Michigan comes back big

Wow! Two great Michigan games today. First MSU and then a real stunner with U-M coming back from a 19-0 third quarter deficit to win at the end.

Fans were booing the Wolverines at the end of the first half, but, not surprisingly, were cheering wildly as the team pulled it out at the end.

I think it's great that Michigan could have two great contenders in the Big 10 this year. Of course, I'm rooting for the Spartans to win the cross-state rivalry game Oct. 25. Looks like I'll have to watch it from Buffalo, NY, this year.

The Lions are on a bye week, so nothing to wreck the great mood either. A friend and I are going to the Detroit Red Wings exhibition game against the Atlanta Thrashers. One of the Thrashers, Jimmy Slater, is a local Lapeer guy and we both know his Dad, so wouldn't mind seeing Jimmy have a good game tomorrow night.

Go MSU!

Great job today by the MSU Spartans. This is a game they would have lost in the past. MSU over the Indiana Hoosiers by a 42-29 score.

Javon Ringer looks like a legit Heisman Trophy candidate too! This kid gets stronger as the game goes on. He only ran for 198 yards today, first time in three weeks he didn't go over 200 yards.

Brass Spittoon is ours again!

We need more voices

The lack of clarity by two Presidential candidates on the current economic crisis or what they would do about it was the most startling aspect of last night's debate.

As one who believes that more voices, not less, should be involved in the election debates I would just call your attention to the specific actions that Ralph Nader would take in the current crisis. Of course, his voice was not allowed in the debate.

http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/09/25/whithousemeeting/

It is my belief that the two-party system has resulted in one-bureaucracy rule in Washington, D.C. As futile as it seems there needs to be more independent voices in our country. Bot the main parties are addicted to pork barrel projects and narrow self-interest.

Whoever wins this election nothing will really change (even though both say they are running for just that). The big money will continue to control who does what in Washington. Two-party rule, in my humble opinion, is slowly eroding this country.

What would it hurt to invite a couple third, and fourth party candidates, to the debates.

Adios, Matt MIllen

Detroit Lions fans are celebrating the firing (finally) of general manager Matt Millen.

I asked a few days ago the famous question of a former Lions' coach: "What does a guy have to do to get fired around here?"

Millen got the answer, when the team's owner is publicly called out by his son in the media, I guess that's what'll get you fired.

The problem is that Matt has left the tool box pretty empty. We have Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson, Jason Hanson and, well, we have those three.

All we need now is an offensive line, defensive players who can tackle and a quarterback who can throw. That's about it. For those of us who have tried to stick with this team (I'm off the band wagon now) we have watched individually great players - Barry Sanders, to name one - play their entire careers here without ever making the playoffs, or making it one time.

Firing coaches, general managers and players hasn't really translated into a better team in the past so I'm not holding my breath now.

If a dummy like me.....

With all the talk of financial disaster in the news, I just have to get this off my chest.

Starting about six years ago, my wife and I used to listen to David Hall on WJR-AM radio here in Detroit on our way to church.

Mr. Hall operated and ran a company called Rock Financial and his radio show was simply one big, long advertisement for his company.

People would call in with questions about mortgages and David Hall would provide some amazing advice.

Mr. Hall would encourage people who made $40,000 to $50,000 a year to call him so he could show them how he could put them in a $400,000 luxury home (for my California readers that's a really nice house here), with no down payment and an interest only payment of $600-$700 a month.

You'll have to take my word on this, but six years ago my wife and I used to shake our heads and wonder how this could work. On one Sunday, I even offered my uneducated opinion that this whole thing "would end badly for a lot of people."

The fact that people were buying houses they couldn't afford, for mortgages they temporarily could seemed like a recipe for disaster. But what did I know, I'm just a guy who can barely balance a checkbook.

So my question is this. If a dummy like me can see this coming six years before it happened, how come all these political and financial geniuses who make a living at this apparently didn't see this coming until Monday and now they have to fix it by Friday.

And how are they going to fix it? They're going to make me pay for it. Even though I bought and paid for a house I could afford, didn't refinance my house to make a quick buck and already pay outrageous taxes, I have to help bail out companies and people who conspired to get a deal that was too good to be true. People without a dollar in the bank were allowed to buy nice homes for little money. Yeah, that's a good idea.

It makes me very mad. And I blame Republicans and I blame Democrats. They both have dirty hands in this and that's why they are eager to fashion a quick, bipartisan solution so we don't ask too many questions about how we got here. Obama and McCain are leaning on advisers who are waist deep in this sewage.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought and paid for a lot of legislators, on both sides, and now they're scrambling to cover their tracks. If one of those crooked executives get an extra buck out of this, count me out of the deal.

Ralph Nader is looking better by the moment.

Flint Journal flap over flip flop

You can't blame Flint Journal staffers for being a little confused this week.

Two weeks ago they were told that a new round of buyouts are coming in October and some have even been called in and told it was probably time for them to take the buyouts and seek new employment. That sounds pretty definitive to me.

But then late last week, the Publisher in a couple of stand-up meetings, said no decisions have been made on any new buyouts or downsizing. The Publisher also denied any pending plans to shut down the press or to consolidate editing or reporting activities.

It's hard to imagine that the editor made up the buyouts or other information out of thin air and if he was honest enough to answer staff questions with what he knew, good for him.

If the Publisher is trying to limit damage from the early release with his "no decisions" comments when the reality is otherwise. Shame on him.

We know one thing. It can't be both ways. Either there is a new buyout plan coming or there is not one. Someone is not being honest.

A good football weekend!

My new team, the Buffalo Bills, pulled one out with a field goal at the end of the game. 3-0 on the season.

The Spartans did a pretty effective number on Notre Dame yesterday.

It's all good!

Just tuned into the Lions and they are down 21-3 in the first half. You know, I could make a pretty good comparison between the effectiveness of Matt Millen and some editors I know, but I won't.

Marinelli has to be asking him the question another Detroit Lions coach asked about a dozen years ago: "What does a guy have to do to get fired around here."

(Update Monday morning: In the Millen era the Lions are now 8-50 in road games. It would take more than five years of 8-0 road victories to erase that deficit. Come on Mr. Ford, time for Millen to go!)

Flint's hope in biogas

Just read the FJ business reporter Melissa Burden's report on biogas. It was good to see the Journal commit to sending a reporter to Sweden to cover the issue and, as always, Melissa has done a good job.

One major change in her coverage from past (way in the past) Journal excursions is that she is also doing the photographic work that would have normally been done by a photographer. Clearly, this had to be a sacrifice to the current financial situation, but it's sad that a photographer didn't have a chance to go along and record the trip.

The one question I was left with is the man they (and it looks like he was wired for a television interview) talked to at a gas station said he has used biogas in his "three" vehicles since 1997.

Because I am driving the same car I purchased in 2000 and will likely drive it for several more years I am curious if he has had to recycle cars because the biogas is hard on them, or if he is just a guy who likes a new car every three years.

The story says the biogas conversion costs $4,000 to $5,000 per car and it takes two years to recoop the savings from using biogas to pay for the conversions. If you trade a car in every two or three years, it would not seem worth the money.

Biogas is made from municipal waste, which is converted to an odorless (hopefully) biomethane which can replace gasoline and diesel.

In the story, the man Anders Folkessom, said the range is less than traditional gasoline and diesel engines. What the story doesn't say is how much shorter? If I have to stop every 200 miles to refuel, I'm probably not interested either.

I was also stunned to read that this high tech technology coming to Flint is expected to bring 25 new jobs. Now any new job is great, but all this State and local investment for a company expected to bring 25 jobs seems a bit over the top.

If they're looking down the road at other businesses (the story mentions that some company will need to make conversion kits for vehicles) then maybe it's worth it.

But a 25-job crap conversion plant will hardly replace the thousands of GM jobs that have left for other parts of America or the world.

Doonesbury takes the buyout

Even Doonesbury is in the act. If you haven't been following the recent newspaper angst subject line at Doonesbury, you can at Slate.com.

Here's a link to my favorite cartoon panel, so far.

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20080918

To see the whole series click on previous until you get to the beginning. It has also continued on a couple days past the above link.

Newspaper fads that came and went

Hey, it's the weekend, let's have a little fun. Readership in freefromeditors.blogspot. com continues to increase.

I just wish my 401k had the same upward graph as the daily readership of this blog. Since March 31 we've had more than 7,000 visits. (By the way, the reader in Estonia keeps checking back). The time people spend on the site is also increasing, so thanks for your loyalty.

On Thursday, I talked to an old friend (actually the person is much younger than I am) but someone I have known in the business for a long, long time. As a frequent reader of this blog the person reminded me of some of the wonderful, if short-lived, fads that reporters and copy editors had to live with at the Journal.

These were the fads of the moments. These were the things that were going to save the newspaper and make us more relevant to the readers. These were the things that were, frankly, one big pain in the behind.

I'm going to throw out a couple and invite you to offer your own. (Remember, when you click on comments you can leave your information safely as anonymous. Not even I know who is responding, although I really wish "inky" would let him/herself be known to me.)

Anyone who has been at the Journal five years or more will remember the metro editor's brainchild to have an "info box" with every story. These little boxes were going to be short, pithy

little factoids that readers could not live without.

They were supposed to be important information that would explain an important part of the story, pull out facts that, if written in text, would be clumsy. In some cases, they actually worked.

There were a number of times that the metro editor caught my wrath after the copy desk would cut the info boxes for space. So a story about, say police salaries, would not include the actual salaries because they had been formatted in the "info box" and then cut for space. That left the reader thinking I was an idiot, which might not be that far off, but for the wrong reason.

Or the phone number to respond to a story about an event that was included in the info box was axed. The metro editor would tell me that he was doing all he could to explain to the copy desk how vital the "info boxes" were in the scheme of things, but what he didn't provide was the actual room in the paper to include them.

I came to really dislike info boxes, not because they were a bad idea. In some cases I actually thought they were a good idea, but because in practice it never really worked or ended up causing more than a few corrections or clarifications.

Then there was another fad about a half dozen years ago, in which the same editor or one like him came up with the genius idea that every name in the paper had to be a person's full given name. That meant Jim Jones, whether that was what Jim preferred or not, had to be written as James E. Jones in the paper.

Reporters often spent long periods of time trying to call government officials or other sources to determine the formal names of people. If Pete Frankenstein spoke up at a city council meeting and you couldn't catch him before he left, you were left scrambling phone books, city clerks records or anything else to make sure you ended up with Peter J. Frankenstein in the paper.

There were no exceptions. If an unidentified body was found it had to be written as John B. Doe in the police blotter item. OK, I made that part up, but it was almost that silly. Actually, I think cop stories were pretty much the only exemptions to the edict.

It went on for a frustratingly long time until even to the geniuses that control these important things, it was allowed to vaporize into Journal history.

Now, it's your turn. There are many more examples of this stupidity and I'm inviting you to submit them to me now. If you prefer not to leave a comment but send them to my e-mail send them to: jlsmediaservices (at) gmail (dot) com. Use the actual symbols for the words in parenthesis, but I don't need the spam by printing the actual address here.

I'm really liking Ralph Nader

At least this is a funny ad. I'm thinking that Ralph Nader is getting the short end of the stick from the media. We've heard everything there is to hear (good and bad) about McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden. It would be refreshing to maybe, just maybe, get a new perspective from a guy who has really been fighting for consumers for a long, long time.

If our system continues to lock up everything for the two major parties nothing will ever change. There's that word again.

For a little humor, follow this link to Ralph Nader talking to a parrot.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/ralph_nader_and_cardozo_the_pa.html?nav=rss_blog

A high, hard-one pitched by Newhouse

This memor was sent to employees of the New Jersey-based Star-Ledger newspaper, which is otherwise known in Newhouse circles (the chain that owns the Booth newspaper group and the Flint Journal) as the "Mother Ship." This one is going to leave a mark.

From: ARWADY, GEORGE
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 1:01 PM
To: ~ MAINTENANCE
Subject: Update from Arwady

To: All Star-Ledger Employees
From: George Arwady
Date: September 16, 2008

Re: Update

As I have previously told you, there are three conditions that must be met in order for The Star-Ledger to remain in business under its current ownership. Although we are making progress toward meeting two of our three conditions (the Mailers have a ratification vote scheduled for September 22), we still are far from an agreement with the Drivers? union.

Accordingly, since it is doubtful that the Drivers will ratify an agreement by October 8, 2008, we will be sending formal notices to all employees this week, as required by both federal and New Jersey law, advising you that the Company will be sold, or, failing that, that it will close operations on January 5, 2009.

It is most unfortunate that we have to send out this notice, but the Drivers have left us with no choice.

George Arwady, Publisher

Let Nader debate

Look, the two-party system is a mess. It's clear that big money controls both parties and it doesn't help that other voices are kept out.

What does it hurt to let third party candidates into the fray? So I'm on board the "Let Ralph Debate" bandwagon.

You can get on the bandwagon as well at: Constitutionpledge.com

What are the two major parties afraid of when they lock out dissident voices from the debate?

A year ago today (or yesterday)

It was a year ago today, or yesterday if you go by days of the week rather than dates, that the publisher offered the generous buyouts that started the clean out of the "characters" from the Flint Journal.

The Journal loves anniversary stories so here is mine.

Late last week, we learned that a second round of buyouts may be offered as soon as next month. From what I understand these will require folks to be gone by the end of the year, but that could change.

And now I'm hearing reports that the New Jersey newspaper (George Arwady) Star Ledger is talking about closing or a sale in the near future. (More on that later).

For some of us, the buyout was a copper parachute, for others a brief life ring to the next job, and for others they are still waiting on that "next thing." Some of them, I know, miss the rough and tumble of daily reporting, but fully understand that under the current leadership those days were behind them whether they were at the Flint Journal or out.

I grew up in a home where my stepfather's job at Lockheed Aircraft Corp. in Burbank, California, was always at risk for layoff. I know the toll that took on my stepdad always wondering if Friday was his last day (he ended up retiring at 70 after nearly 40 years on the job).

So my heart goes out to the folks living through this again at the Journal this year. Many of them are young folks who have the same love of journalism that brought many of us into the profession when we were their age.

Knowing how bright they are I can only assure them that whatever happens, they will succeed.

Currently they are limited by what, in my humble opinion, is poor management and weak leadership. Someday they will discover what their real potential is under effective and strong leadership. But for now, I know it must, well, suck.

Talking about football, for a minute

Joan and I are still drying out from sitting at the MSU vs. Florida Atlantic game at Spartan Stadium Saturday.

Even before we left Lapeer, Joan was urging me to reconsider and stay home and watch the game on television.

"But I already bought the tickets and besides, it can't rain all day," I told her.

Wrong. It not only rained all day, it got harder as the day went on. But she was a good sport and didn't whine and sat in the upper deck shrouded in a poncho for three hours. Finally, when the score was 17-0 in with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, I looked at her and offered an escape. She gladly took it.

The score didn't change and we didn't dry out until late Saturday night. On Sunday, the rain continued, but we didn't stay home to watch the hapless Detroit Lions.

Instead we went to an RV show (yes, we may be the only people in the country looking at buying a gas guzzling truck and Fifth Wheel recreational vehicle) to look at the new models. So the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

As far as the Lions, I'm not even concerned about them. I have adopted the Buffalo Bills (it's my second home after all) and really have better things to do with my time than be concerned with the semi-pro team that occupies Ford Field.

I am going to purchase a short series of tickets for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team (Gordy Howe series - 9 games) for the coming season.

What will Booth consolidation look like?

I'm going out on a limb here. Pretty dangerous place for a guy as big as me, but let's do it anyway.

When the editor talks about consolidation and having too many editors, it is apparent that Booth (or Newhouse) is looking to save money by merging operations. One of those could obviously be running the copy desk for the eight Michigan newspapers out of one, maybe two, locations.

While that might work to produce a common Nation and World page, it is hard to imagine (and as I said before I could be wrong) how this would work for local news. One of the strengths of any copy desk is the knowledge (many copy editors are former local news reporters) that the editors have of local figures and places. Without that background it is hard to imagine how a copy desk, say based in Flint or Saginaw, could competently edit copy from Jackson or Kalamazoo. More mistakes, more loss in credibility, something the paper simply can't afford now.

The Journal always had a strong sports and features presence. Sports seems to be intact, I still see a commitment to local coverage there, but the features pages have all but disappeared. Since Cookie (and we're praying for your quick healing) left there is a marked reduction in a focus on a strong local feature section. I used to love reading the Journal feature section, I'm not even sure if there is one now. That could either be consolidated out of one location, or eliminated all together under the new plans.

Readers need to watch for a drastic reduction in what is called the "news hole." Most newspapers when I started 30 years ago used to have a pretty healthy balance between ads and news. 70/30 or even 75/25 percent news to advertising was the norm. Watch for a cutback to a 50/50 balance, which will make the paper much thinner that the skinny version you get today.

How does that save money? Couple of ways. Less space for news, less need for more reporters or reporters to work overtime to fill the "hole." Even larger than that is the cost of newsprint, which like everything else has skyrocketed in recent years. Smaller paper, less newsprint, more savings. Can't say as I blame them here.

In fact, my preference would be to go ahead and shrink the news hole, but with the same number of editorial people, that would reduce the daily pressure and allow for more long range projects.

If the Journal cut out a niche as the crusading watchdog, people might tolerate a day or two of meager coverage to look forward to a monster breaking expose on say, the Mayor being secretly involved in a non-profit group trying to bring street racing to Flint. That wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't some suspicion, or even evidence, that the city has been doing the infrastructure work at taxpayer cost to make the thing happen. That's just one example.

For newspapers it's fourth down in the fourth quarter and your team is down by 5 points. You either kneel down and surrender or throw the Hail Mary pass! Throw the Hail Mary, go for broke (literally).

Of course, I could be wrong.

A good back and forth on the subject of the Flint Journal

A recent comment thread on a previous post has provided an interesting commentary on the current issues at the Flint Journal. Except for the first comment from “Cat Paws” the exchange between me and the second anonymous commentator has been civil, the kind of discussion I would like to promote here.

Anonymous said...
The Flint Journal is a trickle of warm pee these days. What was once one of the best papers in the mid-west back in the 1940-50s is now a PC self serving product that like almost every paper today is not near worth the delivery price. What is there in each days paper that would make me care to support it? Nothing !Cat Paws.
12 September, 2008 22:50

Jim of L-Town said...
I think, like a lot of newspapers, the Flint Journal just lost its way. Management forgot that people wanted hard-hitting, incisive breaking news coverage. They wanted to be able to pick up the paper and find out what happened in an accident they drove by the day before.

When they saw police tape around a house they expected that the paper would have the full story the next day and be confident they had the real story of what happened.They wanted reporters to attend city council, school board meetings and from them be the watchdog for the community.

At those meetings reporters mingled with government officials and citizens and learned what was going on in that community.Some new age editors arrived and decided what people really wanted were more soft features, more feel good articles about, well you name it.

They discouraged meeting coverage, they dragged reporters off the street and back into the office where they could be watched and now they are reaping the results.They decided that dramatic and disturbing photos were offending and not attracting readers. They were wrong.

On top of that the Internet exploded and started providing a free outlet (if often very wrong and irresponsible) for the kind of news people wanted. So in a panic they fired up an online version of the weak coverage they were giving in the daily and it hasn't worked, so far, to bring back readers. They try video, interactive polls, anything they can but to use a very common phrase today, you can put lipstick on it, but it's still a pig. No offense intended to pigs or anyone else.

13 September, 2008 07:14

Anonymous said...
The Journal is still doing a good job of providing the crime news and what's going on at City Hall and in communities. Granted, with fewer reporters, there isn't as much of that as in the past, but if you've been reading the paper, it's been getting all the big stories.

The last few Sundays have been particularly good with stories about who owns land in Flint, the Land Bank and about how a school district wants to put advertising on buses.

More breaking coverage includes having a good story about the Secret Service going to some body's house to investigate bomb threats.

Tell me what other news organization around the area would do all of that? The real problem is advertisers are giving up on the print product and taking there money to the Internet, but the business-model there doesn't generate the heaps of cash it did because there's so much to choose from.

That plus the fact that Michigan economy is in the toilet basically means it doesn't matter whether the paper is any good. That's the tragic part because the people who stayed have been working their butts off for the past year doing a good job with what they have, but now face more monumental change.
13 September, 2008 13:59


Jim of L-Town said...
I would agree that for the small staff that is left they are doing as good a job as possible.

It's simply not possible to do all the things that were done in the past because ownership has stripped the newspaper of an adequate number of reporters to do the job. I'm an old dog. I still think the beat system, where one reporter covers a specific area of interest provides the best coverage for the paper.

It's simply not possible to do that with the numbers of reporters on hand now. The ownership made a decision to make money, by wrecking the thing that made the product. It just won't work.

People expect more, not less for less today. There is a limit what any human being can produce and produce well. From my perspective, the paper is concentrating on quick turnaround stories that, yes, are good news stories. But where is the in depth coverage of the inner workings of Flint City Hall. What reporter is covering the weekly circus that is City Council and the Mayor. Who is looking into and requesting documents on the Mayoral appointments, their backgrounds, etc.?

Those kinds of investigations take time. That is impossible when there are assigned quotas for stories for reporters. From where I live, I really don't care who owns land in Flint. So I have to admit I did not read that story.

Where is the detailed coverage of the townships, cities and villages? Reporters have become taxicab drivers, sent anywhere and anywhere an editor needs them at any moment to fill a hole. That is the antithesis of good beat reporting.

Are there good stories in the Journal? Sure, I've acknowledged a number of them. I understand a reporter will be traveling to Sweden for a business story. That is great, that's the kind of commitment and investment that should pay dividends for readers.

My only point is that when I started there, I made sure we didn't miss any accident in which there was a significant injury. I made sure we didn't miss any assault that put someone in a hospital. We covered every armed robbery, etc.

I'm not blaming the reporters that that is not happening today. I'm blaming management for trying to save money by ruining the product. Not going to work.
13 September, 2008 21:01

Anonymous said...
Note: due to some editing (at the poster's request) I had to post this under anonymous. I posted this, but the words below are completely that of the poster. I will respond to it in the following entry. Here follows the info:

Jim,

You make great points about the beat system its benefits. But you exaggerate the extent that people are general assignment. Nearly every veteran reporter there continues to cover beats and cover them well. Take higher ed, Flint schools/politics, business, cops/courts, Genesee county, southern Genesee County, northern Genesee County/Lapeer County - they all have done some great beat reporting lately.

And your point about the Flint City Hall coverage is a little off. The Journal's current reporter is breaking a lot of news. Take the coverage of the drag strip craziness. The Journal also hasn't missed the fact the feds have been busy with the super chief and his son and has followed all the dramas with the police officers who can't talk to the press.

While more resources to investigate City Hall always would be helpful, I think given the circumstances they've done well. The terrible reality, here, is the owners just can't afford the Cadillac paper Flint had 10, 20 years ago. The market doesn't support it. The paper hasn't made money in years and now with the nationwide economic crisis in newspapers, Newhouse's other properties can't prop it up like the past.

I'm not happy with the current situation and I wish the paper had more resources. The area community deserves it, but the financial situation that is forcing this upcoming round of buyouts, I believe, will transform the paper far more than what happened last year.

But I don't think this is being contemplated over greed. It's being contemplated over survival.

(Anonymous) 9/13/08

Just for information to all posters: If you send me a post that includes both on-the-record and off-the-record information it is very difficult and requires some crazy electronic gymnastics to perform. I really only have the choice to accept or to reject an offering, so when I get one that has personal information you don't want printed it is really, really difficult to post. Better to send two posts one with the good info and one with the background. FYI.
14 September, 2008 09:03

Jim of L-Town said...
Thanks for you post. Listen I don't have all the answers, but I have a lot of opinions. So I always hold out the possibility that I am wrong.

We don't really disagree. My only point is that someone who has a beat that covers all of one county and a third of another is not a beat reporter, that's a general assignment.

People who have a beat covering a specific area like courts and cops should not be doing stories (routinely) that don't involve that beat.

My only other point is that seeking survival is actually seeking defeat, in my opinion, of course.

When you fall off a ship, is it better to tread water and hope for rescue or see a light in the distance and swim for it? For me I would rather die trying to swim for help, rather than treading water and hoping that I would be found.

To me what the Journal is doing is treading water in hopes that a ship will come by and save them or that a mountain will grow out of the bottom of the ocean and lift them out of the water. From my view, which is admittedly now from the outside, I would rather see the company pour money into the product, make it something people HAD to have then continue to shrink it down, making it even more unappealing to readers and advertisers.

None of this, my friend, is a criticism of the reporters, or frankly many of the editors, who are there, but of the short-sighted management that continues to try to bleed its way to health. Didn't work for George Washington and I don't think it will work for newspapers.

But I certainly respect and welcome your point of view. I'll try and tone down the strident language for awhile. I had lunch with a few of my fellow buyoutees the other day and the one thing we all agreed on is that we want the Flint Journal to survive. For one thing, we all have a lot invested in it and for the other we have a lot of friends who are still there. Keep coming back!
14 September, 2008 09:12

Journal editorial exhibits double standard

Flint Journal editorial hypocrisy has been discussed here before (http://freefromeditors.blogspot.com/2007/12/sometimes-no-news-is-hypocrisy.html), but an editorial posted on Sept. 12, 2008 really takes the cake.

In the editorial:


http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/voices/index.ssf/2008/09/wrong_deal_advertisements_on_s.html

The Journal says a school district should not use advertising on buses for the sake of the children. Good enough. Makes sense. However, the Journal delivers its product to schools every week under the Newspaper In Education program.

Guess what, those newspapers are full of advertisements, many directed at young people, and they didn't bother to say that's a bad thing.

Might have something to do with the NIE program and its importance to the overall circulation numbers of the newspaper. The newspaper loves sending those papers to schools because it inflates its circulation numbers, which in turn allow them to charge advertisers more money. Or maybe they are just concerned about another competitor for ad dollars.

So my beef isn't with the content of the editorial, but in the fact that I doubt the newspaper will follow its own advice and decline to send the newspapers to the schools out of concern for hurting the children.

More bad news

For my friends at the Journal, if you've had enough bad news for awhile, forget going to this post because it will seem all too familiar.

http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/09/crisis-at-gazette-part-three.html

But if you are into newspaper masochism there are a number of equally depressing items at the "Fading to Black" link in the right hand column.

More on new Flint Journal buyouts

OK, first I have to correct my first report on the new round of buyouts. The information came not from Publisher Dave Sharp, but was given to staff members by Editor Tony Dearing following the weekly recognition meetings. (Gosh, I hated those).

After gushing over this week's stories (one of the editor's favorite, if incomprehensible sayings, was that this or that writer "had written with authority." Never knew what that meant, because the examples he gave were simply just good writing that any competent reporter could or should do. Or how about the other time he lavished praise on a reporter for using a reverse directory to find a witness for a story by, stop the presses, looking in a reverse directory. Any first year cub reporter would know how to do that, but to the editor this was a major accomplishment). Sorry for the aside, but I quit going to those meetings after he gushed over the work of an editor over the coverage of a tornado. What the editor apparently didn't know was the weekend coverage of the tornado was almost completely reporter driven. The best thing the editor did that particular weekend was that he got out of the way and let us do our job, which come to think of it probably deserved some praise because it so rarely happened.

Anyway, back to the buyouts. It sounds like after a little prodding, the editor acknowledged that the revenue stream had turned to a trickle and that some serious additional cutting had to be done. Sounds like editors may be on the block this time as the Booth company is now looking at consolidating all the properties into one massive budget.

Because I wasn't at the meeting I'm piecing together information that tells me that people and resources could be moved around to maximize profits instead of each paper serving on its own.
The inference was that what had been seen as a potential profit turnaround by 2010 is not happening and may in fact be deteriorating.

No specifics were announced on the next round of buyouts, but there was some statement that they won't be as lucrative as they were last year. Believe me, those of us who took the buyouts are very thankful (and grateful) for the extent of them.

We are sad that our colleagues continue to face the uncertainty of the newspaper's survival. It is hard to imagine the company selling the Journal or even closing up shop, but it sounds like those options are on the table, at least a year from now.

As I learn more, I'll keep you posted.

Flint Journal buy outs Part III

Looks like the free fall continues at the Flint Journal. Apparently there will soon be a third wave of "targeted" buyouts at the Flint Journal.

Publisher Dave Sharp has told the staff that the hoped for turnaround at the newspaper simply has not happened. It was one year ago this week that the second round of buyouts were announced at the paper.

As you will recall, the deal at that time was four weeks pay for every year worked if you were a full-time employee. The publisher also said that there would be no further buyouts and that this (last year's buyout) was the best opportunity to get out with a little cash and dignity.

Stay tuned for details.

Corrupt politician launches attack on corrupt politicians

Flint (Michigan) Mayor Don Williamson has launched a website to root out political corruption in Genesee County, Michigan.

That's a little like Charlie Manson launching a website to identify crazy, lunatic, homicidal maniacs in California prisons.

Mayor Williamson has a thick brain and thin skin, a dangerous combination.

So "The Don" as he is known in these parts (you know the angry part of the country where we cling to our religion and our guns) has identified his first five targets:

The first two targets, Alex Harris and Raymond Bridges, just happen to be the key movers in an attempt to recall the mayor. Two others are executives at the Flint Journal and the third is a Flint Journal columnist who has been ruthless (in a ruthlessly good way) towards the Mayor.

So the first five corruption targets are simply opponents of the Mayor. No secret there and here is the exact text on the website, which is "thecorruptionmustend.com."

"We look forward to meeting you and working with you to put a stop to the corrupt politics in Flint and Genesee County! The corrupt politicians and the agenda driven media need to be exposed, but we need your help, please make a donation today!

COMING SOON!!! "My life as a Prison Guard."
Alex Harris abuse of power...

COMING SOON!!! "My ties to Drug Dealers."
Raymond Bridges is comfortable on the corner...

COMING SOON!!! "The Three Stooges Exposed:"

David "LARRY" Sharp (FJ publisher, my note)

Andy "CURLY" Heller (FJ columnist, my note)

Tony "MOE" Dearing (FJ columnist, my note)"

I think the Mayor has it all wrong here, Andy Heller is clearly "Moe."

The website is a joke. You can leave a comment, but not without enough information for someone to start an FBI probe on you and then only comments approved (read only positive comments) will be used. Guess what, all the comments are positive so far.

This is a Mayor who has a police chief who will fire you if you talk to a newspaper (then they hire you back after a city lawyer explains that the chief and city are walking on legal quicksand).

Frankly, the newspaper has been too easy on the Mayor. Some suspect that the large advertising contract of the Mayor's Flint Township car dealership (OK, it's technically the Patsy Lou Williamson dealership, but everyone knows who really runs it) has influenced some of the paper's coverage of the Mayor. I simply don't know.

Brief aside: Before he was Mayor, Don Williamson, did land me an interview with his good buddy, Burt Reynolds, who was the namesake of a Dodge truck tricked out as "The Bandit." As I recall the truck also had Burt's signature on it.

Burt was in town to promote the truck and I was able to interview him for nearly 45 minutes at the dealership. It was a fun interview that actually broke a little news as Burt had just completed the movie "Boogie Nights." Reynolds did not want to talk much about the movie even offering that it might have been a mistake. He changed his tune a few months later when he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Aside over.

If the Flint Journal wanted to it could go back a few years and look up another highly touted website that hizzoner started after he was first in office. That one had to do with slumlords. He set up that website to track down the worst blight offenders in the city and again to attack the media.

After a few weeks flurry of stories and comments, it fizzled like a wet firecracker. The mayor is all flash and dash, but no substance. So if you're interested in seeing the website, better check in quick, it is likely to fade into history in short order.

And for those of you checking in from Estonia, Morocco, France or even California, just thank your lucky stars you don't live in Flint.

New season, same old Lions, ugggh

All the optimism of a 4-0 preseason just evaporated with the reality of a 34-21 loss (and it wasn't really that close) to the young Atlanta Falcons team (rookie quarterback Matt Ryan shredded the Lions) may be a preview of what is to come.

As always, my expectations for the Lions (last championship came when Eisenhower was President) were very low and not unrewarded. My plans were not to watch the game, but my wife talked me into it saying that I needed to relax after a busy week and a busy Saturday cleaning our yard.

Now I wish I had worked outside. What a wasted afternoon watching a wasted effort by a wasted team.

If any city or region needed a lift right now it's Detroit (depression, disgraced Mayor, slumping Detroit Tigers baseball team - and if you need more I can send them to you) but unlike the inspirational New Orleans Saints, we have, to be charitable, an unusually bad football team here in Detroit.

So I hate to give up on them this early, but for the sake of my attitude and to return productiveness to my afternoons, I must. Someone let me know if they turn the corner on this miserable performance, but not until they have tallied eight wins, anything less is just another wasted season.

And just in case you are an Atlanta Falcons fan, don't get too excited about your team, either. The Lions have made a lot of poor teams look better than they really are in recent years. So I wish you well, but you'll need to face a real team before you know how good your team is.

The Ford family might have had the formula for making a good car at one time, but they have been failures at football, but they cling to the franchise that so desperately needs a Jerry Jones or another owner who not only cares about football, but winning.

At least training camp starts soon for the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup winning hockey team.

Let's go Red Wings!

MSU routs EMU Eagles 42-10

Life is good, the Spartans win. Joan and I are going to see MSU next Saturday in East Lansing. They are playing Florida (something, but not one of the biggees like Florida, Florida State or Miami). It may be Florida Mother-of-Mercy or something like that.

I hate that these really good football teams load up the schedule early with cupcake teams to inflate their records. Now that I've said that, let's home MSU (Michigan State) for those who might confuse it with Missouri State or something, takes care of business next Saturday as they face Florida (whatever). Who will ever forget what happened to Michigan last season against Appalachian State. Not that any of us from MSU will ever give them a chance to forget.

Javon Ringer ran for five touchdowns today. He's the best.

A little Addisen attitude, and Brittany style

My favorite picture (so far) of my granddaughter Addisen (the little one on the left). I also have attached a photo of my other "favorite" granddaughter Brittany who has started college this fall. They are both precious in their own ways.

I miss my little Brittany and am reminded of her every time Miss Addisen stops by, which is far too infrequently.

Another news sales graph going the wrong direction

From the Reflections of a Newsosaur blog (link to the right)

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/09/newspaper-sales-fall-record-3b-in-6-mos.html#comments

I keep hoping that things have hit bottom, but it appears the bottom may be pretty deep.

Journal salaries: A story of have and have nots

As far as I can tell about 40 (give or take) editorial department employees took the most recent buyout. The fact that the large exodus of experienced news gathering employees eviscerated the newsroom is evidenced by the large number of new hires.

As promised, I have collected information during the past month on salaries at both the weeklies and the daily Flint Journal. In addition to some specific salary amounts (no names will be listed here) I have information that put together with other facts result in a fair educated guess as to others.

When I left the Journal there were more than 80 editorial employees. According to the latest staff listing on Mlive, the Flint Journal now has about 75 editorial employees. Of those, less than half are involved in the direct collection of news.

I counted 21 daily newspaper reporters (several who are part-time reporters and two columnists), 8 weekly reporters, one editorial writer and five reporters that because I have been out of the newsroom am unable to figure out which side they work on. That’s a total of 35 reporters.

The rest of the editorial department, about 40 people, is made up of editors, copy editors, page designers, a TV coordinator, calendar coordinator, librarian, office staff and a community conversation producer. Top heavy, you bet.

Shockingly, and perhaps mistakenly, there are only three photographers listed on the staff roster. I know they have a small stable of free lancers they call on, but it is hard to imagine the Flint Journal operating with such a tiny number of photographers, especially with the stated reliance on good graphics, photos and videos.

So, in the way of a recap, let’s go back to 1989 when I started at the Journal. I was hired out of the Oakland Press at a step somewhat above the starting salary step. I was paid $610 a week in 1989. When I left in December, my base pay was $1,052 a week.

There are several reporters who are still at that top step and for those who cover night meetings and work night shifts there’s an additional 5 percent incentive pay. Presumably there are reporters still making as much as $1,100 a week in the newsroom.

That’s the same pay that some of the copy editors who took the buyouts were also making when they left. New reporters are being hired in at about $35,000 to $36,000 a year. That is slightly higher than the $33,000 a year that I started at in 1989.

In my early years at the Journal, merit and cost-of-living raises were annual and in at least one year I received a 10 percent raise. In recent years, the paper has given an annual bonus (on top of the 53rd week paycheck that it always did) which has ranged about 1 to 1.5 percent. It's a one time payment that does not increase an employee's salary, thereby holding down eventual retirement costs.

Weekly salaries are all over the map and to be frank the information was difficult to come by. People at the Journal are terrified of speaking up for fear of what might happen to them if they are caught expressing their right of free speech.

But here is what I have learned. New weekly reporters (most of the weekly reporters are full-time, but a couple, some who have been there a long, long time have been kept at part-time status) are starting at $11 an hour. Must be a hard pill to swallow to earn McDonald’s wages when you have to pay off college loans, pay rent and maintain a car. There may be veteran weekly reporters making close to the starting wages of new daily reporters, but again, information was difficult to come by.

Some of the weekly reporters absorbed by the Journal when it purchased the weeklies were making about $14 a hour. At least one of those has left, so I'm not sure how many folks remain at that level.

At least one veteran, full-time weekly reporter who reportedly has a master’s degree is hauling down a miserly $22,000 a year.

Now editors, this is a harder target to hit. As you can imagine, I’m not on the frequent contact list of any editor at the Journal. Can’t say as I blame them. But through some anecdotal information I can make a couple educated estimations.

Middle managers are making in the $70-$75,000 range. (Although a new editor brought in came in at about half that, I believe that person has now moved on). My guess is that the managing editor must be up in the mid to high $80,000 range and no doubt the editor is close or above the six figure mark.

There have been rumored management bonuses and perks apart from the annual 53rd week paycheck, but again I have no information on that.

Benefits are fairly consistent, with part-timers receiving part-time benefits. The only change will come next year when retirement health care will significantly change or become non-existent for some. (See earlier blog entry).

Some of us who left received lump sum payments of nearly two years' pay (some more than that) others are receiving weekly checks equal to what they were making when they were at the Journal. Clearly, this has to be a long range strategy to reduce expenses, but in the short run it would seem to be tremendous financial hit to the newspaper. At the same time you are paying off high paid editorial employees you are hiring and paying additional employees (albeit at a lower salary). Someone smarter than I must have come up with this plan, but I'm appreciative of the consideration that I, and others, received for going away.

Now, if I were still an employee at the Flint Journal, I would call an off-site meeting with all my fellow workers, sit down and graph out exactly what everyone is making. There is no question that some people make more than others, despite doing the same work and the fact they have longer seniority, and the reason for that is as arbitrary as an editor not liking a person’s personality.

Information is power and right is right and wrong is wrong. The only way the disparity will ever by known is for everyone to share the information with each other.

Now, if some of my facts and figures are way off, please feel to contact me through my gmail account: jlsmediaservices@gmail.com and I’ll gladly make the adjustments or additions in the blog entry.

I will be updating this story as new information comes in.

Michael, Michael, Michael

Trust Davison's native son Michael Moore to step into a potentially tragic storm with a very inappropriate comment.

If he keeps this up, he's going to make it very hard to be named to the Davison Hall of Fame. Frequent freefromeditors blog visitor Kevin McKague can tell you more about this.

Do we have to play politics with everything in this country? Hurricanes and other natural disasters along with terrorist attacks should not be used for political advantage. That goes for both sides, IMHO.

Here's the link to Michael's entire comment on the Keith Olbermann (who I know is very popular with other readers of my blog, and not so much with others) show last Friday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lrAf_TE-1I&feature=related

Welcome Estonia!

Someone from Estonia checked in Saturday. So now we are popular in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and not Northern Europe.

Salary story to publish Monday

Although the sample is small, I feel confident that the numbers I have are very close to the current reality at the Flint Journal. I'm writing the story this weekend and will publish it on Monday - Labor Day.

Helen Dent back from the dead

This from today's Flint Journal (Page 2 corrections):

"Helen Dent still living

An article Friday about a real estate sale at the former Goodrich home of Harold and Helen Dent should have said Helen Dent is still alive, while her husband died in 1990. The article contained incorrect information."

The "incorrect" information was wording that made it sound like Mrs. Dent was dead, which she obviously is not.

Here's the link to the story, but remember it won't be there long:

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/08/take_a_trip_through_flint_hist.html

Hard to know who made the error, but my wild guess is that an editor did it trying to shorten up the story. I've never had an editor kill one of my story subjects, but I have had them edit in misinformation, switched quotes and otherwise mangled a story because the editor was so much smarter and better than I.

An editor's motto should be the same as a doctor's: First, do no harm.

William T. Smith, RIP

William T. Smith, my uncle, was quite simply the funniest man in the world. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but to me he was the funniest man I ever knew.

Funnier than Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, or maybe even Laurel and Hardy, although Uncle Bill would take exception to that because he thought they were the funniest men in the world.

I've never been a laugh-out-loud person. Uncle Bill could make me laugh out loud. He could have made you laugh out loud, even though most of you will have to take my word on that.

He was a prankster, a kidder, but he was a master joke teller and he had a million of them.

Uncle Bill would do anything, with some wide limits, for a laugh. I shared with my cousin Cynthia today (Cynthia is the oldest of Uncle Bill and Aunt Mona's three daughters) the story of a trip up Angeles Crest Highway in Los Angeles for a picnic at Mt. Waterman.

The two families met up at a prearranged place and my Uncle Bill stepped out of his station wagon wearing a plaid, short-sleeved shirt, stripped Bermuda shorts, mismatched socks and mismatched tennis shoes. He topped off the outrageous ensemble with the most ridiculous Panama hat you have ever seen.

It was hilarious and Uncle Bill had no inhibitions about showing up in public like that.
Tell him you thought he had beautiful teeth and he would pop out his perfect dentures and try to hand them to you.

He had a laugh that came from the bottom of the well of his spirit and tumbled out his mouth and could infect a whole room.

As a kid, I often stayed with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Mona (she passed a number of years ago) in their Los Angeles home. My parents lived in a garage apartment behind their house on Camaro Avenue. Those were some of my earliest, and favorite, memories.

He told a joke about "a beautiful suit" that simply reduced everyone to pieces when he told it. I tried to tell the joke and it fell flat. My Uncle had facial expressions and mannerisms that lit up any joke he told.

But Uncle Bill was not just a funny man. He was a kind and loving person, who cared deeply for his family and friends and let them know it. He was also a veteran of World War II.

When I went out to California last January I wanted to see Uncle Bill, but he discouraged the visit. "Better to remember me how I was," was his answer. He was sick and not up to visitors. While I was disappointed at the time, I think I get it now. He wanted me to remember the good times, the great jokes and the warm memories of love that he showed to me in those early years.
The last time I saw Uncle Bill (who early in his career was a beat reporter with one of the many Los Angeles dailies in the 1940s) he was visiting me here in Michigan during the late 1980s. He and I visited the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. On the way back to the Detroit Airport I took him to Ann Arbor to see the hospital where he was born.

Unfortunately the hospital had been razed and he was disappointed to see it was not the same as he last saw it some years ago. So maybe it was with his feelings about me visiting him. It wouldn't have been the same.

Sometime Thursday night, my cousin Cynthia is going to slip his favorite sword into his casket so it will be with him always.

The world is just a little bit more serious today, but I'll bet they are yucking it up in heaven. After all, they just took in the best joke teller of all time. At least in my humble opinion.

Rest in Peace, Uncle Bill, I'm going to have myself a really good laugh.

Love, Jim

New country checks in

On Sunday, freefromeditors received a visit from someone in the Republic of Moldova (which sounds like one of those fake countries The Three Stooges used to talk about.

But Moldova, which is next to Romania in Eastern Europe, is now the 33rd country to visit.

Welcome Moldovian!

Former Ganneters start their blog

For all you former, or current Ganneters who read this blog (and I know there are a few because you have let me know) there is a new one especially for those recently laid off:

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/laid-off-join-our-new-memorial-to.html

Also may I commend to your reading the Sunday entries on "Fading to Black" blog which is listed in the link list next to this entry. Lots of important and interesting newspaper news there.

Crim coverage once again superb

In addition to breaking news, the one thing the Flint Journal did very, very well from my earliest employment was the coverage of the Crim Festival of Races.

To be fair, this year was really good again. Undoubtedly part of that was due to the coverage, anchored by Bill Khan, who is a veteran reporter who knows this event inside out. It helps he is a runner as well. As always the Crim Special Section (except for the misspelled word "downton" in the caption) was a marvel in quick turnaround.

Two other contributing reporters, Dan Nilsen and Greg Tunnicliff are also veteran sports reporters who have a long history with the event. I do miss former columnist Dean Howe's (took the first buyout a couple years ago) reflections on the event. The front page color story was also well done by a veteran reporter, Sally York, and had the annual (I've done it to when I was there, so I'm not criticizing Sally) predictable story about someone who overcame great odds to compete and finish the race. It's one of those things you can't help but do each year.

So while this is a serious compliment for the coverage, it also points out the need and reason for keeping veteran staff.

Ouch! A magazine, reporter and editors completely duped

Thanks to an alert Freefromeditors reader we have this sad tale:


http://orlandomagazine.com/Editor?view=article&id=61%3Afrom-the-editor

Another one biting the dust

From a regular Freefromeditors reader this note about the Cleveland Plain Dealer:


http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/08/plain_dealer_offers_buyout_to.html

Blogging from Buffalo, today. Home tomorrow.

Buyouts at my new favorite daily

The Buffalo News, which I have touted in previous posts is a great daily newspaper, in my humble opinion. It knows its audience, it knows what news is and it delivers hometown crime and local news better than most.

As soon as we arrived here (in Buffalo), we heard about some looming buyouts at the paper.

In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the Flint Journal I came to in 1989. Good beat reporting, hard hitting editorials and decent daily feature stories. Despite falling victim to what everyone else in the business has, they have kept the main thing, the main thing.

They are offering buyouts, but are specifically exempting news room employees from them. I guess, just maybe, they realize that a newspaper product might be dependent on its main product – news.

Here’s the whole story:

http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/27105474.html

Back to Buffalo

We have a couple day's business with my in-laws in Buffalo, NY, so blogging could be a little slow the next day or two. I have not forgotten the salary story and hope to have it done over the weekend for posting early next week.

The sample was not as large as I would like, but hey, the Journal can make assumptions about an entire jail based on one week's bookings so I'll make a few of my own based on the sample of information I received on Journal salaries.

Anyway, check out the blogs I have linked to, many of them have new newspaper information that you might enjoy.

See you soon!

Whaaaa?

The following strange item appeared on the Flint Journal's website yesterday. Is this a new bill collection device for advertisers?

(This was in a box where an ad might have been)

"This Account Has Been SuspendedPlease contact the billing/support department as soon as possible"

Also what has happened to the comments counter on the Journal website? It is annoying not to have the counter because you have to click on every story to see if it is attracting attention. I have to believe that the lack of a counter is hurting, or at least slowing comments to the website.

If it's broken, it's been broken for awhile, and if it's not broken, why is it not there?

On anonymous sources

The Flint Journal editor used his Sunday column to wring his hands about the anonymous posters on the newspaper's website. Much of what he wrote, I agree with.

Anonymous sources should be used carefully and rarely, but there is a place for them. While the editor was speaking more specifically about unnamed blog posters I would like to take a minute to talk about the occassional need for an anonymous source in a story.

Exhibit 1 will always be Watergate. Without "Deep Throat" the scandal surrounding Richard Nixon would never have happened. There are many other examples. Early in my career I was able to do investigative pieces on local judges only with the help of police officers and attorneys speaking on the condition of anonymity. (Which reminds me I'll have to tell the story of "Let 'em go Louie!")

Heck even the Journal's first lieutenant, who is now the enforcer of the no anonymous comments rule, used anonymous sources and "political insiders" during the time he covered politics many years ago.

In recent years, the Journal has turned down or stopped before completion a number of important stories simply because the folks who provided the information had too much to lose if their identity was known. A careful vetting of anonymous sources is crucial, but not impossible.

Reporters are often too quick to accept information based on the vow of anonymity, but there are times that it makes sense to use them. Police officers and nurses commenting about what is going on inside their own institutions face harrassment and discipline if their names were to come to light. It is true of many professions, including journalism.

About a dozen years ago at the Flint Journal we learned that there was no protection for us under the Whistle Blowers Act after a good reporter was fired and asserted protection under the WBA. The Journal's lawyers, who avoided arguing the merits of the case, asserted that Journal reporters were "at will" employees under State law.

A court ruled that reporters at the Journal were "at will" employees and could be fired for any, or no reason, without recourse. It was a chilling ruling that many of the veteran reporters took to heart.

People are free to post here with or without their name. I simply ask that people try to be civil and non-personal in their comments. As always, I reserve the right to edit the more pointedly personal comments. (I've only had to do that once).

Ugly, ugly and ugly

Here's the latest on Journal Register Co., owner of the Oakland Press and other area newspapers.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003838271

Not much good news here.

Journal jail investigation nothing but a WAG

On Sunday, the Flint Journal ran a front page story "investigating" the now closed Flint Jail. The methodology of the investigation was to take a "typical" week, which they picked in May to look into whether the jail really was about arresting violent criminals.

First, there is no typical week for any jail, let alone a place as volatile as Flint. Let's pick one week at random of news coverage at the Flint Journal and use that to base an opinion of the overall competence and aggressiveness of the newspaper.

Pick the wrong week, one with say a bunch of corrections, maybe a down news period and you could come away with a completely wrong impression of the paper. So to start with, a week is not nearly enough time to make a judgement about any jail.

This was not an "investigation" it was a WAG - Wild Ass Guess.

Secondly, the Journal looked at about 250 arrests for that week. In the story they admit that 86 were for warrants that they could not determine whether they were for misdemeanors or felonies and whether for violent or non-violent offenses.

Heck, that's a third of the sample! With some records work, digging in court files, each and every one of those warrants could have been looked at and the status confirmed. Again, I'm sure there is little time for that kind of investigative work, even though it should be required for a story as potentially important as this one.

Thirdly, the assumptions are completely wrong. The article talks about how non-violent offenders rarely escalate into violent offenders.

True, but totally incomplete. What the paper didn't go on to look at is that many violent offenders are often involved in petty crime, so arresting someone on a petty crime, could, and often does, take a violent offender off the street. Albeit not for a violent crime, but for something else. The effect is the same, the bad guy is off the street. Off the street, means that he/she is not committing a crime, at least for a time.

I have no way of knowing if this was the reporter's idea or an editor's idea, but any decent editor would have demanded a much larger sample of time than one week.

While I am no expert on crime, I worked for two California police departments for 7 years in the 1970s and covered police and crime for 25 years for a couple daily newspapers, I think I have a little credibility on the issue.

And as much as I hate to agree with Mayor Don Williamson, he and others who urge the reopening of the jail are simply, right on. When people can get away with not paying for even minor crimes, avoid being arrested on warrants and know with assurance they won't go to jail for most anything short of a major felony you have a recipe for escalating crime. It's undeniable.

Heck, New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani got it and cleaned up his city by concentrating on the minor crimes that for years were ignored. For those of us who visited New York City before and after the major crackdown ordered by Guiliani we could see, feel and appreciate the difference.
What the article concluded about the City jail, is true of any county jail as well. Most of the people inside are serving time for misdemeanors or felonies reduced to misdemeanors.

Why was there no comparable investigation of the same week for the Genesee County Jail? Why not advocate letting all non-violent prisoners be released from any state jail if there is no effect on violent crime.

The conclusions are absurd and the readership, especially those in Flint, are not well served by such a cursory look at such an important issue.

The one clear anecdotal fact, which was mentioned in passing in the Journal "investigation" was that there have been many shootings and ten homicides, nearly half of the city's annual total since the jail closed July 11. Now there's a statistic to build an investigation around.

A serious journalism investigative piece such as this should take in months of data, something I'm sure the strapped staff does not have time to do.

Thankfully, the Detroit Free Press did not pick a week out of thin air to investigate Kwame Kilpatrick's phone records, they looked at them all. Now there's an investigation.

Could Bay City, Saginaw and Flint by far behind?

A loyal freefromeditors reader provided this interesting link about a consolidation of Booth activities:




http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003839522

Actually murder situation is worse

In my last post I referred to 20 Flint homicides, but in my dead tree version that arrived at home today, the Journal said the current homicide was the City's 22nd homicide of the year.

That means the map is two short and I can't help you out as to where the discrepancy is. It could be that someone wounded earlier in the year has died or that someone has merely miscounted.

We'll see. But pray for the City of Flint.

Journalistic amnesia infects newsrooms

In March, the Flint Journal ran an article with the following lede:

"FLINT, Michigan -- More than two months into 2008, the city of Flint can boast of an unlikely achievement: no homicides.
This is the first time in at least five years that the city hasn't had at least two killings in the first two months of the year. Last year, there were 11 homicides by the time February ended.
Interim Police Chief Gary S. Hagler says it's a sign that Flint is making a dent into violent crime.
"We are very thankful for where we are this time of year," Hagler said. "

To read the whole article go here:

http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2008/03/in_flint_an_unlikely_homicide.html

Here's the headline in today's Flint Journal (online):

Flint registers seventh homicide this month as man is shot after running out of gas

Here's the link to the entire story:

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/08/flint_registers_seventh_homici.html

So I guess the "dent" that the former police chief was talking about in March has been effectively pounded out in August.

For a complete list and map of the locations of the homicides see a previous entry for a blog (not the Journal's) that keeps track. The total is now 20 homicides. That's 0 to 20 in just five months. Last year there were 30 for the whole year, so if the trend (and boy, do the Journal editors love trends) continue, this could be a bad year for the City. Hopefully not, but just sayin'

And if I'm reading the Journal correctly, the City Jail closed on July 11 due to budget problems. Another interesting fact is that since the jail closed, 10 people have been killed, half the year's total. Now there's something worth looking at.

For one thing, in the March story, then police chief Hagler, credited the jail as part of the solution to the homicide problem. You can read it for yourself at the first link in this story.

Hopefully, the boasting has slackened a bit by now.

New definition of a week: 5 or 6 days

A number of daily newspapers around the country are considering the unthinkable. A daily newspaper that does not come out daily.

In the furious effort to stem losses the bosses of many newspapers, and you can probably include the Flint Journal in on this, are considering eliminating editions on unprofitable advertising days, specifically, Saturday and Tuesday.

Saturdays and Tuesdays have always been light on advertising, even in the glory days, but they were tolerated because, hey we're a daily newspaper.

Just a few years ago, a former Flint Journal publisher made the unconscionable decision not to publish because it snowed too much. No self-respecting daily news reporter would ever believe that could happen, but it did.

Many of us got up early, fought our way to work through a variety of means only to learn that a wimpy publisher decided not to publish and the editor apparently didn't argue or wasn't persuasive enough to convince the publisher to reconsider.

When the story hit CNN many of us hung our heads in shame. Not publishing for any reason is akin to wanting to hide your head under a grocery bag. Friends in the business called in disbelief when they heard the news.

"It's true," I told them. "Are you hiring?"

But now, it won't be snow that apparently shuts down the newspaper, but a lack of profit. As an old friend of mine used to say: "It can always get worse."

New visitors and a murder map

Flint Expats (see link to the right) has a grim, but interesting tool that they use based on the Flint Journal's crime coverage.

A number of years ago, the Flint Journal, which used to keep a running annual homicide tally, sacrificed that to political correctness. Mind you, the murders keep adding up, the Journal just decided not to do the math for its readers.

When the paper moved to end the running tally, many folks called or asked why we did that. I could never give them a good answer. Somehow, publicizing the obvious and real became political incorrect. And some wonder why they are losing business.

And wasn't it just about three months ago the paper ran a story about how few homicides there had been?

But Flint Expats is doing the work and here is the link:

http://www.communitywalk.com/flint/michigan/flint_homicides_2008/map/247119

The author of that blog is a frequent visitor and sometime commentor here. I recommend his blog as daily reading. There is plenty of news from Flint, ironically from a guy living out of state.

In an unrelated topic, overnight Monday someone from the Phillipines checked in to the site making us a stop for people in 31 countries now. I have had visitors from 47 of the 57 states (a little Barack Obama joke). With the hits I'm getting, I just wonder when I can start selling ads. That would put me back in the news business, wouldn't it? Never mind.

On websites and changes

Some of those left inside the Flint Journal are no doubt wistfully regretting their decisions not to take the buyout.

There are whispers of “big” changes in the works, which could be anything from major changes in the Booth chain to a brand new, redesigned (again) front page. Stay tuned.

Former photographer and of late videographer, Bruce, one of the last to leave with the buyout, is back filling in for photo editor Steve who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident. (We wish Steve a rapid and complete recovery).

However, the wonderful videos that Bruce produced seem gone from the Journal website. They were well done and at least one, a Kettering student-built tank, made national news. The editor was constantly hyping the new video technology as the savior of the paper and website and now it is seemingly gone. What gives?

In Bruce’s place is a $10 an hour intern. Quite a commitment to the online presence.

In a recent meeting the editor touted the Journal’s print and online presence making the point that more people than ever are reading the Journal if you combine those who visit the website and read the paper. That's some pretty good, if transparent, spin.

Circulation only counts if you are getting paid for it. Who is paying for the online Journal? And how do you know if the same people who are reading the paper aren’t the same ones checking into the website during the day.

And where are the ads? If anyone is going to make the online presence work, don’t they have to find a way to make it pay? This is a business after all. From what I hear, reliable sources and all, is that MLive responds to change requests in snail like speed and the Journal’s commitment to online advertising is one salesperson.

If that Journal salesperson sells an online ad guess who gets most of the cash? You guess it, MLive gets the lion’s share of the profit. How does this make business sense?

Journal editorial management, which was slow to react to market realities, remains mired in old newspaper thinking. Oh they say all the right things and then they replace a full-time talented videographer with an intern.

What’s the old saying: If you find yourself digging a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

New retiree insurance plan spells no insurance for some

On July 31, Flint Journal employees received a 5-page memo from the publisher outlining a new retiree health care plan. I have read the document and part of it is brutally simple.

Anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2010 will not have company paid (or assisted) retiree health care plans. So if you don't get hired by the Flint Journal by Dec. 31, 2009 that great benefit goes bye-bye.

For those with 15 years of service who wait to retire after 2010, will become eligible for the new Retiree Healthcare Insurance Premium Accounts (RHIPA) which in the confusing literature that accompany the letter indicates that the retired employee will be responsible for purchasing their insurance, but with help from the RHIPA and the current HRA program.

Anyone with 15 years service, who wants the current program of company provided health care coverage will have to retire before Dec. 31, 2009, which may be precisely the point. Certainly, the paper has done a lot to encourage the higher paid employees, who are also covered by the better benefits to leave, but this may provide an incentive for some who did not take the buyout.
The company hosted a Q&A session on Aug. 6 (to which I of course was not privy at least not yet) so maybe some of the issues were clarified for employees. But suffice it to say, the health care provisions are less than what current retirees enjoy.

For one thing, the RHIPA will not cover the total cost of health care insurance premiums, but employees will be able to use their HRA (Health Reimbursement Accounts) to pay out-of-pocket expenses such as co-pays, etc. until, of course, those balances are exhausted as they are now.

Bottom line is there simply won't be company provided retiree health care, as there is now, for current and future employees. The Flint Journal is certainly not alone in cutting health benefits, but clearly the future is not bright for new employees and grim for those hired after 2010.

Employees get "credits" for the years they have worked at the Journal, but the literature does not further define "credits." I'm assuming credits translate into dollars, but how much I don't know.

Under the RHIPA the company will pay "up to a certain percentage (later it says 75 percent)" the cost of the health care coverage, until your credits run out. By the way, part-time employees are not eligible for any retiree health coverage. Additonal credits can be earned for taking part in company wellness programs (smoking cessation, for example). That's not a bad idea.

Like many current retirees, the retiree health plan ends at 65 and the onset of Medicare/Medicaid.

"What if the company changes its mind?" was question no. 27. The short answer is that it reserves the right to do just that. If that happens, the information says, you have no vested interest in the RHIPA. Ouch!

I would be curious to know if the reduced benefits are being applied across the board (publishers, editors, etc.) or if it is just reserved to non-management types.