A young former journalist skillfully sums up the biz

Well, I was waiting for a nod from the writer before posting this, but others are already sending me links to this and Inky has already commented with the link so if you want a concise wrap up of what is happening to journalism today read this young woman's blog post. The comments are good too.

Just in case you were wondering if cutbacks had an effect on journalism quality

According to this survey, the cutbacks are not helping with the quality of journalism.

A good, investigative piece on Advance's New Orleans newspaper strategy

This Columbia Journalism Review article on the head scratching Advance strategy in New Orleans is long, but really good read for anyone interested in the whirlpool that is today's newspaper business.

As the person who sent this to me said, brew up a good pot of coffee, curl up on the sofa and enjoy!

Yikes, it's getting ugly at JRC

Feeling badly today for my friends who work at JRC properties.

More bad news for my friends at the Oakland Press

Looks like more bad news is coming for the Journal-Register Co. employees.

Flint police exec holds two jobs - Free Press

I knew Mr. Jones when he worked at the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. The Detroit Free Press broke this story about his dual jobs.

Newspaper expert responds to Advance, 60 Minutes segment

Kevin Slimp, a newspaper "guru" had this to say recently about the 60 Minutes segment on the Times-Picayune cutting publishing days. He has talked about Newhouse before like this article from August.

He was critical of 60 Minutes, but his bigger beef may be with the Advance folks who so poorly represented newspapers on the program.

And this about the supposed surge in online circulation.

More reporters, more print, what an idea!

Here's a story about a newspaper that is bucking the trend. (This is a link to a California paper, although the Flint Journal ran the same story. I just choose not to try and negotiate the MLive.com website to find it.

60 Minutes looks at Advance newspaper decisions

In case you missed 60 Minutes segment on Advance's decision to neuter its newspaper presence in New Orleans.

I'm OK, you're OK

With posting being quiet for the last couple months a loyal reader sent an inquiry as to whether all was well in the Smith household.

We have had some family challenges that have kept us busy, but we are fine and preparing for our trip south to Tucson starting next Wednesday. You can follow our adventures there at grandmasrecess.blogspot.com starting Thursday.

I do have some pending Advance related posts for Free From Editors and I promise to put them up shortly. One has been pending since the election and deals with some apparent confusion over the endorsements for each of the MLive properties. A loyal reader sent me that tip and I will get to it shortly.

Thanks for your concern.

Falling for Internet rumors

In follow up to a comment on my previous post it amazes me that in these times of fake storm photos and news items that you can still catch large news organizations re-reporting these Internet troll items without making a simple phone call or other verification before trotting out the news.

Anatomy of a plagiarist

A nice piece from CBS on plagiarism.

So much for the death of newspapers

I guess there may be more of a demand for a daily newspaper in New Orleans than people may have thought.

On vacation: If that's possible for a retiree

I'm headed out with my son Tim for a great West Virginia - Virginia adventure on the Appalachian Trail and some back packing. So Free From Editors will be unmanned until next weekend (Oct. 12).

Go hug a tree, we will be.

A couple items worth reading

Thanks to a loyal FFE reader for the links, I post for your reading the following two links:

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/09/baseball_and_news_online_life.html

By the way, I was one of those kids who snuck a transistor radio into school during the World Series, especially when my favorite team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were there. I miss the daytime World Series games.

And this from the newspaper war that is about to commence in Louisiana:


http://theadvocate.com/home/4012182-125/advocate-picayune-wage-rare-fight

Advance joins Louisiana newspaper battle

When a Baton Rouge paper stepped into the newspaper void in New Orleans I guess the Newhouse family decided that they would join the battle and open a bureau in Baton Rouge.

What's that old saying about throwing good money after bad?

An interesting article about newspaper brain drain

The subject of experienced newspaper vets departing at the same time is something we have been pondering for awhile.

Dave Poniers obit and funeral info

The Flint Journal (MLive.com) has another obit on Dave Poniers and the funeral arrangements are at the end.

Dave Poniers: Rest in Peace

Earlier this week I learned that Dave Poniers was gravely ill in hospice. I knew Dave through my years as a reporter at the Flint Journal. I would often get the good-natured Poniers needle when I wandered into sports during my afternoon shifts at the paper. "Good to know there's no crime tonight," he would bark at me when I would stop to visit. But I couldn't write anything better today that former sports reporter Bill Khan wrote on his Facebook account this morning:

Dave Poniers

"I didn't just lose a former boss tonight to cancer. Dave Poniers, the sports editor at The Flint Journal for most of my 30 years there, was a friend and was also one of the two people most responsible for any success I had as a sports writer. (The other was former Mott journalism instructor Cy Leder, who sadly also died from cancer a few years back.) I will be forever grateful for how Dave went to bat for me to get me a full-time job back in 1988. Even back then, full-time jobs weren't just created out of thin air on newspaper staffs. He had enough faith in me to stick his neck out for me. Who knows what would have happened had he not persuaded editor Al Peloquin to hire me full-time once I completed college? Jobs aren't easy to come by in this industry. Thanks to Dave, I had a fun job that sufficiently paid the bills. I had some great experiences, met some great people. The last time I communicated with him via e-mail back in the spring, he agre

ed to be a reference on my resume and told me he had lobbied on my behalf when he heard I was being laid off at the end of December. Dave proved you could be a good guy and still have the respect of your employees. As a member of his sports staff, one of my motivations was wanting to do a good job for him to reward him for everything he did for me - hey, even he had bosses who were judging him based on the productivity of his staff. We had a great staff, a great work environment and put out a heck of a sports section! For most of my 30 years at The Journal, I could honestly say I had the greatest job in the world. Working for Dave had a lot to do with it. I was sickened to hear earlier Wednesday that he was dying of cancer. Then, just 12 hours later, I got the sad news that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. He wasn't that old - maybe his late 60s. I just wish I would've had a chance to tell him what he meant to me. A lesson learned, the hard way ...

Here's Brendan Savage's take on MLive.

Are political foundations "buying" the news

A link to a story about large grants from foundations with political influence and leanings to newspapers are causing concern. This article is pointing to left-wing groups, but the same could be said if the money was coming from the Heritage Foundation or a right leaning organization. Is this good for journalism? Or is this just a glimpse into the future?

Remember that newspapers grew out of a tradition of publications with strong political views that rose almost immediately after the invention of the printing press. Maybe this is just back to the future.

Thanks to a loyal FFE reader for the link.