Wilmington | McClatchy exec named publisher

Corporate just announced that it hired Susan Leath as publisher of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Leath has been publisher of McClatchy's Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., since 2009.

Leath

She replaces Howard Griffin, who was promoted to vice president of national sales at Corporate in July. Ellen Leifeld, a long-time Gannett executive, had been interim publisher.

Based on circulation, Leath is making a big career leap. The Pennsylvania paper's weekday circulation is 17,802, and Sunday is 23,900. Wilmington's is 80,918 and Sunday's is 107,423, according to the March 31 AAM report. (Look up your circulation.)

Corporate being, well, Corporate, didn't provide Leath's age, and I don't see a story about her on the newspaper's website yet. She's at least 48 years old, according to this McClatchy press release.

[Updated at 6:24 p.m. ET.] Groan: The paper has now published a seven-paragraph story that fails Profile Writing 101. But we aren't surprised. This is, after all, the paper that kissed the ring of Delaware's royalty.

Earlier: The News Journal's transformative new content layers.

How to NOT focus on high-impact local journalism

With a masters degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kelly Tyrrell is just the sort of reporter The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., needs for a story with far-reaching consequences: Obamacare.

That healthcare reform law enters a critical stage Oct. 1 as Corporate pushes community papers to "focus entirely on the unique, high-impact local journalism needed to compete in today's crowded media world."

So, how did the News Journal prep for Obamacare last week? It laid off Tyrrell. Hers was one of more than 400 newspaper jobs Gannett scrapped in its latest round of cost-cutting. Nearly 30 were in Wilmington alone.

"It was a shock," Tyrrell writes in a fresh blog post that renews questions about the company's commitment to community news.

Estimated layoffs, other job cuts is now near 400; newspaper cost-cutting campaign biggest since '11

In a much-anticipated move, The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., whacked 28 jobs yesterday -- one of the single biggest totals in the current round of newspaper layoffs and other job cuts underway for nearly a month now, according to Gannett Blog reader estimates.

"Watching the texts and Facebook messages coming in about Wilmington . . . was like watching the Lusitania take on water," wrote Anonymous@4:59 p.m. "Horrible."

Leifeld

Interim Publisher Ellen Leifeld was considerably less emotional in her statement to the paper for a story today: "These changes will help us better align our resources with our transformation as a media company, and strengthen our long-term strategies."

She also said: "Our focus needs to be on providing strong local news coverage -- including serious investigative reporting -- and effective solutions for our advertisers." She did not explain how that would be done with six fewer newsroom employees.

With other job cuts at papers in Binghamton, N.Y., and Cherry Hill, N.J., the U.S. community newspaper division has now eliminated an estimated 399 jobs through layoffs and eliminating open positions across at least 59 worksites. So far, USA Today hasn't been affected.

Among five mass layoffs
Gannett started the cuts without any official warning about July 29 as it battles continued declines in newspaper advertising sales.

The current round is the largest since Gannett laid off 700 newspaper employees in June 2011. In size, it ranks last among five mass layoffs ordered since the company began a series of huge job-reduction campaigns in August 2008.

The U.S. newspaper division employed about 18,000 at 81 sites nationwide and in Guam at the start of the year, according to the latest published figures. Gannett has fewer than 31,000 workers overall.

It's unclear whether the company has notified all employees -- especially in the East Group of dailies from New York to Florida, where notices have lagged the rest of the newspaper division. Wilmington in particular had been a source of considerable concern.

Is your site included?
Please check this read-only spreadsheet, then post your site's latest information in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

How to make a mass layoff as painful as possible; thousands of East employees are left in the dark

Including this latest one, I've covered five mass layoffs -- those involving at least hundreds of jobs -- since Gannett's first big one, in August 2008, and every one has been awful for those getting kicked to the curb, and those left behind.

But this round, which began July 29, has been perhaps the cruelest of all -- in the East Group of dozens of newspapers from New York to Florida. Here's why.

It was well underway and prominently disclosed on Gannett Blog by the time Corporate finally confirmed it on Aug. 2 in a one-sentence statement to blogger Jim Romenesko and then the Associated Press.

Kane

By Aug. 6, it appeared most newspapers had notified employees losing their jobs -- except for those in the East Group, led by President Michael Kane based at New York's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. Indeed, employees at some of the group's papers were increasingly anxious, asking me in e-mail whether they might have been spared.

In a comment that day, Anonymous@1:14 p.m. wrote bitterly: "Jim, you are too casually dismissing the greatness that is Michael Kane. He is perfectly capable of being the only group president to avoid cuts by making bottomline goals."

Whack!
But the ax finally fell big time yesterday, with seven at least eight layoffs at the Rochester paper, followed by more at sites including Greenville, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla. On Wednesday, the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina lost six terrific newsroom employees.

All that brought to more than 350 the number of layoffs and open positions cut across at least 57 of nearly 80 U.S. newspaper sites, according to Gannett Blog reader estimates. Combined, those sites had about 18,000 employees at the end of last year, according to GCI's latest published figures.

Yet, I suspect more are still on the way. On a spreadsheet I've been keeping, there are at least a half dozen sites that haven't been counted, mostly in the East Group's New York and New Jersey. Also, in Wilmington, Del., The News Journal appears to have cut only two jobs in this round, according to my readers.

Now, it's still possible Kane found a way to avoid eliminating jobs at those sites by cutting travel, newsprint or other expenses. But I doubt that.

Dickey

There's been no public explanation for why the East Group has taken so long after other employees were notified starting well over three weeks ago. Was there an 11th-hour attempt to find another way to save money? Did Kane's immediate superior, U.S. newspaper division chief Bob Dickey, hold up his plan for further review? We don't know.

What's certain is Corporate was planning for this round at least since July 5, according to a reader in a position to know. In all likelihood, work began even earlier. That makes the delay across the East Group all the more puzzling.

Unusually secretive
In those four earlier mass layoffs I've covered -- including one with well over 2,000 jobs in December 2008 -- employees were told days and sometimes weeks in advance. There was little doubt every site would be hit. No one was left agonizing over whether their site would be spared. It was just a question of how many jobs would be cut.

This time, Corporate has been especially chary with information, refusing to announce the layoffs in advance, even though it was clear word had already leaked. And when Corporate finally confirmed the truth, top executives refused to provide specifics, including the number of jobs. Contrast that with the last mass layoff in June 2011, where Dickey sent a memo announcing 700 jobs were being eliminated.

But most cruel: Dickey and Kane allowed thousands of his group's employees to watch what was rolling out across the rest of the newspaper division west of the Eastern Seaboard, prolonging their anxiety for weeks and weeks. If Dickey and Kane would like to explain the circumstances, we'd welcome hearing from them.

In the meantime, we're certainly hearing from those in the field.

PNJ's 'heart and soul'
At the Pensacola News Journal, Anonymous@12:48 this morning wrote eloquently of one particular employee's exit.

"Heart and soul Managing Editor Ginny Graybiel is sacked in so-called layoff," they wrote. "With 37 years at the PNJ, Graybiel's leadership bringing the powerbrokers and arrogant burghermeisters in this unbelievably corrupt town and county to heel has been legendary and an inspiration to a small but dedicated staff.

"A tireless editor who logged 80 hours a week shepherding a dismantled Gannett property to greatness week to week with ideas, great editing and lots of bloody verve, she's rewarded with a lame sacking."

Corporate reportedly is about to raise print newspaper subscription rates again nationwide in a bid to boost overall revenue when advertising revenue continues to fall. That it would take this step so soon after cutting deeper into the marrow of news production is a sign of desperation. It sure doesn't look like a winning strategic plan.

Is your site here?
An estimated 360 351 352 jobs have now been eliminated at 57 of about 80 newspapers since the current round of layoffs began July 29, according to the latest reports from Gannett Blog readers.

Please check this read-only spreadsheet, then post your site's current information in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

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

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

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

Hasson

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

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

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

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

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

Today's paper, Newseum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wilmington | Page One pic shows 'gang bang' sign

Screenshot from the Newseum shows offensive pink sign.

In a slip some Gannett Bloggers will blame on consolidating page design at central hubs, The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., published a Page One photo this morning about a gay marriage rally that included a participant carrying a sign reading, "I'm here for the gang bang."

The sign, in pink, appears in the background; click on the image, above, for a bigger, more readable view.

In the online version of the accompanying story, editors published a different photo by the same photographer.

The photo recalls a similar one that appeared on an inside page of The Cincinnati Enquirer in April 2012. That one, also taken at a gay-rights rally, showed a sign with the word "fuck" on it. The page was spotted early in the run, and many copies were destroyed before they were distributed.

I don't know whether the Wilmington paper caught the photo in time to prevent full distribution.

[Photo detail: Newseum; see all Gannett front pages today]

Wilmington | On Craigslist, how to cheat paywall

A Craigslist user in Delaware published this tip on how to access The News Journal's website after you've exhausted your quota of free articles. The advice -- removing individual cookies -- is well known. But this is the first time I've seen readers promoting it so openly.

Is information like this circulating in your market? 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.

Wilmington | Fired reporter already has new job

Brooks

Before he even started work, The News Journal fired Khristopher Brooks April 11, after he announced his hiring in an exuberant mock press release. The incident garnered industry-wide attention -- much of it, critical of the Wilmington, Del., paper -- and more than a few job opportunities.

Now, just three weeks later, Brooks has landed at The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville as a K-12 education reporter, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Dept. of Silver Lining
Circulation-wise, looks like it was a step up, according to the new figures as of March 31, out this week:

• Jacksonville: 98,580 weekdays; 157,559 Sundays
• Wilmington: 83,210 weekdays; 122,200 Sundays

The Times-Union is owned by privately-held Morris Communications.

Brooks wrote about getting a new job on his Tumblr, without revealing the paper's name: "I need to focus on my reporting and writing, not more infamy."

(Blogger Jim Romenesko sussed out his new employer's name today, however.)

Wilmington | Fired reporter 'at a loss for words'

Brooks

Loop 21, a site focused on African American issues, interviewed the The News Journal reporter whose job offer was rescinded yesterday after he announced his new job in a blog post, including details from his hiring letter. The Wilmington, Del., newspaper also faulted him for using the paper's logo in his announcement. 

Loop 21: How did you react? Did they try to explain how they arrived to the decision?

Khristopher Brooks: I was at a loss for words, at that point. I was like, "I’m sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do this." And then I asked them if I could take it down and he was like, "It’s out of our hands."

[Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET April 13.] Writing yesterday for The Huffington Post, Brooks says soon after he lost his Gannett job: "Suddenly I had a handful of e-mails. Job offers. All across the country, from as near as Connecticut, out to Iowa and even more pouring in today."

His Huffington post has already been liked on Facebook more than 900 times.

Showing he's smart about social media, Brooks also has created a #HireKhrisBrooks hashtag on Twitter. 

Two newspapers reveal plans for iPhone, iPad apps

USA Today has had an iPad app for nearly two years, and one for an iPhone for even longer. Now, at least two of Gannett's community newspapers -- but probably many more soon -- are getting apps of their own.

In columns today about paywalls going up in the weeks ahead, the News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind., disclosed the iPad and iPhone app plans. The Indiana paper says a Droid version will follow "shortly."

Wilmington's paywall starts Feb. 7, and Lafayette's on Feb. 1.

Also like Wilmington, the Journal and Courier says it plans to hire additional staff "to help us deliver more sophisticated news and information." It didn't say how many, and didn't say whether these new hires would be a net increase for the newsroom.

In its column, Wilmington didn't give a specific number on its staffing plans, but it appears to be essentially confirming my earlier post, which said the paper was looking for four new employees.

Wilmington | Transformative new content layers

Here's the unwieldy first paragraph of a column today by Publisher Howard Griffin and Editor David Ledford of Delaware's News Journal in Wilmington; it tells readers why they'll be asked to pay for online access starting Feb. 7.

The News Journal Media Group -- which includes the newspaper, delawareonline.com and Spark and Signature Brandywine magazines among its titles -- is about to begin a transformative new chapter in its more than 200-year history, bringing meaningful new layers of content to the watchdog reporting you've grown to depend upon.

Earlier: Comforting the comfortable? A wealthy socialite's age disappears from the online version of a News Journal story.

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.

Wilmington | As hiring grows, paywall said coming

The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., will start charging for digital access on Feb. 1, according to one of my readers -- becoming one of the first sites to do so as Gannett imposes paywalls across many if not all the U.S. community newspapers. CEO Gracia Martore first disclosed the broad paywall plan during an early-December Wall Street investor conference.

The Wilmington paper has also posted openings for four newsroom jobs, including an update editor, plus a military reporter, breaking news reporter, and a shopping/arts reporter. The openings were all posted to JournalismJobs on Dec. 23.

The update editor job description says: "The right candidate will have an enthusiastic attitude toward innovation and work closely with a team of reporters and editors to keep the website ahead of the news. Must be able to quickly write breaking and general news from multiple sources as it develops, and also select, edit and post related photos."

What's your site's paywall plan? 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.

Wilmington | Former publisher Donnelly is dead

Brian Donnelly, twice president and publisher of The News Journal in Wilmington and a co-founder of the Delaware Community Foundation, died yesterday at his Florida home. Donnelly, 78, had been ill for some time, the Delaware daily said today.

Wilmington | Corporate's roadshow due Wednesday

Publisher Howard Griffin sent the following memo yesterday to employees at Delaware's Wilmington News Journal:

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I am pleased to announce that members of our Gannett senior executive leadership team will be visiting us at the News Journal Media Group on Wednesday morning, October 5, 2011. We will be welcoming Gracia Martore, president and chief operating officer; Bob Dickey, president, U.S. Community Publishing; David Payne, chief digital officer; Debra Goetz, vice president of marketing, and Katie Connell, communications manager, to our building bright and early on Wednesday morning.

Again, I am asking all employees to make certain the area surrounding your individual work space is cleaned up and organized. The executives will be taking a tour of the building so we want our facility to look its best!

All employees are invited to attend a Town Hall meeting, hosted by Gracia Martore, at 10:30 a.m. in the Bill Frank Conference Room. Please plan to join us in welcoming our Gannett executives to the News Journal Media Group.

Thank You!

Howard

Wilmington | Now you see it, now you don't

The original text of a March 31 Wilmington News Journal story in print about socialite Tatiana Copeland's donation to a local arts center, with her age -- 70 -- included in the second paragraph seen here . . .

. . . compared to the online version of the story, where her age was removed after she complained to an editor at the Delaware daily, according to Gannett Bloggers:

Earlier: Which editor scolded a reporter for accurately reporting the age of an influential local socialite?

Blind Item | Lifestyles of the rich and aged

Which newspaper editor scolded a reporter for accurately reporting the age -- 70 -- of a local socialite and philanthropist, then told said reporter to write her a letter of apology after she complained to the paper?

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.

[Photo: legendary gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. "Blind item?"]

Palm Springs | Burton said named new editor

In an e-mail a few hours ago with the subject line, "new EE named at Palm Springs," a reader says:

"Publisher Mark Winkler is addressing the staff now. It's Greg Burton, an AME at the News Journal in Wilmington. He starts April 11."

Burton would replace the Desert Sun's Rick Green, who was promoted in early January to the top editing job at The Des Moines Register, after Carolyn Washburn moved to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Here's the good news about using the revised logo

Corporate's new requirement that newspapers prominently brand themselves as Gannett property on front pages should not cost precious newshole.

For those who don't know, newshole is the amount of space alloted for everything that's not advertising: stories, photographs and other editorial stuff.

The guidelines require that the phrase, "A Gannett Company," must now be printed near the name of the newspaper, known in the industry as the "flag." The examples given (see above and below) show that most if not all papers should be able to include the phrase within existing space. In some cases, it may replace text that now provides, for example, the paper's website address.

Why is this important? If "A Gannett Company" required an additional line of space across a standard five-column-wide page, that would reduce by a combined five lines the space available for stories and other editorial matter. Multiply that by 365 days, and it really adds up -- especially during a time of shrinking newsholes.

No doubt, there will be exceptions. And in the case of USA Today, it appears the mandated Gannett Company text will for the first time in years cost the company one of its signature Page One claims: "No. 1 in the USA."

Related: dozens of Gannett front pages in the Newseum's database

Salisbury | How they say 17 jobs are getting cut

"The synergies available to us through The News Journal's production facility, combined with new business models being adopted by publishers, allow us this aggressive approach to further achieve our business performance goals."

-- Greg Bassett, general manager and executive editor, in a story today in The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md. Printing of the paper, plus affiliated weeklies, will be shifted to the News Journal of Wilmington, Del., over the next three weeks. The move will cost 17 of 21 jobs, the Times says -- nearly 12% of the total 143 employees.