.

Indeed, among all the U.S. community dailies, only Missouri's Springfield News-Leader reported a bigger rate of Sunday decline: 16%, to 52,958 from 63,413 in 2011. (This excludes the Detroit Free Press, where data in the annual reports show a near-doubling of Sunday circulation that I can't immediately explain.)

Division-wide, Sunday fell an average 3% last year from 2011 (again, excluding Detroit), according to the annual reports.

Nonetheless, overall circulation revenue rose 5% last year to $1.1 billion, because Corporate raised subscription prices an average 25% when the paywalls were introduced. That more than made up for lost circulation volume.

Your site's numbers
Other GCI newspapers raised newsstand prices on Sunday when their paywall was turned on. Has your site also backed away from its increase?

This spreadsheet shows daily and Sunday circulation for 2012 vs. 2011 for 80 U.S. dailies.

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.

Montgomery | Martin is out; LaFuria is interim pub

Martin

Sam Martin had been publisher of The Montgomery Advertiser for three years, coming to the Alabama daily from The Boston Globe. Replacing him on an interim basis: Scott LaFuria, controller for the Advertiser and the Tallahassee Democrat, the paper said today in announcing Martin's departure.

It's worth noting that Martin was among a relative handful of minority publishers. And his exit follows that of another senior minority executive: Wanda Lloyd, who was the Advertiser's executive editor before retiring early this year.

Earlier: A less-diverse Gannett board of directors with Harper's retirement.

Tallahassee | Ouch!

"People who read the Democrat daily were surprised to learn that its editor feels he is in a position to be sanctimonious about anyone’s fact-checking."

-- Nancy Smith, executive editor of Sunshine State News, writing about Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi. Last week, Gabordi slammed a local magazine over a story he said was riddled with inaccuracies. Among them, referring to the Democrat's owner as the Gannett Corp., rather than the Gannett Co.

Tallahassee | And while I'm on the subject!

"Whatever decisions about state news coverage were not made by our parent company, which is called the Gannett Company, not the Gannett Corp., as the article states."

-- Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi, in a blog post accusing Tallahassee Magazine of multiple errors in an article about the Florida daily's state government coverage. He also described the article's author as "an unhappy former Democrat employee and former freelancer." 

Tallahassee | Paper launches daily weather videos

The Tallahassee Democrat's twice-daily reports, starting Monday, are its latest effort as Gannett pushes more video at the Florida daily and other media sites across the company.

Earlier: In Tallahassee, this "revolution" will be televised.

Tallahassee | This 'revolution' will be televised

Based on what's going on at the Tallahassee Democrat, the push for more video across Gannett is gaining strength.

Gabordi

Two 90-second local news shows will launch next Monday, one at 8 a.m. and the other at 5 p.m., Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said in a blog post today about what he calls the paper's new Content Revolution: "Give us 90 seconds and we’ll tell you what you need to know without all the fluff and puff."


Meanwhile...
Just in case anyone wondered, Gabordi is, indeed, armed at home. "I promise if you entered my home illegally with the intent to do harm to my family," he wrote in an earlier blog post, "shooting is about the best outcome you can hope for."

Related: Tallahassee's weekday circulation is 32,206, and Sunday is 38,697, according to the Sept. 30 ABC report.

Salem | Exec editor Church leaving for Sarasota

That's what Bill Church of Oregon's Statesman Journal just Tweeted minutes ago:

Announced to @salem_statesman news team that I've accepted executive editor's job in Sarasota, FL. Thank you, #SalemOR, for memories.

— Bill Church (@BillChurchMedia) December 26, 2012

Assuming he's referring to Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune, he'll be joining former Tallahassee Democrat Publisher Pat Dorsey, who went to that Halifax Media Group daily in October.

Church has been the Oregon daily's editor since June 2006.

Sarasota's weekday circulation is 60,141, and Sunday is 79,641. Salem's is 34,891 on weekdays and 42,424 on Sundays, according to the Sept. 30 ABC report.

Tallahassee | Freedom exec named publisher

Moreno

Corporate just announced that Julie Moreno has been named publisher of Florida's Tallahassee Democrat, effective Nov. 26.

She formerly was North Carolina regional vice president for Freedom Communications and publisher of The Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, N.C.

Question: Who is she replacing? She replaces Pat Dorsey, who announced in September that he had been hired as the new chief executive for Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune. It's owned by Halifax Media Group.

Tallahassee | Democrat to print Georgia daily

The Albany Herald in Georgia said late yesterday that it will shift printing to the Tallahassee Democrat, eliminating 26 jobs in the process. The move is set for Oct. 25. Albany and Tallahassee are about 90 miles apart.

Tallahassee | Dorsey quits to be pub at Halifax

Pat Dorsey has been the Tallahassee Democrat’s publisher since August 2005, when Gannett bought the paper from Knight-Ridder.

Dorsey

Yesterday, Dorsey, 44, told staff he's leaving Oct. 1 for the chief executive's job at Florida's Sarasota Herald-Tribune, which the New York Times Co. sold to Halifax Media Group in January.

Sarasota's weekday circulation is 60,141 80,000. Tallahassee's is about 35,000.

In a story announcing Dorsey's move, the paper didn't quote anyone at Corporate or say anything about plans to replace him.

Privately-owned Halifax continues to grow. In June, it closed a deal with Freedom Communications to buy eight daily and 11 weekly publications in Florida and North Carolina.

Halifax now owns 38 daily and weekly papers in five states, including 18 daily and weekly newspapers in Florida, according to the Democrat. The company was formed in 2010 with the purchase of Florida's Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Sarasota was one of 16 dailies in the NYT Co.'s community newspaper group sold when the company was raising cash. The sale became controversial because Halifax initially required employees at the 16 papers to sign contracts agreeing they wouldn't work for another competing company for two years after leaving Halifax -- even if Halifax fired them. Halifax later rescinded the requirement under pressure.

Tip: More paywall sites named -- plus, $3 Sundays?

Add three more names to the list of known sites leading Gannett's broad rollout of paywalls starting Feb. 1, according to one of my readers: Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; St. Cloud, Minn., and Sioux Falls, S.D.

They would bring to at least six the number of sites believed to be making the switch that day. The others are Wilmington, Del., which I wrote about Monday, plus two others that Gannett Bloggers have discussed in earlier comment threads: Brevard, Fla., and Lafayette, Ind.

My tipster reader also says these six sites may boost their Sunday single-copy prices to as much as $3 when the paywalls are introduced. At Florida Today in Brevard, that will double the current price, according to my readers. Any Sunday increase would come as GCI tries to raise overall circulation that day.

GCI's paywall plan is especially noteworthy because it arrives as newspapers everywhere look for new revenue streams to battle declining advertising sales. As the nation's No. 1 newspaper publisher, GCI's decisions are closely watched and frequently mimicked.

Early last month, CEO Gracia Martore disclosed for the first time that most if not all U.S. sites would require that readers pay for full digital access. In remarks to a conference of Wall Street media analysts, she didn't give a timetable, other than to say the move would start early this year.

Pricing remains unclear
She also didn't give details on pricing for digital-only subscriptions. However, at three sites where GCI has been testing paywalls for more than a year, those subscribers pay $9.95 a month, or $2 for a 24-hour "pass."

Under the new plan, non-subscribers would have limited free access, Martore said. Existing and new print customers would get access with their paid subscriptions.

The broad paywall debut follows GCI's test since July 2010 at papers in Tallahassee, Fla.; Greenville, S.C., and St. George, Utah. And it comes more than 16 years after many newspapers began giving away content free online after the introduction of the first commercially viable web browser.

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.

Tallahassee | Exhibit A for lowering the paywall

Champion

The Tallahassee Democrat has its hands on a national story about the possible hazing-related death of a member of Florida A&M's famed Marching 100 band -- a story that could generate hundreds of thousands of additional pageviews for the newspaper as the scandal deepens.

Yesterday, school President James Ammons fired the band's long-time director. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to join the investigation of Robert Champion's death Saturday after A&M's annual Florida Classic football game.

That's all according to Democrat reporter Jennifer Portman.

But I had to read a version of her story on USA Today's homepage because the Democrat can't seem to lower its paywall -- if only for all its hazing stories.

Other media, including The Wall Street Journal, selectively lower paywalls on stories of special interest. Doesn't the Democrat's technology allow the paper to do that, too?

Related: The Democrat's circulation is 32,673 on weekdays, and 46,138 on Sundays, according to the ABC's database.

Urgent: GCI launches new print, distrib operation; Publishing Services to employ 10K of GCI's workers

The newly created Gannett Publishing Services will combine all production and distribution for the U.S. community newspaper division, USA Today, and Gannett Offset, Corporate just announced.

It is the latest effort to rein in expenses by consolidating jobs. The move will result in the immediate loss of fewer than 20 jobs, mostly at the management level, according to an FAQ distributed today to employees. Another approximately 100 jobs will be eliminated once the unit is up and running. Overall, Publishing Services will employ about 10,000 of GCI's approximately 33,000 employees.

"We will continue to look at efficiencies on an ongoing basis, which may lead to further job eliminations down the road,'' the FAQ says.

Evan Ray, a senior executive in the newspaper division, will run Publishing Services, according to the FAQ, as well as a letter distributed to employees. Ray has been senior vice president over finance and operations for the division since June 2008, when the division was reorganized under President Bob Dickey.

Interestingly and somewhat curiously, Ray will report to two people: Dickey, and USAT General Manager Susie Ellwood. Given the employee size of Publishing Services, Ellwood has become that much more influential across the entire company. She was promoted to her USAT job, the paper's No. 2 position, in June.

In part, the letter says: "Gannett Publishing Services will be responsible for managing Gannett's domestic network of printing operations, product distribution, consumer sales and service and contractual outsourcing of printing. The unit will also market its imaging, ad production, printing, packaging, distribution capability and consumer sales and service to third parties."

Ray's background
Prior to his promotion to SVP, Ray was chief financial officer of Phoenix Newspapers Inc. from 2000, and a group controller since 1991. Earlier, Ray was director of finance for the Reno Gazette-Journal from 1991; was vice president of finance for The Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock from 1984; and was controller for the Tallahassee Democrat from 1979. He graduated from Florida University with a B.S. in accounting.

I believe Ray and Ellwood worked at the Little Rock paper during the same late-1980s time period.

Related: Here's the FAQ, and here's the letter to employees.

Here's 2000-2010 circulation for nearly all dailies

I've just uploaded a spreadsheet showing weekday circulation figures for 77 of Gannett's 81 U.S. community dailies for every year from 2000 through 2010. It's based on data published by the company in annual reports to shareholders, and expands on earlier circulation posts here, here, and here. (Download all the annual reports.)

The list includes every paper the company owned in 2000 that it still owned at the end of 2010. (So, for example, the spreadsheet doesn't include the Detroit Free Press or the Tallahassee Democrat, which GCI didn't buy until 2005.)

And these are only the U.S. community dailies; USA Today and Newsquest titles aren't included. (But Newsquest is coming next.)

It's interesting reading for circulation junkies, or anyone who wants to track the steady print decline of GCI's U.S. newspaper portfolio.

The top weekday percentage circulation loser between 2000 and 2010? Once more, it's the Courier News in Bridgewater, N.J., which ended last year with 18,437 in circulation, down 55% from 41,354 in 2000.

The Spectrum in Utah's St. George recorded the smallest decline: just 12%, falling to 18,875.

The list is sorted alphabetically by state. The paper that lost the most circulation volume across the period, not surprisingly, is the biggest community daily, The Arizona Republic. It fell by 137,235 copies -- or 29% -- to 332,577 the end of last year.

GCI's bigger tumble
Across the nation, weekday circulation fell 18% between 2000-2009, according to the Newspaper Association of America trade group. (The data on its website only goes through 2009.)

Yet, combined circulation for the 77 GCI papers fell 27% in that period.

The gap between the NAA and GCI declines is all the more striking when you consider their very different mix of newspapers:

• The NAA counted 1,387 weekday papers in 2009; 38% of them were weaker afternoon editions, which suffered far greater losses than morning editions. 
• Only 17% of GCI's 77 papers were afternoon editions in 2009, however.

So, why did the NAA group's circulation fall just 18% -- even with all those p.m. papers -- when GCI's fell 27%? That's a question I can't answer.

A big thank you
For this spreadsheet, I'm indebted to a Gannett Blogger who keyed in the data entirely on his own initiative. "I'm an ex-Gannetteer," he wrote, "and had a little time to kill, so I thought I'd expand on your circulation analysis." Having examined his own work, he concluded: "Those are some pretty ugly numbers."

Tallahasee | Editor Gabordi writes about: 'Your passions, our reporting: Building for the future'

In a blog post this weekend, Editor Bob Gabordi of Florida's Tallahassee Democrat writes about Gannett's new quality control program for its U.S. newspapers, called passion topics. (Note: I can't link to his post because its behind the Democrat's paywall.) Here's Gabordi:

People like living here.

For some, it is the region’s natural beauty. For others, it is the presence of Florida State University. For still others, it is the sense that this is a good place to raise children: small enough that people are neighborly, large enough to have entertainment and professional opportunities to grow.

For the nearly 300 people who took part in our informal survey, the general conclusion was the Tallahassee area is a very nice place to live.

It was the most response we gotten to any of our surveys and those who took part tended to have lived here for at least five years. More women than men answered our questions. But participants otherwise reflected all areas of the city and fairly well reflected the demographics of the community in age and income.

More than a third of people who responded said this phrase best described them: “My family and home are my life.” That fascinated me, though it was hardly a surprise.

Family and raising our children right is a value that transcends the ethnic and culture diversity of our region. In other words, at least for people who answered our survey, raising our kids right is a shared value whether the family looks like "Leave it to Beaver" or "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" or even "Two-and-a-Half-Men."

What are your passions?
The survey gave people the chance to describe in their own words what they are most passionate about. Here are a few answers that I think best reflected that point, when asked what they are most passionate about:

“(Tallahassee is) reasonably safe and secure, culture and educational environment in which to live and raise children, and be with immediate and extended family members, from very young to elderly.”

“Tallahassee is a great place to bring up a child.”

“Our schools, our arts community, our resources for children and their families, and our physical/natural environment.”

Florida State was another point of passion for many respondents. Just more than one of ten people said they were best described as an FSU sports fanatic, but many more mentioned FSU when asked about their passions, from the medical school to just living in an environment that valued higher education.

Other passion points emerging in the survey were politics, the environment, personal health and the arts.

The concept of the survey came from a Zing! In which the writer said everything he or she disliked about Tallahassee. That didn’t fit with the Tallahassee I knew and I wondered how others felt.

Hired: multimedia reporters
At the same time, we’ve put together an internal group at the Tallahassee Democrat, which we’ve charged with helping us build the newspaper, website and mobile news products of the future, which will include deciding how our organization will be shaped. Some decisions have already been made, and they are more than simple tweaks of our organizational structure.

For example, we’ve made two recent hires for positions we’ve never had before, a breaking news reporter with multimedia skills and a multimedia sports reporter. Both can and do write traditional news stories, but their primary focus is electronic media.

The intersection of these two concepts -- one looking at our audiences’ passion points and the other looking at how to best focus our journalists’ time and other resources -- is the news organization of the future. While others continue to arrogantly or despairingly predict our demise, we’re rebuilding, reshaping and retraining, and in some cases hiring to get new skills we think the future demands -- and to better serve our readers’ news and information need.

We are confident of the future for this news outlet and will continue to work hard to prove our value to our readers and digital audience. This process is a sign of that confidence. This survey is one piece of that and you will hear much more about this in the months ahead. Our readers, subscribers and advertising customers will be our partners in building your media organization of choice.

At the same time, over the next few months you will see the results of months of work by reporters working on deep investigative reports, because we know our obligation is also to serve as a watchdog on state and local government, especially on topics about which our readers care about the most.

More to come.

Earlier: Why the new passion topics program sounds so familiar.

Details are now dribbling out from last month's meeting among editors about passion topics. What are you hearing at your site? 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 nixes more newspaper, TV station buys

CEO Craig Dubow spoke to Wall Street media stock analysts early this afternoon at the annual Noble Financial conference, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Here's a link to a video of his presentation. The question-and-answer part starts at minute 15:00.

Highlights of Dubow's responses to some questions:

• GCI will continue to focus on expanding its portfolio of digital businesses, as opposed to buying any newspapers or TV stations that may be on the market. "The real drive is going to be to build out our digital portfolio first."
• The nearly year-old experiments with three different paywalls at newspapers in Greenville, S.C.; St. George, Utah, and Tallahassee, Fla., have shown there would be no single paywall model for all the company's properties. He did not give a timetable for any expansion of paywalls. But he added: "I would say it's not too far in the distant future.''
• GCI and its partners in the giant employment advertising site, CareerBuilder, are focused on continuing to expand into international markets. There are no plans now to spin off the site or sell it through an initial public offering.

Tallahassee | Tackling confusion on news vs. P.R.

On Sunday, the Tallahassee Democrat published a 16-page section timed to a much-anticipated Seminoles football game at Florida State University.

The section, "Momentum building at Florida State," included five and one-half pages of advertising, plus seven stories, according to one of my readers. It wasn't labeled a special advertising section, or given any other similar designation to make clear it was essentially a public relations vehicle for FSU sports.

To be sure, there were clues: Five of the stories were written by "Seminole Boosters'' authors, says my reader. That turns out to be the school's large and very well-staffed athletics and educational fundraising arm.

For example, a writer named Jerry Kutz wrote a Page 2 story about the Seminoles' quarterback. (Screenshot detail, left.) A quick search of the Boosters' website shows Kutz is the organization's vice president of marketing and communications -- an important fact not mentioned in the section.

No doubt, some readers guessed this wasn't a real news section, such as those produced by the newsroom, and appearing elsewhere in that edition of the paper. But plenty of other readers wouldn't have understood that distinction. They would have thought these game-day stories were as objective as possible, offering the balance and vetting that marks quality, trustworthy journalism.

To be sure, the Democrat's handling of this section was a big improvement over a similar situation at Gannett's New Jersey newspapers. There, the Asbury Park Press and other dailies published stories last year about the New Jersey Devils hockey team -- written by a team employee. The stories didn't always identify the writer as a team employee, suggesting instead that they were authored by a freelancer.

Here's a question for the Democrat and other dailies: What's the harm in adding the phrase "special advertising section" to the folios on each page? It hardly takes up any room. Plus, it'll go a long way toward bolstering a paper's credibility as an independent news source.

Note: the Democrat's circulation is 36,670 Monday-Friday; 39,584 Saturdays, and 47,040 on Sundays, according to Sept. 30 data from the ABC.

San Francisco daily reportedly planning paywall

Led by a team of former Gannett executives -- including its publisher, Frank Vega -- Hearst Co.'s San Francisco Chronicle is considering a paywall as part of a broad, new digital strategy, according to a published report that cites staffers briefed on the plans.

Employees said they were told the paywall could be rolled out by the end of this month, "although the plan is understood to be in flux," said the Bay Citizen, a local online news site.

In a statement, Chronicle President Mark Adkins told the Citizen that the paper "is planning to offer the newspaper’s content through an application for use on the iPad and other tablet devices.” He declined further comment.

Nation's No. 24 daily
The Chronicle would be one of the largest dailies in the country to plunge into a risky paid online model when other publishers -- including GCI -- are still experimenting with paywalls. With a weekday circulation of 223,000 as of Sept. 30, the Chronicle ranked No. 24 among the nation's biggest papers. The Detroit Free Press was No. 20, at 245,326. The Arizona Republic, No. 14, at 308,973; and USA Today was No. 2, at 1.8 million.

GCI began charging for access to at least some content in early July at its papers in Greenville, S.C.; St. George, Utah, and Tallahassee, Fla. CEO Craig Dubow has not indicated when, if ever, any paywalls will be installed at other GCI papers.

Only a week ago, The New York Times erected a paywall, a move that is being closely watched because of the paper's outsized influence in the industry. The NYT ranked No. 3 in weekday circulation at 876,638.

Vega

Team Vega
Since Hearst named him the Chronicle's chief executive six years ago, Vega has effectively assembled a shadow, West Coast version of Gannett. For example, Adkins worked for GCI for 23 years, the last as vice president of advertising, responsible for strategic and sales oversight of the company's then-90 U.S. local dailies. He joined Hearst in 2005.

In 2009, Jeff Bergin was named the Chronicle's senior vice president of advertising. Bergin had been head of ad sales for GCI's newspaper division since January 2002. In 2008, Vega poached top editor Ward Bushee from the Arizona Republic to run the Chronicle's newsroom.

Vega himself came to Hearst from the GCI-controlled Detroit newspaper publishing partnership. He was a key member of the team that developed the concept for USAT leading to its 1982 launch.

[Image: today's Chronicle, Newseum]

Tallahassee | Your're going to love this ad . . .

That was the subject line today of the e-mail I got from a reader who included a screenshot of the Tallahassee Democrat's homepage. Get it? (As I post this, the banner ad is still up on the site.)