In a new interview, news chief Marymont discusses everything about Design Studios -- expect for this

Three years after expressing concerns in an open letter about Gannett's plans for five page production design hubs, the Society for News Design has swung back with a new interview with the chief of Corporate's News Department, Kate Marymont.

Marymont

In 2010, SND worried cost cutting would crush creativity, a concern Marymont addressed at the time in a Q&A with the professional association.

In the latest interview conducted by email, Marymont offered a detailed update on how the transition worked and lessons learned. But there was one question of especially high interest to employees that she still wouldn't answer:

SND: In your original interview with SND, you said: "We don’t know how many jobs might be eliminated. We are just beginning this project and a first step is to survey and analyze the work done at each site." Now that we are three years into the process, how many jobs were eliminated in the transition to the studio system?

Marymont: Gannett’s policy is that we don’t provide details on personnel or staffing matters. However, we certainly found savings as we introduced efficient ways to produce commodity information and refine workflows. We took some of those savings to build a management team at each studio to recruit and continue to train great staffs. We also are investing hours in building digital skills at the studios.

What the record shows
In fact, Gannett does detail staffing information, although generally when those figures are favorable to the company's image -- a tactic common across Corporate America.

For example, when the design hubs were announced, The Courier-Journal said in a story that it would add 75-100 jobs at its hub in Louisville, Ky. The Des Moines Register expected to hire 35 to 60; and The Tennessean planned up to 70 jobs in Nashville.

But in their hiring accounts, the papers and Corporate did not say how many jobs would be eliminated at the papers served by the hubs.

Gannett has detailed staffing elsewhere, sometimes at the most microscopic level, as when newspaper division President Bob Dickey told Wall Street the paper in Lafayette, Ind., had added two newsroom jobs in 2012. Those were among 60 other local news hires with plans for as many as 240 total, he said.

On another occasion, Corporate told Wall Street Gannett employed more than 300 local sports reporters and 50-plus sports columnists. Also, executives regularly mention the company employs 5,000 journalists companywide out of a global employment of about 30,000.

Bulletin: Indy Star confirms launch of 'Butterfly'; project could add new daily USA Today section to dozens of other Gannett community newspapers

In a story published just minutes ago, The Indianapolis Star has confirmed Gannett is testing the roll out of a new USA Today section at a handful of community newspapers that for the first time could give the national daily a print weekend presence across the nation.

Today's USAT detail, Newseum

The Star story is the first public acknowledgement of a plan -- dubbed the Butterfly Project -- that's been in the works since at least summer 2012. The story follows my post about the project two days ago.

The project, if successful, would be one of the biggest new initiatives in Gannett's recent history. Still, it's a risky bet on print's future amid declining circulation and advertising, even as the century-old company battles to become a digital powerhouse. Moreover, it's a direct challenge to USAT's two biggest national competitors: The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Corporate's chief spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, told the Star: "We're always innovating and looking for new ways to engage our consumers. With more than 100 local media organizations nationwide, we’re well positioned to pilot new concepts such as this one."

The new daily section will launch in the Star Oct. 6. The paper said it would be piloted in a "few" other markets; it didn't give a timetable for those tests. I've been told the number of test sites would be five or six, including one in Wisconsin.

[Updated at 6:42 p.m. ET.] The section will be tested at four sites, USAT Publisher Larry Kramer told employees in a memo today. The other three are The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wisc.; New York's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and The News Press in Fort Myers, Fla.

New Star pages: 70 a week
The USAT content will include world, national, and business news and features. The Star didn't say how big the section will be. Readers have told me it could number up to six pages daily, with more on Sundays.

Crotchfelt

Equally important, the section will be accompanied by a big increase in the Star's local news, focused on the suburbs, the Star says. In total, 70 pages will be added to the paper each week with the USAT section. "Our mission is local," Publisher Karen Crotchfelt told the paper. "Local leads, and it always will."

If the Butterfly Project tests are successful, the USAT section would be added to about three dozen of Gannett's other biggest papers, according to my readers. Those papers have combined circulation of more than 2.3 million on weekdays and more than 3.5 million Sundays. In total, Gannett publishes 82 newspapers and owns 23 TV stations, making it one of the world's biggest news groups.

They are in some of the nation's most populous states: New York, California, Ohio and Florida. The papers include The Arizona Republic in Phoenix (300,000 weekdays); Asbury Park Press in New Jersey (100,000) and the Pensacola News Journal in Florida (37,000). The Indianapolis Star's weekday circulation is about 155,000.

Of considerable interest to USAT's national rivals is whether the paper will try counting the new daily section as paid circulation when it submits figures to the industry's Alliance for Audited Media, formerly known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

At the Star, correspondent Tony Cook writes, "the investment in the print edition represents a divergence from recent trends in the industry. Many publishers have made significant cuts to their printed product in order to invest in their digital products."

Boost for USAT
For USAT, Butterfly could help Gannett's struggling flagship recover hundreds of thousands in circulation volume that's likely to be lost when it doubles the single-copy price to $2 on Sept. 30. The paper has forecast a 35% plunge in newsstand sales and the near total disappearance of vending machine sales after the price hike, according to an internal company document I obtained this week.

Today's Star detail, Newseum

USAT's circulation sank 8% to 1.7 million during the most recent reporting period, ended March 31. At the same time, its two national competitors surged ahead. The Wall Street Journal jumped 12% to 2.4 million, and The New York Times soared 18% to 1.9 million. Those figures include digital subscriptions; USAT doesn't charge for online access.

A fully extended Butterfly also could give USAT an even bigger national footprint to compete with the WSJ and NYT. Since it was started in September 1982, USAT has only published on weekdays. The WSJ now publishes every day but Sunday. The NYT publishes everyday, and has transformed itself into a truly national broadsheet over the past two decades, elbowing its way onto USAT's turf.

The new single-copy pricing at USAT is part of a broader strategy at Gannett's other 81 dailies favoring revenue over volume. Last year, after raising single-copy prices weekdays and Sundays, then boosting subscription rates, Gannett said circulation revenue companywide rose $53 million, or 5% -- the first such annual increase since 2006.

Ad strategy unknown
USAT has been losing circulation since 2008, when the paper gave up its lead as the nation's top-circulating daily to The Wall Street Journal. That came after major bulk buyers, hotels, stopped providing free copies to their guests as the paper's most important business traveling readers switched to smartphones and tablets.

Murcko

The Star story doesn't say what kind of advertising will be sold in the USAT section. But it's logical the section would carry national advertising sold by Corporate's team led by national sales chief Mary Murcko.

The addition of local news in the Star -- and the possibility the same could happen at other Gannett dailies with a full Butterfly roll out -- comes after a published report this summer saying the community papers were in line for another round of subscription price increases.

In July, Des Moines TV station KCCI said The Des Moines Register had started notifying 80,000 subscribers of a rate hike as high as 40%. The paper's marketing chief, Kurt Allen, told the station the increase is a "Corporate initiative, across all Gannett properties."

A rate hike carrot?
Restoring local news reduced during cost-cutting since 2008 could be used to sell readers on any subscription increases.

Whatever Butterfly's timetable, Gannett Digital is set to launch redesigned websites and mobile applications at 35 community news sites by the end of the year. The new look closely mirrors the radical redesign USAT adopted a year ago this month.

Butterfly comes at an already busy time for Corporate. Gannett is completing the purchase of TV company Belo by year's end. The deal, for $1.5 billion in cash and assumption of $715 million in debt, would nearly double the number of stations in the Broadcasting division.

Gannett's shares surged with the Belo deal's announcement in June. Early this afternoon, GCI was down 30 cents, or 1.2%, to $25.53. Markets overall were flat.

Related: spreadsheet shows circulation of 81 U.S. community papers 2005-2012.

USA Today forecasts big plunge in retail sales with doubling of cover price, company documents say

As its restructuring enters a second year, USA Today is bracing for a 35% drop in newsstand sales when it doubles the single-copy price to $2 on Sept. 30, according to internal company documents.

What's more, already-low vending machine sales could tank entirely, the documents say, leading the paper to remove most if not all the iconic TV-shaped honor boxes installed on sidewalks with the paper's launch 31 years ago.

I received the documents and related information from Gannett Blog readers over the past week.

1982's iconic rack

Any more circulation losses would follow steep declines since 2008 that cost Gannett's marquee brand 600,000 in daily sales -- and with that, its status as the nation's top-selling paper. Further losses also could force USAT to cut advertising rates to reflect a smaller circulation footprint. To be sure, some of the lost ad revenue would be recovered when the cover price rises to $2 from $1 in two weeks. Plus, a parallel initiative called the Butterfly Project may help claw back circulation.

USAT's circulation sank 8% to 1.7 million during the most recent reporting period, ended March 31. At the same time, its two national competitors advanced. The Wall Street Journal jumped 12% to 2.4 million, and The New York Times soared 18% to 1.9 million. Those figures include digital subscriptions; USAT doesn't charge for online access.

The big price hike and other changes come as the paper undergoes a major restructuring that began after Larry Kramer was named publisher in spring 2012. Kramer, founder of the MarketWatch financial news site, is trying to turn the paper around as its bread-and-butter audience, business travelers, shuns print for tablets and smartphones. Kramer's work included overseeing an extensive redesign, begun well before he arrived, of the print edition and the website a year ago this week.

USAT's new pricing is part of a broader strategy at Gannett's other 81 U.S. dailies favoring revenue over volume. Last year, after raising single-copy prices weekdays and Sundays, then boosting subscription rates, Gannett said circulation revenue companywide rose $53 million, or 5% -- the first such annual increase since 2006.

But daily volume fell 8% to an average three million copies, while Sunday declined 3% to five million.

Affluent readers walk
Much of USAT's circulation losses over the past five years came after some of its biggest buyers -- hotels -- stopped providing copies to guests, many of whom were leaving papers untouched outside their hotel room doors. The paper has swung back with a digital news portal sold to 3,000 Hilton hotels, and is talking to other hotel owners about a similar deal.

Kramer

Its unclear how much of USAT's current 1.7 million in circulation will be affected by the price hike, so I can't provide any estimates of aggregate volume losses. Although the increase will hit subscribers, it doesn't apply to hotels, restaurants, airlines and other bulk buyers, according to the documents. Those accounts have historically made up a big part of circulation, and gave the paper a nearly ubiquitous presence among affluent business travelers.

Last year, 76% of USAT's net paid circulation was from single-copy sales at newsstands, vending machines or provided to hotel guests. The rest was home and office delivery, mail, educational and other sales, according to Gannett's annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Any circulation and ad losses from the new single-copy price may be mitigated by another Gannett print paper initiative, the Butterfly Project, started more than a year ago. The company plans a pilot test starting early next month, according to readers.

About Butterfly
In the test, USAT will produce a multi-page section of news plus advertising that would be inserted in around a half dozen of the company's U.S. community newspapers, according to several of my readers. Subjects likely would include USAT staples: world, national, business, sports and entertainment. Corporate hasn't officially announced the project, although CEO Gracia Martore dropped hints during the quarterly earnings conference call with analysts in late July.

If the Butterfly test succeeds, the special section -- perhaps numbering as many as six pages -- would then be included with about three dozen of Gannett's biggest community papers seven days a week. Those dailies are published from coast to coast, including New York, Florida, Arizona and California.

Many questions remain unanswered, including especially whether USAT will try to count the section as paid circulation when it submits figures to the industry's Alliance for Audited Media, formerly known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Evan Ray, president of Gannett's printing and distribution subsidiary Gannett Publishing Services, is a member of AAM's 38-seat board of directors.

The combined circulation of Gannett's top three dozen dailies is about 2.3 million on weekdays. (I'm not including the Detroit Free Press, which delivers to homes only three days a week, and is sold at retail in limited locations.) On Sunday, total circulation of those 36 papers is about 3.5 million. (Spreadsheet shows circulation by title with losses 2005-2012.)

Those include Gannett's biggest: The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, which sells around 300,000 weekdays, and 540,000 Sundays. Also, The Indianapolis Star, 156,000 weekdays and 290,000 Sundays. Other markets are Louisville, Ky.; Nashville; Des Moines; Rochester, N.Y., plus smaller ones in four Florida cities.

USAT didn't respond to my e-mailed request for comment. Last week, spokeswoman Heidi Zimmerman confirmed the cover price hike after it was reported here.

First weekend editions
A seven-day publication would for the first time give USAT a dedicated print presence on weekends, making it more competitive for advertising with the NYT, which publishes seven days, and the WSJ, which publishes every day but Sunday.

Since it was founded in September 1982, USAT has only published weekdays, largely following the work lives of its core on-the-road business readers.

To be sure, the community dailies have been using USAT stories and artwork virtually since the paper's launch. In more recent years, that came in a single national news page formatted in USAT's typeface and published by most if not all the dailies in lieu of what had been prepared at the community level. Butterfly would extend that far more.

The new section would be produced by USAT editors at the paper's main office at McLean, Va., in suburban Washington.

Other questions

• Would USAT's national edition also lose circulation in cities where the special section is included in local newspapers? That would surely be part of the calculus at Corporate's headquarters when evaluating the Butterfly Project tests.
• Will advertising in the USAT section be limited to national, or will it also include local advertisers?
• How would the section be inserted in papers that don't print in conventional broadsheet formats, including in Cincinnati; Shreveport, La., Lafayette, Ind., and Burlington, Vt.?

The Butterfly project has been in the works at least since summer 2012. It's unclear how long the pilot test will last before a final decision is made on whether to extend it. Martore could give a progress report to Wall Street in mid-October when Corporate releases third-quarter financial results.

Community newspaper publishers were briefed on the project in April. And editors of newspapers that ultimately could carry the section were given details last month.

USAT last raised its cover price to $1 from 75 cents in fall 2008, just as the Great Recession was deepening.

Palm Springs | Top editor Burton arrested for DUI

Greg Burton, executive editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol on Monday night, the newspaper says, citing a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department report.

Burton

The four-paragraph story, under a staff-only byline, says Burton, 50, was pulled over at 9:24 p.m. for a traffic stop at Fred Waring and Adonis drives in nearby Palm Desert.

Burton, executive editor since 2011, told the paper yesterday: “It’s a privilege to live and work in this community – and that comes with a responsibility to do what’s right. For me now, with this case, it’s a matter of making sure justice runs its true course.”

He was released by the Sheriff's Department and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 13, according to the Sun.

The paper didn't publish Burton's arrest mug shot, in contrast to other stories on its site, such as this one. However, Palm Desert Patch obtained and published the photo with its story.

Burton's arrest recalls the December 2010 DUI arrest of Ted Power, then publisher of the Reno Gazette-Journal. Unlike the Sun, the Reno paper also published his booking photo. The following month, Power left the paper to direct the newspaper page production hub in Des Moines.

[Photo: Sheriff's Department via Palm Desert Patch]

Des Moines | Editor Rick Green named pub

The announcement came moments ago during a staff meeting followed by a press release from Corporate. From the release:

Corporate announced today Rick Green has been promoted to president and publisher of The Des Moines Register and regional president of U.S. Community Publishing's Central Group.

Green had been vice president and editor in Des Moines since 2011 and has served as co-acting publisher since May.

He replaces Laura Hollingsworth, who was promoted to an expanded Central Group of 25 markets in May. She also is publisher of The Tennessean at Nashville, where the group is now based.

(Posted from my iPhone, because my MacBook is now officially kaput.)

Des Moines | Looks like new pub's been picked

Anonymous@11:57 a.m. says the following memo has gone out. The Des Moines Register has been without a publisher since May, when Laura Hollingsworth was promoted to newly expanded duties as Central Group chief and publisher of The Tennessean at Nashville.

Message from The Register Media Executive Leadership Team

Friends:

Laura Hollingsworth, President of USCP’s Central Group and publisher of our sister newspaper in Nashville, has asked that you join her at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the middle of the Newsroom for an announcement. Please, be prompt.

Thanks much,
The Register Media Executive Leadership Team.

One of GCI's biggest
The Register's weekday circulation is 93,304, and Sunday is 100,890. (Circulation lookup database.)

Layoff memo: 'We need to align our costs with the current revenue trends to grow our business'

Companies don't lay off scores of employees without closely following a carefully-prepared script. With about 18,000 workers in its U.S. Community Publishing newspaper division, Gannett is no exception.

Hollingsworth

In the Central Group of newspapers, which includes dailies such as The Des Moines Register and The Courier-Journal, publishers and other senior managers were given a three-page memo outlining when employees were to be told they'd lost their jobs this week. The document also includes a suggested Q&A explaining why the cuts are necessary.

The memo, USCP Central Group -- Recommended Communication Strategy, is marked "CONFIDENTIAL -- For Internal Use Only." I recently obtained a copy from one of my readers.

The suggested "talking points" include this:

"The recovering economy remains challenged and the secular decline in advertising has not lessened. There is weakness in the legal advertising sector due to changes in state laws and less demand is hurting our revenue growth. As a result, we need to align our costs with the current revenue trends to grow our business."

Central has been led by group president Laura Hollingsworth following a reorganization of the USCP newspaper division in May. She also is publisher of The Tennessean at Nashville.

The memo doesn't detail the newspaper ad revenue tumble. Last week, however, Corporate announced that second-quarter print ad revenue had fallen 5.3% from a year before -- the third consecutive quarter of accelerating declines. Ad sales fell 4.5% in Q1 and 2% in Q4. (Spreadsheet shows revenue changes by major GCI division since Q1 2011.)

Des Moines | Print sub rates said jumping 40%

That's according to a KCCI-TV report today about The Des Moines Register. Any such increase would follow similarly big rate hikes last year.

The paper's marketing chief, Kurt Allen, told the station the increase is a "Corporate initiative, across all Gannett properties."

The newspaper started notifying its 80,000 daily print subscribers of the subscription hike in letters yesterday.

A full subscription to print and digital editions will increase from $23 to $33 a month starting in September, according to KCCI.

By the numbers | What's up, Des Moines?

It's been a busy week in the land of Gannett newspaper publishers: Corporate announced new hires in Montgomery, Ala., and St. Cloud, Minn. And it created a vacancy for the publisher's job overseeing papers in Lafayette and Opelousas, La.

Hollingsworth

But 2½ months after Laura Hollingsworth was promoted to a newly expanded position at The Tennessean in Nashville, the top job at The Des Moines Register remains unfilled. That's odd, given the Iowa daily's high profile. There ought to be many publishers at smaller GCI papers clawing their way toward Des Moines.

Some key numbers:

2

days since the publisher's job was vacated at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette and the Daily World in Opelousas

73

days taken to hire a new publisher at St. Cloud Times

77

days since Des Moines publisher's job was vacated


100 69
days taken to hire a new publisher at the Montgomery Advertiser

TV market consolidates further with Tribune deal

Less than three weeks after Gannett announced a $2.2 billion acquisition of Belo, the Tribune Co. this morning agreed to buy 19 stations for about $2.7 billion, making it one of the nation’s biggest owners of commercial local TV outlets amid a groundswell of consolidation in the industry.

The stations are in 16 regions, including Denver, Cleveland and St. Louis, and many of their local news broadcasts are ranked first or second in their markets, according to The New York Times. They will complement Tribune’s 23 existing stations and its WGN America cable channel. Tribune is buying the stations from Local TV Holdings, a company owned by the investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners.

The deal ratchets up the competition with GCI, because four of the stations are in markets where GCI also owns stations: Denver; Cleveland; Greensboro, S.C., and St. Louis. In a fifth market, Des Moines, GCI owns a newspaper.

GCI's Belo deal covers 20 stations, five of which are being spun off to a new third company; GCI will provide advertising sales and other services to those five under a contract. Including all 20, GCI would nearly double its station ownership to 43. The $2.2 billion price includes assumption of $700 million in debt.

Here's Tribune's press release describing the deal. And here's a list of the stations Tribune is buying.

Des Moines | A video shows the new newsroom

Some 525 employees of The Des Moines Register and Gannett moved into new quarters last weekend as GCI sold the paper's long-time home. In this video posted yesterday, Editor Rick Green gives a tour of the reconfigured newsroom.

Des Moines | Register moves to new home tonight

Editor Rick Green talks to WHO-TV about The Des Moines Register's move three blocks away in downtown Des Moines, as the paper becomes the latest in Gannett to sell its historic home.

New pubs in Shreveport, Fort Collins and Green Bay

I was offline today when Corporate announced a series of management changes at three of the 81 U.S. community dailies:

Judi Terzotis, publisher of the Fort Collins Coloradoan, was named publisher of The Times in Shreveport, La. Terzotis joined the Coloradoan in 2011. Prior to that, she was associate publisher of Freedom Communications' Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.

In Shreveport, she replaces Don Bailey, who resigned unexpected in March.

Kathy Jack-Romero, business development director at the Coloradoan, was promoted to publisher there. Jack-Romero has been with paper since 2005. She has also held management jobs in two other Gannett markets, in Nevada and Montana.

Scott Johnson, publisher of Minnesota's St. Cloud Times, will be moving home to his roots to be the publisher at Wisconsin's Green Bay Press-Gazette. Before St. Cloud, Johnson was regional advertising director of Gannett Wisconsin Media in Green Bay. He also was advertising director at the Press-Gazette and has had various advertising roles at other outlets in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Corporate's statement didn't detail plans for Johnson's replacement in St. Cloud.

In Green Bay, Johnson succeeds Kevin Corrado, who was named president and publisher of New England Newspapers Inc. in March. Johnson is the only the sixth publisher in the Press-Gazette’s nearly 100-year history, according to the Press-Gazette's story about Johnson's being hired.

It's worth noting that another very high-profile publisher's job must still be filled: at The Des Moines Register, after Laura Hollingsworth was promoted to the Nashville Tennessean yesterday, with significantly expanded responsibilities as president of the newly merged South and Central group of papers.

Urgent: Hollingsworth to Nashville, but remains group chief; Hudler now special assistant to Dickey

That's according to a just-issued press release. The edited text:

Hollingsworth

Gannett announced today that Laura Hollingsworth, 46, has been named president and publisher of The Tennessean. Hollingsworth comes to Nashville from Des Moines, where she was president and publisher of The Des Moines Register since 2007. She will continue to serve as U.S. Community Publishing group president of the Central Group, formerly the Midwest Group, overseeing 25 markets in the central region.

The current president and publisher of the Tennessean, Carol Hudler, has been named special assistant to U.S. Community Publishing President Bob Dickey. She will oversee strategic initiatives for USCP that aim to better serve our business clients.

Hudler

The move is effective May 13, according to a just-posted Register story, which says Hollingsworth's successor hasn't been announced. (Here's Nashville's story.)

"Laura has a deep commitment to community journalism and will expand our digital capabilities, as she has done in Des Moines. She is a proven leader who will continue to use her strengths to achieve great results," said Dickey. "And, we welcome Carol to her new role directly reporting to me, where she will help strengthen our brands and high-quality products for community-focused journalism."

Laura Hollingsworth
Prior to being named president and publisher of the Tennessean, Laura Hollingsworth served as president and publisher of the Register since 2007. She oversees 25 markets in the Central region and has been a regional group president since 2008. She joined Gannett in 1989. Hollingsworth worked at newspapers in Wisconsin, Washington, Illinois and Michigan prior to joining the Register in 2002 where she served as the vice president of advertising and as general manager.

Carol Hudler
Prior to being named special assistant to the USCP president, Carol Hudler was president and publisher of the Tennessean, a position she held since 2009. Before that, Hudler was the president and publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. Hudler has worked in a variety of advertising, marketing and general management positions, including at the Kansas City (Mo.) Star, the Orange County (Calif.) Register, the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram, the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press and the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. She is a board member of the Newspaper Association of America.

Would you take investment advice from this man?

"Rather than firing journalists to cut costs, Gannett's been focused on creating quality product."

-- stock picker Jim Cramer, in a CNBC Mad Money segment yesterday recommending GCI's stock. Only last April, Cramer gave GCI shares a big thumbs down, when they were trading around $14. So much for that advice; they closed today at $18.05.


A dose of reality
Among 700 newspaper layoffs in June 2011, 26 newsroom staffers canned in Indianapolis; 20 in Nashville; 24 in Louisville, Ky., and Des Moines closes its one-man Washington Bureau.

Des Moines | Tip: nine laid off at call center

That's according to a reader, who said some of the employees at the telemarketing center based at The Des Moines Register were caught by surprise when they lost their jobs today.

Des Moines | Next: Let's cut the minimum wage!

"CEOs offer important budget guidance."

-- a new editorial in The Des Moines Register, which follows last week's surprise endorsement of financier Mitt Romney, the paper's first Republican presidential endorsement since Richard Nixon in 1972.

Related: Former publisher says Register endorsement inconsistent, while New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls it remarkably bad. Plus: CEO Montgomery Burns (pictured, above) endorses Romney.

Urgent: Des Moines Register endorses Mitt Romney; first Republican to win support since Nixon in 1972

The paper's endorsement in an editorial published online moments ago comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 6 election, where Iowa is viewed as a battleground state in a very close race.

Romney

Today's choice of Mitt Romney is a big surprise. He's the first Republican to win the daily's support in 40 years; the paper endorsed Richard Nixon for re-election in 1972. Four years ago, the Register picked Barack Obama over the GOP's John McCain.

In choosing Romney, the Register said the former Massachusetts governor stood a better chance of forging necessary compromises in Congress.

"Romney has made rebuilding the economy his No. 1 campaign priority -- and rightly so,'' the editorial says. "The president’s best efforts to resuscitate the stumbling economy have fallen short. Nothing indicates it would change with a second term in the White House."

Still, the paper offered a caution amid detractors' claims that Romney has flip-flopped on issues.

But is Romney 'real'?
"Romney had to tack to the right during the primary season," the editorial says. "Since then, he has recalibrated his campaign to focus on his concern for the middle class, and that is believable if the real Mitt Romney is the one on display as governor of Massachusetts who passed a health care reform plan that became the model for the one passed by Congress."

Obama

The Register is the state's biggest daily, and the endorsement will appear in print tomorrow, the biggest day for readership. The Register's Sunday circulation is 211,762 and weekday is 101,915, according to the March 31 ABC report.

In Iowa polls, Obama is ahead of Romney -- but just barely: 49% to 47%, according to USA Today's poll tracker.

The Register's record of endorsing winning presidential candidates has been poor. In 21 consecutive endorsements since 1928, the paper supported the eventual winner only nine times.

Over the past 100 years, the paper supported Republican presidential candidates exclusively until 1964, when it chose Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater.

The Register’s editorial board consists of Publisher Laura Hollingsworth, Editor Rick Green, Opinions Editor Randy Evans and editorial writers Rox Laird and Andie Dominick.

Hollingsworth has been publisher since 2007. Green's been the top editor since January 2011.

Controversial phone call
Today's endorsement follows a controversy this week after Hollingsworth and Green agreed to speak with the president in an off-the-record telephone conversation -- terms that had been set by the Obama campaign.

But the campaign reversed itself, agreeing to make a transcript of the conversation public, after Green wrote about the incident in a blog post. Green said the campaign's original off-the-record terms would not affect the paper's endorsement decision.

Which candidate is your site endorsing? 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.

Des Moines | Obama's move vs. quote approval

Washington Post media writer Erik Wemple analyzes the kerfuffle over the Obama campaign's failed attempt to keep off the record a phone conversation the president had Tuesday with The Des Moines Register:

The migration of the Obama-Register interview from off to on the record is merely a subspecies of quote approval. The off-the-record stipulation afforded the campaign a low-deductible insurance policy. If the president had said something dumb, the campaign could have just kept the whole thing off the record. No risk, no damage.

Des Moines | Obama campaign releases transcript; candidate reverses on off-the-record talk demand

Under mounting pressure, President Obama's campaign has now released a transcript of his telephone conversation with The Des Moines Register, which the campaign had previously insisted be off the record. Publisher Laura Hollingsworth and Editor Rick Green talked to Obama yesterday morning.

Green

Last night, Green used his blog to criticize the campaign for the conditions it imposed on the paper.

Green's remarks snowballed. The New York Times noted early this morning that Iowa's largest paper had handed Obama "an outside-the-Beltway lesson when an off-the-record conversation requested by the White House spilled into public view." On Twitter, the Republican National Committee led a chorus of critics.

After the transcript was released, other media piled on, including accounts in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal plus Politico.

The campaign's reversal is an important victory for the public's right to know about Obama's positions less than two weeks before the Nov. 6 election. Iowa is one of 12 battleground states. Obama is leading in the state.

Previously, GOP nominee Mitt Romney had talked to the Register's editorial board in hopes of getting its endorsement. The paper is scheduled to reveal its endorsement on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time. In 2008, the Register endorsed Obama over Republican John McCain.