Gannett Layoffs

Tracking reports of layoffs at Gannett yesterday since I haven't seen a good roundup. Will update.

From Facebook:
Jim Brown Yesterday, the Indianapolis Star lost 37 people. My best wishes to all in finding new opportunities in your lives. Coverage of the Indianapolis area will diminish. We will miss you all.

Daniel Hunt still here, think I'm safe. they pushed out Roddy, shorti and Mary hager too. this is a very black Thursday. (News Journal, Delaware).


Cincinnati Enquirer eliminates 101 positions at print and online news outlets
CINCINNATI (AP) — Enquirer Media in Cincinnati, which includes The Cincinnati Enquirer in print and online and other publications, has eliminated 101 positions.
Publisher Margaret Buchanan said in an open letter to readers Friday that the cutbacks were part of a companywide tightening of the work force by the parent Gannett Co., which publishes USA Today and 85 other daily newspapers.

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Press-Gazette announces staff cuts
Press-Gazette • July 10, 2009
The elimination of 19 jobs at the Green Bay Press-Gazette and its associated weekly publications was announced Thursday by the newspaper.
Advertisement

The jobs were in departments throughout the operation, from news and production to advertising and clerical support.
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LSJ Media laying off 26 workers
Most departments affected by cuts; hours also reduced for 2
LSJ Media is in the process of laying off 26 employees.
Most cuts should be completed this week.
The layoffs affected nearly every department at LSJ Media, which publishes the Lansing State Journal, Lansing Community Newspaper weeklies, specialty publications and Web sites.
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Courier-Journal to lay off 44 more employees
WHAS 11.com
(WHAS11) - More layoffs and early retirements came to the state's largest newspaper Thursday. Several sources at the Courier-Journal tell WHAS11 that 44 employees in many different departments, including a handful in the news division, are being cut.
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Tennessean follows through on job cuts
Longtime newsroom employees among those notified of termination
[Updated with total number affected and more names]

The Tennessean today has eliminated the jobs of six editorial employees and 25 other staffers. Bob Faricy, vice president of market development for the newspaper, confirmed the numbers late this afternoon.

Newsroom sources say that among the journalists losing their jobs are several who have worked for the paper for more than 15 years.

The cuts follow the announcement last week that up to 35 positions would soon be cut and that 25 currently open positions would go unfilled. The reductions are part of system-wide cost-cutting efforts by parent Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain.

Attempts to reach a spokesman for the paper have so far been unsuccessful, but it is known that the following newsroom staffers are departing:

* Ricky Rogers, a photographer and photo editor who has been with the paper since 1978.
* Bill Greer, daytime copy chief, who has been a copy editor at The Tennessean for at least 17 years.
* Drew White, who has been in the graphics department since at least the early 1990s.
* Aldrin Brown, college sports editor.
* Kevin Paulk, assistant news editor.
* Janet Shouse, a copy editor who has been at the paper since the 1970s.

Also losing her job was a woman who had worked in the mailroom for 35 years.

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From Charles Apple: Laid off in Rochester: copy desk chief Jann Nyffeler

Yet another stunningly boneheaded move by someone: Jann Nyffeler is out at the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle. She’s just one of more than 1,200 layoffs made this week by Gannett.

0907jannnyffelermug

Jann posted to her Facebook page Thursday evening:

Jann Nyffeler is unemployed. They got me, guys.

Jann has been in Rochester nine years. Her title recently has been “Lead Conversion Editor,” but it’s still chief of what you’d call the copy desk.

A 1988 graduate of the University of Nebraska, Jann spent eight years as a copy editor at the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. She became team leader for the copy desk of the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle in 1996 and then moved to the Dallas Morning News in 1999.

She doesn’t blog often these days, but when she does, she posts here.

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More at Gannett Blog

But Does Anyone Care, Other Than Us?

AJR examines the quality question. In one section of the story, author Carl Sessions Stepp notes that one paper reports a decline in errors after instituting a checklist of sorts. That could be a factor. But I wonder, too, if it's really about readers simply not caring anymore. If we don't, why should they?

When I first went to work at one paper, I was shocked at how readers who called to complain about something seemed to act as if they owned the paper. It was their paper; they were mad at some error or perceived bias. By the time I left, the clerks were noting fewer, less passionate calls. They seemed to have given up.

I Am Running Out of Patience

People in the newspaper business ought to know better than this:

Restructure the newsroom. Half of the journalists are involved in the “processing” of news – copy editing, writing captions, laying out pages – as opposed to the generation of journalism. Concentrate on journalism that matters. And, “focus on good writing. Tales well told.”

Focus on good journalism. You betcha. And how does that happen? Do all those "processors" just sit around playing with the editing system while all the hardworking journalists are cranking out "journalism that matters." ? With "good writing. Tales well told." ?

No, sorry to say to those deluded by something someone told them. Over the last several years, people running newspapers started eliminating their blue-collar jobs: printers, photo processors, etc., in favor of transferring that work onto the newsroom, in an effort to save money, eliminate jobs, etc. That meant putting a lot of crap work onto the copy desk through pagination systems and so-called editing systems publishers ordered up whose main function was to produce the newspaper with as few steps as possible.

Who could have foreseen that someone would then think copy editors were doing little else other than "processing" copy? In fact, they do perform lots of production work. After all, someone has to. But they also edit. They stop reporters from putting stories that don't make sense, that have misspellings, factual errors, lopsided perspective, etc., into the paper where readers are then subjected to factual errors, misspellings, nonsense, lopsided perspective, etc.

If Your Newspaper Career Doesn't Work Out...

Here's a neat little story about a retired copy editor, who, while still working, created a new career for himself. As someone who drives a teenaged soccer referee around, I know it can be a nice job for a teen or someone looking for extra money. Mine referees little kids for $16 a game, or a one-hour assignment, and with little kids, the parents tend to be less argumentative. Games with older kids pay more. Think about it.

The Loss of Quality

The Washington Post's ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, writes today about an increase in errors, under the headline "Fewer Copy Editors, More Errors". Most copy editors I know would respond:

Of course
What did you expect?
Told you so
No shit, Sherlock
or offer any number of similar sad and weary answers.

You cut your quality-control experts, disparage their professionalism and talent and, wow, what a suprise. Quality suffers.

The issue, though, to me is this: does quality matter anymore?

I think there's a profound change in expectations and standards in the last few years, deeper than Twitter, citizen journalism or blogs, by which we find or report news.

We're all kind of beta testers now, expected to put up far less than perfection. Just as that little gizmo you bought down at the big-box tech store often doesn't initially work the way it should, or requires hours of effort and frustration with non-supportive support lines, so, too, journalism is less than what it could or should be. Your expectations are lowered and the idea that a store selling you electronic toys or a journalism organization telling you what you need to know should try to deliver quality the first time is simply fading away.

Have you ever spent an hour or more on a tech help line, only to have your concerns blown off? Or have a help desk act as if crappy performance is normal and hint that you're being unreasonable for expecting more? So, too with news. So what if the story fails to answer key questions? Has typos or poor grammar? You get the general idea, right?

As consumers, we have learned to settle for less. And I fear no one cares.

That's a bitter pill for copy editors to swallow.

Rules for Thee and Not for Me

There's a particular irony to Poynter having posted this the day after the story broke about The Washington Post's plans for paid "salons" and access to newsroom people.


FTC to Investigate Bloggers Receiving Pay for Posts

The common practice of posting a graphical ad or a link to an online retailer -- and getting commissions for any sales from it -- would be enough to trigger oversight.

Well, hell's bells.

Obviously, if you're on this page, you can see that I, like many others with blogs, run ads, albeit thoroughly unremunerative ones. They are clearly ads.

I don't and would never write a pay-for-post item meant to look like news or commentary, or tout something in an item for money. Those kind of postings should get some scrutiny, in my opinion. If you're representing something as legitimate reporting or commentary, people ought to know that you're not being paid to shade the truth.

But I am at a loss to understand why a clearly identified ad on a blog is somehow suspect and worthy of FTC notice when ads in print are not.

If you've knocked around newspapers, especially smaller ones, long enough, you've probably been drafted at one time or another to write a "story" that was fed into an advertising section.

Duncan Black, AKA Atrios, often mockingly mentions the need for a blogger ethics panel because of what he sees as a double standard that is applied to blogs and not the mainstream media. I don't agree 100 percent of the time with him, but frequently do. And this seems to be another example of rules for one kind of reporting and commentary and not another. What difference, for example, is there between a book review to be found on a blog somewhere and that of a newspaper's website that would warrant an FTC investigation? It's possible the stand-alone blogger violated some disclosure rules, and certainly most newspapers have some rules about not accepting gifts or not writing reviews of books by friends (or enemies) but lapses happen.

(For the record, I write some reviews for a newspaper website for which I am not paid, though I am able to keep the books, which are filling my bookshelves.)

It's actually pretty creepy if the FTC truly intends to do what the story says.

Amusingly enough, this ad popped up on my blogger.com page as I was preparing to post this.

Tales From the Dark Side

John Kelly at The Washington Post reminds us of the myriad ways and reasons newspapermen (and they were nearly all men) got fired in the good old days. And he invites people to tell their tales of firing.

What's the most interesting way you've been fired? Or were you the terminator, not the terminatee? If it's not too painful to talk about, e-mail me the details.

Science Conference

The Council for the Advancement of Science Writing is offering scholarships for its conference in October:

New Horizons Fellowships

CASW offers Traveling Fellowships, of up to $1,200 each, to cover the costs of attending the New Horizons in Science briefing. The fellowships are intended primarily for U.S. journalists from publications and broadcast outlets that do not routinely cover major science meetings or employ a full-time science writer. CASW also assigns a veteran science writer to each fellow to serve as mentor and to help ease his/her way through the program. The application deadline is Aug. 15

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Weak, Weak, Weak

Too many journalists are giving away the franchise in the rush to publish anything, regardless of merit.
Case in point:

China Dubious That Yao Ming Could Be Out of the Game

I thought we were about to read a story about China itself challenging reports of Yao Ming's injuries and his future.

Instead, we get quotes from two fans, one of whom initially says: "I thought it was fake when I first heard about it. I can't believe he has such bad luck!" and that's it. By the end of the story, says Yao can make a comeback if he has the right attitude.

The other fan says absolutely nothing about doubting the injury. In fact, he suggests that Yao played too much and that led to his injury.


The rest of the short story is devoted to Yao's popularity, discussion of the injury, etc.


This story is from Time magazine but is so lame that it ought to be taken off the web

Wordle captures this posting:

Must Be a Mirage

Editor and Publisher finds the same column published under different bylines, a rather strange practice.

UPDATE: Column Appears in Several Dailies -- With Different Bylines

By Joe Strupp

Published: June 30, 2009 1:20 PM ET updated

NEW YORK A column on planning for retirement has appeared in several newspapers around the country this month -- under different bylines and little change from one to the other.

The column appears to have originated from the Financial Planning Association, according to the Web site of Fisher Financial Strategies, which also posted it and credited FPA. Several other newspaper Web sites have been found posting the column, some crediting FPA and others using only writer bylines.

Timing Is Everything

From MediaBistro's newsletter that arrived at 3:15 p.m. today:
Promotions and New Positions
Benjamin Meadows-Ingram has been named executive editor at Vibe. He had been senior editor there. (Media Bistro)

On Poynter at 3 p.m.
Vibe magazine is shutting down, say sources

Online Journalism Awards

From the Online Journalism Association:

The deadline -- June 30 -- is almost here to enter the Online Journalism Awards, which honor excellence in digital journalism around the world. Launched in May 2000, the OJAs are administered by the Online News Association, in partnership with the University of Miami's School of Communication. The OJAs are traditionally awarded at the Online News Association's annual conference. This year’s honorees will be announced on the final night of ONA09, the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet, Oct. 1-3 in San Francisco.

Over the past decade, the OJAs have recognized major media, international and independent sites and individuals producing innovative work in multimedia storytelling. The Awards Committee and judges place special emphasis on entries that are original to the Web or demonstrate mastery of the special characteristics of digital journalism.

The winners are selected through a two-step process. First, a group of more than 100 journalists screen and rank the entries in each category. A panel of industry-leading journalists and new media professionals then judge finalists and select winners at the University of Miami's School of Communication.

For 2009, ONA has introduced changes to acknowledge the important role of emerging technology, the influence of the independent digital journalist and the growth of community reporting efforts. Six awards now come with a total of $30,000 in prize money, courtesy of the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the General Excellence in Online Journalism Award has expanded to include "micro sites."

The 2009 categories are:

The Knight Award for Public Service
General Excellence in Online Journalism
General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English
The Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism
Breaking News
Specialty Site Journalism
Investigative Journalism
Multimedia Feature Presentation
Online Topical Reporting/Blogging
Online Commentary/Blogging
Community Collaboration Award
Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies
Online Video Journalism
Student Journalism
To enter, or to find our more about the OJAs, go
here

Not the Right Word

MRAP trucks: Afghan savior or boondoggle?

This appeared on Yahoo but the headline and story are drawn directly from the Christian Science Monitor.

.....The truck was a Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected truck (MRAP) – a 16-ton behemoth that came to be regarded as the soldier's lifeboat in Iraq, its V-shaped hull saving lives by deflecting the blast of roadside bombs.
Rummel's story points to the same success in Afghanistan. "God bless the MRAP and what it does," he says.
But the mammoth trucks are built for Iraq, where troops are fighting a largely urban insurgency on city streets. Afghanistan's insurgency is rural, and the Pentagon is in a race to completely redesign the MRAP for its new duty, making it lighter, with a beefier suspension and better off-road capabilities for troops who launch missions into fields and up hillsides – often with no roads.
The effort, however, calls into question one of the bedrock tenets of Defense Secretary Robert Gates's regime: He wants to prioritize equipment that saves troops' lives. But experts wonder if, in the process, he is saddling the military for years to come with a fleet of vehicles that can be used in only one spot on the globe.

Here's the problem. There is no suggestion in this story that this is a boondoggle.

Boondoggle, according to various dictionaries, suggests something unnecessary, a waste of money, a bit of a con:

A work of little or no value done merely to keep or look busy.

a project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation.

–verb (used with object) 4. to deceive or attempt to deceive: to boondoggle investors into a low-interest scheme.

–verb (used without object) 5. to do work of little or no practical value merely to keep or look busy.

(Really? Only a federal project?)

Anyway, none of those usages fit this story. What the reporter finds is that the trucks are extremely costly and may be suited for only one kind of environment. Adapting them to a different environment is costly. It may not be a wise decision to spend so much on a project with limited value. But boondoggle? No.

Heads That Shouldn't Happen

From AP on Yahoo:


'Jobs killer': Democrats win key test vote on climate bill

First, there's no quote in this story at all that refers to this bill as a "jobs killer."

Second, even if there were, it does not belong in the headline unless the bulk of the story is about the effect on jobs. It is a partisan statement. Just report the facts.

Charge. Arraign. Bail.

From a story in the LA Times today about a raid on a home owned by the mayor of Bell, Calif., comes this sentence:

The two men arrested, renter Carlos Zetina, 25, and his uncle Rogelio Zetina, 49, have been released on $75,000 bail but have not been charged, according to the district attorney's office.

By what process would there be bail set without a charge and arraignment? How is this possible? I look forward to the explanation.

It's Called Skepticism

I mentioned this previously on Twitter or Facebook or some such place, but Josh Marshall offers a roundup on how quick many media operations were to declare the Mark Sanford story over before the South Carolina governor returned home, was found at the airport by an enterprising reporter from The State, and tearfully confessed his affair.

There were far too many "mystery solved" kinds of headlines, all over the place, by publications and web sites that really should know better. When did we stop challenging political officials and start accepting anything they tell us unless some other third party spoonfeeds us another set of facts?

While we're at it, I could do with a lot less mocking of the guy's personal life. To me, the fact that the chief executive of a state vanished and without any connection to his staff, was the story. Plus the idea that yet another moralizing public figure got caught living a life of hypocrisy. Other than that, I really don't want to read the e-mails or listen to cable talking heads getting their jollies doing so. We're better than this, people.