McClatchy Paper Gives New Meaning to "Killing a Story"

Image via WikipediaTip of the hat to Editor & Publisher which reported this past week on a snafu by The McClatchy Co.-owned Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Washington, which resulted in Cheri (Schumann) Taylor missing her Class of 1971 reunion at Kennewick High School ("KHS").

That's what happened when the local paper reported that Taylor was a homicide victim, which was news to her. According to Taylor, her sister alerted her to a Tri-City Herald story about how eight students would not be attending their 40th reunion at KHS because they were murder victims, including Taylor, who allegedly was killed in 1996.

Apparently, a classmate organizing the class reunion received an Email from another classmate that claimed Taylor (Schumann in her KHS days) was a homicide victim, and the organizer passed along that news nugget to a reporter.

Taylor has since  informed the Herald that to the best of her knowledge, she hadn't been killed, bringing to mind Mark Twain's note in May 1897, in which he wrote: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

All in all, not a good day for the Tri-City Herald, as one of the other Class of 1971 victims in its macabre article, though deceased, had died of natural causes following a long illness, rather than at the hands of a crazed murderer.

This is why the vigilant staff of "TUOL" always passes along to journalism students the same advice dutifully received many years ago from a crusty newspaper professor:  "If your mother says she loves you, check it out...."

Media General Demoted by Poor Quarterly Earnings

Image via WikipediaDeclining advertising revenues among its print and advertising holdings are to blame for a $4.2 million operating loss in the First Quarter of 2011 by Richmond, Va.-based media conglomerate Media General, Inc.("MGI"), according to Editor & Publisher.

The disappointing numbers fare poorly compared to First Quarter earnings in 2010, during which MGI showed an $8.7 million operating profit.  Total 2011 1Q revenues were $148.9 million, a 6.2 percent drop from the corresponding period a year ago.

Although MGI's television stations and local media Web sites performed comparatively well, the company's numbers were dragged down by its print and advertising entities.  MGI experience a 7 percent decline in circulation revenues in the First Quarter of 2011.

The company, whose presence is strongest in the Southeast U.S., includes ownership of 3 metropolitan dailies and 20 community newspapers, 18 network-affiliated television outlets, and 200 specialty publications, including weekly newspapers and niche publications.

Rough Trade: Editor and Publisher Cleans House

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Editor & Publisher, the trade magazine that covers the beleaguered newspaper industry, found itself making news yesterday after its three top editors were fired via email.


Editor Mark Fitzgerald, a 26-year veteran of E & P, along with Managing Editor Shawn Moynihan and Senior Editor Jim Rosenberg were shown the door by E & P owner Duncan McIntosh, which purchased the magazine in January 2010.  The new owner wants to take the publication in a new direction, which may be downhill.

Jeff Fleming and Kristina Achermann, respectively,  will assume Fitzgerald's and Moynihan's positions.

Victory 'Lap': Westchester Weekly Scores $8m Verdict Against Mayor

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Trade journal Editor & Publisher reports that Yonkers (N.Y.) Mayor Philip Amicone this week was socked with an $8 million verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a civil rights lawsuit brought by Sam Zherka, publisher of the weekly Westchester Guardian.


Filed in October 2007, Zherka v. Amicone (Case No. 7:2007cv09618), alleged that Amicone had news racks confiscated and copies of the Guardian seized in Summer 2007 after the paper published negative articles about him. The Guardian claimed police were ticketing Guardian employees who distributed the weekly in the streets.


It was a not good week for Amicone overall, as he also lost his defamation suit against the Guardian that arose from a 2007 election eve Guardian story that alleged Amicone frequented gentlemen's clubs and had received a lap dance.


Zherka brought a civil rights claim against Amicone under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, which in relevant part states:

"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress..."

In the you can't make this stuff up category, Zherka apparently also owns the strip club where the celebrated mayoral lap dance allegedly occurred, according to The Journal News in White Plains (N.Y.).  Mayor Amicone isn't the only loser in this case as Zherka claims the lap dancer never received her $20 fee from the mayor for her efforts.

Sacramento Bee Stung By More Layoffs

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Twenty-nine employees, including sports editor Bill Bradley and two newsroom photographers, are being laid off by the McClatchy Co.-owned Sacramento Bee, according to a report in trade publication Editor & Publisher.


Circulation and Production departments are being hardest hit by the latest round of layoffs and buyouts. In the past two-and-a-half years, the Sacramento  Bee has endured five rounds of staff cutbacks in the face of shrinking advertising and flagging circulation.

Public Criticism of News Media at a Gallup

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A record high 57 percent of Americans distrust the news media to report the news fully, according to a Gallup Poll survey this month.


As compiled by trade publication Editor & Publisher, the random digit-dial sampling of 1,019 adults found that 48 percent of those queried believe the news media is too liberal, compared to 15 percent who consider it too conservative. Lower-income, less-educated respondents were more trusting of news media accounts than their higher-educated, better-heeled counterparts.

Bad Day for Southern Journos with Layoffs at Two Dailies

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The continuing loss of advertising lineage and shriveling circulation among newspapers means more layoffs in the newsroom.


Trade publication Editor & Publisher reports that The Florida Times Union, owned by Augusta, Ga.-based Morris Publishing Group, this week laid off 6 percent of its work force, or 26 workers, a third of whom were editorial staffers. Editorial cartoonist Ed Gamble's position was one of eight newsroom slots eliminated. Morris Publishing Group last spring emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.


The news isn't any better at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, which underwent its second round of layoffs this year. The paper this week eliminated 20 positions through layoffs and voluntary buyouts, and is mandating that remaining workers take an unpaid week-long furlough in the fourth quarter of 2010.  In January, the paper trimmed 11 newsroom jobs among 25 staff cutbacks overall.

Money-Starved National Post Offers Voluntary Buyouts to Staffers

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According to a report in trade publication Editor & Publisher, in a cost-containment move, Postmedia Network has offered staffers at Canada's The National Post voluntary buyouts of three weeks' pay for each year of service.


Postmedia Network, which acquired the Camwest newspapers at a bankruptcy auction, hopes to pare labor costs. Reportedly, Postmedia, Canada's largest publisher of paid English language dailies, has overseen staff cutbacks of about 50 workers at The Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal.


Voluntary buyout offers have also been extended to staffers at the Vancouver papers, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Victoria Times Colonist, according to the Editor & Publisher article.

News-Hungry Americans Lack Appetite for Newspapers

Image by eszter via FlickrTwenty-six percent of Americans thumbed through a newspaper yesterday, and only 8 percent of them were under age 30.


That grim disclosure for lovers of broadsheets and tabloids was among the findings culled from a Pew Research Center for People & the Press survey reported by trade publication Editor & Publisher. Forty-four percent of the respondents polled by Pew sought news through the Internet, cell phones, Email, social media or podcasts.


The 26 percent who opted to hold a newspaper in their hands is down from the 38 percent who admitted to doing so in Pew's 2006 survey.  On the positive side of the ledger, the latest poll found news consumption among Americans the highest that it's been in the best decade. If so, "TUOL" wants to know why 20 percent of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim and why only 28 percent of people polled by Pew could identify John Roberts as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Study: Journo Jobs Median Salary Stagnant

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It's a bad news, bad news scenario: an annual study of new journalism and communications grads found the median salary for jobs stuck at the same level for a fourth consecutive year, but at least there are fewer of these low-paying jobs available.

The Univ. of Georgia's James M. Cox, Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, which has conducted the salary survey of freshly minted graduates since 1987, found the median salary remained at $30,000, according to a story in Editor & Publisher magazine.  The median starting salary at daily newspapers was $27,000, compared to $25,000 at weeklies.

The E &P article noted the study's findings concerning the shrinking differential between salaries offered at union and non-union publications. Though non-union shops paid a median salary of $30,000 in both the 2008 and 2009 surveys, union publications' median salary, which started at $34,400 in 2008, declined to $30,700 in 2009.

Not to pile on, but the latest Center study reported that only 46.2 percent of bachelor degree recipients in the field had secured a job on Oct. 31, 2009,  10% fewer graduates than reported a year earlier. A quarter of the grads were employed part-time and another quarter were unemployed, according to the study.

A ray of sunshine: grads pursuing journalism and communications positions in Spring 2010 are enjoying somewhat more success landing a full-time job than grads reporting at the end of 2009.

Sun Chronicle Charges Bloggers to Comment on Online Edition Articles

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Anonymous bloggers who want to add their two-cents to articles appearing in the online edition of the Attleboro (Mass.) Sun Chronicle must now follow two steps: 1) shed their anonymity & 2) cough up 99 cents to add their two cents.

Editor & Publisher reports that the Sun Chronicle, like its neighboring newspapers, The Foxboro Reporter and the Taunton Silver City Bulletin, now requires would-be commenters  to register their name, address and phone number with the paper, along with a valid credit card number, and to pay 99 cents for the chance to comment on online news stories.

The Sun Chronicle is not looking to generate revenue to overcome shrinking advertising and lost circulation, as the daily's publisher concedes much of the 99 cent fee will be absorbed by the cost of verifying credit card numbers.  Rather, the paper hopes to elevate the level of public discourse concerning the news of the day and to deter obnoxious visitors to its website who spew vulgar and inflammatory remarks while hiding behind a pseudonym.  Newspapers around the nation are grappling with this issue, as reflected by The Buffalo News, which now requires its article posters to complete a registration form including their name, address, email and phone number (see "TUOL" post 6/21/10).

"TUOL" believes the same strict adherence to publication guidelines followed by the paper in publishing or rejecting "snail mail" letters to the editor can be applied to online comments without compromising the First Amendment free speech right recognized by the Supreme Court to protect one's identity while commenting on issues of public concern.  Charging readers to post comments will discourage citizen participation and public dialogue. Moreover, the Sun Chronicle may regret its policy if security is compromised and a hacker gains access to the credit card numbers of the posters.

Stop whining and be thankful you have readers energized enough to weigh in on local and national news issues.

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• Newspaper to Charge People to Comment (marco.org)

R.I.P. E&P

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Editor & Publisher magazine, which has been writing about the newspaper industry since 1901, is shutting down both its print and online editions, parent company The Nielsen Co. has announced.

E&P, along with Kirkus Reviews, will cease publication at the end of this year. Meanwhile, Nielsen Business Media, according to a letter from President Greg Farrar, will sell eight of its publications to e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a joint venture of Pluribus Capital Mgt. and Guggenheim Partners. The eight titles include: Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter.

Although formally launched in 1901, E&P traces its origins back to 1884 when it merged with The Journalist magazine. Although the prose was more turgid than poetic, E&P is a journalism institution that has been nicknamed the Bible of the newspaper industry.