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RECENT GUILD & INDUSTRY NEWSInternet wiping out printed Oxford Dictionary It's been in print for over a century, but in future the Oxford English Dictionary -- the authoritative guide to the English language -- may only be available online. Publisher Oxford University Press said Sunday that burgeoning demand for the dictionary's online version has far outpaced demand for the printed versions. By the time the lexicographers behind the dictionary finished revising and updating the latest edition -- a gargantuan task that will take many more years -- publishers are doubtful there will still be a market for the printed form. Kingston paper plans production move to Troy; 58 jobs at stake The Daily Freeman in Kingston is planning to close its print production facility and move its operation to Troy. The plan, which Publisher Ira Fusfeld called "tentative," would mean the loss of nine full-time and 49 part-time jobs in the press and mailrooms. Newspaper Guild President Patricia Doxsey, while acknowledging that the paper had the right to move its production operation, deplored its effects. "Not only will this be detrimental to the people in those jobs, but it's a slap in the face to our very loyal readers," said Newspaper Guild President Patricia Doxsey.
Is the U.S. Pulling the Plug on Iraqi Workers? The Iraqi government, while seemingly paralyzed on many fronts, has unleashed a wave of actions against the country's unions that is taking Iraq back to Saddam Hussein's era. The Maliki government has issued arrest warrants for oil union leaders and transferred that union's officers to worksites hundreds of miles from home, prohibited union activity in the oil fields, ports and refineries, forbade unions from collecting dues or opening bank accounts, and even kept leaders from leaving the country. Google, AP Reach New Deal on Licensing Rights Google and The Associated Press have struck a new licensing deal that will allow Google to continue posting the news cooperative's content. The AP said in a statement Monday that the two companies also will work together in ways to improve discovery and distribution of news. Financial terms and the duration of the contract were not disclosed. Newspaper drivers reject tentative contract The drivers who deliver The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News voted overwhelmingly Sunday to reject a tentative contract agreement reached between their union, Teamsters Local 628, and Philadelphia Media Network, the newspapers' new owner. The no vote -- 182-3 -- was a setback for Philadelphia Media Network, which is trying to reach contract agreements with 14 unions by Tuesday, when it is scheduled to bring the company out of bankruptcy. Tribune Co. creditors court Michael Eisner and Jeff Shell for top jobs Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner is in discussions that could lead to his return to the media spotlight – as chairman of the now-bankrupt Tribune Co. Eisner, who has been dabbling in the digital world as an investor since stepping down from Disney in 2005, is among the candidates under consideration to replace Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell as chairman of the reorganized company. "To the Editor: Obama Is a Muslim" Standards Vary on How to Handle Readers' Assertions If President Obama is not a Muslim, why do some newspapers publish letters to the editor claiming that he is? Michael Landauer of the Dallas Morning News, assistant editorial page editor for reader engagement, asked his colleagues for advice on that point after receiving six letters from people saying they believe Obama is a Muslim. "Is this a matter of opinion? Or is it a fact that people have wrong? (We do not knowingly print factual errors, of course.) . . ." The life of a freelance biz reporter, a/k/a getting your life back When Heidi N. Moore decided to strike out on her own as a freelancer, one unexpected task was to reassure her friends. "What surprised me at first was that a lot of my colleagues or people I knew were astounded and terrified by the idea of my completely going outside the newsroom system and freelancing; financial journalists are better paid than other journalists and tend to value security. I was the one making a change, but they were scared of the move." Argentina's President Moves to Wrest Control of Newsprint Supplier from Nation's Largest Newspapers Argentina's president has moved to take over the nation's main supplier of newsprint, saying two leading newspapers illegally conspired with dictators to control the company three decades ago and then used it to drive competing newspapers out of business. President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday showed a headline from the opposition Clarin newspaper declaring "Who controls Papel Prensa controls the written word," and said she couldn't agree more. Newspaper Guild approves new contract Guild-represented newsroom employees in Philadelphia voted Tuesday night to approve a three-year contract that requires the equivalent of a 6% wage cut. The vote was 287-38, according to union officers. The new contract was negotiated with Philadelphia Media Network, the new owner of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. and takes effect when the new owners take control of the company, anticipated to be Aug. 31.
The Erosion of America's Middle Class While America's super-rich congratulate themselves on donating billions to charity, the rest of the country is worse off than ever. Long-term unemployment is rising and millions of Americans are struggling to survive. A German publication looks at the growing gap between rich and poor and the disappearing middle class and ponders the disconnect with "the images of America we are accustomed to seeing in television series and films." Corporate profits and shareholder returns cannot in justice be made at the expense of the nation’s own labor force. Nations with a rich clique lording it over everyone else are too prevalent in the world, but none of them are thriving democracies. Nor are they just. If the United States is headed in this direction (as neglect of the growing income gap indicates), then workers, employers and civic leaders ought to begin this Labor Day figuring out how to reverse course. Exclusive: Baltimore Sun reviving Sunday magazine Like the ivory billed woodpecker, the idea of a colorful Sunday magazine published by your daily newspaper has been assumed to be practically extinct. But now it turns out the species is making a comeback, at least in Baltimore. No official announcement from the Sun has been made, but the magazine is already in the process of selling advertising, and Sun City Hall reporter Julie Scharper mentioned the publication in a casual tweet. Jailed Hikers: the Untold Story The three Americans Iran has charged with espionage are not who you think they are. In July of last year, Shon Meckfessel was debating whether or not to join his three friends on a hike in the mountains of Kurdistan in northern Iraq. In the hopes of fighting off a cold, Meckfessel ultimately decided to stay in a hotel, with plans to join them the next day. That seemingly inconsequential decision saved Meckfessel from ending up in an Iranian prison, where his friends -- two of whom are respected journalists -- have spent the last year. Seven Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011 Reason No. 6: Print Still Excites People. I talked to a journalist recently who said it's harder and harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention that it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedule. The printed word is still perceived as more credible to many people than anything on the web. It goes to the old adage, "If someone invested enough to print and mail it, it must be important."
Flagship newspapers wane in audience mix While papers like the Kansas City Star continue to pursue the traditional model of publishing only the main title and a free once-a-week advertising product sent to the homes of non-subscribers, papers like the Chicago Tribune and Dallas Morning News have created such a wide variety of products that the flagship paper produces just 56% of the average weekday circulation in each of their respective markets. There are two reasons for this developing trend, and one of them is good news. Media organizations like to tout the firewalls that exist between the news and editorial pages, and the newsroom and the business staff, but when it comes to the editorial independence of The Washington Post on issues related to Kaplan, Inc., perhaps the walls need strengthening. The concerns arise from editorial stands and direct lobbying by a leader of the legendary Graham family -- someone who would get an open door in any Congressional office -- on behalf of for-profit higher ed. What the Steven Slater Story Says about How News is Created and Shared When Flight 1052 went wheels-up on Steven Slater's (presumably) last flight with JetBlue, he was just a man. Hours after he took the evacuation slide, he was a legend. How we got to this point -- in which this JetBlue flight attendant has 213,000 fans on Facebook, a Hollywood agent and perhaps a reality TV show -- tells us some things about how the media, social media, the web and the public amplify, consume and share the news. Four months before WikiLeaks rocketed to international notoriety, the Robin Hoods of the internet quietly published a confidential CIA document labeled "NOFORN" (for "no foreign nationals"), meaning that it should not be shared even with US allies. That's because the March "Red Cell Special Memorandum" was a call to arms for a propaganda war to influence public opinion in allied nations, whose citizens are against increasing their countries' military involvement.
Journalist can keep notes from murder case private, judge rules An assistant professor of journalism at Western Washington University, whose reporting on a Chicago murder case helped free a man convicted as a teenager of the 1993 crime, does not have to turn over her notes to the police officers accused of framing him, a federal judge in Seattle has ruled. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman also ruled that the officers have to pay the attorneys fees for Carolyn Nielsen, who wrote about the case of Thaddeus Jimenez in 1994. Washington Post Co. Shares Rebound on Bullish Barron’s Article Back in April, Barron's said The Washington Post Co. "may be the most undervalued media company in America," with a share price that was “dirt cheap." With the stock having plunged since then, the financial weekly repeated its assessment even more firmly over the weekend. This time, it seems, investors listened. WPO spiked 6% in Monday’s trading, gaining $21.10, to $368.70. The Ad/Edit Wall Worn Down to a Warning Track Two Sides Quit Bickering and Seek Ways to Navigate New Reality What wall? The question for print has become less about whether to cross the boundary between editorial and sales and more about how best to do it. In the latest scene of church-and-state rapprochement, the new issue of Scholastic Parent & Child magazine has arrived with an ad page composed in collaboration with the magazine's editorial staff. But the collaboration runs counter to publishing norms, and at least one magazine industry group is dismayed. Another Cuban Journalist Freed The 14th journalist jailed during Cuba’s March 2003 crackdown on independent reporters and other dissidents has been released from prison and flown to Spain, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported. CPJ said Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz arrived in Madrid Friday with his wife and brother-in-law; six other journalists arrested during the 2003 crackdown remain in prison, it added, as does one other journalist who was detained later. Press and punditry stampede tramples good judgment, and often the facts, too When the New York Times published a story last December about plans for a Muslim prayer space near the World Trade Center site, there was little reaction. After all, the imam in charge was quoted as saying the building was an effort to "push back against the extremists" in the shadow of the terrorist attacks. Only months later did a conservative assault on the project morph into the most incendiary issue on the media landscape. The herd was stampeding again. Business Journalism’s Image Problem These are grim days for print journalists: we are the auto workers of the white-collar class, toiling in an industry in structural decline (see: sale of Newsweek for $1). But this summer’s best-seller list offers some relief for the world’s inky-fingered wretches. The hero of our collective imaginations is a middle-aged print reporter named Mikael Blomkvist, the Swedish muckraker who co-stars in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. Tribune Co. says negotiations have failed The Tribune Co.'s plan to emerge from bankruptcy has unraveled in the wake of an independent report concluding that talks leading up to the company's 2007 leveraged buyout bordered on fraud, attorneys said Friday. The examiner, Kenneth Klee, criticized Tribune's management, board and some of the lenders involved in the deal, concluded that it is "somewhat likely" that a court would concluding fraudulent behavior occurred in its final stages. Newspaper pension plans accept $1.5 million payment The employee pension plans at Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. have agreed to accept $1.5 million to settle their claims against the bankrupt media company, resolving an issue that had hung over the company's reemergence under new ownership. Seven union pension plans had said they were owed $12 million to cover funding shortfalls that had accrued since the company -- owner of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com -- filed for bankruptcy in February 2009.
Threats to Ethical Journalism in the New Media Age My view is that journalism has always been a deeply troubled practice, given to arrogance, excessive deference to authority, reliance on formula, herding and a tendency either to snarl or to fawn. So by criticizing the present (and raising concerns about the future), I do not intend to glorify the past. And I don't wish to suggest that the ancien regime was in some overall way morally superior to the pups and Twittering upstarts who've stormed the Winter Palace and made off with the imperial spoons. ‘Change to Win’ Was Doomed to Failure In Effort to Build a Rival Labor Federation When seven international unions left the AFL-CIO in September 2005 to build a rival labor federation (Change to Win) through massive organizing campaigns, it received widespread publicity, with some commentators seeing a similarity with the successful CIO breakaway in the 1930s. Now the breakaway faction has splintered, following Andy Stern's retirement as head of the SEIU, and only four unions remain in the CtW, raising questions of whether it can survive. How Technology Is Renewing Attention to Long-form Journalism When we're constantly inundated with information via e-mail, text messages, push alerts, tweets and Facebook updates, it's hard to make time for that 5,000-word New Yorker essay we bookmarked or the serial narrative we keep telling ourselves we'll read but never do. But for as much as technology can distract us from long-form journalism it can also be a gateway into it, as these examples illustrate. Taking Aim At Bloomberg, Reuters Shifts Credit News Reporting To IFR Unit Thomson Reuters is hoping to step up its battle against Bloomberg by handing over responsibility for credit news reporting to its IFR Markets unit, affecting approximately six Guild-represented employees. But Peter Szekely, secretary-treasurer of the New York Guild, says he’s been told that the affected staffers aren’t being laid off and will be transferred to other areas. Myth of the greedy public-sector workers Politicians and the media have found a new scapegoat for the economic crisis and the savage budget cuts being carried out by state and local governments: public-sector workers and their unions. So it behooves all union members to recognize that demonizing "greedy public-sector workers" is part of a long-running attack on working-class organization, and that an attack on unions in the one sector of the economy where they remain relatively strong is an attack on unions in general. Unions Say 'Sun-Times' Parent Cutting Ex-Workers Health Benefits Without Court O.K. Unions representing former employees of the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. have filed a motion in Delaware bankruptcy court seeking access to documents and other information from the company, which they claim has stopped paying for insurance coverage without court approval. The company filed a notice late last year saying it planned to reject certain contracts that include severance agreements with the former employees, but the unions say the court has not yet given its permission. Imagine if the New York Times gave $1 million to the Democratic Party I'm sure curious what Fox News talkers like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck make of the news that their corporate bosses recently contributed $1 million to the re-election drive of Republican governors nationwide. Unfortunately we don't know because there's apparently been a news blackout inside Fox News and it appears nobody on staff is allowed to discuss the embarrassing development, let alone try to defend the actions. SABEW survey shows median salary of $65K to $70K for business journalists Business journalists in the United States make a median salary of $65,000 to $70,000, according to an informal poll of nearly 400 business reporters and editors. The median salary for a business reporter was between $60,000 and $65,000, while the median salary for a business section editor was between $75,000 to $80,000. An editor of a business print publication makes a median salary between $95,000 and $100,000. Mainstream news media just keep missing the mark During the last number of months, the so-called mainstream news media not only has been a day late and a dollar short, it has missed the mark. It has been wrong, wrong, wrong on important political stories -- often resorting to clearly biased reporting. This is why many now use the term "lame-stream media." And I can't think of a better way to describe it. As someone once said, "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it." We Need To Change Copyright Laws To Save Newspapers Some of us initially get a bit loopy when anyone suggests any limitations to the right to freely access any and all content, even suggesting that any such limitations would destroy the internet. But the net is a pretty robust institution by now. In contrast, big city newspapers are dying from the east coast to the west, and without changing the rules regarding the reuse of newspapers’ content, it's not clear that investigative journalism will survive much longer. Canada’s newspapers prepare for battle The Globe and Mail is preparing a massive redesign, The National Post has a new CEO and an aggressive “digital-first” strategy, the Toronto Star is eying acquisitions and the Sun is launching a right-leaning news network. Canada's biggest media companies are girding for a battle -- again -- but one that this time may determine whether print has a future and whether most media functions will be outsourced to non-employees. AFL-CIO Seeks to Organize the Unemployed Working America, the organizing arm of the AFL-CIO, has announced a plan to mobilize the unemployed for the fall midterm elections, attempting to leverage a growing constituency that typically does not vote. There have been informal efforts in the past to organize the unemployed, but this is the first time a major labor organization has undertaken the task. More Kaplan Fallout For Washington Post Co.: Moody’s Warns of Credit Rating Downgrade The Washington Post Co. -- one of the few newspaper publishers that still has gold-plated credit ratings -- could be downgraded because of proposed federal rules that could cut its for-profit Kaplan schools out of the Title IV student loan program. Moody’s Investors Services warned Tuesday that it had put the Post Co.’s A1 senior secured and Prime-1 commercial paper ratings on review for a possible downgrade. Bankruptcy Judge Again Gives Tribune Co. More Time to Work Out Reorganization Plan A Delaware judge has agreed to again extend deadlines in the Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy as the company continues negotiating with creditors. The judge moved several deadlines in the case earlier this month to give parties time to respond to an independent examiner's report on the media conglomerate's 2007 leveraged buyout. While no new dates were set Tuesday, the judge did void this Friday's deadline to vote on the reorganization plan. The Obama administration's attacks on the media It is a popular conservative myth to suggest that the "mainstream media" is a liberal lapdog to the Obama administration, that reporters favor the president and that he returns the admiration. In fact, this administration has pursued a quiet but malicious campaign against the news media and their sources, more aggressively attacking those who ferret out confidential information than even the George W. Bush administration did. Rupert Murdoch donates $1m to Republicans Rupert Murdoch has thrown his financial weight behind the Republican party, donating $1 million to help its candidates in the November elections. It is one of the biggest donations to the party by any individual or organization. Murdoch's News Corporation said it supported the Republicans because the party had a pro-business agenda. Murdoch's Fox News channel, New York Post and Wall Street Journal already support the Republicans editorially. Note to editors: Respect your elders With most newspapers drawing more than half their audience from people who are 55 years of age and older, you would think they'd avoid insulting those readers. You'd be wrong. Although respectable media practitioners generally mind their manners when referring to those of different races, religions, genders, sexual orientation, physical capabilities and mental capacities, a notable lack of sensitivity persists toward people who have six or more decades under their belts. NAHJ Won't Need $50,000 Loan — for Now "Sponsorship Checks Are Still Coming In," President Says The financially pressed National Association of Hispanic Journalists received a payment from one of its convention sponsors on Friday and thus will not have to borrow up to $50,000 from an investment fund, a measure the NAHJ board had authorized the previous day, NAHJ President Michele Salcedo wrote late Monday. Meanwhile, the National Association of Black Journalists reports it exceeded convention sponsorship goals by nearly double. CEO Paton: Journal Register Co. Q2 EBITDA Exceeds Goal, Profit-Sharing Could Kick In One year after Journal Register Co. emerged from bankruptcy with a focus on radically changing how it reports and delivers news, the company exceeded its second-quarter financial goal and is “strongly on track” to make profit-sharing payouts, its CEO told employees. In his company blog, CEO John Paton said JRC finished the quarter with operating earnings of of $12.6 million, ahead of its $12.0 million goal for the quarter. Tribune Co. asks bankruptcy judge for more time Tribune Co., citing “vigorous negotiations” toward a new settlement with its creditors, asked the judge in its bankruptcy case for more time to work out a reorganization plan that “would maximize consensus” around a deal. The move comes as the various bickering parties in the case realign their positions, following an independent examiner’s report that suggested the $8.2 billion buyout may have rendered the company insolvent from Day 1.
Under threat from Mexican drug cartels, reporters go silent A new word has been written into the lexicon of Mexico's drug war: narco-censorship. It's when reporters and editors, out of fear or caution, are forced to write what the traffickers want them to write or be silenced. An estimated 30 reporters have been killed or have disappeared since the military-led offensive against powerful drug cartels started in December 2006, making Mexico one of the deadliest countries for journalists in the world. Times websites get '1.6m users behind paywall' The websites of The London Times and the Sunday Times newspapers have retained 1.6 million users since parent company News International introduced a paywall early last month, according to web metrics company Comscore. The number of users accessing thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk almost halved since they launched in May as free-to-access websites, according to data released today. 'Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' Reaches Tentative Agreements with Unions The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Aug. 14 that it reached tentative agreements with its 10 employee unions for contracts to run through March 2013. The unions, including the Pittsburgh Guild, represent 737 full-time and 69 part-time hourly employees. Details were withheld pending the contracts' ratification. Washington Post Co. warns on Kaplan division The Washington Post Co. said Monday that proposed federal rules would likely place restrictions on its Kaplan education division, the company's biggest and most profitable segment. The Post Co. warned earlier this month that changes in federal education policy could hurt Kaplan's results. Since then, Post Co. shares have lost about a quarter of their value, including a decline of $42.96, or 13%, to $300.52 in morning trading Monday. Hispanic Journalists' Money Woes Worsen Convention Sponsors Still Owe Nearly $100,000 in Pledges With revenue from its June convention falling short of expectations and at least two convention sponsors yet to pay pledges totaling nearly $100,000, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is preparing to tap into its endowment fund to meet payroll and overhead costs. Other journalism organizations are also facing financial problems, but those at NAHJ appear to be more severe than most. Times Paper in Mass. to Charge for Online Content The Telegram & Gazette, a New York Times-owned and Guild-represented newspaper in Worcester, Mass., said it will begin charging readers today to view some of the local news articles that appear on its web site. The paper is using a metered pay wall that allows readers to view 10 local news articles per month free, but once they cross that threshold they will be asked to buy an online subscription, with options ranging from a $14.95 monthly pass to a $1 day pass. Zell to bankruptcy court: If lower creditors get money back, I want mine Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell is demanding his share of repayment in the media company's bankruptcy if lower-priority creditors, emboldened by a recently released examiner’s report, get anything. Zell's company, which invested $315 million in debt and equity in the 2007 Tribune leveraged buyout, said it expects its debt claims to be repaid if creditors whose trustee is Wilmington Trust Co. get any payment. In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news -- with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in either. These views have hardly budged since falling more than 10 percentage points from 2003-2007. The findings are from Gallup's annual Confidence in Institutions survey, which found the military faring best and Congress faring worst of 16 institutions tested. US: Firms must spell out workers' benefit rights Your company just denied your disability claim. What do you do now? How long do you have to file an appeal? And with whom? The Obama administration is planning to upgrade consumer protections for workers and family members covered by health, disability and pension plans, ordering companies to clearly explain decisions on claims and how employees can dispute denials. The basic idea is to require health and other plans to spell out what a worker needs to know to safeguard his rights. Forecast: Magazine Growth Sluggish Through 2014 Traditional revenue streams will continue to be challenged for both consumer and trade magazine publishing through the next five years, says media and information private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Overall, VSS predicts that total communications industry spending is on pace to increase 3.5% in 2010 and post a compound annual growth rate of 6.1% between 2009 and 2014, to $1.416 trillion.
News Corp. plans national newspaper for tablet computers and cellphones News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is embarking on an ambitious plan for a new national digital newspaper to be distributed exclusively as paid content for tablet computers such as Apple Inc.'s iPad and mobile phones. The initiative, which would directly compete with the New York Times, USA Today and other national publications, is the latest attempt by a major media organization to harness sexy new devices to reach readers who increasingly consume their news on the go. USPS to Struggling Publications: Take a Hike The USPS is asking the Postal Regulatory Commission to approve emergency rate increases in order to help offset a $7 billion deficit this fiscal year, which ends in September. But the rate increases, which would be the third price hike to hit periodicals since 2007, may put dozens of already struggling independent and alternative print publications in jeopardy [as it already has The Guild Reporter]. Mainstream news media: not dead yet I hope it won’t make me sound prematurely aged to say that sometimes the internet exhausts me. That I’m troubled by how frequently I find myself sucked into the blogging vortex of endless linkage, circuitous kvetching, and petty media infighting. I often emerge from these binges hours later, bleary-eyed and less informed than when I started. Extremist Media Step Up Attacks on Workers, Unions In their attack on the union movement, extremist reactionary media outlets increasingly are depicting unions and workers as thugs, Communists and destroyers of free enterprise. Media Matters has compiled these recent attacks and we’re cross-posting some of the watchdog group’s findings here. We urge all unionists to take a minute from pinko thuggery to check it out. U.S. media ignore the aftermath of dubious elections they praised A year after a military coup removed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from office, Hondurans are still living under a repressive government -- but the U.S. is pushing Latin American countries to join it in normalizing relations with the regionally ostracized nation. And the press has played along, cheering U.S. reversal of its initial opposition to elections held under the auspices of a coup regime. Point Reyes Shines 'Light' on L3C Ownership For the past couple of years there’s been a lot of buzz-- some of it generated by the Newspaper Guild -- about the so-called L3C ownership model, which theoretically would let papers continue operating as if they were for-profits, but also allow them to accept tax-deductible donations and foundation money. "Theoretically," because no newspaper had actually tried organizing that way -- until now. Zell Can’t Be Made to Pay for Tribune Pension Losses Sam Zell can’t be made to pay for Tribune Co. retirement fund losses, a judge ruled, rebuffing workers who claim the billionaire caused the company’s employee stock ownership plan to lose value. While the workers sought disgorgement of payments made to Zell and EGI-TRB by Tribune in the acquisition, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago ruled yesterday they can’t because Tribune isn’t directly involved in the lawsuit.
Mexican Journalists March in Protest of Cartel Attacks Hundreds of journalists marched in downtown Mexico City and thousands joined in other marches across the country Saturday in protest of the escalating intimidation, kidnapping and murder of fellow journalists by organized crime. Journalism in Mexico has been a life-threatening profession for some years now. A total of 67 journalists have been killed here since 2000, according to Reporters Without Borders, making Mexico one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. Obama seals off US journalists and authors from Britain's libel laws President Obama yesterday signed into US law legislation aimed at protecting American authors, journalists and academics from Britain's libel laws. The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, known as the SPEECH Act, makes libel judgments against US writers in foreign territories unenforceable if they are perceived to counter the First Amendment right to free speech. Keep the Internet open, accessible, creative The debate over preserving open, equal access to the internet has taken a hard, sharp turn away from the theoretical toward a grim future of toll booths on the information superhighway. Net neutrality is under assault and the consequences are real. The White House, Congress and the FCC must take on a potent, well-financed, politically adroit lobbying force to protect millions of ordinary customers and voters. Survey: Finding a Job Harder for Minority Journalists in 2009 The latest report on salaries for journalism and mass communication majors confirms what we have all expected is happening to newsrooms generally: Even many journalists who are still working are losing ground. Worse yet, for an industry chronically incapable of recruiting non-white employees, bachelor's degree recipients who were members of racial or ethnic minorities had a particularly difficult time in the job market in 2009. Generally Upbeat World Press Trends Report Highlights Regional Differences Despite recession, newspaper circulation worldwide fell only slightly last year, and the effect on advertising revenue may be easing, according to the annual "World Press Trends" update of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Just over 60% of countries reported stable or increased circulations over one year; almost 70% reported the same over five years. Meanwhile, the 12,477 newspaper titles worldwide represented an increase of 1.7% from 2008. If King's vision is fully realized, the UAW becomes the auto industry's key partner in global competitiveness and stellar quality, and not the anchor that pulls a company under because of inflexibility and costs. The UAW becomes the trainer and the broker of the world's greatest talent for manufacturing the most technologically complex mass-produced product in the world. Cleveland Orchestra critic, despite losing lawsuit, feels he had his say Don Rosenberg, a 58-year-old journalist, covered the orchestra for 16 years for The Plain Dealer, a prize-winning newspaper, until he was reassigned in 2008 after a series of negative reviews targeting conductor Franz Welser-Most. Former 'Erie Times-News' Union Treasurer Pleads Guilty The former treasurer of the Erie Newspaper Guild has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $8,800 from the union. A federal grand jury in May indicted Antonio Jordan, 38, on a charge of using a union-issued credit card to make personal purchases worth $8,767 from March 2005 until February 2009. Jordan faces up to five years in prison when he's sentenced Nov. 22. His guilty plea bars him from being a union official for 13 years. E.W. Scripps Reports Q2 Results The E.W. Scripps Company on Monday said total segment expenses for its newspapers were down 3.8 percent from the prior-year period, to $93.4 million. Second-quarter segment profit in the newspaper division was $14.6 million, down 5.6 percent from $15.4 million in Q2 2009. Year-over-year revenue from Scripps newspapers fell 4.0 percent to $108 million, while advertising revenue was down 7.7 percent to $73.3 million. Newspapers beat the doomsayers' final deadline You remember what it was like two years ago, amid great wails of crunched despair, as economies tanked, advertising collapsed and only the all-conquering internet marched on? Conventional newspapers weren't just withering a bit: they were dying in droves. It would only be a mere five or 10 years, some analysts declared, before there'd be no papers left at all. Well, look again. First half dips 7 percent; news, auto, entertainment suffer Magazine publishers might well have expected their first-half newsstand numbers to look good compared to last year when wholesaler system snafus interrupted store deliveries, preventing issues from getting to racks. That wasn’t the case, though, as first-half newsstand sales declined 7.7 percent to just over 451 million units. That’s better than last year’s first-half decline of 12.4 percent, reflecting the delivery problems, but nothing to celebrate about either. Washington Post Co. Stock Tumbles on For-Profit Education Warning Washington Post stock was hammered in midday trading Friday, and was off 10.5% at noon. Earlier in the day it set a new 52-week low of $363.71 -- a little more than four months after hitting a 52-week high of $547.18 a share. Volume at midday was about 178,000, or three times the average turnover for an entire trading session. The high volume and the percentage decliner are highly unusual for the stock, which rarely swing more than 2% either way in a typical trading day. AFL-CIO Council approves anti-filibuster drive, mass march Oct. 2 Frustrated with Senate Republican filibusters that stall nominations and block or kill legislation -- notably the Employee Free Choice Act -- the AFL-CIO Executive Council has approved an anti-filibuster drive to change the Senate rules. The move was introduced by CWA President Larry Cohen, whose own union adopted even stronger language at its recent convention that demands the filibuster be abolished. What Are GateHouse Q2 Results Telling Us? Some analysts who aren't assigned to the newspaper sector neverthess pay attention to Gannett, which they see as serving as a sort of economic barometer with its mix of newspapers large and small. It's useful to look at GateHouse Media the same way -- but the results aren't cause for hopefulness. As the Q2 report released Tuesday evening shows GateHouse operated at a loss, even though operating expenses were down 8 percent. And that spells trouble for the industry overall. Billionaire Philanthropy Bingo: How 'Bout 1% for News? Spurred by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, three-dozen billionaires have signed on to a pledge to give away more than half their wealth to good causes -- a sum estimated by the New York Times at $600 billion, five or take. So, for the moment, forget NPR-like pledge drives, $49 contributions, micropayment schemes, pay hurdles. How about a program of modest billionaire tithing, a pledging of new philanthropic dollars to assure the free flow of news and information? WikiLeaks Responds to Government's Demands With 'Insurance' WikiLeaks has posted a huge encrypted file named "Insurance" to its website, sparking speculation that those behind the organization may be prepared to release more classified information if authorities interfere with them. Bloggers have noted that the file is 20 times larger than the batch of 77,000 secret U.S. military documents about Afghanistan that WikiLeaks dumped onto the web last month. Washington Post Co. sees nearly eight-fold rise in 2Q earnings Second-quarter earnings at The Washington Post Co. rose nearly eight-fold compared with the same period of 2009, although 67 percent of the company's earnings were contributed by Kaplan, its education division. At the newspaper division, meanwhile, second-quarter revenue was up 2 percent, even as print ad revenue at The Post declined 6 percent, thanks to a 14 percent increase in online newspaper ad revenue. Demand Media Extends Content Model To Other Publishers, Hearst And Gannett First To Sign Up Demand Media on Thursday debuted a new service for publishers to pad their online offerings. Hearst Corp.'s SFGate.com and Chron.com quickly jumped aboard, making it the second major publisher to do so, following Gannett's USA Today and its use of Demand Media to power its "TravelTips" section. "Content farms" like Demand Media automatically assign "stories" to nonprofessional freelancers based on user interest and their search engine optimization potential. WikiLeaks and a journalism 'shield law' For years, members of Congress have tied themselves in knots trying to figure out how to pass a "shield law" that allows journalists to protect the identities of sources without giving anything to journalists whom those same members do not like or appreciate. Now, with a shield law poised for approval, the WikiLeaks disclosures of classified material from Afghanistan have reinforced the timidity that has delayed this legislation for too long. Obama reminds labor of pro-worker actions, poses election as clear choice Reminding union leaders of a long list of pro-worker actions by his administration -- and contrasting that with the anti-union bias of his predecessor -- Democratic President Barack Obama has posed the upcoming election as a clear choice between moving forward with his policies or moving back to the past. Obama’s Aug. 4 speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council was repeatedly interrupted by applause, notably when he declared “we are going to keep fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act.” Trumka to activists:'Work like there's no tomorrow' Casting the 2010 election in even starker terms than other union leaders have before, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka urged union activists to “work like there’s no tomorrow” between now and Nov. 2, “because given what we lose if we lose this election, there may not be.” Trumka drew sharp contrasts between the policies of the labor-backed Obama administration -- despite disappointments -- and those of the prior GOP Bush administration. U.S. Files Historic Labor Complaint Against Guatemala President Obama’s pledges to sign free trade deals have been strongly opposed by labor unions. But recently, his administration slightly appeased his critics by enforcing workers’ rights agreements in an existing trade pact. Last Friday, the United States filed a complaint against Guatemala for failure to enforce labor agreements outlined in a free trade deal with Central American countries, making it the first time the U.S. has brought a case against a trade partner. Labor Caucus at Netroots Nation Charles Lechner from the New Organizing Institute emphasized that unions’ social media presence should be written in a human voice, not sound like it’s written by committee. It’s great for unions to be on Twitter but if their tweets read like they are written by a robot, aren’t timely and don’t engage in the twitter community as a conversation you won’t get very far. Thirty media organizations in Rwanda have been suspended for failing to meet the requirements of the country's restrictive media law ahead of next Monday's presidential election. The suspensions come a day after reports that Rwanda's image is being polished outside Africa by a global PR firm, Racepoint. Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, has been on the Reporters Without Borders list of list of press freedom predators for the past four years. Tribune Co.’s publicly traded debt exploded to new post-bankruptcy high Wednesday -- hard on revelations that at least one and maybe more “senior financial officer” at the old Tribune Co. management pretty much bluffed the board and a financial firm that should have known better into going ahead with the 2007 leverage buyout that ended in grief and U.S. Bankruptcy Court less than a year later. The Newsonomics of the fading 80/20 rule The Dallas Morning News now gets 38% of its revenue from circulation, 54% from advertising and 8% from contract printing plus. That's a far cry from the 80/20 rule that used to prevail in the newspaper industry, under which 80% of revenue came from advertising and 20% came from circulation. But the News is hardly unique, as numerous newspapers hike their subscription prices to offset the precipitous decline in advertising revenue, gambling they'll gain more than they lose. Federal records show CNN Money, Chicago Tribune hosted active-duty Marines as interns Much has been made of the media's practice of "embedding" reporters in military units, allowing them to file war reports while under the total care and control of the U.S. military. A less widely known practice is the Pentagon's occasional "reverse embed," which permits active-duty service personnel to serve as interns in major media companies, sometimes in an editorial capacity,gleaning insights and intelligence into how media organizations operate. Cost Savings Initiatives Spur Bigger Profits at Time Inc. Consumer publishing giant Time Inc. reported an operating income of $203 million through the first six months of 2010, nearly three times the $70 million it pulled in during the same period last year, according to parent company Time Warner, which reported its first-half financial earnings Wednesday. Revenues at the publishing group remained flat at roughly $1.72 billion. News Corp.'s Full-Year Profits Soar on Back of 'Avatar' News Corp. said the company finished its 2010 fiscal year with $4 billion in operating income -- an increase of 11% -- thanks, mostly, to the ridiculous box office success of “Avatar” and a recovering ad market. At its newspaper division, which includes Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, fourth quarter profit was up 20%, as advertising for Dow Jones climbed 14% during the period. The Top Ten List of Reasons Why Unions Aren't Using Social Media This is for you, labor leaders, particularly at the local union level, who do not yet understand the impact new media and social networking can have on your public image and communication abilities. This is a series of suggestions and guidance for you (perhaps even some "aha" moments as well) to begin taking small steps towards feeling more comfortable with using the power of the internet to work positively for your labor organization. After Afghan War Leaks, Revisions in a Shield Bill Democratic senators who have been working on legislation providing greater protections to reporters who refuse to identify confidential sources are backpedaling from WikiLeaks. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are drafting an amendment to make clear that the bill’s protections extend only to traditional news-gathering activities and not to beb sites that serve as a conduit for the mass dissemination of secret documents. Community Newspaper Publisher GateHouse Media Narrows Q2 Loss as Revenue Loss Worsens Slightly GateHouse Media Inc. has reported a sharply reduced net loss in the second-quarter from a year-ago period. Q2 revenue calculated on a same-store basis fell 4.9% from a year ago, a higher year-over-year percentage decline than the 3.9% reported in the first quarter of 2010. Its net loss for the quarter was $5.3 million, compared to a net loss a year ago of $496.5 million that included a non-cash impairment charge of $481.5 million. Blame piles up in Tribune Co.'s 2007 buyout Examiner's report finds fault with financial executives and valuation firm, among others By issuing a set of rosy financial projections and misusing the imprimatur of one of the company's white-shoe investment banks, former and current Tribune Co. executives pushed through a deal that left the Chicago-based media conglomerate insolvent, according to a long-awaited examiner's report in Tribune Co.'s 20-month-old bankruptcy case. The report shows that what held the complex, two-stage transaction together was mostly fear of getting sued if it fell apart. Free Press, Detroit News struggle five years after revising their JOA Five years into the revised 25-year joint-operating agreement between the owners of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, the newspapers are not making money and have seen some significant changes to their business model. Gannett owns 95% of the partnership, which will not discuss specific financials, but it has acknowledged losing millions of dollars on the newspapers without giving an exact amount.
Interview: WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Why do whistle-blowers turn to WikiLeaks instead of to traditional media? WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange contends it's because "mainstream media, through internal concentrations in countries where there's really only sort of one or two dominant media organizations in a town, has had a sort of perverse effect where sources are treated as something to be kept at bay rather than something to treasure."
Does this picture make you think of Rwanda? … if so, a British PR firm has done its job, and many states want a similar makeover Murderous regimes in countries such as Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan increasingly look to London-based PR firms to spin more favorable images. "If you are managing a client's reputation, whether individual, company or country, it is the Anglo-Saxon media that matters and particularly the London-based media," explains an advisor to the Kazakh foreign ministry. "Coverage in the U.S. is important, but what is said out of London will determine your global reputation." |
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