AnnArbor.com growing bumper crop of recognition

The AnnArbor.com is getting - and rebroadcasting via Twitter - lots of Internet love. (Love, because any attention is better then no attention right?)

All eyes on AnnArbor.com says a student from Central Michigan University.

NBC also put together a report (Find it on MSNBC)

I thought it was too late for a post started before the Art Fair but delayed by migraines, multiple sclerosis and mom business. But maybe not.

See, I said that the tweets and posts were coming in fast and furious as folks are ramping off to kick off the from-the-groundoup, web-first experiment in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And, they keep coming.

Keep a watch on Free From Editors and Daily Derelict and, of course, AnnArbor.com for updates and discussion.

Wine blogging is hot with Free From Editors jumping back in, debate over at MichWine and Tweet, Tweet, Tweet.

Another whine

Keeping up

Bloggers and others also are commenting, even when they can't raise an interview with staff who are furiously working to get folks trained on software and competing.


M Go Blue is asked about the expected impact of AnnArbor.com on his blog when interviewed as News Innovators on the Frontline. Here's most of that answer, but go read the rest of the entry if you're interested in media innovation.

"I don’t know how much of an impact it will actually have, because the kind of people who are still subscribing to The Ann Arbor News aren’t my core demographic. My core demographic is very male, very young, highly educated, and I would assume, highly internet-oriented. The kind of people who are affected by The Ann Arbor News becoming annarbor.com are generally less hardcore about their sports coverage.

But with the transition to the web, they are promising to link out a lot, so having more of a two-way relationship with the local news sites would help, probably just in terms of Google ranking and maybe some traffic. "

The reinvention of journalism, AnnArbor.com style, is the focus of the fourth and final look at citizen journalism on DetroitMakeItHere.com

“The community team has no parallel in traditional paper organizations,” said (Tony) Dearing, who was previously editor of The Flint Journal, a Booth-owned paper. Staff positions of community director, community producer/copy editor, blog leader and two part-time community assistants, will oversee user-generated content."

More details:
Editorial positions include the news, entertainment and sports groups. Staff and freelance journalists will write stories and produce photos and video for the traditional sections of the site.


Invitations go out - hey, the art fair is going on. we're in the middle plus Meet the entertainment staff; or meet some of the folks who will be blogging. Did you hear about Cindy Heflin and Julian Keeping?

There are apologies - we're sorry about the letter with typos; sorry about a comment lost in the shuffle, and yes, we had to take down the forum as spam swamped us but here's a link of where to find all of the comments. DetroitMakeItHere tells us:

"Leading topics were performing arts (1,498 votes), breaking news (1,200 votes), politics/local government (1,151 votes), entertainment calendar (1,147 votes) and investigative reporting (794 votes)"

The big apology came from the top guy when the site's debut was postponed. Matt Kraner, President of AnnArbor.com tells what happened to Lucy. The online, on-site explanation came from Dearing.

Leaving now

In another state, there's a fond farewell from Michael Rothstein on his way to cover sports:

"This is Draft No. 3 of my see 'ya later post. Each time has come off way too saccharin, way too reflective for someone still on the young side of 30.

Yet that wouldn't seem right, not after four years in Fort Wayne, four years covering Notre Dame and trying to provide new, different and informative content."

Joining now

Closer to home, you can read about upcoming plans from Dusty Diary who soon will blog on "hoboes, junkyards, and consumptives" or from A Woman's Guide to Saner Living.

Ther's a note about her new gig over on AnnArbor Mom. Learn more about Jenn McGee, who will be covering theater. Jeremy Peters is writing about Forth From Its Hinges, or at least that's what his Tweet says as he goes for some crowdsourcing. Maybe a hint from Ask Annie.
The owners of one of the media wonders about the media pie.

We're watching

Over at Kalamazoogle, it is Ann Arbor redux with a post that starts

"Anyone interested in the future of the news business is undoubtedly watching Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Next week, the tech-savvy college town will see its one newspaper fold up and be replaced by a shiny new web site."

That post layouts the ownership:

"The paper and the web site are both owned by Booth Newspapers, which also owns the Kalamazoo Gazette. All are owned by Advance Publications, which was formerly known as Newhouse News Service, which is in turn owned by Conde Nast, which owns the New Yorker and Wired and stuff. Whew!"

Then, concludes:

"So maybe they know what they're doing. I've been following the stream from the blog at AnnArbor.com and I think there's a lot to respect. They seem to be developing something that is genuinely different from what a lot of their print colleagues are trying."

About Google

Plus Rick Edmonds at Poynter chimes in with Newhouse's AnnArbor.com Enters a Crowded Field Next Week.

"Former president of Advance.net Jeff Jarvis does online consulting for Advance, and he may be offering a sneak preview of sorts for the site in his recent book, "What Would Google Do?":

"What does a newspaper look like if it is no longer a newspaper? It will be more of a network with a smaller staff of reporters and editors still providing news and recouping value for that. Paper 2.0 will work with and support collections of bloggers, entrepreneurs, citizens and communities that gather and share news. A newspaper is no longer a printing press that turns out money. But as a network, it could be bigger than papers have been in years, reaching deeper into communities, having more of an impact and adding more value. To get there it has to act small and think big and see the world differently."

There's more from Rick:

Ann Arbor's transition from dominance by a traditional newspaper to something else has two interesting echoes in projects of the Knight Foundation, the largest philanthropy fund focused on journalism. A major Knight-sponsored commission is studying information needs of American communities and new ways to satisfy them. Its report and recommendations are due in early fall, and it is safe to assume the context will be a diminishing role of newspapers, if not widespread closures.

Similarly, Knight has had several programs in recent years plowing millions of dollars of seed support to innovative, independent projects, mostly Web-based, calculating the decline in business fortunes and news capacity of traditional media even before it became so apparent.

Grant time

So he asked Gary Kebbel, journalism program director at Knight, if Ann Arbor projects were funded and would the closing of a daily newspaper increase chances of someone getting a grant.

No and no, Kebbel said; grant awards are "based on the merits of the project and [the applicant's] capacity to do it." But "special gaps" may be considered, he added, and may become a bigger factor as more papers fail.

Hard to keep up with the posting about Ann Arbor, my new home away from home. I've been using Publish2 as one way to collect links on AnnArbor.com, Michigan media and AdvancePublications. Join me.

Difficult times for them 50-somethings, Conde Nast folk

Oh no. It's beat on the "old" today. Old, being a relative thing. And not getting it being a relative thing because Tina Brown, 55, says she gets what's happening with media as it shifts from dead-tree editions to digital. Those other folks? Well .....

"It's most difficult, I think, for the people who are in their 50s who are part of a big media organization where they've spent most of their lives. They see it all changing around them and there isn't time for them to make the adjustment, or they fear making it."

That's a quote pulled from today's Chicago Tribune under a headline "Tina Brown: Media will flourish." Poynter's Romensko headline was: "Difficult Times for Old-Media People in their 50s"
and he pulled a more optimistic quote:

"They see it all changing around them and there isn't time for them to make the adjustment, or they fear making it," says Tina Brown. "We're in a transitional period that I think will only last another few years in which [journalists are] not paid the way they were. ...If you're up to seeing the opportunity and recognize it as a transition, or you have enough put away to ride this wave, it's going to be fantastic."

Optimistic is not how you'd describe the mood at Conde Nast, according to the New York Observer. The magazine side of the Newhouse family's media collection is gloomy with the hiring of a consultant (McKinsey and Company), the huge drop in ad sales (37!) for the important September issues, and issuing of an internal memo about the consultant. There are even rumors of a video conference for employees coming up.

Brown left Conde Nast, traditionally a money making division of Advance Publications, 11 years ago.

Let's go back to mulling who sets the blogging rules, the new generational divider.

By the way, when did 55 become the new 65?

Eccentric fight continues

Matt Friedman, Co-Founder of Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications in Farmington Hills, tells about Birmingham fighting to save the Birmingham Eccentric. How they’re doing it, and why Gannett is giving them a fighting chance.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009:

Whining about wine: AnnArbor.com watch continues

Looks like the whine to watch for AnnArbor.com is the blogging, especially the wine blogging.

The newness and writing style of It's Just Grape Juice. were examined in a post on Free From Editors.

The closing paragraph raised a concern:

"Apparently the author of this blog is a principal in a company that owns or operates a series of restaurants. Not saying he will, but will the writer slant columns to favor or benefit his own company and who at AnnArbor.com will monitor that? "

Commenters continue the discussion of freebies, transparencies and the challenges of blogging.

On Tuesday, long-time wine blogger Joel Goldberg winds his way through Wine writing's ethical thicket. The post explores some of the issues over on his MichWine, which bills itself as an independent consumer guide to Michigan's wines and wine country.

Followup conversation with Goldberg, who blogs about wine at Ann Arbor Chronicle, reveals his deep knowledge of wine and the ongoing, long time debate on writing about wine.

(Do a deep Internet dive and find Goldberg at Annarbor.com, in old Prodigy wine bulletins, described as a Michigan Wine Warrior and elsewhere. While diving, you're likely to find this ethics discussion dates back to the '90s.

Goldberg tells me the 1990s are "when Robert Parker presided over things on Prodigy, and his ethical example set the gold standard for many of us: wine writers and critics don't accept anything or allow any conflicts to exist, period."

Even Goldberg says that's hard to do, especially without an endless source of money.

In his latest post, Goldberg first recalls a conversation with a colleague who says he's a promoter, not a journalist, who writes about wine. That leads Goldberg to ask:

1. When readers see a magazine article or wine column with his name attached, how many stop to parse whether the author's role is one of "journalist" or "promoter"?
   
2. How many other fields of journalism require the reader even to consider a question like that?

The rest of Tuesday's post on Goldberg's site is on new wine blogger at AnnArbor.com

Goldberg acknowledges that Eric Arsenault, a certified sommelier, "doubtless has the chops to write about wine" in It's Just Grape Juice."

"His ethical standards may be impeccable. But the position he'll occupy -- highly-visible wine writer for a dominant local news outlet -- presents an insurmountable appearance of conflict with the interests and demands of his nicely-paid day job."

Goldberg then shares examples of why he sees AnnArbor.com facing an impossible task of monitoring.

But I remember Gary Vaynerchuk praised as a hero who used "traditional advertising techniques to build his family’s local wine business into a national industry leader" and soared higher by leveraging "social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, his video blog about wine."

So are most people - those not steeped in the history of tradition of wine journalism, or plain old journalism - willing to let someone benefit from blogging, twittering and relationships so they can benefit from a person's passion and knowledge?

If readers know the possible conflicts because they are openly stated, does that make it OK?

Is it an age thing?

By the way, I hope to write more about Goldberg as the former retail shop owner works toward finishing his working life as a wine journalist. His site is about to under go a transformation. And it will be different to write about someone becoming a journalist for a change.

Updated 7/23/09: Here's a link to the blog on annarbor.com.

A final farewell in Livingston County

Michigan
newsrooms:
Today: Livingston
Community
News

Related posts:
Grand
Rapids

Muskegon

Kalamazoo

There's a staff photo and some words in the final edition of the Livingston Community News, an edition of the Ann Arbor News for six years.

Jim Jagdfeld's photo captures Jamie Charbeneau-Pisella, Lisa Carolin, Jason Deegan, Casey Hans, Laurie Humphrey, Eric Lucas, Cathy Sales, Leanne Smith, and Tom Tolen.

Nearly all share their home email and plans in columns online.

Jamie Charbeneau-Pisella. shares she's planing to open a photo studio and finish a children's book in her final column.

Also planning a children's book is Laurie Humprey

Jason Deegan is hopeful a freelance assignment or even a job will keep him on the sports scene he's covered since 1995.

You'll also find highlights of careers and some ideas for the future in columns by:

• Leanne Smith
  
• Casey Hans
• Lisa Carolin
  

Rick Fitzgerald left long ago, his column still online.

---

Are you a Michigan journalist leaving or coming? Send the details my way.

What? You're only on Facebook, not Twitter. Oh dear, are you retired already?

I'm still recovering from migraine mush mixed up with "You Will Rest, MS" so you get this reminder about how fast media changes these days. Laughter heals, right?

Start with the video and then skip down to read more about Facebook musings.


By the way, before I get all serious on you Ben Walker is looking for 50 Twitter messages to set to music. Learn more on his blog, I Hate Mornings.

Speaking of music, DigiDave really helped make up my missing the 10th annual Flint Folk Music Festival this weekend with his great post of converting journalism bloggers into musicians. Susan Mernit as Carol King? Jeff Jarvis as Pete Townshend? Or go and check how he nailed so many. Share comments.

We had some dueling laptops tonight as my start page isn't my daughter's and I wasn't following her instructions very well when she directed me to an article about Facebook dying 'cause too many "old people" are joining. She wanted me to read Is Facebook Past Its Prime. Oh. MSN can be so confusing.

We both agree "young people" are not going to Twitter.

In this household the two under 30 don't Twitter and the two over 50 do. (Or make that three over 50 since I twitter publicly at mcwflint or mcwgs, if you prefer Girl Scout-type tweeting.)

Facebook gets 1 under 30 and 2 over 50, MySpace gets two heavy users under 30 and 1 light over 50, blogging gets two of us - one on each side of the 30 divide.

I'm the only one on FriendFeed, where in some recent migraine mush moments, I managed to unsubscribe some folks when I meant to subscribe to them. (I'm hoping they were not folks drawn to my feed because this blogger labeled me one of 10 interesting FriendFeeders to follow. Of course, he didn't say anything about skill, just that I find "Journalism, New media, Health Care" interesting.)

(Reminder to self if I'm so unfortunate to get another one of the four-day headbangers, don't go on FriendFeed, don't write emails to men in charge of the large ink pots no matter how irritating the errors are, don't post comments on blogs, and stay away from Twitter and Facebook until at least eight hours after the last dose of meds. You'll keep more friends/followers/links/lives.)

Thanks to Mashable for the Top 5 Twitter Songs.

I think I need more sleep. Or is that caffeine?

Wishing not working so daughter must wait on cancer fix

The space shuttle has nothing on my daughter as her launch into radiation was delayed. Again.

The "vacation" between surgery and radiation for my daughter has been filled with tests to ensure her heart can handle the next steps necessary to fight late stage three cancer. Toss in some measurements needed as part of a study - long, long days at the cancer center or in the nuclear medicine area.

I could bore you with details on infections - hers. husband's, a dog.

Instead, here is her posted status Wednesday:

"Just my luck- surgery hasnt healed enough to start radiation - 1 more week to wait - partly from all the chemo :("

She could have mentioned fatigue or some of the other side effects.

It is now a year since my daughter found the first tumor. I am in my ninth month of full-time caretaking. No one in this family trained for a 10k. How did we get entered into a marathon

Still, it is only a week in a lifetime of weeks. September is a month of starts for many. Why not us?

Michigan State chooses temporary director of journalism

Looks like Michigan State University's School of Journalism will look more at research as a focus. Lucinea Davenport will lead the school as its temporary director, the new dean of the College of Communications Arts said Wednesday.

She replaces Jane Briggs-Bunting who had a contract to lead through 2010, but was asked to resign July 1. Briggs-Bunting told The State News she will do research for two years away from East Lansing and return to teach.

Davenport, who I met years ago when she was studying computer-assisted reporting, has published several research projects.

The State News reported that the journalism faculty backed Davenport.

No word if the dean will still meet with students as planned today.

Live in the present - advice for the going, going, gone at the Grand Rapids Press

Michigan
newsrooms

Folks continue to trickle out of the newsroom on the west side of Michigan.

Charles Honey, most recently the religion editor at The Grand Rapids Press, decided to "focus on the present" after a timely walk through a cemetery.

Like many of us, he's reminding himself that he's not his job.

"I am no longer Religion Editor.

Check that: I no longer work as a Religion Editor. The job was not who I was, it was what I did.

OK, maybe it was more who I was than I realized. If I'm not a Religion Editor, who am I?"

Some of Grand Rapids Press employees were highlighted in a TV feature, not surprising since Ken Kolker went to WoodTV8 when he ended his 30-year newspaper reporter stint in an earlier round of goodbyes. There was a picnic celebrating the last days.

Ruth Butler, who left her day job of supervising education coverage at the Grand Rapids Press, talks about starting over and writes: "Tell me a tale of passion by book." She'll continue writing a weekly column for the western Michigan newspaper.

Tom Rademacher, who just got top honors from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists , also will keep writing columns on a contract basis for the Grand Rapids Press. His latest column includes this:

"It's moments like this that have given way to a familiar routine for me over the past 30-plus years: See something. Wonder. Then wander on over. And discover so much more than what graces the surface."

Sue Merrell, whose LinkedIn description says "I laugh for a living," expects to continue covering the Grand Rapids theater scene on a free-lance basis.

Feature writer Jennifer Ackerman bid goodbye in "To emotional exits, new beginnings and the belief that anything is possible." Well, sort of goodbye as she'll keep writing her Running with Needles craft column and occasional features.

Long-time reporter Pat Shellenbarger is remembered fondly in a July 1 post on the Humanity for Prisoners blog. and in a July 6 letter to the Press editor. Delayed Justice also has written about Pat's work. He has been teaching journalism at Grand Valley State University.

Not sure what's up next for photo editor Hoyt Carrier or reporter Ted Roelofs , photographer Lance Wynn, copy editors Dixon Dudderar (more sailing, right?) or Gary Schroder. , who also spent time as an assistant news editor for business coverage and deputy metro editor at the Press and nine years as a reporter and editor at the Saginaw News.

By the way, an anonymous commenter says there's only 9 FT news reporters, 3 1/2 biz reporters and a FT sports staff of 8 left. mmmm. Could that be true?

Hello, goodbye in Muskegon

Michigan
newsrooms
See Tuesday
for K-zoo...
Four months
and....

Steve Wesphal, the new general manager of the Musekgon Chronicle, introduces himeslf to his readers as does Cindy Fairfield, the new editor. The two are taking over duties of Paul Keep, who now is editor of the Grand Rapids Press and left behind a "fond farewell."

Wesphal says his first priority is to "find opportunities to support key community initiatives and causes in Muskegon as we continue to move forward."

Fairfield says "One of my biggest goals in the coming months is to increase our enterprise and investigative reporting."


But, oh, those bloggers :(

I'm hoping she'll learn that not all bloggers "write anonymous blurbs on the Internet without attribution or fact checking."

Indeed, she might even learn that some are just liked the journalists she employs "college-educated professionals who have broad experience in news gathering."

Or perhaps some of those who once worked in her newsroom are blogging or will someday.

My money is on Jeff Alexander, who once did the EcoLogic blog and reported on the environment before leaving a journalism career of 25 years. In a farewell column, he told us he was moving to a job with the National Wildlife Federation. Let's see what the future brings.

Book gaining steam

Oh, and did you see that Jeff Alexander's new book is starting to get a few mentions. Grand Rapids writer Howard Meyerson reviews Alexander's book "Pandora's Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway." Meyerson says that Alexander's

"new book, is a powerful expose of how the once-touted technological marvel and economic stimulus project became an artery of commerce that infected the Great Lakes with biological pollution, costing consumers and taxpayers $2 billion a decade in U.S. waters alone."

You can read two excerpts of the book online too, including one part on foreign mussels.

Many took Booth buyout

A number of folks took the "Booth buyout" this year. Remember, I thought it was very classy of Publisher Paul Keep to say goodbye publicly to so many veterans. What's surprising is how many of those who left keep popping up in the Muskegon paper.

Keep told us that features writer Susan Treutler and Steve Gunn, who covered the courts, had left as well as writer Susan Harrison Wolffis, columnist Clayton Hardiman, and features/entertainment reporter Bill Iddings.

Also leaving were Robert Burns, Lisa Medendorp and Terry Judd as well as Metropolitan Editor John Stephenson, Photo Editor Greg Dorsett and artist Mark Donnelly.

Editorial Page Editor David Kolb and John Jarvi, who worked on special sections and the North Ottawa Weekly publication left mid-February.


Muskegon keeps bringing 'em back

But not everyone who leaves stays away. Treutler still writes a weekly column while adjusting to retirement.

Wolffis also is writing a column and some features, such as a recent one on Log Cabin Day. Her latest column talks about the "bounty beyond belief" that her retirement has allowed:

"Because of the hours I kept all those years at work, I've had to limit my trips to market to Saturday mornings. Now that I'm in early retirement, working a freelancer's schedule, I can get there Tuesdays and Thursdays, too, even if it's just to take stock.

Hardiman still posts a column and some features.

There's still Extra Iddings. (Iddings even updated his bio, letting us know that he is now a freelance writer "after writing for the Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle from July 1975 through January 2009. There he was chief film critic since 1976; a feature writer, specializing in arts and entertainment; and most recently author of the online blog “Extra Iddings."

He's also busy at the Howmet Playhouse, in Whitehall among other things. That's also why he has aged so/


Opinions still coming

Kolb still writes a regular column, including the recent "Paul Keep led the Chronicle through the worst of times" that included:

"On Paul Keep's watch a lot of newspaper jobs disappeared. Chronicle institutions, like its presses were silenced. Whole departments were consolidated with other newspapers. Even our adolescent paper carriers were given their little pink slips."

Kolb, who says he "entered into semi-retirement prematurely," and Keep disagreed many times (see From birth to death: A eulogy for Viewpoint). Kolb is not sure that all of Keep's changes and experiments were smart. But ...

"Say what you will about the moves he made, Keep showed a lot of guts. He was unafraid to confront tradition, entrenched attitudes or conventional wisdom in the newsroom.

"I always appreciated the fact that, as bad as things got at times, Paul never lost his cool or hid in his office.

"Every piece of bad news that came our way was delivered personally, from the man, at open staff meetings where everyone had his or her say, and could ask all the questions they wanted."

Assistant News Editor Stan Harrison, who coordinated the Chronicle's Sunday HomeFront section among other things, left in the springtime. He still blogs "Been There, Done That."
giving home improvement and gardening ideas. And he's not afraid to show a sense of humor - did you hear about the reel-to-reel lawnmower?

I spotted a Lisa Medendorp byline on Sunday with a feature on a Muskegon artist. and another for Terry Judd so maybe they haven't left yet.


Not likely to make Chronicle again

Freelance columnist Tracy Lorenz is blogging, just not on news. It's the Muskegon Comical now (or find some old columns at Lorez at Large). The departure of the contract columnist was not smooth, starting with his good-bye after six years way back in February. He even got a dig in on editors, all seven of them:

"... each one had a different way of plucking humor from the written page and dropping it on the cutting room floor like a no-bake cookie."

There are other Muskegon blogs, of course. The Muskegon Taxpayers Alliance, silent since February, and the Muskegon Pundit, not so quiet.

• Conservative in Muskegon
• Lorenz is BACK!
• Muskegon Patriots
• Hello Michigan
• The Snarky Huntress
• M Politics
• Take Muskegon Back
• botton up politics

Talk to you later.

Publisher blasts "Birmingham Noose"

Glynn Wilson says research shows that older, more liberal people are more apt to read a newspaper — but not a newspaper that ignores their point of view. In his July 6 post, he says "I don't often link to the Newhouse press in Alabama's Website, al.com, because I usually find their coverage severely lacking." The post explains why and is one of only 3 posts linking from the Locust Fork News-Journal blog to the Birmingam News.

Wilson is the publisher of the Locus Fork, focusing much attention on the judicial nomination before the Senate.

The headline of his July 6 post clearly shows his point of view - tagging the newspaper the Birmingham Noose as he weighs in on Palin's latest moves.

Four months: Still working on this going, going, gone thing in Kalamazoo

Michigan
newsrooms

Four months into "semi-retirement" and Tom Haroldson still finds the pace surprising. Equally surprising? The words that spring out of his mouth during the most unexpected times.

He's 57 and worked 30 years in as a reporter, editor and bureau chief for the Kalamazoo Gazette in a state where 30-and-out was almost a requirement

There are pluses in being able to stay up late when you want and choosing what to write about. But still:

"I have discovered that what I am is semiretired, which means I am in the middle of two worlds and wrestling with which one fits best and is the most enjoyable. I am too young to retire and too old to play around all day long. I am semidevoted to serious working and semi-interested in goofing off. "

Malcolm McBryde, Generations editor for the Kalamazoo Gazette, shared his nervousness of becoming a grandfather and being without a job as he gets ready to leave on his buyout.

I missed James Sanford's last column and an interview with him. The arts & entertainment coordinator ended his 12-year Kalamazoo stint in early June for Martha's Vineyard and in hopes an entertainment magazine that spans continents. Some of his work is still online at the old place and soon at the new place. He's still Tweeting and blogging.

When his stay on the vineyard ends - a summer too good to pass up with a buyout offer equally attractive - he'll see what the next step is.

I missed too that Anne Holcomb, a librarian who also knew much about making mlive.com work for her newspaper, also left the Gazette, moving to a new job at the Willard Public Library in Battle Creek. She can blog, created multimedia packages, and pull together information in amazing ways.

Also recently gone are Dave Person, Tim Lehman, and artist Richard Jordan.

Paul Morgan, former sports reporter and page designer, is still pulling together a daily sports TV listing and covering some sports and fitness for the news organization. But mostly he's gone.

Hirten: Practice what you teach, MSU | Lansing State Journal

Lansing Michigan editor M Hirten gets the real fail at Michigan State University.

The College of Communication Arts failed the most basic principles of public relations. That failure will haunt the school as it seeks new students, new funding and even new staff.

The new dean keeps blundering each day she postpones talking to the students of the school and the student newspaper

The dean and journalism school director need to talk sooner then later and figure out ways both win. Does Jane Briggs-Bunting head the curriculm change, the Tandem Project and Redesign the News series? What about the centennial celebration?

Can Dean Pam Whitten quickly find someone to lead the school? Or take over the projects if that's the beef?

Show the students, the campus, the alumni how pros communicate and get past the crisis. Silencing the Twitteting and blogging is as equally wrong as a poorly executed plan that is still failing 14 days after its horrendous start.

Enough is enough.

Many eager to tell new Grand Rapids Press editor what to do

Michigan
newsrooms

Paul Keep didn't wait long to jump back online to talk with his new community.

The new editor at Grand Rapids Press asked for help and the ideas are coming in fast and furious from readers.

First, though, Keep who became the editor of the largest Advance Publication news outlet in Michigan on July 1, promises to:

• Focus on local
• Listen to readers and
• Communicate.

About 40 readers quickly came back with suggestions, including firing the food critic, beef up the travel and sports section, and drop opinion from news stories. Several referred to the western Michigan newspaper allowing a sports columnist to return to the payroll despite a guilty plea in a drug case.

Stay focused

Some folks were confused about Keep's influence, leading to complaints about the content and price of the Bay City Times, delivered on the east side of the state. (Yes, he worked there once upon a time. Also, at The Flint Journal, Musekgon Chronicle and Kalamazoo Gazette. The feedback was sought for the current news organization, the one in Grand Rapids.)

At least one recognized the difficulty of pleasing everyone and suggested that Keep:

"Organize a readership panel and meet with them monthly to get their ideas. Keep us informed. My best guess is if you show us frequently that a dozen, diverse readers have a dozen (if not more) differing opinions on how to edit a newspaper, at least some of your readers will gain some insight into just how impossible a task it is."

Some feedback is very specific, naming two organizations and information requested. Some was more general, such as "report on West Michigan."

Make us proud

Or:

"I challenge you Paul to take the initiative and really make the Press the kind of paper that Grand Rapids can be proud of. ... make up for the decline in quality and quantity.

Another reader had many ideas, including:

• More positive news,
• Investigative- dig a bit, create accountability and
  
• Cover local news more.

One person thought the local initiative could be accomplished by putting "more pictures in the print edition, and less online. If there is one thing people go out of their way to buy a paper for it is because their picture (or someone they know) is in the paper."

While another said:

"There is other news besides what Johnny and Mary are doing.

Look abroad

The content of the Grand Rapids Press Travel section was criticized:

"I find it hard to believe a town the size of Grand Rapids has such a poor travel section. Indiana? Northern Michigan? ... I want to see Europe, China, Mexico, Hawaii. I want to look at the Sunday Press and take a vacation to that exciting place. Fire your travel staff and start over."

Sports was discussed by several, including:

"We love our Michigan sports - especially the pro teams - Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Red Wings along with UofM and MSU. It would be great to add a few more pro/major college columnists. "

Mayo on mind

It's clear that some in the conservative community are not happy with the newspaper's decision to allow David Mayo his job back.

"In my opinion the Grand Rapids Press is on the wrong side of the Pot issue (in particular because it is allowing a (now) known, unsupervised felon to be a role model for, and occasionally interact with, young people)."

Although Mayo started before Keep official started, I'm sure he was involved in the decision.

Meanwhile, it was nice to see that Keep said goodbye and hello and plans to keep in touch with his newest community.

Humiliation or proof positive that a newspaper went crazy?

Michigan
newsrooms

What a first week back for the Grand Rapids Press sports columnist suspended in February after drug charges followed police getting 71 marijuana plants and 32 ounces of pot in canning jars from his home.

David Mayo, who started at the Press in 1985, now knows what it feels like to be the subject of the press as his story has been told on radio, TV, in print and online. I wonder how that will influence his future reporting. With luck, he'll be more sensitive. Says one Grand Rapids reader:

"It's so hard to not be judgmental and not make nasty comments about someone who repeatedly was judgmental and made nasty comments about people and teams."

Mayo covered collegiate and professional sports, including the World Series, Super Bowl, and boxing, including the career of Floyd Mayweather.

His July 5 page one column in the Press ' I've come out the other side' after marijuana conviction drew reactions near and far.

Mayo also went on several radio shows, John Gonzalez tells us.

The Grand Rapids Press gave the community a chance to react in print with letters to the editor that included both praise and criticism:

Taken from the Mayos

• Front-page column crosses the line
• Others should get the same deal as Mayo
• Thanks for giving Mayo a second chance
• Count your blessings, David Mayo
• Forgiving Mayo straight out of the gospel
• Mayo should be thankful for light punishment
• Reinstating Mayo unacceptable
• Mayo just beginning his long journey
• Mayo sentence just, reasonable
• A slap on the wrist for Mayo

It was pro and con in the world of bloggers and online commenters:

Eric B. on Michigan Liberal criticizes the required public humiliation.

"... after five decades of doing this kind of thing I think it's probably pretty clear that these things never serve any purpose beyond permanently labeling the author as an addict. I mean, you'd have to be an idiot to think that any self-respecting teenager is going to read about the legal travails of a middle-aged sports writer and turn down pot."

No need to write

An unnecessary column was the viewpoint of Improved Clinch's Self Flagellation at the Point of a Gun:

"Mayo’s self flagellating mea culpa is the culmination of the injustice inflicted by the State, and it all started with the State’s questionable procuring of purchase invoices for hydroponic growing equipment, which sets a precedence for the State to obtain records of your individual purchases, whether those purchases are benign or not."

Others suggest that Mayo needs to watch what he writes, including the blog Chicken Scratch in "Bong Smoke Clouds Judgement of Grand Rapids Press:"

"I sure as hell don’t want to see any more stories in the press talking ill of those who smoke marijuana because your lead sports guy is a pot head."

There were some who don't want Mayo near student athletes.

Precious newsroom jobs

That the sports journalist is coming back to a newspaper job when so many have lost newsroom jobs has Chicken Scratch and others raising questions. Some familiar with the once-strong Advance Publications' job pledge and no-tolerance drug policy question what the hiring means..

The Daily Derelict calls the return "proof even heavy drug users (dealers) can work for Booth Newspapers for life." He repeats a few stories he's been told before concluding (incorrectly, in my opinion):

"You basically have to be CONVICTED of murdering or raping someone to get fired in Booth Newspapers."

I never understood you had a job for life no matter what. Some folks were let go over the years, or, as said over on Free From Editors, "I've known other employees who have lost jobs at Booth for far less transgressions than this.")

Lingering questions

There are questions - could this be a case of using the marijuana to ease the pain of a medical condition, hinted at when a TV station's report on his rejection of a plea agreement included this quote:

"My wife's debilitating illness, that's been the hardest part to watch her. That's been the hardest part of this whole deal."

The illnesses came up again when a TV station reported that a defense fund had been set up. The station quoted Mayo saying the loss of his salary from The Press, and the fact his wife has a number of medical conditions, has made their life extremely difficult.

The defense fund is administered by Jeff Calhoun, general manager of the Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball team (2003-07), an executive with the former Grand Rapids Hoops (1989-2003) and now an insurance agent (He also was named a potential character witness). Contributions can be sent to Jeff Calhoun, Attn: Defense fund, 6719 Rubina Way, Lansing, Mich. 48917

Those other jobs

It's been widely reported that the Kirby, Ark., native also worked as a regular correspondent for The Ring magazine and its sister publications. But no articles are up there for 2009.

He also resigned less the a month after being elected as vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

I looked, but couldn't find any bylines on mlive.com. I did see that Mayweather is facing some IRS troubles and been in the news for some other things. That must be hard for Mayo not to cover after all these years.

Going, going, gone in Detroit

Michigan
newsrooms

The Detroit News noted the leaving of Mike Lloyd as he "signs off after 42 years as a journalist."

Don't call it retirement, a Detroit reporter learned and shared:

"Don't relegate me to the trash bin that quickly," he said, snapping at a reporter for possibly the last time. "There's still some life in me."

Still, I never did find any farewells to folks who recently left The Detroit News in the News. Fortunately, others did tell us about the 10 journalists fired in May - financial reasons, not employee problems.

Bill Shea talked to Charlie Cain, who ended a 34-year journalism career - the last 18 as the Detroit News' Lansing Bureau chief. It's a bathroom remodeling job and freelancing that unexpectedly will fill Charlie Cain's summer.

On Blogging for Michigan, Cain's firing was called "another nail in the Detroit News coffin."

A Lansing news magazine wrote about his firing as the lead-in to "Capitol news coverage dying."
(That article also looks at how coverage of the legislature has dwindled to two pay-only services.)

The 22 trimmed at the Detroit Free Press are highlighted in a Richard Prince Journal-ism column. He noted 15 of the journalists out at the Detroit Free Press are women, six African American, two Hispanic and two are Asian American.

That number includes columnist Desiree Cooper, who said goodbye in "With faith, miracles can still happen." and posted it in her new Detroit Diary.

Prince also said those leaving included editorial writer Nichole Christian, and Fred Fluker, and Martin Westman, both graphic designers; "Laura Varon Brown, Audience editor and columnist, who responded to readers' questions about the paper; Javan Kienzle, part-time copy editor; Christy Arboscello, a reporter who is Asian American, who resigned in May; Emilia Askari, an Asian American reporter who was part time; Dan Cortez, a part-time reporter who is Hispanic; part-time reporter Kim North Shine; part-time copy editor Amy Butters; Janice Monarrez and Julie Armstrong, part-time Web editors; Paul Barrett and Bernie Czarniecki, sports agate editors; and Rodney Curtis, assistant photo editor.

Prince also named three who resigned to save positions: Morgan Phillips, a full-time designer; Robin Payne, a part-time editorial research assistant who is black, and Robert Ellis, a full-time copy editor.

Askari, 49, told Journal-isms she has a scholarship to get a two-year master's program at the University of Michigan's School of Information, where she'll concentrate on social computing or human-computer interactions.

Christian told Prince she's trying T-shirt design and Web consulting.

Zachary Gorchow is leaving the Detroit Free Press to return to Gongwer News Service to edit the Michigan Report early next month, according to a July 2 Gongwer Report. There's more about the former State News managing editor at the college newspaper's alumni site.

Another hello to Lisa Allmendinger, who has freelanced for the closing Ann Arbor News and will now report for the weekly Ann Arbor Journal.

And one more column that came through the Muskegon Chronicle but is actually from the Los Angels Time: "Stone's story holds lessons for today's newspeople." D.D. Guttenplan asks and then answers:

How did a 44-year-old man, who was almost completely deaf, reinvent himself as what many contemporary observers call the "first blogger."

Is it time for journalism schools to fade away?

Over on the Online Journalism Review blog, there's a a plea to "don't dismiss journalism schools just because newspapers are in trouble."

Trouble is brewing at Michigan State University as its School of Journalism director's resignation is still sought and its students and advisory panel say they don't know why.

And people aski if journalism school is necessary when we've got the YouTube Reporter Center and the Reuter's style guide available for anyone with an interest.

How journalism schools are changing

Larry Atkins, who teaches journalism at Temple University and Arcadia University, quickly hits how journalism schools and departments are accommodating a growing interest in the schools and the changing realities of the journalism profession in the review blog.

Emerging trends include:

• getting students in the community (that's new?)
• social media
• global journalism
• interactivity

Consider the source says that nagging voice: Would someone teaching journalism at a college say anything but keep 'em?

How MSU is not changing

Over at Michigan State University, some journalism faculty members are saying plans to revamp the curriculum are on hold while the director issue is settled. The plan to revise was unanimously backed in the spring, so perhaps that reluctance to carry out the desperately needed changes is one reason why the new dean of the College of Communication Arts wants change from the top down.

Is the idea of eliminating the school, proposed in 2004, back on the table?

President (she was provost then) Lou Anna Simon's plan recommended forming a new college - CALM - the College of Communication, Arts, Languages and Media - that would combine all of the departments from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and some from the College of Arts & Letters.

Perhaps CALM is a way of saving money for the university that needs to find some major ways to save as the Michigan economy dives deeper in the hole.

YouTube can teach you everything

So, with the idea that some folks learn by watching the YouTube Reporting Center can show you how to cover the news via video.

7 videos Covering Underreported Stories ... more info 3 videos Investigative Reporting ... more info 3 videos Ethics, Law, and Fact-checking ... more info

6 videos Presenting Your Story ... 9 hours ago more info 35 videos Expert Videos - ... more info 6 videos Interviews and Profiles ... more info 5 videos Citizen Reporting ... more info

Then, there's the Reuters Handbook of Journalism that includes sections on standards and values; a guide to operations; a sports style guide and a section of specialised guidance on such issues as personal investments by journalists, dealing with threats and complaints and reporting information found on the internet.

Putting the handbook, the guidance for Reuters journalists , says Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards, was for reasons of transparency, service and geography. He gives a detailed explanation.

Oh heck, maybe what we really do need is this sponsor a journalist idea.

Remember "for just pennies a day you can clothe, feed and shelter newspaper professionals" and that "once payment is made we'll send you the name, bio and snail mail address of the newspaper professional your donations are supporting."

Real journalists are featured in the video, just don't go looking for that Michigan person, OK.

And, before you send your contribution I just ask that you take a look at the issues raised in the Neiman Labs four-parter on how sports journalism is changing now that sports organizations also are the media organizations.

Advance news organization changing video to match market

No longer daily, no longer read and rip and now grabbing an audience so says Neiman Lab of Ledger Live, the video show that started out as a daily, noontime video show. (The first one is still up.)

To be honest, I figured it died when John Hassell moved out the Star-Ledger into Advance Internet. Neiman explains that the smaller staff that resulted from the 200 or so buyouts is partially to explain for the irregularity and focus change.

Head to the lab for details on lessons learned:

• Post when you have something to say
• Marketing does pay off - Twitter, and Facebook and Friendfeed were part of the plan from the start, according to John Hassel's pre-debut post.
  
• Post where the viewers are
• One topic, short

“People want to watch two, three, four minutes of video on the topic they’re interested in,” host Brian Donohue said. “They don’t watch it in the linear fashion they watch on TV.”

The production drew mixed reviews when it first came out last July. Andy Dickinson asked July 29, 2008, if Ledger Live could save "newspaper video." He didn't really answer the question, but he did link to many of the others talking about the show, including:

• MICHAEL ROSENBLUM's post on how video gives power to a newsroom. He helped with the training and wrote an earlier post on the almost-live effort. He followed the newscast, writing about the coverage of sentencing of former Newark mayorin "This just in."

Even as the effort was beginning, Rosenblum said change would be necessary:

"We’re gonna find out because newspapers like the Star Ledger and others are going to try and try and try again as they fine tune it and really invent it on the fly."

• RYAN SHOLIN, who waited 21 days before calling it the best webcast he'd seen, especially liking the "You're da the boss" part:
  

"At about 2:40 into this one, which is good and fun, and has personality and life to it, even if there’s some desk-sitting involved in the process, Brian Donohue takes a typical crackpot reader comment about immigration and does the fricking reporting."

• DOUG FISHER on Commonsense Journalism called the snarking a shootout. and giving what I still think is good advice for video on the web:
  

• Aim at a mobile audience
• Be tight but newsy and have some attitude (translate: make me smile, make me growl, give me something to think and talk about while you're also bringing me up to date)
• Stay fresh - update two or three times a day (the "we're airing this at noon and we'll update it tomorrow" is not going to cut it)
• Have good visuals but remember your audience likely is to be mutitasking and so can't necessarily stay focused on your little screen.

• TERRY HEATON on The embarrassing fuss on a video in New Jersey who also reminded us that some day TV video and newpaper video and web video would become more similar with no one media claiming to be the only author or expert.
  

• JEFF JARVIS on "I've seen the future"
• DON DAY at Lost Remote on "boring webcast" but that post was lost when LostRemote converted formats.
  

John wrote 10 times about the show, including:

• 10.8.08 The Star-Ledger lives to fight another day - interview with editor Jim Willse on future of NJ.com
• 9.12.08 Gary Vaynerchuk on Ledger Live
• 8.26.08 A podcaster, via Twitter, improves a newspaper vodcast
• 7.28.08 The debut of Ledger Live
• 7.26.08 Following Ledger Live on Facebook and 10.31.08 Now THAT’S scary! ,which includes praise for Hassan Hodges, now tech guru at AnnArbor.com
  
• 6.16.08 Newspapers and video: A short interview with Michael Rosenblum on why New Jersey's lack of strong TV and the falling price of equipment and technology made now the time for newspapers to jump into video and expand its role.

Video is becoming a growing part of the New Jersey experience. Neiman reminds us that some Star-Ledger video content will be making that transition soon: the newspaper recently announced a partnership with Verizon FIOS in which it will provide high school sports video on a hyperlocal station for FIOS subscribers.

Too much media in Ann Arbor, Michigan? Videos capture panel's thoughts.

UPDATED: If you're looking for a scapegoat for the changing media scene of Ann Arbor, Michigan, blame the economy, say a group of people involved with the newest media efforts in that comunity.

A local economic club and a weekly business magazine brought together representatives of five news organizations to talk about "evolution of local media" in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Ann Arbor News, which was not represented on the panel, covered the event. I'm borrowing most of its summary of the changing mediascape:

Advance Publications is closing the daily Ann Arbor News this month, its weekly Ann Arbor Business Review in August and launching a Web-centric news company called AnnArbor.com this month.

Last year, former News opinion editor Mary Morgan launched the Ann Arbor Chronicle, a news Web site, joining the longtime monthly Ann Arbor Observer, a news magazine also online. Heritage Newspapers plans to state the Ann Arbor Journal weekly.

Nathan Bomey, the associate editor for the Ann Arbor Business Review who will become a digital journalist for AnnArbor.com when his publication migrates, moderated the panel discussion that is now on Russell Video's YouTube channel. (Smart video company - they have a video ad there also.)

The Review hosted the event with the Washtenaw Economic Club Thursday morning.

Panelists included Paula Gardner, Business Review editor who also is moving to AnnArbor.com in August; Ann Arbor Chronicle's Mary Morgan; radio show host Lucy Ann Lance and Ann Arbor Observer's John Hilton.

AnnArbor.com's chief content director Tony Dearing shares quite a few details about the thinking behind how his news organization is shaping up.

Part 1 - Introduction to Ann Arbor's News: A computer crash delayed this video but it is now up (and skippable). Paula talked briefly about why such a panel and shared the news about the Ann Arbor Business Review's demise before Nathan introduced the panelists. He's surprised that many in the audience say they read newspapers before sharing that he sought a newspaper subscription for his 16th birthday but dropped it five years later when he left the market for an internship.

Part 2 - A Community Resource Will the lack of a daily newspaper mean that some segments of the community will lose their voices? This segment includes Dearing saying that "Newspapers not going away because people don't like them. It's the collapse of the economic model."

You'll also hear one competitor praising another for its effort as part of a discussion of how the community media efforts are finding their places.

Plus is citizen journalism really like "talk radio?"

Dearing said there will be 75 people who will be contributing information to the site, people with expertise in topics such as parenting, wine and books.

Part 3 - A Business Questions include: Is there room for all the media in Ann Arbor to survive? What's the business model? How important is branding?

Part 4 - A Catalyst for Conversation and Comments. A lively discussion about comment included an obersvation that The Ann Arbor Chronicle (not Observer as I said earlier) almost went without comments based on the founder's experience with comments on Mlive.com.

Part 5 - Questions and Answers, includes comments on aggregation and how a reporter reading blogs for two-and-a-half hours can boil the best down for a reader to consume in five minutes. Besides talking about the role of blogs as a news source, Dearing spends time on what what they can do in an online news media.

Part 6 - Questions and Answers, includes Dearing talking about a need for editing content before posted it goes online

(Morgan, by the way, was to also speak to the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday about how her news site fits into the overall scheme of things. I'm not sure if it was held.)