More buyouts offered at Advance newspaper in Alabama

The word spread via Twitter, email and chat but Media of Birmingham tracked down the details: All employees at the Birmingham News in Alabama were offered buyouts today. It is the third round of buyouts at the newspaper still seeking a replacement for its retiring publisher.


Several foks have said that  full-time employees were offered two weeks of pay for every year of service, while part-time employees would receive one week of pay for every year of service. Both are capped at 6 months.

And while we're talking about a Newhouse - Advance operation in Alabama .... I missed the Dec. 2  Twitter announcement but Media of Birmingham did not. The editor of al.com, the Advance site for the Alabama news organizations, ended his 10-year stint with the company. Ken Booth is off seeking new ventures, directions, .... though a Tweet today indicates the web is still a big focus.

"Some familiar old concerns of SEO, site updates and user feedback plus new concerns of fulfillment, e-commerce and inventory. I love it."

Media of Birmingham has a few details on Booth's plans.

Close by, a new vice president of advertising for the Mobile Press-Register was named. Vicki Barrett  also oversee advertising for the Mississippi Press in Pascagoula. VBarrett had the same post at Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss.

From a story once posted on al.com:

"Vicki is a consummate sales executive with tremendous energy, as well as a natural-born leader," said Press-Register Publisher Ricky Mathews, formerly publisher at the Sun Herald. "She will be an asset to the Press-Register as we strengthen our newspaper and our multimedia capabilities."

 ".... She was an instrumental part of helping our newspaper recover from Hurricane Katrina. Her approaches will help us serve our advertisers with innovative products and services like never before. This has never been more important than in these tough economic times."

 She replaced  former advertising director Larry Wooley, who retired.

Still looking for updates on buyouts and closings at other Advance organizations. Feel free to send me a link or an email. We're just about done with another round of checkups for my daughter, who hopefully will get from Detroit to Knoxville sometime today. But that's another post - need some sleep first.

More awards: SNPA says yes to two Birmingham News photos

A photographer at The Birmingham News in Alabama won two photography awards from the Southern Newspapers Publishers  Association. Click on the thumbnails and you'll see why.

Bernard Troncale, a staff photographer for the Birmingham News,which  is part of the Advance Publications group, won second place in sports and honorable mention in the spot news category.  The new web features on al.com make it easy to see many of Troncale's photos. He also has his own web site

Bernard Troncale's second-place photo shows Fred Funk reacting to a missed putt in the first round of the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham. Judges said:

“The strong horizontal lines of the golfer’s unusual gesture lead the viewer’s eye through the composition of this image, while the hint of a grimacing expression adds an element of emotion. It¹s the golfer’s body language that makes this image rise above sometimes passive golf photos, while the photographer added a feeling of anticipation to the image by placing the teetering ball near the edge of the frame.   The clean background and horizontal crop of this photograph also helps in leading the eye to the golfer’s partially shadowed face.”

The spot news photo    is part of package on Slain soldier Army Spc. Charles D. Dusty Parrish coming home.

Judges said: “This image is both sad and endearing. The pain of the soldier’s death is obvious in the emotional gestures of the adults, but the young son’s attempting to be stoic while he salutes is perhaps more powerful. While the photographer was covering a scene that is somewhat commonplace in recent years, the emotional layers of this image tell not just of a soldier’s death, but also of the legacy left behind.

Mac Thrower, editorial writer with the Mobile Press-Register was awarded first prize for eidtorials on a grocery tax in SNPA's 2009 Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition at the SNPA News Industry Summit in Naples, Fla.

Judges said:

"Thrower's analysis of the need for reform of Alabama's antiquated tax system was exhaustive and convincing.  His excellent writing made compelling a subject that in less skilled hands could have been dry and lifeless.  The Press-Register, through its editorial page, provided excellent leadership on an issue that is critical to all who live in Alabama."

Read the entry  to see why the series of editorials seeks reform. For instance:

Poor families in Alabama are a little better off than they were two years ago, when the Legislature and Gov. Bob Riley agreed on raising the income tax threshold for a family of four from an obscenely low $4,600 a year to the slightly less repugnant level of $12,600. But, according to a new study, Alabama still levies the nation's highest income taxes on poor families.

I like that the contest links to the originals and/or entries.

I wrote earlier about some printing awards for four newspapers in the private Advance Publications group. I've written about the Birminham News and the Press Register.

Ex-publisher sues newspaper, Advance Publications; says forced retirement, pledge change wrong

Howard Bronson, publisher of the Press-Register in Mobile, Alabama, until a month ago is suing the newspaper and its owners.

Published reports, including one on al.com, say that Bronson, 72, claims owner Advance Publications was wrong to tell him last month he was retiring in two weeks.

Bronson's suit, filed Friday in Mobile, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against defendants including Mark Newhouse, a member of the Newhouse family that bought the paper in 1966.

Bronson said Newhouse officials in July 2009 reneged on a longstanding job security pledge for the paper's employees (staffs told in August) and in August told him that he had two weeks to leave.

Bronson's unhappiness with the furloughs and other changes at Advance newspapers has been reported in a number of blogs and Tweets.

For example, one blog post included:

According to inside sources, there have been a couple of developments related to the company’s economic climate. First, publisher Howard Bronson apparently told employees at a company meeting that if he’s forced to do furloughs again he’ll opt for straight pay cuts equivalent to the loss of 10 working days. Earlier this year it was announced that P-R employees will have to take furloughs without pay. Whether this new method of cutting pay will come into play is unclear.

 An article about Bronson's retirement on Al.com said that he  joined the Press-Register as publisher in 1992. He supervised the design and construction of the newspaper's present printing plant and office building and introduced the newspaper's Sound Off column, as well as the practice of printing corrections on page one.

The article on Bronson's retirement included this quote:

"The Press-Register has become over the past 17 years one of the best-read newspapers in the country. This is because of the dedicated and hard-working employees, who over these years have made me proud to serve as their publisher. My wife Dorsey and our family fell in love with Mobile, a magnificent, 300-year-old city, and we have put down roots, making it our permanent home. We look forward to the rich future Mobile has earned."

It's hard to leave.


Update 9/21/09: Poynter Online has posted a copy of the lawsuit.  Also see More to say for more about the lawsuit.

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I recently wrote about another lawsuit involving Advance Publications, an Oregonian employee who wanted a buyout. I also have written about Howard Bronson before, including his retirement and some speculation about his leaving. I also wrote about him when the newspaper picked up some extra business.

Advance execs share outlook on TV

The AnnArbor.com team isn't the only Advance Publications group reaching out to the public as the company's 26 newspapers under go changes.

Bob DeMay, who talks about newspaper economics over on the Ohio News Photographers Association's blog, led me to the first video - Cleveland Plain Dealer editor Susan Golberg talking about the newspaper's future in an interview with WKYC-TV anchors Carole Sullivan and Eric Mansfield.

Some optimism in Ohio must come from the northeast Ohio region ranking number 2 for newspaper readership.

Talking in Alabama

Mobile, Ala., Press-Register Publisher Howard Bronson also talked with a local TV station about the future of newspapers.

Although the newspaper, like the Advance-owned Birmingham News and Huntsville Times recently announced 10-day furloughs and pension changes, I suspect the interview was spurred by this:

Press-Register signs deal to print Pensacola newspaper

The Pensacola News Journal announced April 3 that it would end 84 jobs in its printing operation and outsource the print production of the newspaper to the Mobile, Ala. Press Register. That job starts in about 60 days.

Fox10 reported that Bronson said his newspaper had a "monopoly on local news", and expressed the belief that young people, who increasingly get their news from the Internet, would eventually become newspaper subscribers despite predictions to the contrary.

Bronson also discussed what he believed would be the business model that would allow newspapers to survive in the twenty-first century.

Huntsville changing

Things are in the works for the nearby Huntsville Times, one of 10 newspapers in the United States that reported a circulation increase in September's Audit Bureau of Circulations report.
The newspaper also had more then 60 employees accept a voluntary buyout in February, according to published reports.

Publisher Bob Ludwig said that the newspaper was "working toward an evolution of The Times that will make it better in the Internet era. We're developing a more Web-savvy newsroom, we're selling advertising across multiple platforms, and we're going to focus the print edition even more toward local news."

Moving is today's theme at the Advance Publications Alabama properties

The publisher isn't the only one moving on at the Advance Publication newspapers in Alabama.

Columnists moved to new days and places as the Birmingham News launched a plan to make local news coverage more dynamic - editor's words, not mine. His explanatory column includes a nod to take advantage of al.com "where we can break stories in real time and supplement them with a rich array of original source materials, such as full court filings and searchable databases. "

Al.com, by the way, was one of the sponsors of Social South, Deep Fried Social Media. which you can read about elsewhere.

Bors Blog first alerted me with a Flash of Hope that The Chicago Tribune hired Scot Stantis, who had worked for the Birmingham News since 1996. Stantis explained why he's heading north and the Tribune put together the Stantis cartoons gallery. (That snowy 'toon was on Stantis' 'i'm leaving' post. His farewell post - After 12 years, 11 months, I say goodbye is words only. (corrected Aug. 31)

Also now in snow country is Ian R. Rapoport, who traded the University of Alabama sports beat to cover the New England Patriots. He's already writing in Boston, where his banker wife of three months is preparing for her first snowy winter. Snow is not new to Rapoport, who wrote about heading home to New York in December.

Reversing the weather chain - leaving snow for warmth - is the new advertising head for the Birmingham Times. Kurt Vantosky, the new vice president of advertising, spent the last four years at Washington's Tacoma News Tribune and was in Alaska before that.

Media of Birmingham reported those changes and had some speculation about the new role of Ricky Matthews, who replaced Howard Bronson as president and publisher at the Mobile Press-Register, Baldwin Register and Mississippi Press and picks up oversight of the Birmingham News and Huntsville Times in the new role of president of Advance Alabama/Mississippi.

The timing of the 72-year-old publisher leaving an Advance Publications newspaper in Alabama is the main focus of Bidding Bronson Bye post in the Lagniappe. Bronson was remembered for creating a Sound Off column and moving corrections to the front page. (Update on 9/18/09) The publisher sued Advance Publications)

A former editorial writer heaps much more praise on Bronson on al.com, citing his work to help redevelop parts of the city and some of the awards the newspaper won. The letter followed an editorial "Howard Bronson's rich, broad legacy." (I wrote about Bronson when the Press-Register took on the printing of a Florida newspaper and he was on a local TV station.)

Matthews role with Advance Alabama/Mississippi led the Lagniappe speculation to speculate the news operations could combine if circulation drops.

While I'm hanging out down south, let me lead you to Roasted Rump, where J.D. Crowe the cartoonist for the Mobile-Register, let peers and politicians get back at him for a night. He serves a second helping of the roast in Notes 'n Quotes.

Plus John Ehinger, the editorial page writer for the Huntsville Times and author of Bird Droppings who left June 30 via a buyout returned briefly with a remembrance of Apollo 11 Saturn V launch.

Read it quick as al.com is one of the Newhouse sites getting much more aggressive about moving articles and columns behind a pay wall. An example is the May article about Ehinger's replacement, John Peck, announced on the same day the Opinion pages changed.

Two more publishers leaving Newhouse newspapers

At least one reader of this blog must have smiled when learning that two more publishers in the Advance Publications chain are retiring.

Back on Aug. 29 I wrote about some moving at the Newhouse family's Alabama properties, including the leaving of a 72-year-old publisher. Anonymous wrote:

"72 year old Editor? In Portland, the Publisher is 87? I see a theme here...I understand loving the business, but are these the people we are counting on to take us into the future? to embrace change and new technology? Time to hand over the reigns was about 20 years ago."

Fred Stickel, 87, announced last week that he's done with the Oregonian on Sept. 18. His 59-year-old son Patrick F, president of the Oregonian since 1993, will serve as interim publisher but will not seek the permanent post he's long been expected to get.

Today, we learned the younger Victor Hanson III will retire as president and publisher of The Birmingham News. Hanson, 53, told employees Dec. 1 is his last day. He is the fourth generation to serve as publisher during the 100 years his family has been associated with the newspaper.

There's no mention of a replacement but last month oversight of the Birmingham News was part of a new role in Alabama. Ricky Mathews was named president of Advance Alabama/Mississippi the same day he became publisher and president of the Mobile Press-Register, the Baldwin Register and the Mississippi Press.

The Birmingham Business Journal said that under Hanson’s leadership, the News switched from evening publication to morning with the now-defunct Birmingham Post-Herald. It purchased the remaining years on the Post-Herald’s joint operating agreement in 2005 and moved into a new downtown building in 2006.

Fred Stickel came to Oregon in 1967 as general manager, moved up to president in 1972 and became publisher in 1975. In The Oregonian article, Stickel said he first thought about retiring at age 65 but Donald Newhouse, president of the private Advance Publications, had talked him out of retiring several times. (Stickel worked with Donald at another Advance newspaper - The Jersey Journal - 58 years ago.)

An Associated Press article quotes Tim Gleason, dean of the University of Oregon's School of Journalism, as saying Stickel is one of the few American publishers with so long a tenure, and that he Stickel was a force for newsroom innovation.

"The Oregonian is and remains today one of the best regional newspapers in the United States, and he's the publisher who built that."

That gets debated throughout Oregon, including on a post with a headline of Buying himself out.

Like most news organizations, circulation dropped during Stickel's time and he's had to implement buyouts, pay cuts, furloughs and other cutbacks. In February, Oregonian employees lose their long-time job pledge.

Oregonian writer Richard Read said Stickel also warned more is coming.

"This newspaper's going to have to restructure. It's too big for the revenue base."

Buying himself out also is where you can read that Stickel is retiring now "to be sure to get my retirement tributes in the paper before it folds" and learn which Michigan resident blogger Jack Bog thinks should replace Stickel.

Check out the comments for more opinions about the Oregonian's place in the community, the Newhouse's Internet strategy and why OregonLive disabled comments on the announcement.

Williamette Week published the announcement sent to all employees.

The Oregonian's editorial board did a piece Saturday - "Fred Stickel, uncommon leader." Among other things, it mentioned he appointed the newspaper's first African American editor, William A. Hilliard, in 1986, and the first woman editor, Sandy Rowe, in 1993.

The Oregonian's Editor Blog also had announced the retirement. No byline as it is almost word for word the press release.

Stickel's age as a hindering factor to success today is suggested in a comment on an article on the retirement by the Portland Business Journal, another publication in the Advance, Newhouse family. Guess they didn't know he is on Facebook, (I suspect he joined to ensure he sees timely photos of his grandkids. His wife died last year. Her obituary listed survivors as daughters Daisy Medici and Bridget Otto; sons, Fred Jr., Patrick, Geoffrey and James; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.)

Despite pressures of the Internet, Stickel is optimistic that the Oregonian will survive.

(Update: The 72-year-old publisher says he was forced out at the Mobile Press-Register and has sued.)

The Oregonian's publisher, Fred Stickel, announces his retirement

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I've written about The Birmingham News from time to time. The Oregonian pops up too.

More citizen journalist initiatives starting at Michigan newspapers

Looks like Michigan's Oakland Press will get help in expanding its citizen journalism pool.

Plus more Michigan communities will start relying on neighbors to help cover the news.

The Journal Register, which owns the Oakland Press, Macomb Daily, Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant in Michigan and 13 other daily newspapers in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, partnered with SeeClickFix

A shared item on Facebook let me to this article in the Dearborn Press and Guide:
Newspaper group starts citizen journalist initiative.

"The partnership provides SeeClickFix portal pages on JRC Web sites that will allow users to observe, report and follow issues in their communities. Web site users will be able to create watch areas and track items ranging from poor road conditions to blighted buildings."

Think of it as a community neighborhood watch group for news.

The Oakland Press launched a citizen journalism academy in late 2008, even gained circulation when other Michigan newspapers cut back. But the move brought plenty of attention to the Oakland Press.

The company believes this partnership will benefit the communities by:

• Encouraging the audience to use the SeeClickFix platform to alert fellow residents of impact issues.
• Empowering residents to work with the company’s journalists to address community needs.
• Highlighting those who participate and make a difference through news reports.

How's that for a press release reprinted in a newspaper as if it were a story.

The press release at the company site says:

The company expects to expand its network to its other properties, including the other weekly newspapers in Michigan. Those include the Advisor and Source in Shelby Township, Voice Newspapers, Southgate News-Herald, Heritage Newspapers and Morning Star Network, according to the company website.

Meanwhile, the Rapidian on the west side of Michigan is going strong.

Create or die

We are also about a month away from a Journalism That Matters unconference in Detroit.

The idea behind the event is "How can we reshape journalism so that it engages and serves all people & communities?"

A Facebook announcement said:

"A focused, three-day gathering of results-driven journalists, entrepreneurs, programmers, technologists, bloggers, videographers, funders, venture capitalists, artists and educators to discover, assess, shape and create new enterprises and new approaches to participatory media and civic journalism. We'll meeting in St. Andrew's Hall, a National Register-listed former church, with
state-of-the-art TV production facilities next door, and dormitory suite or hotel accommodations.

Learn about Detroit's changing economy as a metaphor for the journalism change and opportunity. Arrive Thurs., June 3, at mid-day, begin with an afternoon orientation, buffet dinner and evening program. Share/work Friday and Saturday using circle-round and break-out 'unconference' collaboration; wrap up and commit to next steps on Sunday morning."

Some expectations:

• New and unexpected cross-sector collaborations
• Broadening a community of practice among people who care about journalism innovation
• Nurture and develop journalism entrepreneurship especially for underserved communities and people of color
• Learn from stories of successful projects
• Discover and engage financial/funding sources to seed new projects

Developing the program has started, but much of it depends on who shows up.

I'm registered to go, expecting to work behind the scenes capturing and then sharing some of what is discovered at the event. A few obstacles for me to overcome, but I think some exciting conversations will happen.

Advance addiction fed by Alabama lawsuit

I can't stop. It's my new addiction - following the retirement virus spreading through publications owned by the Newhouses and uncovering writers and photographers who suck me into their blogs with a lure of details on something about something related to Advance Publications and Conde Nast.

I watch the Live Traffic and the Recent Readers feeds, study the stats from Feedburner, Google Analytics, and StatsCounter, and wonder who you are. (Oh please, Spring Lake and Farmington share who you really are.)

I envy the cities with alternative news organizations or people who are keeping an eye on the big media.

Sometimes, I worry. Is this blogging erecting a barrier to future employment? Am I contributing to the ruin of my Advance Publication pension? Is this an unhealthy obsession with a former employer? How many more will run, unwilling to acknowledge a relationship on Facebook or Google?

Still, I can't stop and get almost giddy when I find that the Poynter Institute has posted a copy of  Howard Bronson's filing against the Mobile Press-Register, Advance Publications, Mark Newhouse and "fictitious defendants one through one hundred persons."

Isn't that delicious - the workings of the Newhouses and their organizations are so complex that even Bronson, who became publisher in 1992, can't name the individuals and organizations he wants to sue. Instead, his lawyers seek through the discovery process the names of people and businesses behind the decisions that led to the rescinding of a long-time job pledge, the request for his retirement, and more. For now, Bronson sues:

 "FICTITIOUS DEFENDANTS ONE )THROUGH ONE HUNDRED, persons, ) firms, corporations, partnerships, or ) other legal entities whose names are ) presently unknown to Plaintiff but who ) have participated in, have conspired with, ) and/or has aided and abetted others in ) committing the violations of law alleged ) in this Complaint."

Is that a hint that Bronson was surprised with Advance Alabama/Mississippi, which was announced when Bronson's replacement was named?  Or that Bronson's retirement was planned before Aug. 10, the day he was first asked to retire since his replacement, Ricky Mathews, left the Sun Herald July 21..)

Yet, I have to ask why Bronson is surprised after reading the details of his recruitment into the Newhouse organization. The effort lasted from September 1991 to February 1992, and designed to replace then-publisher William Hearin who was allowed to stay on with a title and some sort of job until his death in 2001. I'm reminded of the person surprised when someone who cheated on someone to be with her continues the cycle.

In a similar way, I am surprised why anyone believed the lifetime job pledge was written in stone, written in forever.

In the court filing, Howard Bronson explained why he wanted assurances that the longtime Newhouse job security pledge - "no full time, non represented employee would be laid off because of economic circumstances or technological change" - was staying if he accepted an offer to run the Mobile Press-Register in Alabama.

"Bronson was concerned that there would be a family upheaval leading to the implosion of the companies or a takeover by a public company, as he saw with the Ewing family which owned newspapers in Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana. Bronson explained that once a family-owned company gets to the point of being run by the second and third generations (the Newhouse companies were just getting into the third generation), the estate/income taxes start to eat at these generations which leads to family friction and ultimately collapse. Donald Newhouse assured Bronson that the Newhouse family had the tax issues worked out for three more generations and that what happened to the Ewings would not happen to the Newhouses."

The filing says the pledge was important to Bronson as his family was leaving long-time roots, he was 55 years old with a career in newspapers and the pledge allowed him - not an age - to decide when to retire.

Actually, although Howard Bronson probably got a few more years out of the business by leaving Gannet for Newhouse I think Bronson was right to worry about the next generation of Newhouses as generations change priorities for businesses. Starting a business or organization takes a lot of energy, but the founders are eager to spend the time, the money and energy because they are passionate about what they have started. But as the leadership of a business or organization hands down the passion often becomes diluted.

Consider this: Do you expect your offspring to like your music enough to stand in line for tickets to a concert? (Actually, do you stand in line anymore or just hit redial on the cell or reload on the computer screen?)

In many ways, the Newhouses are stuck. There's no market to sell a chain of newspapers so the privately owned company changes to reflect want the new generation of owners.

In many ways, those who work for a Newhouse newspaper, or a CondeNast magazine or an Advance Publications unit are stuck. They will find little in the 45-page document filed in Alabama to calm the fear that more layoffs and restructurings are coming.

When I read in the lawsuit: "In fact, the Newhouses viewed Bronson as having too much integrity to be their hatchet man" I wonder if the upcoming charges with the ending of the job pledge are behind the Advance retirement virus.

Did Victor Hanson III decide to leave the Birmingham News and Fred Stickel the Oregonian rather then watch the dismantling of their products become the next Ann Arbor News or Flint Journal?

Bronson says he believes the pledge is so important to recruiting and retaining employees that when he was told in July 2009 that an Aug. 5 announcement would notify employees the pledge would be gone in February he "questioned the legality, morality and wisdom of their plan."

Bronson believes he did the right things, listing items such as changes that led to the "voluntary buyout of approximately 36 full-time positions and, with additional belt-tightening, the newspaper’s full-time employment was down approximately 51 positions compared to the same time in 2008 and 63 positions compared
to the 2009 budget; all this while adding substantial work for the Huntsville and Pensacola newspapers. For all this, the Newhouses were giving Bronson extra kudos."

The passage reminds me of words from a boss: "We'll take as much as you're willing to give" when he recognized how close I was to burning out physically and mentally far earlier then I did.

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I have written about Howard Bronson before, including his lawsuit, "retirement" and some speculation about his leaving. I also wrote about him when the newspaper picked up some extra business.

Or maybe you wanted more about what's up in Advance's Ann Arbor efforts, or The Grand Rapids Press orThe Birmingham News or The Cleveland Plain Dealer or The Oregonian.  I need to index the rest of the entries.

Catchup: More on the Newhouse job pledge, Alabama lawsuit, Birmingham Eccentric, The Rapidian

Let's clean out my inbox which is filing up because my daughter returned to Michigan temporarily for some cancer checkups and my friend MS decided to remind me who is boss despite my three-day booking at American Sewing Expo.

AdvanceInternet is moving closer to getting its new community features working. Still, I had to laugh when I tried to read  blogger Andrew Heller's "I'm back and that's a good thing, right?" on mlive.com. He starts:

"After a week away, like MacArthur, I have finally returned. Believe me, this mini blog vacation was not my idea. Mlive, bless their Mlivey hearts, decided to upgrade the look of its blogs, and in doing so they gave we bloggers a brand new updated upload interface. That didn't work. At least for me."

See, when I clicked on the headline in Google Reader I got an "404 Not Found" error page. I navigated my way to Andy's column, read a few more lines and then tried to get the "full story." Ha. Ha.

I noticed that a few news sites are admitting problems - see the Grand Rapids Press' Trouble logging into Mlive accounts?  - and some are writing their own versions of explaining the features. Check out how Niki Doyle, social media editor for The Huntsville Times, explains to use the new tools. Or read The Jersey Guy's "Welcome to the new, improved NJ.com" for a big picture view.

I'd comment on any of the Advance Internet sites, but still seem to run into trouble with authentication. (Update: The password recovery page is working. I think my problems are due to being a former blogger as I start at mlive.com and end up at nj.com or the blog login site.)

In 'Newhouse Pledge,' Job Security, Now Relics of Once-Thriving Newspaper Industry, a  former Advance Publications employee reacts to the soon-to-be extinct Newhouse no-layoff pledge and an ex-publisher cites the ending of the pledge in his lawsuit.

Mark Holan, now a freelance writer looking for work and working on a book says that some  Mobile Press-Register employees told him that Howard Bronson is a hero for taking on Newhouse, but others worry that they'll face more financial pain and job insecurity if he prevails.

While we are on the suit, Lagniappe had a followup post to the the suit in Bronson takes on P-R. Rob Holbert quotes Howard Bronson's lawyer, shares that some employees are expecting the Newhouse newspapers in Alabama to consolidate, and that longtime Advertising Director Larry Wooley has retired. Holbert also reviews the lawsuit again, pulling out details about Bronson's improvements during his years as head of the news organizations and plans such as reducing the size of the newspaper page.

So, how about a happier ending - a community winning its fight to keep its community newspaper going. Gannett wanted to close a Michigan weekly - The Birmingham Eccentric - but the community objected.
InVocus Media Blog has an update on the effort, which just passed another deadline. Katrina M. Randall also shares how the newspaper staff is changing its efforts as a result of the community.

Over on the west side of Michigan, a new citizen journalism effort officially launched. Thanks to Jay Rosen, who teaches journalism at New York University, there's been a healthy discussion of some of the coverage of the opening of The Rapidian. There was praise for a Grand Rapids Press editorial:

"This is an exemplary editorial from the Grand Rapids Press welcoming @TheRapidian, a citizen journalism site, to the local news scene. No snark, no hostility, no insinuation that the "only the pros know" and a sense that in the rebooted system of news such sites will be a valuable part of the ecosystem."

That followed discussion prompted by an NPR piece.  Did the piece - Take That, Citizen Journalism! - miss?

I plan to write more about The Rapidian . Meanwhile, enjoy checking out the site.

Advance Publications grabbing big share of headlines today

A new publisher in Alabama, a just-released interview with the blogging leader of AnnArbor.com and the Microsoft-Advance Internet partnership ensures more folks will know about the Newhouse-owned companies today.

Al.com reports that Ricky Mathews, former publisher of the Sun Herald newspaper in Mississippi, is now president and publisher of three Advance Publication newspapers: Mobile Press-Register, Baldwin Register, and Mississippi Press. He picks up oversight of the Birmingham News and Huntsville Time in the new role of president of Advance Alabama/Mississippi.

Mathews, who succeeds Howard Bronson in Alabama, was replaced Aug. 5 at The Sun Herald by Glen Nardi. Mathews had announced July 21 that he was leaving The Sun Herald., where he started as an intern and worked for 27 years.

Also see:AnnArbor.com's blogging leader shares insights and Advance chooses Microsoft over Yahoo for more headlines today. The choosing Microsoft report is a follow to the earlier post onMicrosoft-Advance Internet partnership

One last item - an editor from one of former Conde Nast magazine is out on the road. Ruth Graham explains. why she's taking to traveling now that "her" magazine Dominos has closed.

When I return to New York in the fall, I’ll be looking for a full-time job. But for the next few months, I’ll have the luxury of seeking out historical homes, small protestant churches, big national parks, excellent burritos, local-history museums, and quixotic lifetime projects like the world’s largest ball of twine.

Advance opinions: Open eyes, dignified hats, virtual running

Grand Rapids Press editor Paul Keep tells how a mother listening to her son ensures the news organization was on top of a story in a column about "Keeping our eyes and ears open for a good story."

David Mayo is back writing, the latest on Curtis Granderson joining the 30-30 club.

Speaking of coming is a guy who once worked for The Flint Journal but moved on to the Star-Ledger in New Jersey. Barry Carter is calling for the "return of the fashionable, dignified hat." Tuesday's column goes further south - a plea for teens to pull up those sagging pants.
(Remember when that was a Flint concern and Flint Journal blogger Andrew Heller came up with a solution.)

While I'm over at NJ.com, I remembered I never shared that columnist Kathleen O'Brien is off on a leave. However, she's also blogging as energy permits in "We'll know more on Monday." It's a phrase familiar to those waiting diagnoses. In this case, O'Brien has cancer and you'll want to start with "my blog, my breast, my rules."

Cancer gets a mention by the Jersey Guy because a friend of his has the little c. The next day he zeros in on tragic news in his back yard, able to find a positive, a lesson that might make lake living safer. Timely post on water safety tips from a lifesaving professional on Omamas, a blog of "journalist moms working for you" in Oregon.

In New Orleans, Twitter has seduced another journalist.

In Oregon, it's End of life care: A new way to die rich. Or go give Jack Ohman a caption for his latest cartoon. You can even watch a video on how he draws while you are there. (He's the guy who won the RFK Award for editorial cartoons in June.)

Did you know that in states like Tennessee and Alabama, kids are already back in school. Press-Register columnist Frances Coleman says that starting school this early should be a crime.

I thought I'd found the perfect way to run - a virtual race - until I learned you still do the running.

Publisher named for The Birmingham News

The Birmingham News will get a new publisher Jan. 11, according to an article posted today at al.com

Pam Siddall has been named publisher of The Birmingham News. The announcement about the Alabama native will begin work in Birmingham on Jan. 11, said Ricky Mathews, president of Advance Alabama/Mississippi newspapers. The group includes The News and The Huntsville Times, as well as The Mississippi Press in Pascagoula and the Press-Register in Mobile, where Mathews serves as president and publisher.

Siddall succeeds Victor Hanson III, who retired as president and publisher of The News at the end of November. It is the first time in the newspaper's history that a Hanson is not in charge.

From al.com:

"Pam Siddall is an excellent media executive," Mathews said Monday. "She is passionate about newspapers and the role they play in society. She has a proven track record of success. She is keenly aware of the mass reach of the combined print and online editions of The Birmingham News and is just the one to lead The Birmingham News into the future, further strengthening its position as a multimedia company.

She has been president and publisher of The Wichita Eagle since November 2007.

Update: Media of Birmingham also posted an item on the announcement, including links to Siddall's previous newspapers as wel as Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Catching up: Blame the numbers in Alabama, Detroit

In Alabama, Lagniappe's Rob Holbert looks at the Mobile Press-Register's circulation numbers in his latest speculation on why its publisher was forced to retire early.

Numbers are not adding up to the desired financial picture so that means more layoffs are coming at the Detroit "daily" newspapers. Crain's Detroit reported about a meeting and Joel on the Road published a memo from the union, giving more information for those curious about what's up at the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News. Ad sales in 2009, for instance, are down 30 percent.

(Updated 10-9-09 to link to comment)

The Dearly Departed Daily: Detroit group to hold ‘wake’ for print journalism

Items like this keep my family from getting a meal on time some days.

A search for an update on citizens journalism at the Oakland Press uncovered the wake for "The Dearly Departed Daily" planned by a Detroit group. (The search was related to this post: Michigan media making news again)

Thanks to Elizabeth Voss, who wrote about the event on the Crain-powered Detroit Make It Here site, here's what I know now:

On April 23, one month after the announcement that Michigan would soon lose a major daily newspaper and three Booth Newspapers would trim the printing schedule to three days a week (and combine sections), the Women In Communications of Detroit group will host a wake.

Farewell Newsprint: Hello Digital Media
Women in Communications of Detroit will host Farewell Newsprint: Hello Digital Media at 6 p.m., April 23 at the Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby, 525 W. Lafayette Blvd., Detroit. The cost is $30 for Women in Communications and Society of Professional Journalists members and $35 for nonmembers. Movie fare appetizers are included. A cash bar and specialty coffees are available. Valet parking is $8 or next door surface lot parking is $6. Register by April 20 by online or e-mail at info@womcomdetroit.org or by phone at (248) 652-1460.

Jack Lessenberry, Metro Times columnist, a senior news analyst for Michigan Radio and journalism lecturer at Wayne State University. will lead the wake. He is quoted in the online article, saying he is worried that "people accustomed to getting a print newspaper won’t adjust well to the shift to three-day a week home delivery."

“The real issue is not whether print will survive as a news medium. The real issue is whether journalism keeps going. Thomas Jefferson said how can you possibly have a healthy democracy without journalism?”

After the wake, the event moves into a more positive direction, with Debora Scola, community affairs director for the Detroit Media Partnership, talking to the women’s professional group about changes the Detroit newspapers are making to compete in a digital era. The Detroit Free Press and The News reduced home delivery to three days a week and increased its focusing resources on digital media on Monday.


This first appeared on my Wired Journalists blog.

Digital media course a bargain for journalists in Michigan

Gee, I think someone has noticed the high rate of unemployment for Michigan journalists. A second course offering folks a chance to update their skills is set for October.

This one is from the Society of Newspaper Designers and includes an ex-Mlive.com person among the instructors.

Yes, Michigan State University graduate and Mlive vet Shawn Smith will return to the East Lansing campus Saturday, Oct. 10, as part of the lineup for SND’s Digital Media Quick Course.

The description says

"You’ll learn about the best ideas for Web site design, free online tools, the Detroit Free Press’ new e-reader platform and hands-on techniques for using social media, mobile and other internet tools to bring your online content to life."

It will set you back $50 but you'll learn:

• Where the sites are
• Where the tools are
• Where the readers are
• Where the connections are

Karl Gude, the ex-Newsweek journalist now teaching at MSU put the session together (with help, of course). He is looking for folks to participate in a "lightning round" of presentations of innovations at your company or organization. Send him at email: gudek over at msu.edu

You can register for the course online - head to the SND post and follow the registration link.

I'm still waiting for details on the free session from the Online News Association.

What would you tell a college student today? Michigan State seeking talking alumni

Yesterday I was invited to join the annual Michigan State University Student Alumni Networking Luncheon to talk with current students how attending MSU has benefited me in my professional career.

I know what I learned at Michigan State University - in class and out - contributed immensely to my career. I still believe in the journalism program. But there's no way I could tell a student to expect to follow a career path like mine.

Jane Briggs-Bunting, dean of the journalism school, says today's "college students will be tomorrow’s innovators and leaders in reinventing the news business."

The school's web site continues:

"Storytelling is now done in a variety of formats using text, photos, video, sound slides, hyperlinks, graphics, maps, databases and more. Deadlines are 24/7, 365 days of the year. J-School students are learning the skills needed to thrive in this warp speed news environment. We call it Journalism 3.0."

So let's see - text and photos would have been on the list when I went to MSU. Storytelling, too.

So if I could go to the lunch, I would share this advice with students:

• Keep learning. When I started, computers filled rooms, not pockets. Phones were attached by wires within something solid - a phone booth, a house or a business. Publishing a book required a printing press, not just determination, skill and knowledge. We don't know what others are creating and what tools will become available so it is important to find a way to learn what's happening outside the newsroom and your closest community.
  

• Be flexible. There's no way to know where you will end up because the jobs you may do may not be invented yet.
  

• Love telling stories. There are all types of stories to be told. Some hide in data. Some hide in process. Some hide in people. Storytellers enjoy drawing out the pieces, making the connections and replacing their findings with a tale others can remember.
  

By the way if you need another reason to go you can hear MSU gaduate Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee, speak. (His first store was in East Lansing, earned his degree from MSU in 1989.)

The event is open to all Michigan State alumni:

When: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 12 p.m. doors open
Where: Spartan Club in Spartan Stadium Tower
Guest Speaker: Bob Fish, CEO & Co-Founder Biggby Coffee
Price: No cost for Michigan State Alumni

Interested? You can register online.

Four Advance Publications newspapers get printing awards

The Southern Newspapers Publishers Association honored four Newhouse newspapers for their printing quality.

The Grand Rapids Press and The Oregonian earned first place awards in their categories.

The Michigan Muskegon Chronicle and the Alabama Birmingham News earned second place awards.

The SNPA site says the "Judges evaluated entries only for those quality attributes that can be objectively measured: black ink density and uniformity, color ink density and uniformity, color register, page alignment, litho defects and other defects."

One more Advance tie - Randy O'Neill of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans was one of the judges.