Attrition is not just buyouts anymore

Word out of the Flint Journal is a veteran advertising representative was fired and not offered a buyout or severance in the past week.

The employee, who was encouraged NOT to take last year's buyout and stay, has reportedly a better sales record than those who were spared. The employee was transferred out of the display advertising section and moved into the classified arena, which is not particularly lucrative at this time in newspaper history.

There is also word of a similar firing out of Saginaw. So it appears the attrition needed by the company will not all come with a parting buyout or severance check.

The source who provided this information said it may be the company is seeking any excuse to lighten its load without paying the price. That's two Flint Journal employees fired in a month, which is almost unheard of in its history.

As I receive more information on this and other employment actions, I'll post it.

Another interesting read on advertising trends

A loyal FFE reader has sent along another interesting read about high end advertisers and their cutbacks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/business/media/24luxury.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em

Buffalo being Buffalo

As I've mentioned before (endlessly) I love Buffalo, NY. But there is nothing like Buffalo, NY on a Bills Sunday.

Yesterday, to give my mother-in-law a little break from caring for my father-in-law I took her to a local gin mill to play a little Quik Pick (a NY lottery game not unlike Keno).

We both forgot the Bills were playing the early game and the bar was packed. The Bills were scoring like every 30 seconds so the bar was very loud and riotous. But the loyalty these fans have to their football team is infectious and you can't help but root for them.

Someone at the bar made a snide comment about the Lions, but then I make snide comments about the Lions all the time and no one at the bar knew I was from Michigan, so there was no offense intended.

But the happiness the fans felt, just for three hours was kind of cool to watch. Buffalo, which is pretty much like Flint planted next to Niagara Falls, needs a break from its woes and the Bills certainly provide that. Of course Flint and Michigan needs a break from its woes and we're stuck with the Lions.

No one could believe it when we packed up mid way into the third quarter to leave the bar (they couldn't believe it earlier when I ordered a non-alcoholic drink either), but my wife had been back at the house preparing a full course Thanksgiving Dinner and who wants to miss that. Besides when we arrived home a few minutes later, my wife and her Dad, who has plenty of woes of his own, were happily enjoying the Bills rout over Kansas City on two televisions, one in the living room and one in the kitchen.

Dinner was a little late, thanks to the Bills, but no one cared.

We'll be home later today and I'll be back to serious blogging on Tuesday.

Can you help?

An MSU journalism professor is seeking information from the various Booth papers on what the individual and overall losses will be from this wave of buyouts.



David Poulson has given me two addresses to reach him:



poulsondavid@gmail.com or poulson@msu.edu



He also has a great deal of info over at:

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23booth

So Blue! MSU and U-M fall and fall badly

Not a good day yesterday for either of the home teams. But MSU still had a good season, 9-3, and will be going to a decent bowl game so we still have that to look forward to.

Still in Buffalo doing chores, but will return to the financial ruin that is Michigan tomorrow and will catch up on all things Booth and report back on Tuesday. As I blogged previously, at least our gas prices are better than most anywhere else.

Big story here in Buffalo is why the gas here remains in the $2.45 a gallon range. Something about only one pipeline, yada, yada, yada.

Hope everyone has had a peaceful weekend.

Newspaper news for the weekend

In case you are in the mood for some reflective reading on the current state of newspaper and journalism, here are a couple interesting items forwarded to me by a loyal Free From Editors reader:


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business/media/18voice.html?_r=1&em



http://www.slate.com/id/2204372/

Aaarg! I've pirated a wireless signal

In Lapeer I bought gas for $1.63 a gallon! Arrived in New York and it's $2.49. Someone is getting ripped off. Gas and sales taxes are higher in New York, but not that much.

It is nice to fill up for $20 though. I'll be stopping by during the weekend to post comments.

Go MSU! Go Blue!

Back to Buffalo

Another quick weekend trip to Buffalo, NY to help the folks. Blogging may be sporadic, or even missing over the weekend. It all depends if I can pirate a signal from my in-laws neighbor. (He doesn't mind).

Looks like the weather, which can be iffy, will be good for the trip over and back.

One good thing, I filled up my truck and car for $1.66 a gallon today. My friends in California, who read this blog daily will faint when they realize how much less we pay for gas here.

So the trip to Buffalo will cost about a third in gas what it did the last time we went. On the other side, I can't bear to even look at my 401k, which I believe has now shrunk to a 301k.

I'll check in when I can, have a great weekend.

The answer is......

OK, should you land a big time job in corporate communications in the office of the chairman of the Big Three here's a few suggestions in advising them on how to answer questions when they appear before Congress.

Senator: "Sir, would you be willing to take a $1 salary to obtain this federal help?"

Big Three boss: "Yes, I will do anything it takes to save my company."

Senator: "Did you fly here on a corporate jet to ask for taxpayer's money?"

Big Three boss: "Yes, I did, but in retrospect it would have been a better message for me to fly here on a commercial flight."

Senator: "Would you be willing to park that jet, sell it and fly home on a commercial flight."

Big Three boss: "Yes, I will do anything it takes to save my company."

Senator: "If part of the deal for getting this bailout would you be willing to step down?"

Big Three boss: "Yes, I will do anything it takes to save my company."

Get it now.

A picture of my police family

About 36 years ago I joined the Atherton Police Department. I was with them for about five years until I resigned to pursue my journalism education.

But I've stayed in touch with some of the officers over the years and I appreciate that the new chief of police (front and center) Glenn Nielsen keeps me in the loop even though the loop extends about 2,500 miles for me.

Here's the latest "family" photo from the department, which patrols the wealthy subdivision sandwiched between Menlo Park and Redwood City. If you're looking on a map go to Redwood City look immediately to the south. Or if you know where Stanford University is, find it and go about five or six miles north. Two of the officers a retired sergeant, Steve Schneider, who still works as a reserve (back row, far right) and a current supervisor (second from left) were explorers when I worked on the department.

Hate to mention this because it really makes me feel old, but the chief was an explorer scout at the police post when I worked there. I'm not familiar with the home used as a back drop, but it is certainly typical of the multi-million dollar mansions in the village.

Be safe guys!

Happy Birthday to Free From Editors!

Almost missed the one-year anniversary of my blog. In case you missed it, and the more than 5,000 individual readers who have stopped by probably have, here is the very first post:

http://freefromeditors.blogspot.com/2007/11/free-at-last-im-free-at-last.html

Thanks to all of you who stop by, especially those who offer a differing point of view. As you can probably tell, my hunger to write and report hasn't slackened since I left the news business.

Somebody doesn't get it

How painful was it watching the heads of the Big Three respond to questions in a way that guaranteed that no help would be coming from the federal government.

"Would you take a $1 salary to get the buyout?," a Senator asked.

"I'm good where I'm at," was the arrogant answer.

And the private jets, oh the jets. All I can say is hopefully there are a few open public relations jobs at the Big Three for some departing newspaper reporters because whoever was in charge of the public relations for this episode, should be fired. Today.

Sheeeesh. How dumb are these guys? And no wonder the car companies are in the shape they are in.

Somebody gets it

A good read. Here's a sample and then the link to the whole article:

"In the digital age, we’re told, the critical difference between success and failure is human capital — those heartbeats and fast hands that can make a good business great. So are newspapers reacting to their downturn as Circuit City did?

Every day, Romenesko, a journalism blog at the Poynter Institute, is rife with news of layoffs at newspapers, most of the time featuring some important, trusted names. It is not the young fresh faces that are getting whacked — they come cheap — but the most experienced, proven people in the room, the equivalent of the sales clerk who could walk you through a thicket of widescreen television choices to the one that actually works for you."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/media/17carr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

And this:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003891430

And there's plenty more depressing news at Newspaper Deathwatch. Link to the right.

Rev. Dr. Roy I. Greer, R.I.P.

Another wonderful person in my life passed away this week.

The Rev. Dr. Roy I. Greer, pastor of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, died at home Monday.

Pastor Greer was 73 and had been pastor of the church for nearly three dozen years and was beloved by the members of the large church, his family and friends.

I have been attending a Bible study on Tuesday nights at the church since 1996 and have enjoyed my discussions with Rev. Greer and also enjoyed some of his wonderful homilies at the several worship services I have attended.

A pillar of the Flint religious community, Rev. Greer will be sorely missed. Visitation is at the church, 424 Kennelworth, is Friday from 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Funeral services will be Saturday at noon.

More on the buyouts

In case it hasn't been pointed out before, and I think the medical coverage was a little vague in one of my past posts, the buyout deal at the Flint Journal (and presumably elsewhere in the Booth chain) is two weeks pay for every year worked, with a minimum of six months pay.

As to medical coverage it is the same, two weeks pay for every year worked with a minimum of six months coverage.

There is word that some of the employees considering the buyout are troubled by the short medical coverage length. (In the last buyout for employees over 50 the medical coverage continued to age 65 and two years for those under 50).

Some employees are trying to negotiate a longer medical coverage term, but the going has been rough on those negotiations so far.

There may be maximums on both buyout pay and medical coverage, but I'm still waiting on that information.

As to the severance package for part-timers. No news from this end, at least not yet.

Ann Arbor's version of Free From Editors has an interesting article about what happens if you don't take the buyout (when they want you to) and what your next assignment might be. I won't spoil the surprise. Here's the link:

http://papertigernomore.blogspot.com/2008/11/yep-they-really-will-send-you-to-mail.html

Decision time at the Flint Journal

Back on September 10, this year, I blogged about the editor's admission to the staff that more buyouts were on the way and that many folks would be encouraged to leave or face transfers to jobs outside the newsroom or even to other Booth properties.

A short time later, the publisher met with the staff and told them no such decisions had been made and basically to kind of ignore what the editor had told them.

Then early this month the very thing the editor told the staff two months earlier came true. So first, as I did then, I want to give props to the editor for telling the staff what he knew even though it didn't fall in line with the Booth timeline.

While I disagree with the editor on many things, this was a good moment for him.

Why the publisher would come tell the staff to disregard or at least temporarily ignore what the editor told them seems a little ridiculous in light of the buyouts just offered.

Anyway, the round of discussions going on in newspapers across Michigan actually first occurred in Flint in September after the editor's admission in a staff meeting. So round two of the meetings is ongoing and pretty much the news remains the same.

Many employees are weighing their options, others are being pushed to take the buyouts and others have gotten the safe sign from the umpire.

Jim Carty has blogged at Piper Tiger No More (link to the right and at the end of this post) about the discussions in Ann Arbor.

http://papertigernomore.blogspot.com/2008/11/hard-day-in-ann-arbor.html

More to come.

Write again prof!

I received an e-mail message from an MSU professor asking for info. I have tried to write you at the e-mail you provided but it keeps coming back. Please send me a good e-mail address and I'll be happy to respond.

If it bleeds, it leads

It may just be timing, but in recent weeks there seems to be a greater emphasis and response (reporters and photographers) to breaking police and fire events in the Flint Journal.

This is a good thing.

The articles are posted quickly on the paper's web page, often with photos, it's a step in the right direction. Actually, it's a step back to what we always were.

Get a reporter back into the courtroom for some dramatic courtroom coverage and that would be even better.

Buyout blues

Listening to analysts talk about the various federal buyouts my head starts to spin.

I heard the Mayor of Lansing, Michigan talking on Channel 2 news tonight and he pointed out that the car companies were "ONLY asking for $25 billion."

Well, that's certainly less than the $125-150 billion gift that was given to AIG, but should the word ONLY ever be used when we're talking billions of dollars.

In a discussion with a friend who is very much for the auto bailout he pointed out that when the country was reeling from the after effects of the 9/11 attacks it was the car companies who stepped up, offered huge incentives to get the country going again.

Admittedly, I had forgotten that and certainly that's more than AIG ever did for anybody.

What would you tell her?

Not too long ago a couple, friends of mine, asked me to talk to their daughter who is currently attending college and wants to be a newspaper reporter.

At first I said it probably would not be good for me to talk to her because I was at the wrong end of the spectrum. But they persisted and I talked to her, mostly by e-mail.

There's a part of me that believes there will be a place for reporters, just not in the form that I am familiar with. But this young woman, like I was at her age, is excited about the pursuit of a story, the feeling when it all comes together and then that exhilaration when it finally shows up in print, maybe even on the front page.

Older reporters know that the importance of a byline fades when you realize that no one beyond your mother, close friends and an occasional enemy even pay attention to it. Heck, I wrote a column for ten years with my picture on it and when people asked and found out I was a reporter they couldn't remember one story (other than the column) that I had written. When I would name various stories I had written, they would remember, but they paid no attention to who wrote it. No big deal.

But writing and reporting was always my work passion, I really loved everyday that I worked and it ended all too soon. Even before I was a reporter, I always wrote. When I worked for two police departments in California I produced a monthly department newsletter (underground) that made fun of our work and sometimes poked fun at those in charge. (See some things never change).

Last year when I met with some of my retired cop buddies, many of them still had copies of those newsletters. Go figure.

So what do I tell a young woman who wants to go work for a newspaper. My instincts told me to tell her to run. Are you good at math? Go work for NASA. Are you good with your hands? Be a carpenter or plumber.

Honestly, I punted. I told her I couldn't imagine what my work life would have been like had I not found my way to newspapers and covering news. I told her the future for print journalism looked bleak and the prospects for meaningful, financially rewarding employment looked very doubtful.

But in the end I told her she had to figure out what she was willing to put up with or risk. Life is all about risk. I left a steady police job with benefits in 1977 to pursue a career I knew I would like better. It was a sacrifice not just for me, but for my wife at the time and our two young sons.

My first few newspaper jobs paid less than I made when I left police work and frankly, had I stayed at the police job and retired, financially I would have been better off. But it would have been miserable, because I didn't enjoy the work.

Maybe my friend's daughter will find a way to make money writing. Right now, I doubt it. The business is eager for a young inventor to reinvent it, the current bosses are stuck in the old model even though they pretend to part of the new wave. Heck, they have jobs to protect too, you know.

Besides running in the other direction, what would you tell my friends' daughter.

A Free Press columnist weighs in on auto bailout

I liked this column from a former colleague, Sue Tompor.

http://freep.com/article/20081116/COL07/811160459/1081/COL

More news on Jim Carty's blog

If you are interested in Booth news, Jim Carty at the Paper Tiger No More link to the right has some new and interesting items there.

I would make that a daily read for the foreseeable future.

What is the future for mid-Michigan post GM?

OK, that may be a little overly dramatic, but isn't that what is on the minds of everyone in our area?

I'm hopeful that the Flint Journal is working on a project that would really look in depth at what the bankruptcy, or God forbid, the complete collapse of General Motors would look like for our area.

About now, I'm sure the paper is missing the departure of its entire GM business team last year during the buyouts, but the reporters remaining behind are certainly capable of digging in to what the future for our area is with a crippled or missing corporate giant.

So far, nearly all the coverage of the Big Three bailout crisis has come from wire service sources, such as the Washington Post, NY Times, Associated Press and others. On Sunday, I just assumed there would be a big local story on the looming impact of such a major change.

I would be wrong.

A local Home Depot Sunday was nearly deserted. Dealerships, especially the large ones with huge overhead, must be scrambling to keep the lights on. Restaurants, stores, schools, local governments, service businesses like barber shops and nail salons, etc. have to be nervous waiting for the other shoe to drop.

If newspapers are to survive, and I'm eternally optimistic that there is a formula (online and dead tree) that will work, but not if top management misses the chance to jump on a huge story like this one with both feet.

For goodness sakes, we had daily front page local stories on an American Idol candidate with a past link to the city. Is the crisis facing one of the areas primary employer less important?

In my crude understanding of the new media, wouldn't it make sense to reach out online and look for sources who are watching and waiting on GM's future? Business owners, readers and everyone could provide some needed perspective to this story with the paper acting as both a conduit and a voice for them.

This could be a great test for an interactive media, where reporters and sources meet online and them produce breaking news and analytic content for both the online version and the one that is printed each day.

Isn't this a story made for such a combination of resources?

In my humble opinion, the way to save the "newspaper" business is to make it relevant again, to make it a must read again and once you do that, move the subscription base from the printed version to the online version.

Would people pay $1 a week for access to news they have to have online and can only get in one place? I would and I believe others would. Plus you might sign up folks from around the country who are interested in your area and are willing to pay a little to stay up to date.

Then when you have signed up 100,000 (or more) online readers, maybe, just maybe some local and national advertisers might find it worthwhile to spend some money online. I know it sounds simplistic, but what is needed now is ideas (other than slash and burn) on how to reach and attract readers, not how to shrink them to a manageable base.

That's my idea, what's yours?

Just how bad is it in the newspaper business

In reading the online version of the Flint Journal and the article it wrote about its own buyouts there was a link to its own information site.

On that site the Journal posed its daily circulation and daily readership numbers (daily circ: 83,813 and daily readership: 174,620). Sunday circulation was posted at 101,590 with a readership of 227,679. These numbers are quoted as from the Audit Bureau of Circulation (December 2004; and Scarborough Research 2005)

The 2008 numbers, available at the website for ABC are much lower. The daily readership numbers as of September 2008 stood at 73,018, more than 10,000 down from just three years ago. The Sunday circulation numbers for 2008 are even worse. Sunday is now 88,897, or down more than 12,000.

Current readership is harder to quantify, but if you are into numbers and comparative numbers for dead tree and online readership go to the Scarborough Research site or specifically the following pages on the Scarborough site:

http://www.scarborough.com/press_releases/SNARR%20FINAL%20A%204.30.08.pdf

Before you scroll down to the Saginaw/Bay City/Flint pages (28, btw), make sure you read and understand the methodology used for the various numbers which is given near the front of the pdf you will be reading. For all the Booth employees in the other cities there are comparable graphs in the report. I'm going to put those together for a later post.

It is clear that MLive is not providing the online numbers of many other markets (shock!) and the newspaper's general readership is below many large newspaper markets, both online and dead tree.

The numbers are interesting to those of us who would like to see newspapers survive. A corporate strategy that promises to shrink readership and reduce quality and quantity seems like the old medical strategy of bleeding a sick person to get them well.

For the few posters angry with me for writing this stuff, please remember the old newspaper adage: "Don't kill the messenger."

To save, or not to save GM, Ford and Chrysler

I will admit, probably because I'm a fish living in the GM aquarium, that I am conflicted about the bailout talks involving the Big Three.

David Brooks offers this perspective in the New York Times. My conflicting continues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/opinion/14brooks.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

Aside: Because I read the NY Times will I be able to run for Vice-President?

Ah, the memories!

More fun with metaphors

My wife did it again. During a pillow talk conversation she said: "The gravy is always better on the other side."

Now did she mean: "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence," or did it have to do with something like a "gravy train." Again, no clue.

But we're still riding the golden cow. In case you didn't read or forgot:

http://freefromeditors.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-about-little-fun-with-golden-cow.html

On a news channel this week I heard a pundit say: "He seems to be swimming against a head wind." Clearly, you might have trouble swimming against a head wind, but isn't the proper saying: "Swimming against the tide/current."

And running against a headwind would make more sense.

Just a little light discussion for the weekend. We've had enough of the other this week.

(As a disclaimer my wife wants me to assure you she is not a "ditz")

Remembering Kevin Yauch

Flint Journal's Sally York did a good obituary on Kevin Yauch in today's paper:

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/community/index.ssf/2008/11/former_flint_journal_tech_expe.html

More Booth news

Another former Boothie is blogging about the situation in Ann Arbor and elsewhere.

His link is to the right under "Paper tiger no more."

He has some interesting items there today.

Flint Journal on the Booth restructuring

Following is the brief business headline item that ran Thursday about the new round of buyouts. I will give credit that at least this time they reported on their own news.


Flint Journal among eight Michigan newspapers to do restructuring, consolidation that includes buyout offers to workers
by The Flint Journal
Thursday November 13, 2008, 10:45 AM

Steve Jessmore | Flint Journal file photo
The main office for the Flint Journal in downtown Flint. (photo at website)

FLINT, Michigan -- The Flint Journal is continuing a strategic restructuring to streamline costs and continue its mission of providing readers and advertisers with a strong local news package, Publisher David Sharp announced Wednesday.

The Journal and seven commonly owned papers (The Ann Arbor News, The Bay City Times, The Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle and The Saginaw News) will consolidate some operations and offer voluntary buyouts to affected full-time employees.

News gathering and advertising opportunities so vital to a local paper will continue at The Journal and the other newspapers. The restructuring will also allow for more innovation on The Journal's affiliated Web site, mlive.com.

Economic conditions have led to the restructuring.

(Blog editor's note: The photo credit is Steve Jessmore, one of the finest photographers - and people - I have worked with was a 2007 buyout recipient.)

The link to the article and photo is:

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/business/index.ssf/2008/11/flint_journal_among_eight_mich.html

A blogger at the Jackson Citizen Patriot was writing about the cuts Wednesday but then took down the information, he left this comment:

Never mind
Posted by bflory November 12, 2008 11:05AM
An optical illusion: Some of you may have thought you read something different here earlier today. You may even have thought there was a link to some guy in Ann Arbor. Obviously, you were mistaken.

You can see it for yourself at:

http://blog.mlive.com/bradosphere/2008/11/big_inside_cit_pat_news.html

You can read what he originally wrote at the Paper Tiger No More link to the right and click on the article: "Nope, False Alarm"

Buy out news at Booth

From the private e-mails I have received from more than one Booth newspaper outlet, it appears that the buyouts announced Wednesday were coordinated and done at the same time at many of the Michigan newspapers.

The long and short of the news is bad for the employees. It will also result in major changes to the newspaper that subscribers see: Smaller and probably more expensive in the next few months.

Meetings are ongoing today and Friday to tell individual employees what the company specifically sees for them. Several employees described Wednesday's meeting as a meeting warning them about the next meeting.

The average 38-page Flint Journal will shrink fairly quickly to about 30 pages and then even smaller next year.

The separate Today section will soon be history and feature stories will be folded into the news section of the paper.

At a time when business and the stock market are exploding (in the wrong direction) the paper will significantly reduce that coverage. TV grids and the TV page may also be history or greatly reduced. (Paper savings).

Opinion pages will not be offered every day and when there is an opinion page it will only be on one page, not the two it occupies now.

National news coverage will shrink as well. When a central copy desk takes effect comics, games, puzzles and advice columns will be produced out of one location.

Sports coverage will also involve shared pages with national and state sports news produced out of one location.

There is also a corporate strategy to increase the cost of the paper while looking at cutting back subscribers to a basic core readership.

Core management, which shrank from 18 to 12 after the last buyout will be reduced to 3 or 4, according to the staff at the meeting.

It appears that what were standalone newspapers in cities across Michigan will now become news bureaus. Bay City, Saginaw and Flint will share management positions.

Unlike last year's buyout, the company has a right to pick and choose who takes the offer and they hope to limit the damage to the newsroom of 2-3 reporters. Part-time reporters are basically going to be eliminated, but they will receive some type of severance, according to staff members.

The Booth chain will move remaining staff around as needed to the various newspapers.

A target date for the move of the Flint copy desk to Grand Rapids is late next summer or early fall of 2009. A 24-hour centralized copy desk in GR will involve fewer editors than exist among the eight newspapers, but the number has not yet been set and the number of people currently doing that job is elusive.

Circulation will have fewer district managers and ad sales representatives are not part of the buyout offers and will now be given specific quotas they have to meet. Accounting and advertising appear headed to a new home in Kalamazoo.

Apparently the Flint Journal Internet team is OK, but other plants will be working to fix that particular area.

Reporter beats will likely be unchanged, but there will be a concentration of what readers want: Courts and cops coverage along with local government and school coverage.

The Community Newspaper staff (which has been moved all over the building in an ridiculous try to keep it separate from the Daily) will now be involved in daily, as well as weekly coverage. The separation of the two operation was something many of us never did understand. Beats will change very little.

The buyout offer is two weeks for every year of service, which is half of last year's offer. Health benefits are the same. What the buyout health care offer is still a little foggy.

Unlike last year's buyout, the newspaper is expected to publicly announce the changes in a newspaper article today. The announcements, which have been legally vetted, will appear identically in all Booth newspapers.

There was also a mention that those in line for the Grand Rapids transfer will have to re-apply for the jobs and will not be an automatic transfer.

Sadly, the word was that these may not be the end of the cuts.

It is a painful time for the employees at Booth. All of us hope that there is a bottom for the folks who many of us are still in contact with.

For further information on the cuts, as they relate to other papers you can visit these blogs:

http://annarborchronicle.com/2008/11/12/buyouts-hit-the-ann-arbor-news/

http://papertigernomore.blogspot.com/2008/11/major-changes-announces-at-ann-arbor.html

More info on Kevin Yauch

Obituary:

Yauch, Kevin Alan - Age 51, of Swartz Creek died at home on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

Visitation will be 12 p.m.-3 p.m. and 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 at the Swartz Funeral Home, 1225 W. Hill Rd. Funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at St. Pius X Catholic Church, 3139 Hogarth Ave., Flint, with Father George Daisy officiating and Deacon James Corder, co-officiating.

Mr. Yauch will lie in state at the church beginning at 9:30 a.m. until the Mass.

Kevin was born in Flint on Feb. 8, 1957, the son of Ronald and the late Shirley Yauch. He was married to Jill (Click) for 24 years. He was proud of his Flint-area roots.

Kevin was a devoted son, husband and friend, who always put the love of his life, his wife, first.

He worked at the Flint Journal for 32 years in a wide array of positions, each with increasing responsibility and authority. Even in the rough-and-tumble newsroom, where deadlines and technology clashed and salty talk and strong personalities ruled, he remained polite, calm, kind and always professional.

He was a go-to man and a team player in any situation. He had a great sense of humor.

Kevin personally exhibited a strong Christian witness. He always went an extra mile for his family, his friends and his coworkers. He loved music, photography, and working with, troubleshooting and just plain playing with Apple computers.

He was an avid woodworker, and built his own furniture. He loved to travel with his wife, and spend time with his family members. His passion for his work, his hobbies, his life and his family was infectious.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Surviving are his wife, Jill; father, Ron Yauch; sister, Tracy (William) Khan, Debra (Thomas) Gorte, and Linda Yauch; 17 nieces and nephews.

Your condolences may be shared with the family at swartzfuneralhomeinc.com.

Kevin Yauch, R.I.P.

One of the nicest men I have ever known, Kevin Yauch, died Tuesday while working in his yard with his wife. I don't know his exact age, but he's a lot younger than I am. (Late add - He was 51).

(Photo from Facebook, reprinted with permission)

It is suspected because of recent heart problems that Kevin died of something related to that, but it is hard to believe that someone with a heart as big and good as Kevin's could ever have "heart problems."

In my years with Kevin in the newsroom, I never heard him utter an unkind or foul word. He was cooperative to a fault. He was a Christian witness in the true sense of that statement.

A former colleague of mine, who admittedly has a lot of passion for his work and often showed his passion with sometimes harsh and foul words admitted to me today that Kevin's presence near his desk used to restrain his usual verbal outbursts out of respect for Kevin.

Trust me, that's as close to a miracle as you might see.

I'm sure everyone who ever worked with Kevin has a story of how he "saved" us by recovering some lost copy or thawing a "frozen" computer, but more than that I'm positive there are hundreds of stories about his kindness and gentleness in a room that sometimes lacked both.

Kevin, a wizard at fixing computer problems at the Journal, was one of the many who took the buyouts offered in 2007. So valuable was Kevin to the Journal that he was one of the buyout employees who was kept on as long as possible.

While still working at the Journal last spring, Kevin suffered a major heart attack, which brought to a close his Journal career.

Since then, I understand he and his wife have traveled the world, including luxury cruises and stays in villas. Good for them.

My prayers go out to his wife and family. I don't believe they had any children.

Kevin's death just made a tough day at the paper, a thousand times tougher.

Wednesday is D (decision)- Day at the Flint Journal

Following is the memo that Flint Journal staffers received today (Tuesday, Nov. 11):

Sent: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 5:24 pm
Subject: Wednesday announcement

Dave Sharp will be making an announcement to the staff on Wednesday, discussing major changes that we will be making in the way we operate our eight newspapers in Michigan.

Dave will address the editorial staff as soon as we clear deadline in the morning, right around 9:05 a.m. That conversation will take place in the new training room on the mezzanine level.

Please plan to attend that meeting if you are able to. Throughout the day, Dave will continue to give the same presentation to employees in other departments. If you can't make the meeting for editorial, you are welcome to attend any of the other sessions.

Here's the schedule. All of these sessions will also be in the mezzanine training room unless noted otherwise.

9:45 a.m. -- Advertising

10:15 -- Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing

10:45 -- Circulation

1 p.m. -- Press and mailroom (at the PDC)

4:30 p.m. -- Open session for any employees unable to attend earlier sessions

After Dave makes his announcement, I will begin meeting individually with newsroom employees to discuss how these changes affect you and what your options are. My goal will be to speak to everyone yet this week. I understand that you want and need answers, and now that Dave will be laying it all out for you, I look forward to addressing your questions to the fullest extent.

Tony

This, of course, will only be more bad news. A long time, part-time employee of the Flint Journal was fired on Tuesday, one day ahead of the big announcement. The employee, who worked for the community newspapers division, was a great writer, but admittedly a bit of an eccentric.

I'm not putting his name in this item because I haven't talked to him since the deed was done. It's hard to understand why he would be let go now. Any issues the paper had with his eccentricities have been there for years. He was a major copy producer and, as I already said, a beautiful writer.

He kept unusual hours, but he has kept them for many, many years without any consequence, until now.

Anyway, he and I used to cover the same beat and although I have not talked to him since I left the paper, I wish him well now and hope that he finds something else soon.

Somehow the professional editors who used to work in the community news division were able to work with this writer, but apparently the new editors couldn't adapt.

One nice thing though. On the day after they fired the writer, they put out a little spread of English muffins and snacks for the remaining writers on Tuesday. Kind of a going away party for the guy who had already gone away.

Rumblings from The Journal

Stay tuned. It appears the long knives may be coming out at The Flint Journal soon.

Word is at least one person has already been fired and the rest are restless.

Washington Post chimes in, confirms election bias

OK, those of you who took me to task for my election comments. Don't take my word for it, here's the Ombudsman from the Washington Post about the Washington Post (If you click on the link and get the free sign in request you can avoid all that by going to google, search for Washington Post, go to the site and do a site search on "Ombudsman. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702895.html

Here's some info from journalism.org with similar findings:

http://www.journalism.org/node/13307

I found the Ombudsman's comments on the idea that issue stories were lacking, that any comparable probing of Obama/Biden were lacking in comparison to their opponents interesting very interesting.

What she fails to even talk about is the complete lack of coverage of the third party candidates and the bias that also represents. It is troubling, as the Ombudsman points out, that the horse race became the issue and not the issues themselves.

Again, I was not a supporter of either candidate, but I do believe in a fair and aggressive media. I just didn't see that in the last election.

Unless I see anything else that makes my original statements look correct, I'll shut up on this issue now. How's that for bias?

MSU on top of the Big 10, thank you Iowa!

In case you missed it, and how could you, the MSU Spartans defeated Purdue on Saturday and then vaulted into first place in the Big 10 after Penn State lost to Iowa in an exciting come from behind victory by the Hawkeyes.

My brother-in-law Philip is a Hawkeye alum and I called him and thanked him (as if he had anything to do with the victory) for the unexpected victory.

In two weeks (MSU is off next Saturday) the Spartans face Penn State and have their own destiny in hand. Beat Penn State and they will do no worse than tie Ohio State for the Big 10 title. If Ohio State loses either game in the next two weeks (Go Blue!) including its season ending game against Michigan State could be all alone on top of the Big 10.

No matter what, it looks like State will be going to a major bowl game this year, which will be the first time in a long time for a major bowl bid.

How about a little fun with a Golden Cow?

Enough of the serious stuff for awhile. Last night my wife and were returning from a nice dinner (Luca's Chophouse in Grand Blanc - pretty good) and the conversation turned to something and Joan's response was:

"Just have to keep riding the golden cow."

We both know she meant this as a metaphor for something, but this was as twisted a metaphor as I ever heard. We laughed all the way home as I tried to dissect her meaning.

Was it something to do with a golden calf? Was it riding a winning horse? Did it have something to do with a golden goose? Not a clue.

I wouldn't let it rest. Call it one of the hazards of living with a writer.

So if you could help us decipher this mixed metaphor it would be greatly appreciated. Also if you have some examples of twisted metaphors of your own, please share.

But by all means, keep riding that golden cow.

Radio suffering from the same "newspaper" vision

The entire following post was sent to me from a loyal freefromeditors reader:

A must read for radio people... "After the Cuts- An Open Letter"ShareToday at 10:49am

The events of the last few days have made me proud to be an American. Believe me, I'm not one of those real verses fake Americans that was created in the presidential campaign, I just think we are all so fortunate to live in a country as wonderful as this. No matter who you voted for, you had to get a bit misty eyed watching history unfold before us in Chicago, and New York, and on the streets and cities in the US and around the world.

I am also proud to be a broadcaster, and yes, an American Broadcaster. The amazing pictures of the throngs of people truly excited to see the change from the long dark night that defined the last few years got me to thinking, I can't remember a time when the streets were filled with people after an election .. mostly young people ... mostly young people excited and hopeful for the future of the country they want it to be. One can't help but be inspired.

Is it possible that we can exhibit the same leadership and inspiration in the radio business that we saw on TV and heard on the radio from President Elect Obama? Is it possible for us to re-think the entire radio industry and move beyond the cuts? I believe it's fair to suggest that the past few years have not been radio's best. There has been much written about it so I won't go into the past by finger pointing as to the blame.

There is plenty to go around.

Is it possible for us to realize that for radio to succeed in attracting future generations of listeners, we must fundamentally change our whole way of thinking about the way we program, sell, engineer, market, finance, and LEAD the next generation of radio staff, advertisers, and listeners.

In the next 12 months, I believe you will see a continuation of a contraction in the radio business. It WILL get smaller in staff size AND IF WE ARE NOT CAREFUL, listener size.

What will radio look like ... AFTER THE CUTS?

How can we redeploy the limited resources available to make our medium exciting and attractive again? How do you make the cuts, yet leave the creativity and intact? Right now, in the autumn of 2008, we have the opportunity to define the NEXT GENERATION OF RADIO. If we have the leadership and understanding, vision, and the will to win, we can make our business succeed well beyond the current, outdated ... hang on it's going to get bad ... mentality that is the norm today.

I make a living successfully positioning radio stations and other media platforms. I advise company leaders on the right direction by reading the trends that will shape our world over the short to medium term. Radio will not be able to begin redesigning its future until it ends the cutting. The sooner it ends, the better off you will be. There can be no creative process in the atmosphere of fear.

Never before has there been so much opportunity for radio than there is today. We have so much going for us, but in order for radio to succeed in the next decade we are going have to change the way we approach the advertisers, consumers, and potential creative talent that might NEVER CONSIDER RADIO. Why? Because we are not telling the great story we already have!

I don't believe radio has a perception problem ... I believe radio has a reality problem in addition to the perception problem! Lest we forget, there are still a few amazing facts that would be the envy of every Internet start up or large online portal.

Can you imagine a business that is already distributed to 100% of the online computers, cars, and homes throughout America?

Can you imagine a national medium that already has a local sales organization in place in every city and town in this country?

Can you imagine a technology that 100% of the consumers already know how to use? (On, off, tune!)

This is where we have the perception/reality problem.

Even Google does not have the incredible local distribution and reach that we have. So why do we have a perception problem?

Answer - We are NOT doing the basics well.

We are defending the past rather than embracing the future.

In the past few months, I have spoken to many Internet company CEO's about the incredible cume that radio has. Not one CEO ever even thought about considering radio as a means to attract consumers. Why? No one told them! In the past two years, I have had the opportunity to speak to many creative, talented, young people who capture million of hits on everything from Face Book to You Tube about considering radio as a creative outlet. Not one ever considered radio as an option. Why? No one asked them!

The reality is that we have NOT embraced the new technology fast enough to capture the next generation of listeners.

The reality is we are NOT attracting young, creative people to our companies.

The reality is we are NOT embracing new creative ideas in order to attract a new generation of listening.

The reality is we are NOT leading the charge of radio innovation using all of the above.

For those of you that disagree, perhaps you have some individual story of innovation you might point to, ("Well, at my station we bla, bla, bla ...") and I get it! But by and large we are still operating like it was 1998 except we have stopped marketing, researching, innovating, and listening to our employees, advertisers, and listeners.

If we expect to stop the erosion of revenue and time spent listening, we had better start designing our companies for the future instead of the past or present. This will require vision, focus, creativity, and above all, leadership.

As someone who ran a few large radio companies and stations, I understand and accept the financial reality that plagues us all right now. Advertisers are scared and not spending, costs are rising, competition is fierce and the future costs money. Radio operators have to cope with on line expenses not contemplated in 1998.

So perhaps we might take a cue from the millions of people assembled in Bryant Park on election eve that it's time for a radio extreme makeover. It's time to consider changing the way we operate our radio stations and companies by embracing new ideas, fostering innovation, and redesigning the way we operate day to day. And after the cuts, consider the following,
CREATIVE VISION MUST BEGIN AT THE TOP. CREATIVE INNOVATION MUST BEGIN AT THE STAFF LEVEL OF THE LOCAL STATION.

Local, experienced management is the key to successful radio. Top down management may work for nationwide franchises, but the dynamics of local community broadcasting are best left in the local community.

It's time to put control back at the station level where it can really succeed with advertisers and listeners. 80% or our revenue is local, and 80% of the decisions should be too. The next generation of managers will not succeed if all they know how to do is manage expenses and write reports for corporate. They must be encouraged to look for talent in every department, and department heads must make a commitment to look beyond the provincial radio world for talented people.

The Internet is full of young, visionary people as is your city. Make it attractive to work at the station by offering them the creative outlet they crave beyond AM and FM.

Radio is more than AM and FM broadcasting today. Invest in distribution to where the people are by using your station to promote alternative listening and participation. Strong radio brands are money in the bank if you distribute to where the people are.

There simply must be more investment in Internet, and mobile platforms. Radio brands can transcend their own current distribution by putting the emphasis on content, and then push it to every viable platform.

Right now, there are thousands of advertisers looking for an economical way to keep their name in front of consumers, but it's not about selling spots, it's about offering ideas. Ideas require creativity beyond the on air copy. Management must be open to new ideas. The notion that it worked five years ago is totally outdated thinking. No one is doing business the way it was done before.

ADVERTISERS WANT TO HEAR WHAT RADIO IS DOING DIFFERENTLY TODAY THAN FIVE YEARS AGO. What are you doing different today?

Listeners and advertisers are expecting their brands to change with the times. This recession, downturn, or whatever it is WILL RECOVER! When it does, radio has the ability to lead the way if we are in the right position to take advantage of it.

What is our life after the cuts?

Making cuts to reduce the cost of producing and presenting radio is necessary today, but putting the station in a position to succeed must also be considered. Radio can emerge as a more creative, innovative medium if it starts right now with the resources remaining.
The extreme makeover of radio must start at the top, the bottom, and the middle.

Now is the time to set the vision, provide the leadership, and execute the plan.

Best regards,
Bill Figenshu

Election post mortem, media loses

Finally, an end to the ads and phone calls. The house is strangely quiet as the robo calls fade into history. My wife is a school teacher and on the list for every Democrat phone list in existence.

I know that John McCain, a personal hero of mine, lost. I did not vote for him, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I did not vote for Barack Obama either. My honest belief is that the real culprit and problem in our country is the complicity of both major political parties.

Every four years we have this dance where they pretend to be different, but end up with the same old partisanship and the victors spend the next four years rewarding their districts with "bridges to nowhere."

The real loser in this election was the media. Between Fox News on the right and MSNBC on the left we ended up not with real political vetting, but cheerleading for one candidate or the other.

I heard Chris Mathews say he got a "tingle" down his leg when he heard Barack Obama speak. There were stories of other reporters wearing Obama t-shirts to rallies. It was clear from the beginning (don't ask me, ask Hillary Clinton and Saturday Night Live) that the media was in the tank for one guy.

That is over the line. It used to be sacrosanct that newsrooms were supposed to be neutral. Reporters were supposed to be down the line neutral, even if their personal beliefs were for one side or the other.

From my experience, most reporters lean to the left, or at least to the Democrat Party. There are few reporters on the right in most U.S. newsrooms. Not a criticism, just a fact. During my career I never talked politics in the newsroom and rarely out of it. My politics are all over the map anyway, but I always believed as a reporter it was important that no one really know where I stood on political issues.

After Al Gore lost in 2000 we had some in the Flint Journal newsroom who were openly despondent over the loss. They spent endless hours following the court battles and loudly expressing their opinions.

These are the same folks who were covering races involving Democrats and Republicans. But when an outdoor writer was assigned to cover a gun rights issue, many expressed the opinion that he could not be "impartial" because he was a hunter. The hypocrisy is blatant.

One of the editors at the paper routinely visited on the phone with Democrat operatives and sources, sometimes offering advice. Again, totally over the line.

I understand that at some point during the recent campaign the editor had to remind his staff in an e-mail they were to try and remain impartial and avoid campaign pins and yard signs.

It was true again in 2004. So the idea that reporters are somehow neutral, impartial observers is simply bogus. It is also lamentable. Hopefully, the fawning attention of Barack Obama will at least turn back to some honest reflection and introspection on their role in keeping tabs on the new administration.

On Monday, the paper took a hit for an anti-Obama news wrapper sponsored by the NRA. On Wednesday it led the paper with a headline that had Obama's name in red-white and blue. I just don't remember any other President who had his name run in a headline like that.

Readers and viewers have to trust that the information they are getting is even-handed and fair. As an insider for 30 years I can tell you that is bogus.

My hope and prayer is that the news media will take a long hard look at how it covered this campaign and reform itself, but I'm not sure that will happen.

At one point Barack Obama (see this You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws) seemed to indicate he believed there were 57 or 59 states. That was beyond any gaffe uttered by Dan Quayle, even the famous plural potato spelling (a word many reporters have trouble with) and yet, little or nothing came of that on left leaning news organizations or Saturday Night Live.

Look, clearly Sarah Palin was not ready to be President. She was the governor of a small state, something like having a President from Arkansas, but the treatment of her inexperience, compared to that of the relative inexperience of Barack Obama is startling. Joe Biden makes a gaffe a minute and I don't have room here to list all the You Tube versions, but "the three letter word J-O-B-S," comes to mind. We'll see if my favorite programs "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," or Keith Olbermann find the same enthusiasm for making fun of Biden as they did of McCain and Palin.

In the meantime, while the media made sure that Obama got the velvet glove treatment, third party candidates like Ralph Nader, Bob Barr and others were completely ignored. That was deliberate too. In 2000, the press realized that Nader bled off enough votes to ruin Gore's chances and they weren't going to let that happen again.

You can be biased in both what you report and what you don't report.

I know a lot of my former colleagues will not agree with me on this issue, but down deep where their journalism ethics live, they may see my point.

McCain and Palin got a thorough vetting, Barack Obama did not. And the fault lies at the feet of a complicit media. Even with equally tough treatment, Obama may have won, but now we'll never know.

It is my hope that the media will now resume the work it should have been doing all along and get back to being neutral observers and not cheerleaders. The country needs an impartial tough press, no matter where personal allegiances lie.

President Obama deserves everyone's support and he has mine. Is he up for the job? I really don't know, because the media really didn't question any of his "change" statements or his excessive promises. He raised more than a half a billion dollars from who knows? His broken promise to use public financing was very troubling.

Let's hope that in the future third party voices will be heard and included. It's really the only way to break the stranglehold on entitlements and perks that are currently supported by a corrupt two party system.

I'm still glad the calls and ads have stopped. Feel free to tell me where I'm wrong.

A final word on the NRA wrapper

I received this comment from someone inside the Journal: I'm posting it up front to explain a little better what happened with "The" wrapper.

"I totally agree with inky..

I think it's lame that the Flint Journal is blaming their carriers for this. The letter the carriers got on October 15th from the Journal stated: "NRA has provided The Flint Journal with special bags to be used with the delivery of Monday November 3rd. The Journal will pay participating carriers _______ for each newspaper delivered IN the special bag on that day"

Later on they changed their minds and told us to not put the papers in the bag, but to insert or roll them with the paper. This was not mailed out to us, and it seems that not everyone got the updated message.

Whether the bag was in the paper, rolled in the paper, or the paper was in the bag, isn't the problem. The Flint Journal should have just said "This is a paid advertisement, and we are in the business of making money on advertisements. Contact the NRA and complain to them." and been done with it..

The people out there making a big stink about this plastic bag are doing exactly what the NRA had hoped for. Getting the NRA's message out to an even bigger audience."

I could not agree more with anonymous.

"MIstake" Part Deux

For all its apologies on Monday and today, including a front page apology, today's Flint Journal, at least in the part of Lapeer County that I live in just came wrapped in the NRA wrapper again!

Do we get another apology tomorrow? Or will the paper just man up and admit it needs the money?

I take no offense at the wrapper, just the stupid, weak apology of its editor.

Here's an idea for newspapers

A reader of the blog asks, why not newspapers?

See link:

http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=2091

It's been a mystery to me since the Journal went on the Internet why the paper hasn't found a way to make a buck off the online news.

On occassion, I or other reporters would raise the issue at editorial meetings only to be patted on the head like children and told it was not an issue.

Bay City Times got it right

Here's how the Bay City Times (another Booth paper) handled the NRA wrapper:

About the NRA bag on papers Monday
Posted by The Bay City Times November 04, 2008 08:50AM
Categories: Community News, Election, Front Page and Local
The Bay City Times provided the bags that contained your newspaper Monday. Your carrier was not responsible for the bag's advertising message.
The Times accepts political advertising. The newspaper doesn't necessarily endorse the opinions of our advertisers. The Times publishes its choice for president on the editorial page, and did so there two Sundays ago.

http://blog.mlive.com/bctimes/2008/11/about_the_nra_bag_on_papers_mo.html

Seems to me the Bay City Times handled it properly and effectively. Go to the above link if you want to see it in person and read the one comment.

Trust me, the papers need the money and now that the election is over that lucrative stream will dry up.

Election eve NRA wrapper causes anger, apology

Imagine my surprise when I went to my Flint Journal box this afternoon and found my Monday Journal wrapped in a bag with a Pro-NRA, Anti-Obama message on it. See photo I took above.

My first reaction was the paper obviously received a chunk of money to put the newspaper in the bag, first to protect it from this morning's rainstorm, but lastly to put a little hard cash in the Journal register. (The date on my camera is incorrect and I'm too stupid to know how to fix it, the date should be 11/03/2008, but like the Journal, I apologize).

On my local weekly, there was a sticker promoting a local Republican candidate for the State House race and I didn't think much of it either.

But then I turned to Mlive.com and found that the Flint Journal had apologized to its readers and said the plastic bag wrapper was a "mistake." That really stretches credulity. The exact wording of the apology said the wrapper was supposed to be inside the paper.

Huh? Why would a plastic bag, the perfect size for a small newspaper to be rolled up inside be stuffed inside a newspaper? Doesn't make any sense at all.

Why not just admit you took a boat load of cash to wrap the newspaper in an ad and that your endorsement of Barack Obama trumps the ad anyway. Instead the paper is falling all over itself to claim the stuffing of the newspaper in the bag was a "mistake," wink, wink.

The string of comments are pretty amusing and I commend them to your reading. The link to the apology and the comments is here:

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/11/mondays_journal_mistakenly_pla.html

I smell another Columbia Journalism Review criticism coming soon.

Actually, with the folks here in Lapeer County, it was probably pretty well received. Judging by the comments on the Journal's website, not so much in Genesee County.

Dream trip over, photos to come

OK, I'm back from Gettysburg and a great weekend of learning and fun. This was a two day event and involved detailed study and visits to follow Lee's retreat following the third day of battle and then a close-up look and walk of Pickett's Charge.

I won't bore you with the details, but call it a Star Wars convention for Civil War buffs. Ed Bearss was as good a communicator and historian that you will ever find.

Now, I'll get back to the newspaper business and its current sadness.

Traveling to Gettysburg for my dream tour

My weekend excursion promises to be a major highlight.

One of my very favorite past times is studying, reading about and traveling to Civil War sites. Thanks to a friend of mine, we are headed Friday for Gettysburg (which I have already toured three times) for a special battlefield walking tour and the guide is Ed Bearss (right).

For those not into Civil War history, Bearss is one of the premier living Civil War historians and is often seen on the History Channel and elsewhere.

The topic for the weekend tour is: "Picketts' Charge & Lee's Retreat."

There are two lectures Friday night, then a full day of touring on Saturday including trips to Fairfield, Monterey Pass, Smithsburg (my kind of town), Hagerstown, Funkstown, Falling Waters and Williamsport.

On Sunday, we will study the cavalry action bet Jeb Stuart and Custer, Culp's Hill and the Pickett, Pettigrew, Trimble assault.

It just doesn't get any better than that. So, I'll be back late (like really late) Sunday night and return to blogging Monday. Prepare yourself for lots of Civil War battle photos and war stories.

Unbelievably, neither of our wives wanted to go with us for this exciting weekend of testosterone filled war discussions.

For more information on Ed Bearss look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Bearss

and here:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/bearss.html?c=y&page=1

Nader understands the news business better than most

Ralph Nader didn't get much coverage this election (deliberate, if you ask me) but he realizes how he could have received a lot more coverage:

http://blogs.courant.com/on_background/2008/10/ralph-nader-and-his-10000horse.html

He is sooooo right!

The future is now, at least for one newspaper

A frequent freefromeditors reader sent along the following link:

http://lifehacker.com/5070302/will-you-miss-print-newspapers-when-theyre-gone

Make sure you follow the link in the above to the New York Times story.

Basking in Spartans win, but no gloating here

The one year my MSU Spartans were able to overcome cross-state rivals Michigan I was out of town and not watching the game. (I may have to do that every year now).

When I heard we had defeated the Wolverines in Ann Arbor it brought back great memories of the 1978 game at "The Big House," as Michigan Stadium is called, when I was in attendance and watched the Spartans beat the Wolverines 24-15.

Kirk Gibson, later of Detroit Tigers and LA Dodger fame, caught a cross pattern pass and ran for a touchdown, which he scored right in front of the few Spartan fans in the south end zone.

So the Spartans are off to a good start, 7-2, and have won the biggest game of the year, but it is only one year and many of my friends root for the Maize and Blue, so I'm not going to pile on because hey, next year will roll around way too quickly.

I'm not even going to mention (except here) the phony gift touchdown the Wolverines received from the replay official.

Both schools are great, but it wouldn't be a rivalry if only one side ever won. So we're not gloating, just basking in the happiness of a rare victory.

More Newhouse bad news

The shoe has dropped in New Jersey. Sounds like a radically different newspaper in the coming months. My favorite pull out quote:

"We've got from now to the end of the year to figure out what adjustments we have to make," Willse said. "We will be able to produce an abundance of good stories. We will still have a good paper but we have to figure out exactly how to accomplish that."

Where have we heard all that before? These editors might as well be political hacks for all the spin they are churning out.

See story:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZNapL_qKwtWcN1sDFSwS-p9YGzgD9415AC00

Food for thought.

The following post has a lot for reporters to think about. Because it criticizes some some senior editors toward the end, I felt it worth posting here. It is both about the election and the condition of journalism today.

http://pajamasmedia.com/edgelings/2008/10/24/editing-their-way-to-oblivion-journalism-sacraficed-for-power-and-pensions/

More travel, less blogging

OK, at the risk of sounding like some kind of jet-setter, if that's possible with a series of car trips to Akron, Ohio; Buffalo, NY; and Boston, MA, I'll be off traveling from Friday through Tuesday.

The trip to Buffalo is one of our frequent and regular trip there to help my wife's parents and the trip to Boston is a quick stop and go to pick up some furniture from our daughter who lives there and no longer needs an heirloom bed she took to college. We only wish we could bring her home too, we miss her.

All this is just a warning (or blessing to some) that blogging will be sporadic, or possibly non-existant, between Friday and Tuesday.

Just consider it a retiree's life-in-the-fastlane. My fast lane, unfortunately, seems to include a highway patrolman about every 10 miles.

Rumor alert

To be honest, this post is based on some informed speculation and just maybe, a dose of rumor. So take it for what it is worth.

There is some rumblings that the proposed drastic buyouts may be held off for awhile as the Booth chain attempts some major consolidations of design and editing desks. Quite disturbing for folks who were told they were on the bubble, should consider the buyouts, but who are now left hanging about the future and the conflicting messages that are being sent.

As always freefromeditors.blogspot.com will keep you up-to-date.

Check out the links

There are some really good, if depressing, new stories on the news buisiness at some of the journalism links to the right.

Specifically, Reflections of a Newsosaur, Fading to Black, Newspaper Death Watch and others.

Too many stories to link in a single post.

Another dose of not good

Thanks to a contributor:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003876875

And this is one of the more successful chains!

Putting the newspaper on Indian cruise control

A couple of freefromeditors contributors offered a couple items for your reading pleasure. The following pullout quote is from the first link and is so incredibly simplistic that the fact it comes from a so-called publisher is staggeringly revealing.

"In today's world, whether your desk is down the hall or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn't matter," Singleton said after his speech. (I guess Singleton believes one could develop a beat relationship with a source over the phone from India. No more "All the President's Men."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003875952

And then there's this bad news for the Associated Press:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003874855

Travel beckons, blogging will resume Thursday

I'm on my way to Akron, Ohio for a church convention. I will be home Thursday and will resume blogging then.

When I get back I'll dissect for you a couple memos on the new medical plan that awaits employees in 2009. I've already written about changes at the end of 2009, but this is in addition to that.

Until then, enjoy fall. By the way, a lot of folks stopped by Monday to look at the consolidation story. Hope you keep coming back, lots of news yet to come.

Hint: Possible consolidation of all copy editing functions for Booth in Grand Rapids and when this plan may have actually been hatched.

Advance puts a "whoa" to the stampede

More than double the number of employees the company hoped would take the buy-out in New Jersey did. You can read the story here:

http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/10/newark.html

So a lot of folks who wanted a parole, won't get it now.

More news on Flint, Bay City or Saginaw consolidation

(I've moved this back to the top of the blog, but there are a couple new items below)

Some internal communications indicate where Booth may be headed with the consolidation of newsroom operations between the Bay City Times, Saginaw News and eventually the Flint Journal.

Specifically, reporters are being put into three categories: Buyout candidates, protect candidates and a third category, that seems to indicate that an employee should be coached to stay or be reassigned. This is apparently in advance of a Booth wide buyout offer yet to be announced.

Not surprisingly, the buy-out candidates are mostly full-time folks. Also a couple employees currently on sick or maternity leave may not have work to come back to when they are well. That seems unduly harsh, but maybe part of the new economic reality.

More interesting are the plans to combine the newsroom operations, or "optimization," as the company refers to it. While these plans appear to be solely for Bay City and Saginaw, it's hard to imagine that a similar fate is not in store for Flint.

These consolidations will gut the individual papers' sports, photography and entertainment sections. The operations of each of those departments would be in one location. Plans are to seek content that would be produced once, but shared with the Bay City and Saginaw markets.

In sports, Booth management believes there is enough of overlap in leagues that will allow coverage to be centralized.

What is proposed is a sports department that would go from 2 sports editors, 1 assistant sports editor, five full-time and eight, part-time reporters to:

One sports editor, 1 assistant sports editor, three full-time and eight, part-time reporters among the papers. The model also assumes that the sports editor and assistant sports editor will write stories and columns in addition to their management role.

Part-time workers are among the safe employees because they are considered key to this model because they are cheaper than full-timers.

The new photo department would have one photo manager who would manage the remaining photographers who would work out of the two separate newsrooms. Editing of photos and assignments would be centralized although newsrooms would retain some authority to direct local photographers for breaking news. (Gees, I hope so).

Currently there are two photo editors, four full-time photographers and one part-time photographer. Under the new plan there would be one photo editor, two full-time photographers and one part-time photographer. About three or four interns and freelancers would be used to fill holes in coverage.

These are breathtaking changes that will certainly compromise the editorial contents of the newspapers. While I understand the horrible economics of the day, I just don't see how this works, even as a stop gap measure.

Entertainment is also a target. Currently entertainment staffing includes two features editors and seven full-time reporters and clerks. Under the new staffing proposed there would be one entertainment editor and one full-time reporter. Additional coverage would be aided by freelance writers and an intern.

For web coordination there would actually be a slight increase. Currently the two papers have 1 Web content producer. With the new plan there would be one manager and the current web content producer. Hopes are that as the web content area grows, that the staffing for this would grow.

If your plans are that web is your future, why wouldn't you invest in it now, make it great and roll the dice with that. Other than the obvious of saving money, the web commitment (or lack thereof) is the most startling of this plan.

In Flint, there is word that some of the specialty sections, particularly the Religion page and Features page, are on the way out. This all part of some additional downsizing apparently. It is hard to imagine how the Flint Journal coverage could be consolidated with any of the other Booth papers, simply by geography, but these are desperate times and so, who knows?

Soon, I'll give you a look at the new Journal health plan and the reductions in coverage for medical and prescriptions.

Read all about it, your job is gone

A local weekly newspaper chain - View Newspapers - had an unusual ad in Thursday's newspaper. Basically they were advertising for positions at all four newspapers, jobs that are still held by a number of people.

"View Newspapers, 4 Community Weeklies, 88,124 circulation is accepting resumes for all editorial positions." Sounds like a clean sweep.

I don't know if the folks who work there now were told that such an ad would be running, but it would certainly chill your enthusiasm for work if you saw that your newspaper was openly seeking folks to replace you.

Over the years I have come to know many of the folks who work at the Lapeer newspaper and they are fine people and very professional journalists. They work for peanuts, but put in the long hours needed to produce a weekly newspaper.

They do a fine job of covering local events and I can't imagine the reason for the need to replace them, except that the paper wants to pay even less for writers than they do now.

In my first professional job I worked as a weekly newspaper editor in Mason, Michigan. It was a 70-hour a week job for $280 a week in 1980. Even in 1980 it was a paltry sum of money. I would never, ever do it again.

In recent months I was even asked to work for a weekly and said absolutely not. It is a thankless, stress filled existence for McDonald's wages. So I was stunned to see that ad.

The resumes for writers are not even being solicited by the editor, but a business management person.

So as far as sports, this weekend was so-so

We're not even going to talk about the Michigan State Spartans letdown and 45-7 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Michigan had a good start against Penn State and then had a second half meltdown.

The Buffalo Bills, my new adopted team, look great against the San Diego Chargers today. But the best news of the weekend was the Detroit Red Wings overtime victory over the New York Rangers.

A friend of mine, Greg, who is also know as "Gordo 1," (I am Gordo 2 - and you would have to be a Detroit Red Wings fan to even understand why that's a good nickname) bought a small series of season tickets.

Our first regular season game was last night against the New York Rangers. The Red Wings came out blazing. They had a 2-0 lead after just about 3 minutes. But by the third quarter they went to sleep for awhile and the Rangers went ahead 4-3 with just a few minutes left.

The Wings tied the game up with just three minutes to play and it was into overtime. This is when things got great for the Red Wings, but kind of ugly for me and Greg.

In hockey overtime, the first goal wins. So the puck was dropped and some guy (who had already made 3 trips to the bathroom from overconsumption of beer) decided to come back to his seat just as the overtime period was beginning.

The row in front of us stood up to let the guy back to his seat blocking our view of the ice, and the winning goal. Marian Hossa scored his first goal as a Red Wing to win the game, but what I saw was the back of the guy in front of me letting the drunk back to his seat.

Of course, the drunk saw the goal and was celebrating with his friends the exciting moment. I yelled at him that his rudeness was why the rest of us didn't see it. He was too drunk to hear me. Anyway, we guess it was exciting because the crowd went wild. We did get to watch the replay on the big screen.

I don't understand why people go to a sporting event and then spend half their time there going back and forth to the concession stand and bathrooms while the game is going on.

I feel much better now. We'll have more on the newspaper business later tonight.

Still waiting to hear

Nothing new on the Flint Journal front, except some rumblings that big changes are in the works.

Some of my usual sources are a little scarce right now and how can you blame them with the uncertainty of the changes. As soon as I know, you'll know.

If you have good information feel free to contact me at the e-mail address in my profile.


(Note: This item was corrected from an earlier version because of a missing word)

I love this item, I've got to get one

Hope you weren't eating lunch.

It's tough to be a Lions fan

A friend at work told me this story that he claims is true.

A guy who worked with my friend's brother was really upset that he left two Detroit Lions tickets in his car and someone broke into the vehicle ..... and left two more tickets to the Lions game.

OK, so maybe it's not true.

Spartans roll, Bills idle, Lions jobbed

Not a bad sports weekend here. Spartans rolled over Northwestern and are now 6-1 and bowl eligible already. My new team, the Buffalo Bills, had a bye week so we watched the Lions play Minnesota today.

Actually, the Lions defense looked pretty good. A couple horrible calls by the referees likely stole any chance the Lions had of pulling off a miracle victory, but give them credit for not just rolling up and dying.

Next week the MSU Spartans face a real test, the Ohio State University Buckeyes, so we'll get a better idea of how good, or not good, they really are.

Rumor true, Addisen visits fall party

When we plan our fall party we hope and pray for the perfect night. Cool, but not cold; no rain; no bugs; and no wind. It's a lot to ask in a climate where one or both of those negative conditions are really present.

Last night everything was perfect for a traditional fall party. Even better, little Addisen showed up and wowed the guests and, as always, grandma and grandpa. She is the light of our lives and we see God in her face (sometimes a little of the other in her actions, but we don't dwell on that). This is her first appearance at our fall party, but certainly not her last.

The colors are starting to change (a little late so we're hoping that means a milder winter) but we had fun making smores by the fire, but mostly fun laughing, talking and enjoying our company.

Most of the folks were Anglican, but the kids are from a non-denominational church and our best friends, both Roman Catholics, were on had to make it an ecumenical evening. And my wife served some really good food.

I've attached a couple photos. Next year, come and join us.