St. George | Returning to GCI, Long named pub

Corporate just announced that Rhett Long has been named publisher of The Spectrum in St. George, Utah. He replaces Donnie Welch, who announced in March that he was leaving to start a local business.

Long comes from marketing supplies producer InnerWorkings, where he was vice president of national accounts. Previously, Long held several jobs with Gannett, including vice president of operations for Gannett Pacific Publications.

The Spectrum's Monday-Saturday circulation is 14,089, and Sunday is 17,399, according to the March 31 AAM report. (Circulation database lookup.)

St. George | Spectrum publisher Welch leaving

Donnie Welch is leaving The Spectrum after seven years to start a business in the area. Welch, 50, did not say when his resignation would be effective, according to the paper.

Editor Todd Seifert has been named interim publisher while the search is under way for a permanent replacement for the daily in St. George, Utah.

Formerly the advertising director for the Burlington Free Press in Vermont, Welch had worked in newspaper advertising for 25 years. On reaching age 50 several months ago, he decided to try something new. “It was just time,” he told the paper.

The Spectrum was one of three Gannett papers that initially piloted the paywalls that have now been launched across the U.S. newspaper division.

The paper's weekday circulation is 14,686, and Sunday is 18,021, according to the Sept. 30 ABC report.

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.

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."

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.

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]

Kicking ethics aside, Gannett launches jobs series

[Circled part of screenshot highlights Indianapolis' jobs series]

So much for deferring to local editorial control, eh?

Marching in lockstep, Gannett newspapers today launched a Corporate-driven editorial series about jobs, one that reads too much like advertorial to boost employment advertising -- even as it's being presented as public-service journalism.

For example, the Indianapolis Star's homepage features four links under a "Top 10 jobs in Indiana'' headline. (See screenshot, above.) One of the links takes readers to CareerBuilder, the employment site majority-owned by Gannett. Bending journalism ethics, the Star-branded CareerBuilder page doesn't disclose that the two companies are owned by Gannett.

A second link takes readers to another Star-branded page that appears to be a ContentOne production. It includes some editorial matter produced by USA Today and the Star -- and yet more content produced by CareerBuilder. Once more, the CareerBuilder business tie isn't disclosed.

Elsewhere across GCI, here's how Publisher Amy Pack tip-toed around the project in a letter to readers of her two California dailies: "We’d like to help our readers by creating an environment for the employment ads right here in the main news section of the Times-Delta and Advance-Register."

[Updated at 6:21 p.m. ET: It appears Corporate supplied some of the language for Pack's note. When I Googled her phrasing, I turned up similar letters signed by other Gannett publishers in communities that include Burlington, Vt.; Mountain Home, Ark., and St. George, Utah.]

Now, it's your turn. How did your newspaper launch the series? 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.

Paywalls | What are results? We really don't know

Gannett entered a crucial phase of future revenue growth during the third quarter, when in early July it erected paywalls at three of its newspapers, and faced a decision about setting subscription prices for USA Today's iPad application.

In USAT's case, GCI kicked the decision down the road, maintaining a free app instead of asking readers to pay for its use. At three U.S. community newspapers, the company added paywalls that varied in pricing and content. Those papers are in Tallahassee, Fla.; Greenville, S.C., and St. George, Utah.

Friday was Corporate's first opportunity to brief Wall Street stock analysts on results from these experiments, when it discussed third-quarter financial results during a conference call. Now, after reviewing the transcript, I'm struck by how little we were told.

CEO Craig Dubow devoted 570 words to the subject during his presentation, and this, apparently, is the bottom line: "We now have a couple of months of data as a result of these tests and, while it is still early, we are seeing some very interesting results and important takeaways."

Beyond that, details are scarce. Dubow says subscribers consume more content than non-subscribers. "Our subscribers are much more heavily engaged with our content than non-subscribers," he said. "Web users who are subscribers are consuming four and five times as many pages per visit as non-subscribers."

Yet, isn't that expected? For example, if I buy Coca-Cola and my neighbor doesn't, isn't it likely I'll drink more than my neighbor?

More unanswered questions
Even the most encouraging metric Dubow offered tells use relatively little: "We are seeing month-over-month gains in pageviews at two of the three sites." Question: How many pageviews did these sites lose after the paywalls were erected? And how many have the papers now recovered?

Perhaps most important, we weren't told anything about the impact on revenue. How does digital subscription revenue compare to any digital advertising losses, due to lower traffic, now that fewer people can view the sites for free?

To be sure, as Dubow said, GCI has just three months' data to examine. Changes in subscription prices; better promotion of these new offerings, plus content improvements, could significantly alter the results.

For now, though, shareholders and employees are left with a lot of unanswered questions.

But perhaps I missed something? None of the analysts asked a single question about paywall results during the conference call's Q&A session. Read Corporate's transcript yourself, and let us know. Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Greenville News, Newseum]

Paywalls | How many digital subscriptions sold?

Gannett started testing its new digital strategy on July 1, when it erected paywalls at three newspapers: The Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, The Greenville News in South Carolina, and The Spectrum in St. George, Utah.

Since then, how many $9.95-per-month digital subscriptions has Gannett sold in total, across all three sites? A well-connected source gave me the answer, and it's one of the following:

• Fewer than 100
• 100 to 300
• More than 300

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

Pence says no decision yet on other paywall sites

With paywalls going up today at papers in Tallahassee, Fla.; Greenville, S.C., and St. George, Utah, corporate spokeswoman Robin Pence told Poynter Online that Gannett has not yet decided on the approach for its other markets, but that the company will use what it learns from the test sites "to help us develop our long-term strategy for paid content."

St. George | In paywalls, 'a nervous, nervous time'

"The point is, somebody’s got to experiment. We’ve got to try stuff."

-- Ted Power, vice president of Gannett’s West Group, speaking about plans to erect a paywall on July 1 at The Spectrum of St. George, Utah. Gannett also will add paywalls at The Greenville News in South Carolina, and at Florida's Tallahassee Democrat.

Urgent: Utah is second GCI paper to raise paywall

That's according to Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi, who posted that information in a comment on his blog moments ago -- confirming a tip I received last week. The Utah paper is The Spectrum of St. George. A third paper is due to add a wall; its identity has not yet been disclosed, however.

The Democrat announced this morning that it would erect a paywall on July 1.

Urgent: Tallahassee Democrat adds paywall July 1; Web-only access will cost readers $9.95 a month; Florida daily is one of three in GCI making move

Gannett's Tallahassee Democrat said today that it would offer readers three new ways to access news on its website, all going into effect July 1. The daily is the first of Gannett's U.S. community newspapers known to have announced an online pay model, one designed to staunch the loss of revenue to web rivals.

Two other GCI papers are due to adopt a similar model, Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi told a reader in a comment on his blog; he did not identify those papers, and did not provide a timetable, however. A reader told me last week that The Spectrum in St. George, Utah, may be one of the other papers.

The Democrat's new options:

• Web content (digital-only model): For $9.95 per month, readers can subscribe to Tallahassee.com, NoleSports.com, RattlerNews.com and the full suite of Tallahassee.com affiliated websites.
• Single copy and day passes: Copies of the printed Tallahassee Democrat will continue to be sold in vending machines and through local retail outlets. Readers can also get a 24-hour pass on Democrat websites for $2 per day.
• Full-media content/electronic delivery (digital and e-edition): For $14.95 per month, readers get all the websites and the e-edition replica version of the Tallahassee Democrat.

Meanwhile, all current home delivery subscribers, will receive "all of our media, in print delivered to your home or office, online on Tallahassee.com, NoleSports.com, RattlerNews.com and affiliated websites, and through an electronic edition that replicates the print edition on Tallahassee.com."

Although exclusive local and other website content will require a subscription, the paper says, website users will still have free access to all of section fronts, classifieds, local search and shopping channels, including, but not limited to, CareerBuilder.com, Apartments.com, HomeFinder.com, FindItNow.com, MomsLikeMe.com and eHarmony.com.

In a note signed by Gabordi and Publisher Patrick Dorsey, the paper says: "In recent years, some have openly wondered if the type of journalism that has sustained democracy since the American Revolution can survive. We have innovated in how we deliver news, but have operated under an old business model for how we pay for that journalism."

Their note continues: "Today, we are announcing an historic change in how we do business, becoming one of the first community news outlets to take decisive steps toward protecting the journalism so vital to the social and economic well being of our community, now and long into the future."

Readers generally don't like changes, so it's not surprising that most of the more than 125 comments posted on the announcement so far oppose the new subscription model.

For example, reader PuppetPerson wrote at 7:49 a.m.: "You've GOT to provide a lot more than you currently do in order for this to be viable at all. Did you even ask your customers? I doubt many people would pay half that amount when so much is available for free. ESPECIALLY since as a paying customer, we'd still get bombarded with advertising crap -- I thought the advertising was what kept the content free! I don't want to pay and still end up with browser crashes from pop-ups that my pop-up blocker doesn't block!"

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

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Amid paywall speculation, is a launch scheduled?

In bits and pieces, I'm hearing more buzz about Gannett's plans to lower paywalls around content at some of its websites. One reader tells me July 1 could bring a wall to three company sites.

With that backdrop, I'm putting out a call for more information from staff at one of the company's smallest, least-discussed newspapers: The Spectrum, in St. George, Utah. Hi, there! What do you know?

Earlier: Departing Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis slams paywall strategy

Monroe | When a newspaper is like a Big Mac

A Gannett Blogger says the following memo was sent this afternoon to employees of the The News-Star of Monroe, La.

From: XXXX, XXXX
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:03 PM
To: XXX
Cc: XXX
Subject: Papers

It has been brought to my attention that we have some staff members taking papers out of the building at the end of the shift. This is strictly prohibited. No-one is to leave the building with a paper. We offer the paper at half price to all of The News Star employees. As Supervisors, you must insure this is not happening.

This would be the same as someone from McDonald's taking home a Big Mac at the end of the shift.

Someone from Lowe's taking home a hammer.

Someone from Belk taking home a piece of Jewelry.

Someone from Cracker Barrel taking home a pack of smokes.

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.

Earlier: In St. George, Utah, new cost saver -- delivered to employees

St. George: A new cost-saver, delivered by workers

The Spectrum in St. George, Utah, may have come up with a new one, according to a tipster, who says the paper is eliminating home delivery to employees, every day but Sunday. Here's the memo:

"Due to our efforts to find more reductions in expense we will be implementing a program beginning next week that will eliminate delivery of the paper to all employees and carriers Monday thru Saturday. Sunday will still be delivered at this time. We will replace the reduction of papers by providing each employee and carrier access to our E-edition. If you haven’t used our E-edition yet, it is a replica of the paper, easy to navigate, in color and very easy to read."

The Spectrum at a glance:

• Publisher: Donnie Welch
  
• Managing Editor: Todd Seifert
  
• Founded: 1962
  
• Joined Gannett: 2000
• Circulation (as of Sept. 30): 20,886 daily, down 6.6% from year before; 22,418 Sunday, down 5.4%, according to Deutsche Bank

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.

St. George reflects Mormon reporting dilemma

[Fundamental: A polygamist community member in southern Texas]

One of Gannett's smaller papers, The Spectrum in St. George, Utah, is near the epicenter of the growing scandal over 416 children seized from a polygamist sect in southern Texas. With 68,000 residents, St. George is home to one such fundamentalist community: Last September, polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs was found guilty there of being an accomplice to rape for performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

But my quick search this morning of the Spectrum's website for the term "polygamy" didn't turn up any staff-produced stuff. I found an Associated Press story about a court hearing today in the case in Eldorado, Texas. And, oddly, the search also turned up an advertisement for St. Georges' Seven Wives Inn! (I often have trouble searching Gannett sites, using their built-in search tools; anyone know why?)

A Gannett paper since 2000, Spectrum's circulation is 22,755 daily, 24,151 on Sunday. Writing about Mormons is dicey business, because of the understandable desire to respect readers' religious choices. That was the case at the Idaho Statesman in Boise, where I worked in 1991-96; Idaho has one of the nation's biggest Mormon populations.

The Statesman didn't only publish fluff, however: I co-wrote a series about a prominent Mormon doctor in eastern Idaho, caught molesting scores of female patients. It had been going on for decades. Our investigation found that his Mormon community's wary-of-outsiders culture prevented victims from winning justice until long after they'd begun reporting his misdeeds. (I wish I could link to that series, but it's in the abyss known as PIE -- or Pre-Internet Era.)

Your thoughts, in the comments section, below. Use this link to e-mail feedback, tips, snarky letters, etc. See Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Stunning trout, meth labs -- and no saggy pants

Datelines is an occasional roundup of news topping Gannett websites.

Elmira, N.Y.: The annual trout sampling on Catharine Creek is a shocker. Louisville, Ky.: Police found more than 200 used meth labs -- the county's largest-ever such discovery. Richmond, Ind.: The school board voted unanimously to prohibit students from wearing excessively baggy or tight clothes. St. George, Utah: The state bar association is preparing free wills and other legal documents for police and firefighters.

[Image: this morning's Courier-Journal, Newseum]