Surgery done so ...

My friends and family helped make today happen - successful breast cancer surgery for my 25-year-old. We are waiting to hear if all the cancerous cells and enough lymph nodes were removed by the surgeon. Those tissue reports should be in Tuesday or Wednesday. The oncology team was thrilled that the chemo-prayer-good wishes treatment shrunk all of the tumors - the largest was 9 centimeters - so much that they were impossible to see today with the naked eye.

A specialist was able to use tumor clips put in the center of the tumors in Noivember with today's ultrasound and a zilion mammograms to insert new wires to mark where the tumors were for the surgeon.

She contributed to two more studies today, one that may help many patients who are put out do better. The other is more informal - the surgeon's use of a pain block. She's also been in a study that compares results of a newer MRI with a more common MRI. There's a fourth but suddenly I can't remember the details of that. (It has been a long day.)

My husband, her boyfriend, his mother and an aunt also were at the surgery. And, of course, many virtual connections. (how useful txting, Facebook, Twitter, myspace, email and the web are for the exchange of messages. Wonderful support.

My daughter is glad that surgery is over, even knowing there's more to come. She's actually fascinated by the draining right now - pain pills, I suspect, helping to foster that.

Meanwhile, since moms don't get the pills that calm you, I am frazzled and tired. My husband is taking the first shift, her boyfriend the second so I am forfeiting the Red Wings in search of sleep and its restoring powers.

Go Red Wings. Go L'Hermeties (spelling) goodbye

Breast cancer surgery today

My 25-year-old's breast-conserving surgery is today so that's where my attention is this week. The fact that a lumpectomy is possible means the first six months of treatment worked. Who cares about hair or toenails or fingernails if the cancer is gone.

We're told it will take about six hours and we won't know until next week if the doctor gets all the cancerous cells. We are confident she will.

I'm posting via the iPhone so getting links in here is hard - you can read about the journey to today in a May 14 post. (See list on right)

I'll post updates later on how that goes.

Birmingham Weekly says Newhouse paper cutting pay; saying bye to part-timers

More on the changes in Birmingham, Al., aimed at buying time for the newspaper in the Advance Publications family. The changes include pay cuts for many full-time employees, elimination of part-time staff and the closing of suburban bureaus.

I shared a link to Media of Birmingham, which first posted information about the Birmingham News based on information gathered from Twitter updates.

Later, the Birmingham News published an article outlining the changes.That includes graduated pay cuts of 5 to 8  percent for most employees, beginning June 29, said publisher Victor Hanson.

Hanson had announced 10-day furloughs for employees, pension freezes on March 23.

Gawker JuicerHub: Newhouse family cash

Is the Newhouse family need for money driving the closing of Advance magazines?

Gawk plays off the Si Newhouse profile in this article. First, newspapers pushed out the profits for Newhouse. Now, it is cable. The question is for how long?

Newhouse web site gets plenty of eyeballs, report says

A Radio Business Report brings good news about NOLA, the Advance Internet New Orleans site. The article is on the results of the Media Audit.

By the way, the site does a good job of keeping you up-to-date on radio, TV, and media research so now I know Jay Leno returns to TV on Sept. 14 and Michigan musicians want royalities.

Birmingham News cuts salaries through 2010, eliminates most part-time positions « Media of Birmingham

Media of Birmingham posted an exclusive announcement on more changes at Birmingham News, one of three newspapers in Alabama owned by Advance Publications. Check out what's down at this Newhouse newspaper.

(updated 6/19/09 to correct the name of the Birmingham News)

Flint connected: Union Tribune's, Delphi plants' new owner

Speaking of storytellers and Flint connections (Storyteller won't get regrets from me), the San Diego Reader published a piece on Who is the (San Diego) Union-Tribune's new owner.

That owner would be Tom Gores, once known as Tewfiq Gores, worked in Tom's Supermarket, is a graduate of Genesee High School and a 1986 Michigan State University graduate.

His proud uncle, Tom Joubran, also is in the article.

The magazine's writer, Matt Potter, explores much of Gores' early life here in the Flint area and interviewed former Flint Journal reporter Dan Shriner, who knew a lot about Joubran.

Joubran, who came to the United States in 1950, is one of the colorful people I first met when I came to the Flint area to work at The Suburban News, a small newspaper housed not far from Joubran's businesses. I remember the Mikatam best, but there were other bars, laundromat, houses, apartment buildings, shopping malls (Mayfair Plaza), and mobile home parks (Pineview Estates). The Reader quotes The Flint Journal estimating Joubran's net worth was $80 million.

Family counts

As the Reader article also reminds me, Joubran was a mentor to many and a big believer in helping family succeed in the United States. That's why the Reader article mentions Joubran in its profile of his nephew, "a billionaire who runs Platinum Equity, the partnership that has bought the San Diego Union-Tribune from the Copley Press, a San Diego institution for over 80 years."

Thanks to Gordon Young who publishes the Flint Expatriates blog for pointing the article out. Don't neglect the comments for more depth on the story.

Why a San Diego newspaper?

The Union-Tribune interviewed Louis Samson, who spearheaded Platinum's purchase, on the outlook:

"Big picture, we believe that newspapers like the Union-Tribune will continue to be very relevant in their communities as long as they are committed to delivering real value in terms of content."

Why the Union-Tribune? Here's my brief summary of the answers given:

• Most relevant medium in the community.
• Excellent market.
  
• Good price.
• Opportunity to improve operations.

That opportunity, which included maximizing revenue opportunities, included cutting costs. So the fact that 192 jobs are being eliminated by July 6 is no surprise.

Platinum buying some Delphi operations

Meanwhile, Detroit Free Press reported that Platinum will buy some Delphi operations.

"Delphi Corp., the largest supplier to General Motors Corp., said it has reached a deal to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The plan includes selling Delphi's remaining operations to a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, Platinum Equity, which has lined up commitments of $3.6 billion to finance the operations."

The Free Press reported that Gores said his firm understands Delphi’s business:

"We know the business very well and understand its potential. Despite the obvious challenges facing the auto industry, we are excited at the opportunity to be a part of its renewal.”

A big news day

Monday was a big news day in Flint with the General Motors bankruptcy and the Delphi news. How sad that our next newspaper won't be out until Thursday.

I found an article on Delphi on mlive.com, but there's no mention of the impact on Flint.

And there's a lot on GM on the site. and here and here and here. Too bad that on the "special GM bankruptcy page" you have to keep going back as the stories slip off the page and out of sight. I'll spare you my rant about the RSS feeds. Perhaps I'll follow Steven A. Smith who says in a Still a Newspaperman post on How I Consume the News about his former newpaper:

"A confession, I don’t read the print Spokesman-Review any more. I know some will say that makes me a hypocrite. But former editors will know what I am saying. It just hurts too much. When the paper does something good — which is most of the time, it hurts not to be involved. When something goes awry, I admonish myself for not being there to fix it."

NYT notices NJ effort; Michigan's 5 B's still hoping

In New Jersey, it is a group of journalists out to save the news. In Birmingham, it is the community. In Washington, a former journalism teacher sorts the yellowing newspapers in her basement to create a four-part review of another newspaper.

The work of the 40 ex-Star-Ledger journalists gets attention from the The New York Times today. Read about the NewJerseyNewsroom under a headline "Cast Out, but Still Reporting."

The journalists, who accepted buyouts from the Advance Publications newspaper, are slowly building an audience but are not making money yet.

David Carr quotes Garrett Morrison a sports editor who also is handling the business side:

“This is a start-up, but we are not doing it without resources We have Tom Hester’s experience, his Rolodex, and people are happy to return his calls. There are a lot of people like him.”

The New Jersey effort is not the first of its kind. Carr points to San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver and Chicago as some of the hybrid models. He also notes:

It helps that there’s a lot of talent at loose ends. Across the country, various bands of journalistic hardies — newsroom pros whose services are no longer salient to a crippled and disrupted information economy — have taken matters into their own hands.

Editor & Publisher wrote about the site in April.

Five B's want their newspaper

How's the fight for the five B's to save their newspaper in the Detroit area? Organizers hope for a good turnout at Wednesday's rally to save the Birmingham Eccentric from folks in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Bingham Farms and Beverly Hills.

The Freep reported on a lunch that turned into a mini-rally for the effort and posted the refrain of Curtis Posuniak's ‘Keep the Eccentric News Flowing’

“To keep the Eccentric news flowing,
To keep the presses going!
If we meet our potential subscriptions,
We’ll all be happy, too!

A special web site encourages folks to sign up for a year-long subscription.

Bob Martin, who posts in Uncle Bob for President, shares a history of the Birmingham weekly and signs up for a subscription. He urging others to do so in Progress is not always good.

He also drops Tim Allen's name, reminding all that Birmingham is "The same town depicted in Tim Allen's "home Improvement" TV show, both he and I grew up there and went to the same High School together."

Wonder if Tim has bought a subscription or will be doing commercials for that cause.

Meanwhile, the West Bloomfield Eccentric published its last edition and a farewell column.

Basement of newspapers

And speaking of farewells, two of the writers of the B-Town Blog in Washington tracked down their former journalism teacher and had her write a four-part series reflecting on the closing of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Miss Dorothea Mootafes "known a little better as Dorothy, and affectionately as Miss Moo" finished the third installment.

She shares so many names and insights into the changes of newspapers. This installment starts with recalling a columnist who covered Harry Truman to George W. Bush.

"For this article of remembrance, I entered my basement with its myriad of yellowing and aromatically scented Post-Intelligencers proclaiming presidential nominations, elections, and inaugurations as well as the rare times when Seattle sports teams triumphed nationally (the Seattle Supersonics in 1979 when they won the NBA Championship and the Seattle Mariners in 1995 when they stopped one game short of playing in the World Series)."

You can still read the first and second installments, learning about the evolving women's section and a sports editor who was a "cheerleader and promoter of every Seattle-based team and outstanding athlete." If you don't read them, you'll miss learning about the columnist who shared that "Firefighters have the greatest incidence of heart attacks."

The B-Town Blog started as a hobby but turned into more for its founders who were intent on covering their community as the "only daily-updated, totally independent online source (meaning we’re not selling real estate, nor do we work for the city) for all things Burien-related."

---

Related posts:
Citizens won't let newspaper die

Storyteller won't get regrets from me

Thanks to Google I had a chance to explore some stories about Flint, journalism, married life and love today. I'd forgotten about Joseph Ritz until my Google Reader unexpectedly gave me a bunch of his posts today.

I first discovered him via a book, "I Never Looked for My Mother and other Regrets of a Journalist," that opens this way:

“I was born a bastard and I’ve remained one all my life. I became a journalist.”

He also was good at finding those who needed outing, sticking to a story no matter what and finding a truth that remains relevant today.

Ritz was a reporter in Newburgh, N.Y., in the early 1960s when the city decided to require welfare recipients to pick up their payments at police headquarters. Next, the city manager announced a program that would limit welfare to three months to anyone not "aged, the blind or handicapped." Many in Newburgh blamed blacks on welfare for the poor economy, Ritz said.

"Those affected would have largely been single mothers of young children, the only category in which blacks were predominant. The program also would have denied payments to single mothers who had working relatives living in the city or had additional children."

He covered the story, was pulled from his city hall beat and moved on. But he'd already started a book, "The Despised Poor: Newburgh's War on Poverty." He talked about that experience when the Newburgh Historical Society invited him in October 2006.

"There is a prejudice against welfare recipients, which pictures them as either a dirty, lazy, able-bodied freeloader or an immoral woman. That belief exists in nearly every community in the United States today and I think just as strongly as it was then in the 1960s."

Joseph Ritz started in radio, working for WFDF in Flint in 1955:

"The job pays $55 a week. That is $20 more than the Flint Journal is paying new reporters fresh out of college. By comparison, assembly line workers at the booming GM plants in the community, many of them high school dropouts, average $113 a week with overtime."

It was at his first job out of college that he met vice president Richard Nixon, in town for Flint's celebration of being a city for 100 years.

Besides a memory of Nixon, the event produced a memory of General Motors:

"General Motors went to great lengths to keep the press comfortable. Besides the usual lunches and dinners, a 24-hour bar was set up in a room of the Hotel Durant at which the media could drink for free. A new Buick and a driver were at the call of every journalist."

Ritz gives Flint a whole chapter, Sparks Stuck at Flint, in his book I Never Looked for My Mother, including why he moved from radio to newspapers. The crash of an Air Force jet
in a rural area some 40 miles from Flint, The Flint Journal's coverage of it and the limitations of radio encouraged that decision.

Ritz worked for Seattle Times, Milwaukee Journal, New haven Journal-Couriter, Gloversville (NY) News, Newburgh News, Buffalo News and Buffalo Courier-Express, and other places.

Read "I like to tell stories." I also enjoyed reading 50 years is a long time to be married. You can read more of his postings in Gather. Or a blog with some excerpts from I Never Looked for My Mother ... Or buy the book. It's worth reading.

Sailing into sale of goods keeps me rushing

It's Rush Week at the house.

I am rushing to discard things for the neighborhood garage sale. As I stumble through boxes - some unopened since 1994! - I am questioning why I ever thought I would need 15 (or more) wine glasses, two punch bowls and nearly every book and stuffed animal owned by my daughter. Or why I have, need or want a 2000 mold.

Meanwhile, my daughter discovered the magnets in the her newspaper purses were too strong for the material so she had to change the design. She's hoping to sell out of those and her other items at the garage sale. Surgery is one week away and who knows what will be possible after that.

It's a bit tense here, so she used a gift from one of my old bosses to go to the show with her boyfriend. (Six people at the movies! How can that number make showing the movie worthwhile.)

The Red Wings won so that made some folks here happy. I listened as I skated through another round of medical bills. Gee, now I show there's only a $6,000 difference between what I say we owe and and "they" say we owe on one bill. I understand why people give up and just work out agreements to pay. Almost every medical visit involved a bill from one source for people and another bill for equipment, space and drugs.

Each Explanation of Benefits makes me grateful we have health insurance. The costs for service for those with insurances is so much less.
And it is surprising how the cost varies according to the insurance you have. Makes me thankfulI don't work in the billing department.

Time to rush out ... I see AnnArbor.com hired a community director and its post about comments is getting some chatter outside its blog. More to come when I am not blogging by iPhone and able to do links easier.

Today's Flint Journal has its new entertainment section. The area's longtime Girl Scout camp is open four more days. Your Magazine published its last issue. Speaking of last, the writer behind the Gannett Blog says his sanity requires him to move on so that company tracker will soon fade away .

Sorry. Even the coolness of the iPhone won't improve watching

I suppose on a slow, sleepness night there's a reason for this video that shows how the June 1 cover of New Yorker was created.

But for most of the world watching how artist Jorge Colombo uses the iPhone application Brushes to do the cover won't cut it.

Even Colombo is quoted as saying a virtual finger painting is not such a big deal:

“Imagine twenty years ago, writing about these people who are sending these letters on their computer.”

The New Yorker says he found that "watching the video playback has made him aware that how he draws a picture can tell a story, and he’s hoping to build suspense as he builds up layers of color and shape."

Of course, the news of what the Conde Nast magazine was doing did draw me to the site and got me to look at the Table of Contents. So maybe the video did what it was supposed to do - notice how the Newhouse magazine gives some content away, holds some for subscribers only and uses the web to offer options not possible in print.

Charging more for less - it's the American way, right?

The hot news of propane tanks coming with less gas is the type of story that gets my husband, whom I love dearly, going.

It's just one more piece of evidence of how "they" try to fool "us" into believing we're still getting a deal, according to the guy who began his vacation being sick. (How sick? He went to a doctor Saturday morning. Plus, we had to uninvite relatives from coming to our house for a potluck cookout. Fortunately, another relative offered her place as the gathering spot so that worked for all but the nephew who was disappointed that his uncle's pool was not moved along with the picnic.)

OK, back to same-size boxes and bags that hold fewer items. It bugs my husband a lot so I know he'll enjoy this link over to The Daily Derelict, which shares how a local newspaper is turning away customers by charging them more for less.

I suspect we'll be reading more complaints as the week goes on and The Flint Journal, Bay City Times, and Saginaw News switch to the new sections -- they start Thursday -- and new publishing schedule on June 1. A two-page ad in Sunday's Journal explained where people will find items in the newspaper and how to access obituaries on non-print days.

Speaking of things ending, this is the last week for Jay Leno in the 11:30 p.m. time slot so he featured some of his favorite headlines Monday night. That reminded me of this from Overheard in the Newsroom:

"One of the single worst things you can say to a copy editor is, ‘We were on Leno on Monday night.’”

Speaking of talking to copy editors, there are two gatherings this week where that could happen as folks who once worked or still work or will work for the Flint-based newspapers will meet.

I hope to be there despite the generosity of my husband who hates to be sick alone.


Some possible related posts:
Leno turning patriotic with free show for unemployed
Jay Leno to the rescue
Twittering, Digg make it to late-night TV
New executive editor reflects on changes

or head over to Free From Editors for a number of posts on the changes in mid-Micihgan

or try Flint Foward for the official news.

Citizens won't let newspaper stop printing

The idea of losing their community newspaper was too much for some in one Michigan community so "the presses will roll on - for now."

"The Birmingham Eccentric was to have published its last edition next Sunday after 131 years of operation, But a grass-roots effort to save the paper has gained momentum in the past few weeks, leading Observer & Eccentric officials to continue publishing on Sundays — but with some key conditions.

• The paper must generate 3,000 new paid subscriptions by July 1 and a total of 5,000 subscriptions by Oct. 1.
  
• Ad revenue also must increase to put the paper on a profitable basis."

Possible? Maybe. The small group that has bought some time will seek suggestions and hopes to attract a large turnout to show support at a “Town Hall Meeting to Save the Eccentric” from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at The Community House. .

Original plans called for the Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Troy and Rochester editions of the Eccentric to close May 31. The Southfield edition and the Observer & Eccentric group’s Mirror newspaper are merging into a multi-community Sunday newspaper called the South Oakland Eccentric.

Thanks to a posting from Rick Haglund on Facebook for leading me to the news of the community effort to keep the newspaper open I couldn't find anything new about the rest of the newspapers.

By the way, Hamtramck has a newspaper again - the Hamtramck Review. (There's a PDF of a 10-page newspaper being published less then a month after the Hamtramck Citizen closed April 20.

Att the Rethink News symposium at Michigan State University, Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey, managing editor of Model D, talked about how some in Hamtramck were looking for ways to keep a newspaper going, including using high school students to report the news. Metro Times had a few more details on the effort to revive a newspaper in the Detroit suburb.

While you are on the Birmingham Eccentric site, you can check out a column from the editor, Greg Kowalski. He suggested that newspapers should learn from Hollywood, and its battle against TVs in his May 21 column.

"By the early 1950s, the film studios knew they needed something new to combat the popularity of TV. They proceeded on the concept that films had to give the viewers something they couldn't get at home. That led to the development of Cinemascope ... a bit of a gimmick ... But it was different. And it worked. It gave the studios a way to hold onto the audiences until better business practices could be adopted."

Kowalski also suggested that newspapers remember that Hollywood studios first blocked their content from TV and that newspapers need to use their "infrastructure and experience to deliver top quality reporting" to develop a business model to ensure a future.

Not all newspapers are failing in Michigan. Detroit's Crain Business looks at the state of weekly newspapers in Michigan, noting that C&G Newspapers is expanding its 19 free direct-mail weeklies.

No secrets: Sharing insights, sharing goals helps all

Since I haven't stumbled across the book on How to Use the Internet Effectively, Efficiently and Properly I'm grateful when folks share what they are doing online, how they are doing it and why.

I was reminded of this when Ryan Sholin recently wrote How I share: A tour of my personal linking behavior.. He talked about how he uses Twitter (and its short life for links) , Friendfeed (where he comments on his Google Reader shared items and picks up several streams of contributions - Netflix, Disqus), Delicious, and, of course, Publish2 (the source of his paycheck now). But the bonus for me is the post led me to try TwitterFon for my iPhone.

Do you know where you go?

Then Tech blogger Louis Gray posted Know and Master Your Social Media Data Flow, who described what he sent where and included a map to illustrate his flow of information. Though I'm primarily a word geek, I often think in pictures as it helps me see the process. (Later, he updated with this presentation.)

How To Optimize Your Social Media Data Flow for All Networks

A comment on Gray's post led me to mrontemp's How I Publish. who explained back in 2008 not all of his shared items make it to his public flow of information:

"...one of my feeds consists of updates from my LinkedIn network. For a variety of reasons, I choose not to share that with the public. Similarly, I read a number of items that are specific to my vertical market. Again, for a variety of reasons, you can't see my interest in these items unless you're behind my corporate firewall."

That, of course, reminds me of some of the better advice I received from Ed Vielmetti and and others who save me from permanent damage. That advice has included:

• there's a checkbox on delicious.com that says Do Not Share. Not all computer pages should be shared.
  
• Or why you need to see what goes where - I stopped sharing via Plaxo when business contacts saw what I wanted friends to see. Really, even though I know everything I publish is available to all, I'd ike to make it a little harder for some to find.
  
• Paper journals are still OK as not all things you think need to be availalbe online. Still some suggest anonymous blogs are good spots to rant.
  

At the end of mrontemp's post is a link to Why I Publish, Last night was the first time I ran across mrontemp (I think) but I still found the discussion on the value of autopublishing vs writing something original intriguing.

Does anyone hear that tree fall? Me talk?

He quotes Alexander van Elsas, who dislikes Friendfeed for its lack of intention:

If I see something that I know my friend really likes and then share it intentionally with him, it provides us both with value. But if I spill my guts to the world without thinking about what I’m sharing it makes most of the things I share pretty worthless.

Has Alexander just figured out why so many are perplexed when first confronted by that Facebook status box or the Twitter request for what are you doing?

Lucky you. I waited long enough before getting all of my thoughts together I can share two more finds. The first is thanks to Susan Beebee, who earlier in the week wrote a post on the Top 200 Social Media Blogs, and then tweeted about Matthew Webster Ray's post on Your Social Networks Have Different Audiences. Says Ray:

"You have different audiences on your social networks - and your normal friends are not on the 15 different social networks that you are on! Play it safe and only post things on the social networking platform that fits that audience."

Time to get rid of clutter

So I know what's I've been doing during the down time in my daughter's cancer battle (chemo is done; surgery two weeks off) to trim services and figure out how to participate more fully in the ones that I choose to continue with.

The thinking about how I participate is just one of the reasons why I like Jay Rosen's post on mindcasting on Twitter. He explains why he started using Twitter, how he uses it, the difference between mindcasting and lifecasting and more. He offers a good set of links to help showcase how he got from there to here.

Just as he jumped into Twitter to better understand it, I've been jumping into new sites and services for a long time. I'm surrounded by online clutter and it is starting to bother me the way a messy desk once did. Time for a purge.

Lack of humans provides today's smiles

Twice in one day, I've run across examples where an editor would have helped just a bit.

For instance, I've been collecting articles about journalists who have moved onto new careers or new jobs outside of newspapers. The Daily Record published "Former newspaper reporter takes buyout, starts new career at home."

The news organization also tries to help readers find more stories you might be interested in. Unfortunately, the former Newhouse employee said this:

"I wanted to be a reporter since I was 12, and I loved every minute of it," she said. "Newspapers will go the way of the dinosaur because of declining advertising and the Internet."

And that's why Topix decided I might want to read news about dinosaur and paleontology instead of other ex-journalists who created businesses that use their writing and editing skills.

Not quite as funny was the report out about 11 a.m. Thursday that "Detroit papers say more readers kept than expected." I saw it on Editor & Publisher; Crain's Detroit and mlive.com and the part that intrigued me was the last of four paragraphs:

"Free Press Editor and Publisher Paul Anger said at Thursday's panel discussion that the economy continues to hurt revenue, but he did not discuss potential cuts or layoffs."

I wanted to know what panel discussion and where because the four paragraphs wasn't enough for me.

Besides, if this really did happen Thursday it was said just hours before a staff memo announced June 22 as a deadline for cutting 150 jobs at the Detroit News and Free Press. (Among those who may be cut is a reporter who just won a Pulitzer.) Crain's published some details about the Free Press newsroom cuts.

At 4 p.m., a Google search found 118 articles across the Internet - all the same, all credited to Associated Press.

I was eager for details, but really was only offered a paragraph similar to this:

"Officials with The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and the partnership that handles their business operations say they have seen increased Web traffic and single-copy sales since March 30. That was the day the papers limited home delivery to Thursday, Friday and Sunday as a to deal with declining circulation and changing readership tastes."

So I guess I'm left to wonder why the editor/publisher spoke to what panel today about the success of the drop home delivery plan that still requires staff layoffs.


OK, before I head for the showers, have you seen Jilted Journalists? The opening page starts:

So welcome print, online, broadcast reporters, editors, photographers, bloggers, designers, ad salespeople, circulation folks, press operators, TV camera people, continuity directors, techs, producers, business office staff and all the others who once were fooled into thinking they not only had good careers and job security but decent 401(k) and pension plans that would last into their retirement years.

The site is created by:

"Jim and Sue Gold and a group of recently laid off journalists, their spouses, friends and frenemies.

Contact in chief: Jim Gold, a past senior editor (not an age designation when he got the title) at The Arizona Republic, a past editor in chief at The Record of Stockton, Calif., a past assistant managing editor at the Reno Gazette-Journal, and a past variety of writing, reporting, photography, production, circulation and ad sales titles at a variety of papers in California and Massachusetts. But he's not a pastor. "

Alabama newspaper makes it local, local, local

Last year this time, The Huntsville Times announced it was bringing in a new editor.

This year's offering at the Advance Publication in Alabama is a redesign of its newspaper, details shared in in an article and video (see below) on al.com Blogger Charles Apple, of course, was right on top of the redesign so visit his post for before and after pages.

Like other Newhouse publications, local news is moving out of its own section and onto the front page and into the front section. Obituaries also are going in the front section. Staying, but reduced to one page Monday-Saturday and two pages on Sunday is Opinion.

What readers won't see in print is as much national and international news because as editor Kevin Wendt says in reply to a comment:

"Using less wire copy is a product of two issues. First, wire copy is generally something people can see all day long on Web sites or hear on TV. So it's not as unique as, say, our local news report. To cancel a wire service means we lose a lot more: If we canceled the Associated Press, we'd also lose stock listings, sports agate, etc. But we will use less space for national and international, which saves a little bit of paper."

Like other Newshouse publications, feature sections are changing and merging. Among them in Alabama is the merger of three sections, Enjoy!, Travel and Sunday Life into enjoy!Sunday. This is another place the newspaper plans to drop many of the wire features now filling the inside of the three sections.

Unlike other newspapers, business will be its own section. Talking Biz Blog talked with Wendt about the changes, including a section on government and green living.

Another article focuses on the redesigned Opinion page today as one editor steps away after nearly 25 years heading the pages. (More then 60 employees took a buyout offered in February, according to a March 24 article on mandatory 10-day furloughs).

And like other parts of the newspaper, readers are told to expect more local, less national/world opinions.

The question driving the Opinion page redesign was "to define a mission for The Times' editorial pages in the Internet age. How can we be most relevant to you?"

The question of being relevant is one that Wendt has sounded frequently during his first year at the newspaper, including a column where he asked readers what should be in the newspaper.

Not a surprise from Wendt, who left the San Jose Mercury News about a year ago to become editor at age 30 and knew that figuring out what local newspapers could do best:

We will figure this out. Journalism and newspapers are too important, and there are too many talented people still affiliated with both, for us not to create a sustainable business model that supports what we do.

As Wendt said then:

"At our core, a great story, told well and presented wonderfully, will have an audience. I have to believe that if I’m going to make it the next 35 years to retirement!"

As shared in an earlier post, something is working in Alabama - it as one of one of 10 newspapers in the US that reported a circulation increase in September's Audit Bureau of Circulations report.

Huntsville Times editor Kevin Wendt talks about the paper's new design

By the way, The Syracuse Post-Standard in New York, another Advance Publication, redesigned its newspaper in April. I shared some changes in the Change part of a post and Apple shared a more detailed look once the design was released.

Three Michigan newspapers - Bay City Times, Flint Journal and Saginaw Nws - are inching to their new design as they drop to a publication schedule of three days a week. The Flint Journal food editor said in his column this week to expect sneak previews of the sections May 28.

Another editor leaving Michigan newspaper

Mike Lloyd, editor of the Grand Rapids Press, will join the Booth Newspaper editors rush out of the newspaper by retiring July 1.

The 63-year-old Lloyd joins Ann Arbor News Ed Petykiewicz, 57, who announced his retirement in late March, just before we learned the Ann Arbor News would close, publishing its last edition on July 23. Also leaving are John Foren, 47, who became Flint Journal editor on Jan. 13, 2009, and Paul Chaffee, 61, publisher/editor of The Saginaw News. Foren is leaving June 1; Chaffee is staying on as a consultant for a few more months.

The Bay City Times editor, John Hiner, 48, steps into an executive editor role, overseeing the Bay City, Saginaw and Flint newspapers that will begin printing morning newspapers three days a week starting in June. (A community editor was named at each newspaper.)

Lloyd hired everyone

But back to Lloyd, who has spent 31 years at the Booth Newspaper, hiring everyone who has a byline according to an article posted on mlive.com. That includes hiring Bob Becker, the sports editor who recently retired and whose mug was shown today by a Grand Rapids TV station announcing Lloyd's retirement.

The article says Lloyd's personal journalistic high are:

• His series of interviews with the late President Gerald R. Ford,
• A book he collaborated on for the 1984 Detroit Tigers World Series Championship and
• The Press' 100th anniversary edition in 1992, with sections covering the news of each decade in the community.

Became editor at 33

The University of Missouri journalism grad, now 63, became editor at 33. That made him among the youngest to be editor of a newspaper with a circulation over 100,000, according to the article on mlive.

The article says that Lloyd said his decision to retire was influenced by the changing business and his desire to respond to other interesting opportunities.

The rest of Booth

I probably should mention that Foren replaced Tony Dearing, who in December was named special projects content coordinator for Advance Internet and now is heading up the content side of AnnArbor.com

No word on Rebecca Pierce, editor of the Kalamazo Gazette, or Eileen Lehnert, editor of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, or Paul Keep, who is publisher and editor of the Muskegon Chronicle. (In fact, Keep posted a column this week about the "rumors of our demise."

Journalist who blogs says time ripe for new trade organization

Enough is enough, says Danny Sullivan, best known for Search Engine Land but writing on his personal blog, Daggle.

It's time for a new organization to balance the very privileged newspaper industry and ensure that journalists outside the print industry start getting a fair shake, Sullivan says in a post titled "Dammit, I’m A Journalist, Not A Blogger: Time For Online Journalists To Unite?"

It is the idea that newspapers deserve special laws or special protection and Google's help that makes him rant:

"Bloggers got bumpkiss. We have no lobbying group. We have no organization designed to help members learn the intricacies of uncovering government documents. We can’t get government agencies to call us back at all, at times (I know, been there and done that). And we’ve got a newspaper industry increasingly portraying us as part of an evil axis that’s killing them. Blogs steal their attention, and Google steals their visitors."

Let's bond together, bloggers

So Sullivan, who has worked as graphics reporter and editorial researcher at newspapers before building a career in searching the Internet, says its time that journaists who blog need an “Online Journalists Association, or a United Bloggers” or whatever catchy name you come up with."

Some of his ideas for the new group's mission:

• Ensure the news blogs get an equal seat at any table where news and journalism is being discussed
• Help promote deeper reporting and recognition of work that already happens
• Perhaps share correspondents and photos

Newspaper journalists losing fellowship game

Ironically, I read his May 16th post on the same day that I read "Newspapers No Longer Dominate Journalism Fellowship."

"Four of the best known programs - Harvard, M.I.T., Stanford and the University of Michigan — chose 29 employees of American newspapers for fellowships in the year that is now winding down, and just 11 for next year. There have also been declines in the number of people from magazines and wire services, but not as pronounced."

The New York Times quoted James R. Bettinger, director of the John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford, as saying:

“The proportion of applicants from daily newspapers this year was the lowest it’s ever been. At the same time, 61 of 166 applicants had the word ‘freelance’ somewhere in their job description.”

Is now really the time?

And I know Sullivan is a smart guy so he knows that getting people to join organizations is not the easiest thing in the world.

• A Poynter column shared that membership has dropped by as much as 20 percent, according to an informal survey of 12 of the 40 or 50 journalism associations in the U.S.
• The American Society of Newspaper Editors canceled its annual convention.
• The Newspaper Association of America cut 50 percent of its staff
• Heck, even Poynter and API are teaming up to offer programs to journalists.

Look, I'm a joiner - Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, etc., etc., etc. But I don't think we need another group.

I do like the idea of more respect, though, for journalists who happen to publish via blogging software instead of newsprint. I agree with Sullivan:

"Many bloggers are journalists, part of the news ecosystem, colleagues that are entitled to respect."

Using social media tool to get back at those dreadful calls

The Wall Street Journal has a story that anyone who wonders why using sites like Twitter, Delicious or, in this case, Reddit is worth the bother should read.

First, how many of those "Your auto warranty has expired" calls have you gotten?

Do you know what swarming means?

Catch up with the way people can organize with the Wall Street Journal article and know that not all agree with how people tracked down and then shared the phone number and other details about the firm where some of the calls started.

"They played judge, jury and executioner on a company that they haven't even proven has done anything wrong."

That's a quote in The Journal from David Tabb, the 42-year-old president of Auto One, an Irvine, Calif., warranty company with 60 employees.

He says Reddit users overloaded his phone lines with computerized calls, changed voice-mail greetings on his company's system, and even threatened arson.

This may not mean the end of calls. Auto One is one of many firms making these calls - not even
one of the three that a federal court in Chicago issued an immediate restraining order on Friday afternoon. The three companies are accused of aggressively making robocalls selling car warranties across the country, the Federal Trade Commission announced.

Yes, I'm getting the calls so that's why I sent a link out on the court order Friday over Twitter.

Journalism hurting? Editors say staff cuts hurting quality

The good news is that surveyed editors say they are staying in the news business because they believe in the mission of journalism.

The bad news is nearly a third of the editors participating in an Associated Press Managing Editors survey say staff reductions are affecting the quality of journalism offered.

"We rarely work on packages or series of depth anymore," one editor said. "We can't afford to give a reporter the time to work it. They are too busy doing all the meat-and-potatoes stuff."

And though 60 percent of the editors believe newspapers will become profitable again, most say a lack of staff and money prevent innovation and change.

At least one newspaper editor found a bright side in the layoffs and buyouts elsewhere:

"With the economy in the tank, I find I can hire higher-quality people than usual, so that helps make up for the cuts. However, I've ridden through other recessions so I know that when/if things loosen up, we may be back to entry-level hiring."

The APME survey, sent to 1,700 editors and answered by 351, also found:

• 71% citing the mission of journalism as the main reason why they stay in the business. That includes the APME President: I believe in the mission
• 40% plan to emphasize hyperlocal news more and national/world news less;
• 60% think newspapers will find a way to become profitable;

Other questions hint that the profitability may come by charging more for print (28%), charging for online content (28%) and print-only features (20%).

I think one of the sadder pieces is that so many see a need for change and yet face overwhelming barriers to implementing change.

Yes, less staff and lack of money is a barrier. But I also think attitude is a barrier when I read a comment like this:

"Everyone's looking for a way to "save" newspapers, but the truth is we have to be so completely different than what we've been, it's too hard for the old guard to get their heads or hearts around."

Or is it a lack of believing, of people too comfortable:

"I'm going to hunker down until the economy improves."

and

"It's not that the pay is "too good to walk away" as much as it is "this paycheck is better than none."

I think some know they need to move on, but don't:

"By the time we're through this transition, I may be ready to step aside – if I'm not pushed aside first.

The unwillingness to change is also what bothered Newspaper Tiger Sharon Hill in a post on the Community Newspapers - Hear them Roar blog.

Oh, and 19 percent expect to layoff more people and 5% expect to drop some print editions.

More results and comments are available on APME's site.

• Survey details
• Ideas to motivate staff