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.

Sorry, I'm working on the salary story

Two things, one I'm currently working on the salary story that I teased a couple weeks ago. I have some figures and will publish my findings very soon.

Also, I'm currently digesting a 5-page memo sent to employees July 31 outlining some major changes to the retirees health plan (for current and future employees). A quick read of the memo seems to indicate that those currently retired are not effected, but there are huge changes ahead for people who work at the Journal and even more for those who will be hired after Jan. 1, 2010.

It's a pretty easy digest for those hired after Jan. 1, 2010: There is no retiree health care plan for those folks and maybe a big incentive for those who have been there awhile and have not yet left, to leave before Dec. 31, 2009.

But, I'm still working over the document and I'll get back to you soon on that.

New blog to read

I'm adding a link to a blog from a former Los Angeles Times reporter and his new blog. William Lobdell is perhaps at the forefront of the new media.

In the previous entry I linked to a particular article, but it might be worth watching Lobdell's OC (Orange County) to see how it develops. For some of our younger newspaper journalists it might be a glimpse at the future.

http://lobdellsoc.blogspot.com/

What he said....

Another insightful examination of my former business.

http://lobdellsoc.blogspot.com/2008/08/42-things-i-know.html

So good, I wish I had written it

Reflectons of a Newsosaur has a great post today:

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/08/getting-local-coverage-in-gear.html#comments

Here's another from Fading to Black:

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/mortuary_like/7186/

A Journal website compliment, really

Over the past few months I've taken plenty of shots at the Journal's website. Most of that comment revolves around the lack of control that the paper has over its own online presence.
So today, with Tuesday's election looming I wanted to pay a compliment to two things I have recently noticed there.

First, I enjoy the new opinion poll features that are included with many of the stories. I love expressing my opinion and I see they are getting quite a number of participants in the polls.
The second thing that caught my eye is the Voter's Guide. The Journal, with the work of one editor named Lou in the 1990s used to put together a fair and comprehensive tab that including all the candidates and issues on the ballot.

The former newsprint voter's guide covered races in northern Oakland, northeast Livingston, much of Shiawassee and all of Lapeer and Genesee counties. People really appreciated the effort.
In recent years, and roughly coinciding with the retirement of Lou, the bosses went to a hap hazard format of election stories that ran in the regular paper staring about seven to eight weeks out from the election right up to election day.

Readers had little idea when the stories about their townships, villages or cities would run and there was not much rhyme or reason about the schedule. With the advent of the Internet it seemed obvious that we could use that resource as a new voter's guide, but it never happened, until this primary election season.

This is very comprehensive and unusually user friendly. My only beef would be that except for the major races (U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress and state representative and state senate races) the out county coverage of local races, Lapeer County, Shiawassee County, etc. is a little thin.

Here's the link: http://thevoterguide.mlive.com/index.do

But let's not spoil the compliment. This is precisely what the online presence is for, and frankly should have been done long before. But when the online presence was the investment of one overworked person, it was simply not possible.

More skunk news with a "Country Chic" touch

Believe it or not, I have yet another encounter with a skunk. We awoke last night about 2 a.m. to the pungent odor of skunk. Sometimes we are visited by skunks, but this was particularly close.

When I got up in the morning to retrieve my copy of the Flint Journal (we have an excellent carrier, by the way) I found the source.

Someone had hit a mature skunk and it was laying in the middle of the road by my mailbox. It was clearly the source of the odor.

After returning from church I found that none of my neighbors had stepped forward to dispose of the skunk so after lunch my wife and I headed out to the road, me with a shovel and she with a large garbage bag to collect the carcass.

My wife immediately called my attention to the obvious "Country chic" moment that we were experiencing. Although I had changed from my Sunday best, she was still dressed nicely and advised she was helping bag a skunk while wearing her Honora pearl necklace.

So we dodged traffic, but bagged up the skunk and after we finished a neighbor of mine, who works from the road commission offered to throw it in his truck and deposit it in the commission's dumpster.

Obviously, this is the week of the skunk. (Photo credit is from Flickr. This is not our skunk, but a photo similar to our skunk. Our skunk was in much worse shape than this. Trust me, you would not have wanted to see a picture of our skunk.

More bad news

If you are in to ruining your Sunday, the site "Fading to Black" has a list of bad news stories about newspapers posted Saturday. Here's the link or look for it in my link list to the right.

http://mediafade.blogspot.com/