Would this Hearst save San Francisco's newspaper?

He is a grandson of the legendary newspaper mogul. Yet, William Randolph Hearst III, 59 (left), is a partner in the Silicon Valley investment firm that backed a late-1990s start-up, Google -- now one of the industry's biggest threats. The money-losing paper is The San Francisco Chronicle, which his family-controlled Hearst Corp. bought eight years ago, just as the technology bubble popped, and the industry tumbled into a rapid decline.

Hearst Corp. has lost more than $330 million in San Francisco, no end in sight, despite multiple rounds of cost cuts. Northern California papers got hit early and hard by Google, plus Craigslist and other local start-ups. Smack in the middle: long-time Gannett executive Frank Vega, Chronicle publisher since 2005, and his top editor for the past year, another GCI lifer, Ward Bushee.

Now, with today's news that Hearst is suddenly abandoning the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a big shake-up in its top executive ranks last June may be playing out across the New York-based media giant's newspaper division -- and possibly right up to the Chronicle's Mission Street front door here in San Francisco.

Last month, Hearst's newspaper division president, George Irish, announced his retirement. That followed the sudden departure in June of Hearst Corp. CEO Victor Ganzi. (Replacing Ganzi: former CEO Frank Bennack.) Published reports said Ganzi clashed with Hearst family members -- including Hearst III.

Since 1995, Hearst has been a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The venture-capital firm is an hour south of San Francisco in Silicon Valley's Millionaire Mile -- Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, where he would be immersed in tech start-ups paving the way for whatever replaces the traditional newspaper industry.

Same city, different paper
The Hearst family's wealth is rooted in San Francisco newspapering and the West. But that doesn't mean Hearst III necessarily has any sentimental attachment to the traditional printed version. For one thing, it was a different paper, the San Francisco Examiner, that his famous grandfather (left) leveraged to build the first modern media empire in the 1890s -- and his palatial Hearst Castle, along California's central coast, at San Simeon.

By 2000, however, the Examiner was the smaller partner in a joint operating agreement, where the stronger, morning Chronicle was owned by descendants of the local de Young family. Hearst Corp. decided to sell the Examiner and buy the Chronicle, in a three-way deal that required Sen. Dianne Feinstein's intervention.

Hearst chose perhaps the worst possible year, 2000, to buy the Chronicle: It paid $660 million that July, which seems astonishing today, after eight years of the industry's rapid decline. (How much did Hearst overpay? That price is nearly a third of Gannett's current total market capitalization, $1.96 billion -- including USA Today! -- based on this afternoon's closing stock price, $8.59 a share.)

The deep recession that began more than a year ago only added to Hearst losses here that have averaged nearly $800,000 a week since mid-2000. I'm left with two broad questions:

• Will Hearst cut its newspaper losses further, and make the Chronicle web-only, with a much smaller staff -- as it's apparently considering in Seattle?
• And what role might Hearst III play?
  

Vega in the house
To be sure, going fully digital now would seem crazy: The Chronicle is scheduled to outsource printing this year to a new production plant being built by Transcontinental Inc. The company, Canada's biggest printer, will own the presses under a 15-year contract Hearst signed two years ago.

Even so, I've wondered whether San Francisco would be the first major U.S. city to go web-only. And maybe it still will: The Gannett-controlled Detroit Media Partnership took only a partial step in that direction last month, saying it would end home delivery on all but three days of the week, probably starting this spring. Chronicle publisher Vega (left) knows Detroit well. He was CEO of the Detroit JOA before the current occupant: Dave Hunke.

Vega surprised Gannett a year ago by luring away Bushee, who was then top editor at The Arizona Republic. Vega and Bushee have been tinkering on the paper ever since -- with plenty of help from old Gannett acquaintances. (Wink!)

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. E-mail confidentially via gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Images: today's front pages, Newseum]

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]

Hearst warns it may close San Francisco Chronicle

Now run by former top Gannett executive Frank Vega (left), The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year, "and this year's losses to date are worse," Hearst Corp. just announced. That is on top of more than $330 million in losses since Hearst bought the Chronicle eight years ago. "It's just a fact of life that we need to live within our means as a newspaper, and we have not for years,'' Vega told the paper.

Hearst warned it would close or sell the paper unless "critical" cost-cutting starts within weeks -- including "significant" reductions in union and non-union jobs. (Sounds like Vega's about to make the unions an offer, ahem, they can't refuse.)

The Chronicle is the nation's eleventh-biggest, by circulation: 343,488 daily; 398,116 Sundays, as of Sept. 30, according to Deutsche Bank. Yet, as across the industry, circulation has slipped: down 7% daily, and 7.4% on Sunday, compared to September 2007, the bank says.

Family-controlled Hearst bought the paper just as the technology bubble burst, and the industry tumbled into a rapid decline. Since then, it has lost hundreds of millions of dollars despite multiple rounds of cost cuts. It's not even clear that local Hearst scion William Randolph Hearst III will step in.

$660M purchase price
Hearst chose perhaps the worst possible year, 2000, to buy the Chronicle: It paid $660 million that July for a single newspaper -- astonishing now, after eight years of the industry's rapid decline. That price is equivalent to nearly 75% of Gannett's entire current market capitalization, $931 million -- including USA Today -- based on this afternoon's closing stock price, $4.08 a share.

The Chronicle was recently redesigned under top Editor Ward Bushee; Vega recruited him more than a year ago from The Arizona Republic.

Earlier: What Bushee's move said about the Chronicle's future

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

[Image: today's front page, Newseum]

Gannett eliminates publisher's job at Tenn. paper

In an anticipated budget-cutting move, GCI has asked the publisher of the Murfreesboro newspaper to also lead The Leaf-Chronicle in nearby Clarksville. Andrew Oppmann takes over the duties of Gene Washer, 68, who retired last week after 45 years at the Leaf-Chronicle -- 13 under Gannett ownership. Amid consolidation of many high-paying publisher's jobs, Gannett Blog readers had speculated that Washer's position would be axed.

Oppmann has been publisher of The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro -- about 90 minutes from Clarksville, the Leaf-Chronicle says, in a bare-bones story that details little about him. Oppmann joined Gannett in 1994, according to a GCI link I found on his family's website. (Nice to see a digitally savvy publisher, BTW!) He and has family will continue living in Murfreesboro.

A Clarksville newspaper reader was skeptical about the appointment. "He's doing two jobs at once?" the reader wrote in a comment on the paper's story. "I wonder what the official reason is for that besides cheapness."

Gannett's Tennessee papers

• Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville: 21,253 daily, 24,551 Sunday
• The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro: 14,635 daily, 18,159 Sunday
• The Jackson Sun, Jackson: 31,596 daily, 36,915 Sunday
• The Tennessean, Nashville: 162,911 daily, 224,318 Sunday

[Image: yesterday's Leaf-Chronicle front page, Newseum; circulation data, 2007 Annual Report to shareholders]

Breaking: Top editor Bushee quits Gannett

The money-losing San Francisco Chronicle just announced that Arizona Republic Editor Ward Bushee (left) will be its new top editor. "Ward brings a wealth of news experience and journalistic vision to the Chronicle team," Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega, a former long-time Gannett executive, said in a statement. "He has long been recognized as an editor who instills strong journalistic values, integrity and sense of community at the newspapers he leads."

Bushee, 58, is coming to one of the nation's most challenging newspaper markets. Northern California has become Ground Zero for many of the technology trends hurting papers. On a percentage basis, the 365,234-circulation (daily) Chronicle has lost more subscribers in recent years than virtually any other U.S. paper. Plus, it lost up to $100 million in 2007 alone -- leading to speculation that it might be the first major U.S. paper to go Web-only.

Separately, the Republic announced that Executive Editor Randy Lovely, 43, (left) will replace Bushee. The Republic is Gannett's biggest-circulation paper after USA Today.

Bushee is one of the most honored and most influential editors in Gannett. But much of his success is tied to his long-time patron, Sue Clark-Johnson, the Newspaper Division president who recently announced plans to retire in May. What's more, the Republic -- once a star in the Gannett constellation -- has lately been a drag on revenue because of the collapse of real estate prices in Phoenix. I suspect as well that a big chunk of Bushee's compensation has been in Gannett stock options that are now worthless, another reason to leave GCI.

Bushee has been with Gannett 21 years, Chronicle owner Hearst noted. He was named Editor of the Year three times and 11 times won the company's President’s Ring, awarded to outstanding top editors. Under his leadership, Hearst says, the Reno Gazette-Journal and The Arizona Republic respectively were honored with Newspaper of the Year awards.

Republic staffers: Use this link to e-mail feedback and tips. See Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

[Photos: Bushee, Gannett; Lovely, Republic]

Clarksville | Long-vacant pub's job filled with GM

The Leaf-Chronicle's executive editor has been given the additional responsibilities of overall general manager, filling a position that's been vacant eight months -- and further blurring the ethical lines separating the business and editorial sides of a Gannett newspaper.

Stevens

Richard Stevens, 56, the paper's top editor since 1999, replaces Andrew Oppmann, who left the paper's top executive job in late October for a position at a local university. The Tennessee paper disclosed the change in a story today.

Stevens had also been acting GM since Oppmann's departure. The GM position increasingly is replacing those of higher-paying publisher's positions. GMs basically do the same work, but for less money.

What's particularly worrisome about Stevens' appointment is that he will be responsible, according to the story, for "news, advertising and all day-to-day operations of the Leaf-Chronicle, its websites and other products under the banner of the Leaf Media Group. He will lead the company's Operating Committee and the newspaper's Editorial Board."

Money-saving move
Traditionally, newsrooms are overseen by an editor who is not directly responsible for business operations, most especially advertising sales. That separation is meant to guard against advertisers having undue influence over news coverage. (Indeed, in the most traditional arrangements, the top news executive has nothing to do with editorials. A separate editorial page editor reports to the publisher.)

The new arrangement at the Leaf-Chronicle appears to be driven at least partly if not wholly by money: Where there were two positions -- an executive editor and a publisher -- there is now one.

Stevens came to the paper as executive editor in 1999 after working as assistant managing editor of The Tennessean in Nashville. He has been a reporter, editor and newspaper manager since 1980, today's story says.

Carol Hudler, president of the regional South Group of newspapers, and publisher of the Tennessean, announced the appointment. "Clarksville is a dynamic community and the Leaf-Chronicle deserves to have a leader as locally invested as Richard,'' she is quoted in the story as saying. "Richard has shown he can manage the business and lead the staff, and I look forward to the Leaf-Chronicle's future successes."

San Francisco Bay papers: the industry 'canaries'

Northern California is what the U.S. newspaper industry might look like a year or two from now -- and it's not a pretty picture.

The San Francisco Chronicle, led by former Gannett executive Frank Vega, and The Mercury News, an hour south in Silicon Valley, are both pretty much on life support. They were among the Bay area newspapers hit early and hardest by Craigslist and other online rivals for advertising. These papers are canaries in the newspaper industry's coal mine: Their fate could foreshadow the future elsewhere as technologies emerging first here spread further across the nation.

The Chronicle has been losing as much as $1 million a week since Hearst Corp. bought it in mid-2000. That makes it the perfect candidate to do immediately what all papers will do one day: go Web-only, says BusinessWeek's Jon Fine. "Killing print requires acknowledging not just that the old mode is dead but also that the future means less revenue and shrunken staffs,'' Fine wrote in July. "This is why it makes sense soonest at a money-losing newspaper already grappling with those realities, and one in a major city that generates enough local ad dollars to support a sizable online business."

Vega (left) became the Chronicle's publisher in January 2005. Previously, he'd been CEO since 1991 of Detroit Newspapers, the partnership that at the time provided business and production services to the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

Gannett Blog recently toured San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood, where companies from MySpace to former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV web start-up are taking root.



[Images: Vega by Chris Stewart, Chronicle; this morning's Chronicle, Newseum]

Rochester's Kane named new Indy Star publisher

Updated at 5:43 p.m. ET. Gannett just announced that Michael Kane (left), vice president of the company's East Publishing Group and publisher of the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., has been named Interstate Group president, and publisher of The Indianapolis Star. Kane, 49, replaces Barbara Henry, retiring Aug. 1, after the Friday Afternoon Massacre. Kane joined Gannett in 1992, when he was hired as marketing manager at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. In comments, below, he's getting good reviews: "Michael is a class act,'' one reader says.

Related: the Star's story, plus the Democrat and Chronicle's

Earlier: Ooh, la, la! Rochester 'threesome' a surprise hit. Plus: the Democrat and Chronicle's school textbook probe

Fun facts about Babs!
The sex-survey lovin' Henry has ginormous feet, according to newspaper division President Bob Dickey, who told the Star today: "Michael has huge shoes to fill."

Rochester: What can you tell Indy about Kane? And who's going to replace him at the Democrat and Chronicle? Post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Photo: Democrat and Chronicle]

Tenn. pub's retirement spurs consolidation chatter

Gene Washer's retirement today as publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle has readers here wondering whether Gannett may use his departure as an opportunity to do away with the top job at the daily in Clarksville, Tenn. Washer, 68, leaves after 45 years at the newspaper -- 13 under GCI ownership. A replacement for Washer "will be named soon," the paper says in a very (!) long story, quoting Ellen Leifeld, publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville, and vice president of Gannett's South Newspaper Group, which includes the Clarksville daily.

But with GCI cutting costs by asking publishers to oversee multiple papers, Gannett Blog readers are speculating on this open-comments post about what's next in Clarksville:

• "If you have another Gannett paper near by, you might have a shared pub. A few papers are already putting a pub over more than one paper."
• "Nearest Clarksville is Nashville, where the publisher has her hands filled already. . . . The retiring Clarksville publisher is 68, three years beyond normal retirement age, and kept around to allow GCI to figure out what to do. I gather he got fed up waiting for a decision after three years. The big game plan, I once heard, involved folding both the Leaf-Chronicle and the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal into the Tennessean, despite the distances involved. Think that plan still alive, maybe part of the move towards creating statewide newspapers in Arizona, New Jersey and Tennessee. Stay tuned."
• "Putting middle Tennessee together a long-time GCI dream. Dickson, Gallatin, Henderson, Fairview and Ashland already under the Tennessean, so it would only be a small step to bring in Clarksville and Murfreesboro. The problem is that the Tennessean's presses are already contracted out to other publications, including Nashville Scene, City Paper, and the Nashville Business Journal. Cramming the other publications would be very difficult, but would save a huge amount of money. Since Gannett is looking for cost savings, I'll bet they will go ahead with this plan and work out the difficulties afterwards."

Gannett's Tennessee papers

• Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville: 21,253 daily, 24,551 Sunday
• The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro: 14,635 daily, 18,159 Sunday
• The Jackson Sun, Jackson: 31,596 daily, 36,915 Sunday
• Tennessean, Nashville: 162,911 daily, 224,318 Sunday

[Image: a recent screenshot from the Leaf-Chronicle's homepage; circulation data, 2007 Annual Report to shareholders]

Rochester | All the news that's fine to print

Page One detail, Newseum.

As Gannett extends the Butterfly Project to 31 more newspapers in a bid to boost circulation and advertising revenue, one of the four dailies that's piloted the initiative has returned dozens of weekly pages of editorial content eliminated in recent years to pare costs.

Amid the initiative, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is selling subscriptions to seven-day home delivery for $26.50 a month.

But check out all the fine print in the New York paper's deal:

Offers available to new subscribers only; subscriptions that include home delivery of the print edition are valid only in areas where home delivery is available. Not valid with any other offer. Prepayment required. As a subscriber you will have full access to our content through http://www.democratandchronicle.com, the e-Newspaper, mobile sites and applications, and home delivery of the print edition on the days you have selected. The Full Access subscription will continue and be billed monthly at the then regular rate, less any applicable credits, unless the Democrat and Chronicle is otherwise notified. The Thanksgiving Day edition is delivered with your subscription and will be charged the then regular Sunday newsstand price, which is reflected in the November payment. Applicable taxes may not be included in the rate. If we fail to home deliver a print edition, we will credit your account at the then regular credit attributed to providing home delivery of the print edition. If at any time you decide to cancel your subscription, you may contact customer service at 1-800-790-9565 and the full amount of any balance over $2.00 will be returned. You authorize the Democrat and Chronicle to automatically charge the credit card or bank account you indicate on the 15th of every month, unless the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, and then the deduction is taken on the next business day. Any outstanding balances will be processed with the first EZ-Pay charge. Your first EZ-Pay charge will be prorated based on the start date. Democrat and Chronicle will be referenced on your credit card or bank statement for any payments made toward your subscription.

Rochester: Publisher's memo cites 'harsh reality'

The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., said it is eliminating 59 jobs -- about 8% of all. The reductions include 34 forced layoffs, Publisher Ali Zoibi says in a memo that serves as an example of the how publishers are breaking the bad news.

Subject: A Message from Ali Zoibi
Ali Zoibi
President & Publisher
Dec. 2, 2008

To: All Democrat and Chronicle Employees

As you know from earlier communications, the Democrat and Chronicle, and all Gannett properties, have been asked to sharply reduce expenses in response to the worsening economic situation.

We will cut many non-payroll expenses and continue to look at others. But the harsh reality is we need to cut about 8% of our current workforce. That translates to 59 jobs in Rochester. Of that, 14 are employees who volunteered to take a severance package of up to 26 weeks pay. Another 11 positions have been open and will be eliminated.

The actual number of layoffs is 34. Severance packages will be given to those impacted. Our revised full-time and part-time employee count totals 680.

All of our meetings will be concluded by noon on Thursday, Dec. 4. This information is being shared with you before it is reported in the media, ours and others in Rochester. The continuing negative impact on our advertising and circulation revenue and the cost of doing business has created this unpleasant situation.

We do not ever discuss individual personnel issues out of respect for our employees.

The Democrat and Chronicle remains steadfast in its commitment to fulfilling its First Amendment news responsibility, as well as providing excellent daily coverage of the greater Rochester community. Our skills and experience position us well to take full and immediate advantage of the economic turnaround as it occurs.

I ask you to support your colleagues and join with us to improve our business outlook. Together, we can do it.

Green Bay | Pub in quixotic war against GCI dies

Frank Wood's long newspaper war with Gannett in Wisconsin's Green Bay, from 1980 to 2004, was chronicled in The Chain Gang: One Newspaper versus the Gannett Empire. The book was written by Richard McCord, hired by Wood to tell the story of his paper's battle against the publishing giant.

Wood died yesterday in De Pere, Wisc. He was 82, the Green Bay Press-Gazette said today.

Wood bought what he renamed the Green Bay News-Chronicle in 1976. The paper had started four years before by a labor union striking against the dominant Press-Gazette over the paper's conversion to cold type. GCI entered the market in 1980, when it bought the Press-Gazette.

Wood eventually gave up the fight, selling the News-Chronicle plus 22 other dailies and other publications to GCI in 2004, for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement announcing the deal, GCI said no immediate changes in operations were planned for the News-Chronicle. Wood, then 76, said he was pleased that his employees would "have the additional opportunity offered by becoming part of a much larger organization." The statement also quoted Ellen Leifeld, then publisher of The Post-Crescent in Appleton saying:

“We want to spend some time to better understand the publications, get to know the employees, and develop a plan to carry on the tradition that Frank started 51 years ago when he and his wife, Agnes, bought their first weekly newspaper in Denmark, Wisc.''

A year later, June 2005, GCI closed the paper, merging its operations into those of the Press-Gazette. At the time, blogger Jim Romenesko quoted a GCI spokesperson saying: "The Green Bay News-Chronicle is a business that has not been successful for years. It’s a business decision.”

The shuttered paper's circulation had fallen to an estimated 5,000 copies, according to this Wikipedia article. Today, the surviving Press-Gazette's weekday circulation is 43,278.

Hot Off the Press: Democrat and Chronicle

This is today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; click on the image for a bigger view. I always thought it would be a pain to work here because so many top Gannett executives traced their roots to Rochester. It was Gannett's corporate hometown until GCI decided in 1986 to move headquarters south. The Democrat and Chronicle was still their paper long after they decamped for Virginia's greener pastures, so I figured they always gave it an extra-critical read. ("What crap! It was a real newspaper when I worked there!")

On today's front page, editors wisely direct readers to the website with several "story chat'' graphs (see example, left). And, sure enough, the big ambulance story had drawn 10 reader comments this morning when I checked the site.

Online, I like the RocMen site launched earlier this year. It looks smart: a separate site for a niche audience -- men, 25 to 54 years old. Editors hatched the idea with feedback ("plenty of photos") from potential readers, according to this issue of News Watch. Check out the YouTube picks by "Mark the intern." (It's pretty edgy for a family paper to feature a pile of turds as the button for voting down one of his picks. Did that go all the way to Corporate for a final OK?) Here's Mark's choice today: "Japanese Spa Prank. Leave it to the Japanese to find more embarassing and extremely dangerous pranks to pull on people." Watch:


Rochester employees: I don't know anyone at your paper; help! E-mail tips, snarky letters, suggested links, etc.; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

The Democrat and Chronicle at a glance:

• Publisher: Michael Kane
• Vice President/News and editor: Karen Magnuson
• Founded: 1833
• Joined Gannett: 1928
• Employees: 975
• Circulation: 167,851 morning; 225,092 Sunday

[Image: Newseum]

Why all the sites for moms, but not for dads

Anyone who's visited a Gannett website knows the company has found what may be a goldmine in sites devoted to mothers. (See, for example, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's RocMoms.) I wondered why women got all the extra attention until I ran across some of the latest research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The study was of teenagers, but it offers clues about overall gender differences online.

Pew found that girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation. "Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys," the study says, "and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys. Boys, however, do dominate one area -- posting of video content online. Online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it."

I'm not surprised. We've known that women tend to be more expressive through words, while men gravitate more toward visuals. How does that translate into content? Look at the Democrat and Chronicle, one of the few Gannett papers to run what amounts to a men's version of a mom's site. Researching the idea, the paper found that men wanted lots of pictures on what became RocMen. The paper's managing editor for multimedia, Traci Bauer, wrote about how RocMen came about in the Aug. 9 issue of News Watch. For good measure, RocMen features video prominently with its way offbeat Mark the Intern YouTube recommendations. His pick at the moment I'm writing this post: Moped Dance! Crank up the volume and watch:

Use this link to e-mail feedback, tips, snarky letters, etc. See Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the sidebar, upper right. Or leave a note in the comments section, below.

[Image: this morning's Democrat and Chronicle, Newseum]

What Bushee's move says about the Chronicle

It likely means the money-losing San Francisco newspaper is going to be around for at least a while longer. Why? Publisher and long-time Gannett executive Frank Vega would not ask Ward Bushee to abandon his secure, 21-year corporate home to be the San Francisco Chronicle's top editor unless Vega was confident owner Hearst is committed to the city for the near term. And Bushee is too smart to leave his comfy Gannett berth without that assurance.

[Image: today's Chronicle, Newseum. The paper's lede Page One print story today: San Francisco Bay area homeowners "could get a big break on your mortgage from the economic stimulus package announced Thursday."]

Indy's Zoibi named new Rochester publisher

Updated at 3 p.m. ET: It's now confirmed; here's the Democrat and Chronicle's story.

Earlier: Indianapolis Star General Manager Ali "Advertorial" Zoibi, 51 (left), takes the top job at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, blogger Ruth Holladay is now reporting.

Indy: Please brief Rochester on the ethically-challenged publisher they're now getting. Short iPhone post; updates later. Comment, below, please!

Earlier: An Indianapolis blogger, a '500' pace car -- and a penis

[Photo: Democrat and Chronicle]

Ad sales chief Bergin quits for San Francisco job

Jeff Bergin (left) becomes senior vice president of advertising for Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle, the paper's President Mark Adkins announced today. Bergin had been head of ad sales for Gannett's newspaper division since January 2002.

Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega continues assembling a shadow, West Coast Version of Gannett Co. Inc. Prior to joining Hearst, Adkins worked for Gannett for 23 years until 2005, when he left as vice president of advertising, responsible for strategic and sales oversight of the company's then-90 U.S. local dailies. Also last year, Vega poached Ward Bushee from The Arizona Republic to run the Chronicle's newsroom.

Bergin, named one of Gannett's outstanding retail advertising managers in 2000, joined Gannett in 1989 as retail advertising manager of the Courier-News in Bridgewater, N.J. and was named display advertisng manager at The News-Press at Fort Myers in 1993.

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

Hot Off the Press: San Francisco Chronicle

This is today's San Francisco Chronicle; click on the image for a bigger view. Former top Gannett editor Ward Bushee offers an especially visual approach to one of yesterday's biggest political stories: the Olympic torch run in San Francisco, its only North American stop on the way to the summer Olympics in Beijing. (Longtime Gannett executive Frank Vega lured Bushee to the Chronicle in January, from The Arizona Republic.)

[Image: Newseum]

With Kane and Crotchfelt, 19 newspaper CEO swaps

This afternoon's appointment of Michael Kane as publisher of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, after the promotion of Karen Crotchfelt to publisher of The Indianapolis Star, are now at least the 18th and 19th turnovers of top Gannett newspaper executive slots this year.

This unusual turnover -- half of it, in the past month -- is among GCI's 81 U.S. community publishing newspapers, and the Tucson, Ariz., newspaper partnership. It follows recent Gannett Blog speculation that the division was due for a big reorganization. The list so far:

1. Today. Kane to Rochester and . . .
2. Crotchfelt to Indianapolis.
3. Dec. 14. Leslie Hurst named publisher of The Clarion-Ledger at Jackson, Miss., replacing retiring Larry Whitaker. Her successor at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La., hasn't been announced. is Ali Zoibi, previously of the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y.
4. Dec. 13. Gabe Aguiree named general manager of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, replacing Dan Brown, whose departure wasn't explained.
5. Dec. 10. Kim Wilson leaves Fort Collins Coloradoan; her departure isn't explained, and a replacement hasn't been announced.
6. Dec. 6. Scott Johnson to publisher of the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. He replaces Bill Albrecht, who was earlier named president of the Media Network of Central Ohio.
7. Nov. 30. Charlie Nutt retires as publisher of The Daily Journal in Vineland, N.J. Advertising Director Joseph Calchi also assumes title of general manager.
8. Michael Beck to general manager of Wisconsin's Stevens Point Journal; he replaced Mark Baldwin, whose departure wasn't explained.
9. Nov. 18. Howard Griffin named publisher of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., replacing retiring Curtis Riddle.
10. Nov. 15. Mike Jameson leaves as CEO Tucson Newspapers, the joint operating agency co-owned by Gannett and Lee Enterprises; it publishes Lee's Arizona Daily Star. Jameson's replacement hasn't been announced.
11. Oct. 20. Andrew Oppmann leaves as publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle for a university job; his permanent replacement hasn't been announced.
12. Oct. 12. Lee Webber officially retires as publisher of The Honolulu Advertiser after its sale to a cross-town rival.
13. Sept. 28. Linda Greiwe to publisher of the Springfield News-Leader in Missouri, replacing retiring Thomas Bookstaver.
14. Sept. 13. Mark Winkler to publisher of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., replacing Richard Ramhoff, whose departure was not explained.
15. Sep. 13. James Fogler to publisher of the Burlington Free Press, replacing Brad Robertson, who was promoted to president of the new GannettLocal.
16. May 25. Samuel Martin to publisher of the Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama. He replaces Cheryl Lindus.
17. May 25. Lindus to general manager of The Muncie Star Press in Muncie, Ind. She replaces Gene Williams, named executive editor of the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J.
18. April 7. Paul Grzella to general manager of New Jersey's Courier News in Bridgewater and the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick; he replaced Skip Hidlay, who left to become publisher of the Wichita Eagle in Kansas. 
19. March 25. Mei-Mei Chan to publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., replacing Carol Hudler, who was promoted to publisher of The Tennessean at Nashville in November 2009.

Have I missed anyone? 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.

Welcome to S.F., Ward 'Police Blotter' Bushee!

The San Francisco Chronicle has now published its own story about Arizona Republic Editor Ward Bushee bolting Gannett for the top job in Baghdad by the Bay. Among the 39 comments so far on the Chronicle's story, this from a reader with the screen name Ailanthus: "If you look at the Arizona Republic online, the entire front page, is taken up with crime, entertainment and sports. RIP the San Francisco Chronicle."

Don't you love comments? And yet! As I post this, the Republic isn't allowing comments on its story about Bushee's replacement. The same thing happened with that gushing account of Sue Clark-Johnson's impending (threatened?) return to Phoenix. Surely, a coincidence!

Crime Central? Judge for yourselves with this fresh screen shot from the Republic's website; click on it for a much bigger view.