This story on MLive from the Gazette illustrates what happens when the walls between advertising and editorial come down, which is something the new management at MLive Media Group boasted about recently.
Maybe they should put one of those 'Deal' monikers on these kinds of stories.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Journalists protest recent newsroom cuts
Members of the Newspaper Guild in Indianapolis are no longer suffering in silence.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Poynter: Another cartoonist in the crosshairs of stealing work
Hard to believe in the day of the Internet that these things keep happening. The Poynter article has plenty of interesting links.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
More photos from the past
A geezer photo outside the soon-to-be former Flint Journal building
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| (l-r) Tom Cheek, Kim Crawford, Steve Kleeman, Dan Shriner, Larry Gustin, Ron Krueger, David Graham, Ed Backus and Dick Noble. |
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| (l-r) Tom Cheek, Ron Krueger, Jim Miller, Ed Backus, Dean Howe, Kim Crawford, Dan Shriner, David Graham, Jim Smith, Steve Kleeman, Dick Noble. In total there was about 450 years of journalism experience photographed above and at lunch Thursday. Missing from both photos is Gene Mierzejewski, whose name I always believed should be the spelling test for all new reporters. |
Saturday, December 3, 2011
On their own: Former colleagues working on new ventures
Had a great lunch last week with some of my old Journal 'geezer' pals. Among those who came were Ron Krueger, the Journal's former premier food writer and critic. Ron is no longer with the paper, but is continuing to publish reviews on his new website "live2eat."
Stop by and visit and make your own suggestions and comments. I know Ron will appreciate the patronage.
Also, one of the Journal's finest photographers, Tom Cheek, who prowled the mean streets of Flint with me during the early part of my career there has his own website where he can be reached for photographic work. And, if you need photographic work, it would be hard to find someone better.
Stop by and visit and make your own suggestions and comments. I know Ron will appreciate the patronage.
Also, one of the Journal's finest photographers, Tom Cheek, who prowled the mean streets of Flint with me during the early part of my career there has his own website where he can be reached for photographic work. And, if you need photographic work, it would be hard to find someone better.
MLive Kalamazoo touts its new "hub"
This news story about the new Kalamazoo "hub" (this would be the new name for a newspaper office) is probably the first of many such articles around the state. I have a favorite paragraph (actually two) but I'll reserve them until I see what your favorites are.
Still no transparency on how many of the "77 laid off employees" will be included in the new hub.
Still no transparency on how many of the "77 laid off employees" will be included in the new hub.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Media fails when reporting on itself: AJR
I'm posting a link to an article in AJR that talks about a particular pet peeve of mine: Why don't newspapers cover their own stories like they do every other business in town? Thanks to an FFE reader for the link.
One of my favorite paragraphs in the long piece:
"My sense is that media organizations [in North America] are so financially anxious now that they want to please their audiences rather than inform them," Dvorkin says. "They want to be friends" with their readers and viewers. ONO's surveys suggest that having an ombudsman fosters great credibility among readers and audiences. "This is a very easy way to help restore confidence in the media," he says.
One of my favorite paragraphs in the long piece:
"My sense is that media organizations [in North America] are so financially anxious now that they want to please their audiences rather than inform them," Dvorkin says. "They want to be friends" with their readers and viewers. ONO's surveys suggest that having an ombudsman fosters great credibility among readers and audiences. "This is a very easy way to help restore confidence in the media," he says.
MLive chosen are also abandoning ship, tidbits from the newsroom and pickets are gone
There are reports that one or more of those pegged to stay on for the transition from Booth to MLive Media Group may be abandoning ship along with those thrown overboard.Word from some newsroom meetings on the west side of the state indicate that the circulation director for Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Muskegon, who was pegged to lead the distribution process for all the papers in the new structure has opted to depart rather than take the job, as did the assistant.
There are other reports which I am trying to flesh out about another top level person who was offered a post in the new company, but has chosen to leave.
Have also gotten reports that the new salary structure for reporters will be in the low 30s with cash incentives for meeting story quotas. It will be interesting to see what kind of journalism is produced when reporters have story count quotas that are connected to financial incentives.
Salary for experienced reporters at the papers just four years ago was in the low to mid 50s. Wonder what kind of salary reductions the bosses have taken?
Just a follow up to the picket story from last week. Was downtown Flint today, even had my picture taken out in front of the current Journal building with a group of former employees (pictures to follow at a later date) and found that the pickets were no longer out in front of the Rowe Building.
We went into the Rowe building and found work ongoing in a relatively small first floor space that may be the new Journal offices.
It was also sad to look into the old press room in the old building and see the dismantling of the old press. A friend sent along the attached photo of the press room. We were remembering today that on the weekend shifts, when the building was nearly empty and quiet you could feel very subtly the building vibrate with the start of the press run.
Those old presses were like the building's heart beat. Not nearly as loud a heart beat as the old linotype machines, but there was just something about walking out the door on a Friday night, early Saturday morning and see the trucks lined up waiting for the first editions to come out the windows.
Glad I was there for that.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The future of the newspaper
Guess you won't need a big building, or an expensive printing press if the future of newspapers is what this video is proposing. Also, from the look of it, news won't be a requirement either.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Off topic: Destroyermen
I'm posting this "Destroyermen video here so it will be easily accessible to some of my shipmates from the USS Cogswell. Those of us who served in the tin can Navy share a bond that is hard to explain. As I find more Fletcher class destroyer videos I will also post them here.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Pickets at new Flint Journal offices in downtown Flint
Drove through downtown Flint this morning and there were "Shame on MLive" pickets in front of the Rowe Building, the planned new headquarters for the Flint Journal.
Did just a little crude reporting as I didn't have time for more and it appears the local union officials are upset that work being done on the offices for the newspaper is using a Grand Rapids electrical firm instead of a local union one.
Good start for the new company here in depressed Flint. If you know more, feel free to chime in. If I'd had my camera with me I would have taken a photo.
Did just a little crude reporting as I didn't have time for more and it appears the local union officials are upset that work being done on the offices for the newspaper is using a Grand Rapids electrical firm instead of a local union one.
Good start for the new company here in depressed Flint. If you know more, feel free to chime in. If I'd had my camera with me I would have taken a photo.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
More news from Advance
Here's another new venture from Advance Publications.
Newspaper owners team up in deal-finding venture
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A group of newspaper publishers and other media companies are teaming up to sell more advertising aimed at people looking for online deals.
Eight companies formed a joint venture that has acquired Find n Save, a search engine focused on discount offers made by merchants in cities across the U.S. The venture acquired Find n Save as part of its purchase of Travidia, an online shopping service. Financial terms of that deal weren’t disclosed in Thursday’s announcement.
The joint venture’s initial owners include: Advance Digital, part of Advance Publications Inc., whose newspapers include The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; A.H. Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News; Cox Media Group, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and more than 100 radio and TV stations; and Gannett Co.; owner of USA Today and more than 80 other newspapers as well as more than 20 TV stations.
Discussions are being held with other media companies interested in joining the venture.
Find n Save is tapping into the coupon craze that helped turn Groupon’s daily-deal service into a hot commodity. Although it’s still losing money, Groupon Inc. is growing so fast that the 3-year-old company already has a $15 billion market value.
Unlike search engines such as Google, Find n Save specializes in showcasing discounts offered by advertisers within local markets. A consumer can type, say, “burrito” into a search field, and receive a list of nearby Mexican restaurants and the deals they’re offering.
The search engine makes money from the advertisers in its database. Other ads can be placed by companies looking to connect with people whose search engine requests have signaled their interest in certain products and services.
The participating newspapers will share in the revenue and contribute daily deals covering their markets to Find n Save’s index.
Find n Save currently tracks local deals in 19 of the top 50 U.S. markets. The joint venture plans to add 21 more top markets to the list during the next month. By the end of 2013, the joint venture expects more than 400 newspapers to be affiliated with Find n Save.
Newspapers have been mining the Internet for more revenue to offset a steep decline in print advertising that has triggered bankruptcies and massive cutbacks during the past three years. The drop has been driven by the Internet’s appeal to advertisers looking for less expensive — and in some cases, more effective — alternatives to print advertising.
The joint venture overseeing Find n Save will be run by acting CEO Christopher Trippe, who helped newspapers put together a partnership with Yahoo Inc. that began five years ago.
The venture’s other partners include Hearst Corp., whose newspapers include the San Francisco Chronicle and 14 other dailies; MediaNews Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post and more than 50 other newspapers; McClatchy Co., owner of The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, The Miami Herald and 28 other dailies; and The Washington Post Co., publisher of the largest newspaper in the nation’s capital.
Newspaper owners team up in deal-finding venture
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A group of newspaper publishers and other media companies are teaming up to sell more advertising aimed at people looking for online deals.
Eight companies formed a joint venture that has acquired Find n Save, a search engine focused on discount offers made by merchants in cities across the U.S. The venture acquired Find n Save as part of its purchase of Travidia, an online shopping service. Financial terms of that deal weren’t disclosed in Thursday’s announcement.
The joint venture’s initial owners include: Advance Digital, part of Advance Publications Inc., whose newspapers include The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; A.H. Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News; Cox Media Group, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and more than 100 radio and TV stations; and Gannett Co.; owner of USA Today and more than 80 other newspapers as well as more than 20 TV stations.
Discussions are being held with other media companies interested in joining the venture.
Find n Save is tapping into the coupon craze that helped turn Groupon’s daily-deal service into a hot commodity. Although it’s still losing money, Groupon Inc. is growing so fast that the 3-year-old company already has a $15 billion market value.
Unlike search engines such as Google, Find n Save specializes in showcasing discounts offered by advertisers within local markets. A consumer can type, say, “burrito” into a search field, and receive a list of nearby Mexican restaurants and the deals they’re offering.
The search engine makes money from the advertisers in its database. Other ads can be placed by companies looking to connect with people whose search engine requests have signaled their interest in certain products and services.
The participating newspapers will share in the revenue and contribute daily deals covering their markets to Find n Save’s index.
Find n Save currently tracks local deals in 19 of the top 50 U.S. markets. The joint venture plans to add 21 more top markets to the list during the next month. By the end of 2013, the joint venture expects more than 400 newspapers to be affiliated with Find n Save.
Newspapers have been mining the Internet for more revenue to offset a steep decline in print advertising that has triggered bankruptcies and massive cutbacks during the past three years. The drop has been driven by the Internet’s appeal to advertisers looking for less expensive — and in some cases, more effective — alternatives to print advertising.
The joint venture overseeing Find n Save will be run by acting CEO Christopher Trippe, who helped newspapers put together a partnership with Yahoo Inc. that began five years ago.
The venture’s other partners include Hearst Corp., whose newspapers include the San Francisco Chronicle and 14 other dailies; MediaNews Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post and more than 50 other newspapers; McClatchy Co., owner of The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, The Miami Herald and 28 other dailies; and The Washington Post Co., publisher of the largest newspaper in the nation’s capital.
A final salvo from a downsized reporter
What he said. Apparently this reporter posted this blast against his newspaper's downsizing on his way out the door. It was removed from the newspapers website fairly soon, but in today's world, it will last forever in these caches.
Thank you to an alert FFE reader for the link.
Just in case the link disappears I'm saving a copy of the text. Let me know if the link breaks down.
Thank you to an alert FFE reader for the link.
Just in case the link disappears I'm saving a copy of the text. Let me know if the link breaks down.
Some news makes me want to barf
If this is the 'new' journalism, I'm glad I'm not around for it. Admittedly, this is the opinion of an ancient curmudgeon who still prefers old school reporting.
And there will be a lot more of this kind of reporting with this 'new' model.
What will they think of next? Perhaps giving cash bonuses to reporters who produce tons of meaningless copy to create as many "hits" on the Internet as possible. Watch for it.
And there will be a lot more of this kind of reporting with this 'new' model.
What will they think of next? Perhaps giving cash bonuses to reporters who produce tons of meaningless copy to create as many "hits" on the Internet as possible. Watch for it.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday story about the changes in the Flint Journal
The Sunday Flint Journal had a story on the move to the Rowe building downtown and another story on the layoffs. The story did answer the question about the Muskegon Chronicle layoffs. In the article it was reported that there were layoffs at the Muskegon Chronicle but none that required public reporting.
Friday, November 18, 2011
More bad news for the Sunday papers?
If this trend spreads to Michigan, it will not be good news for the Sunday revenue stream for daily newspapers. I know in my house the Sunday Vlassis coupons are one of the major reasons we still subscribe.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Editorial losses statewide at Booth
So far no indication of any job losses at Muskegon or Ann Arbor in the latest round of layoffs at Booth, but monitoring of the State WARN site will continue.
The State site also lists duplicate reports under the separate headings of Booth and for The Grand Rapids Press. Not sure if that is a mistake or if the numbers are combined. The Booth listing has 55 layoffs and Grand Rapids lists 146 layoffs. So the total layoffs for the State are either 488 or 543. At this time I am unable to reconcile those two numbers.
Here's what I do know about editorial. Layoff notices to reporters (including sports) of all grades were as follows: Grand Rapids (15); Kalamazoo (6); Bay City (12); Flint Journal (12); Jackson (10); and Saginaw (6). That's a total of 61 reporter positions lost. Currently the MLive Media Group is advertising for 9 news reporters, but it is unknown if the individual ads for each paper represent just one job or a series of positions. There are listings for a "Sports Reporter - Engagement," whatever the heck that means and Ann Arbor is advertising for a "Sports Reporter - Buzz" which I guess means they are looking for some kind of bee.
Two of the reporter positions are for slots in Lansing and Detroit, which would seemingly be new positions, although Booth once had an active and full Lansing bureau.
Right now there are 81 job listings on the MLive Media Group site. Editorial accounts for a minor percentage of those positions right now.
A total of 12 editor positions were among those receiving layoff notices. It appears there will be one sports editor (or something akin to that) for the whole chain. That person is a former Michigan State sports info flak who apparently helped start a pro-MSU blog site. That will bode well for coverage for my alma mater, but not sure what credibility that will have with readers from that other school.
A total of 9 photographers received layoff notices in the chain. Although already consolidated, it appears that 12 copy editors also received pink slips in this latest round.
There are also additional editorial losses from the layoffs of 7 "content specialists" in Bay City and 1 from the Flint Journal.
Many folks have contacted me and asked what I thought about what will be the number of new editorial jobs and starting salaries with the new company. The short and honest answer is that I have no idea.
But it seems clear that if the company wanted, it could have simply moved everyone over to the new company seamlessly at their current salary. So my speculation is that there will either be far fewer editorial positions at a comparable salary or more jobs (but less than now) at a reduced pay scale.
As folks apply for these positions and let me know what the pay scale is, I'll pass that along.
It appears the layoffs come from every department and many are folks who were hired in the wake of the first round of buyouts a few years ago. My focus here is on the editorial departments but feel free to review the documents through the links and send me your reflections on the non-editorial areas.
The State site also lists duplicate reports under the separate headings of Booth and for The Grand Rapids Press. Not sure if that is a mistake or if the numbers are combined. The Booth listing has 55 layoffs and Grand Rapids lists 146 layoffs. So the total layoffs for the State are either 488 or 543. At this time I am unable to reconcile those two numbers.
Here's what I do know about editorial. Layoff notices to reporters (including sports) of all grades were as follows: Grand Rapids (15); Kalamazoo (6); Bay City (12); Flint Journal (12); Jackson (10); and Saginaw (6). That's a total of 61 reporter positions lost. Currently the MLive Media Group is advertising for 9 news reporters, but it is unknown if the individual ads for each paper represent just one job or a series of positions. There are listings for a "Sports Reporter - Engagement," whatever the heck that means and Ann Arbor is advertising for a "Sports Reporter - Buzz" which I guess means they are looking for some kind of bee.
Two of the reporter positions are for slots in Lansing and Detroit, which would seemingly be new positions, although Booth once had an active and full Lansing bureau.
Right now there are 81 job listings on the MLive Media Group site. Editorial accounts for a minor percentage of those positions right now.
A total of 12 editor positions were among those receiving layoff notices. It appears there will be one sports editor (or something akin to that) for the whole chain. That person is a former Michigan State sports info flak who apparently helped start a pro-MSU blog site. That will bode well for coverage for my alma mater, but not sure what credibility that will have with readers from that other school.
A total of 9 photographers received layoff notices in the chain. Although already consolidated, it appears that 12 copy editors also received pink slips in this latest round.
There are also additional editorial losses from the layoffs of 7 "content specialists" in Bay City and 1 from the Flint Journal.
Many folks have contacted me and asked what I thought about what will be the number of new editorial jobs and starting salaries with the new company. The short and honest answer is that I have no idea.
But it seems clear that if the company wanted, it could have simply moved everyone over to the new company seamlessly at their current salary. So my speculation is that there will either be far fewer editorial positions at a comparable salary or more jobs (but less than now) at a reduced pay scale.
As folks apply for these positions and let me know what the pay scale is, I'll pass that along.
It appears the layoffs come from every department and many are folks who were hired in the wake of the first round of buyouts a few years ago. My focus here is on the editorial departments but feel free to review the documents through the links and send me your reflections on the non-editorial areas.
A business mag's perspective on Booth changes
An FFE reader sent this article along about another person's perspective on the Booth changes.
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