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This roller coaster goes only one way The longest, steepest pitch of a roller coaster comes at the very beginning, each subsequent dip becoming progressively more moderate. The newspaper industry, alas, is no roller coaster. (Español) 75 years ago, they led the way On a Sunday night in the fall of 1933, a handful of disgruntled newsmen from Twin Cities' newspapers gathered at the Curtis Hotel in downtown Minneapolis to "do something about the long hours, salary cuts and the quick dismissals that the stock market crash of 1929 trailed in its wake." As AP customers defect, employees get squeezed Judging by its posture at the bargaining table, you might think that the Associated Press is in a world of hurt. (Español) Finally, a buyer emerges for Maine papers An investment group headed by Richard Connor, publisher of the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., agreed Nov. 12 to buy Blethen Maine Newspapers at a steep discount estimated at less than half the purchase price of approximately $230 million a decade ago. NY Times accepts Guild rescue plan Amid all the bleak news about employee benefits getting whacked, here's a welcome item: the New York Times has approved a New York Guild plan to rescue the fund that pays health insurance claims of employees at the Times, New York Times Digital and WQXR Radio.
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News of the industry Pew survey shows online news overtaking print in the US John Timmer, Ars Technica 05 Jan 2009 According to the Research Center for the People & the Press, the use of internet news sources has passed that of newspapers for the first time, with 40% of the population saying it's where they get "most" of their national and international news. That's a significant leap from September of 2007, when only 24% had called it the source of most of their news. Former newspaper rivals cooperate as jobs are cut Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press 05 Jan 2009 Just a dozen years ago, newspapers on either side of Arlington, Texas, fought fiercely for every reader in the fast-growing city. So it came as a surprise that The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram started sharing photos and concert reviews in November--but these are unprecedented times. The Times to Sell Display Ads on the Front Page Richard Perez-Pena, New York Times 05 Jan 2009 In its latest concession to the worst revenue slide since the Depression, The New York Times has begun selling display advertising on its front page, a step that has become increasingly common across the newspaper industry. The first such ad, appearing Monday in color, was bought by CBS. Top CEOs need just 12 hours to earn average Canadian annual salary Colin Perkel, Canadian Press 05 Jan 2009 As many Canadians nurse their post-New Year's Eve hangovers and ponder what further economic storms await, Canada's top corporate executives can take some comfort in knowing they have already earned as much as the average worker will earn in all of 2009. A new analysis by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives concludes the country's richest corporate executives had pocketed an average of $40,237 by 9:04 a.m. last Friday morning.
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Unions are forgoing previously negotiated wage increases and reopening contracts early, as they face pressure to help private and public employers conserve cash in the recession. The givebacks are setting the stage for what is expected to be one of the toughest years in recent memory for labor negotiations, with several big contracts expiring. As readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet and the stumbling economy cuts deeply into revenues, news organizations are redefining what it means to compete. The sharing has intensified as newspapers stepped up job reductions and slashed travel budgets, and such arrangements are more palatable than closing news bureaus or dropping some coverage areas altogether. GateHouse Media has become the latest leading company to suspend 401-K matching for employees. A memo from CEO Michael Reed notes that the nation "is experiencing difficult economic times and 2008 was a very challenging year in terms of revenues for all media companies," and that as a consequence Gatehouse will "discontinue the discretionary employer matching contribution under the 401(k) plan effective January 1, 2009."
Lee Enterprises is unlikely to make a $142.5 million debt payment due this spring and there is "substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern," according to the annual report it filed at 4:42 p.m. (EST) on New Year's Eve. Twenty-three minutes later, the company also disclosed that it has been warned by the New York Stock Exchange that it may be booted off the Big Board. 2008 was a strange, strange year for media -- or what's left of it. Before all the layoffs, cutbacks, and closings in the final months, it was a year of big, overpowering stories mostly relating to one big, overpowering story: The 2008 Election. Will 2009 be better than 2008? Well, it could hardly be worse. Here's what I think we can look forward to. Someone has been pushing up the value of Canwest Global Communications Corp. shares since a damning Maclean's story questioned whether the media giant could go bankrupt. What's behind Canwest's rising share price--which vastly exceeds modest price rises over same period for News Corp. and the New York Times Company? Dorothy "Dolly" McCloskey Small Kelley, 61, of Garnet Valley, who had a 37-year career selling advertising for The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, died Sunday at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media of complications from an infection. Mrs. Kelley had been active with the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia and had served on contract-negotiating committees for the union. In a longstanding legal dispute that one party values at $25 million, arbitrator Deborah Rothman has ruled in favor of former Santa Barbara News-Press editor Jerry Roberts and against the daily paper's owner, Wendy McCaw. Now attorneys for McCaw's Ampersand Publishing -- the News-Press's parent company -- are trying to get a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge to toss Rothman from the case. Managers and other non-union employees at The Denver Post have been notified that the newspaper's owner, MediaNews Group Inc., will suspend company matches of their 401(k) retirement-account contributions in 2009. The action comes after managers at the Denver daily were notified that their traditional pension plans would be frozen at current levels. Now we are at a new turning point, where even the term "newspaper" is an anachronism. But whatever form it takes, information will be gathered and disseminated. Will it be credible, well-researched information that makes our culture stronger, better, more honest? Or will it be entertainment and shock reporting, always chasing the newest, most provocative child's death or celebrity meltdown. Will workers be valued and paid, or will they be disposable, contingent and exploited? The worldwide journalist death toll dropped in 2008 to a five-year, low as 60 news people were killed around the globe, a sharp decline from the 87 who lost their lives in 2007, according to Reporters Without Borders. The organization reports this year's figure as the lowest since 2003, when 43 were killed.
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Even as newsroom budgets are being slashed and growing numbers of reporters are rethinking career choices, we know there's been some exceptional journalism over the past year--and we want to see it. The Broun Award has been honoring work that champions the underdog since 1941 and will do so again this year, awarding a $5,000 cash prize to the winner and two $1,000 prizes for runners-up. Don't wait until the Jan. 30 deadline to prepare your entry: 
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