‘Miami Herald’ Won’t Outsource Editorial After All – Editor & Publisher, Jan. 15, 2008
[The controversial experiment is abandoned over quality concerns. Outsourcing of some production and website monitoring will continue. -Ed.]

The times are changing, and so is your newspaper – sacbee.com, Jan. 13, 2008
[The new editor of the Sacramento Bee makes it clear in her inaugural column that online is where it’s at. -Ed.]

Goldman Sachs Predicts Grim Year For Newspapers – MediaPost, Jan. 10, 2008
Quoting: Newspapers will take it on the chin in 2008, according to analysts with Goldman Sachs, who warned Wednesday of a potential double-whammy, as the industry’s secular downturn converges with a broader economic slowdown. Overall, they forecast a 7.9% decline in revenue, a much more substantial drop than their earlier prediction of just 2.6%. The predicted 7.9% drop is especially gloomy as it comes after several years of losses, compounding a 1.8% decline in 2006 and a roughly 8% drop in the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006."

Bostonian To Blaze New Trail at Edmonton Journal? – Canada Rocks, eh!, Jan. 19, 2008
[An embittered former reporter details the cost-slashing that’s gone on at the newspaper where he used to work and wonders how an optimistic new publisher can make a difference in a company that he believes is bent on cutting costs to a minimum. -Ed.]

‘Chicago Tribune’ Eliminates Print Help-Wanted Ads On Weekdays – Editor & Publisher, Jan. 14, 2008 
Quoting: "Instead, there will be a listing of basic information in the business section every Tuesday. The listing, called ‘Careerbuilder QuickFind,’ will refer readers to the full recruitment ad on chicagotribune.com/careerbuilder through a Web ID…Print help-wanted classified will continue to run in the Sunday paper under Careerbuilder section title, but the Tribune said the section will have ‘a bold new look with fewer columns, larger ads, and clear headings that enable easier page scanning and navigation.’

Scott Karp offers some thoughtful and constructive perspective on citizen journalism, which he calls “networked journalism,” in this post on Publishing 2.0. One of the greatest risks of unfettered community reporting is the risk of someone gaming the system, he notes. There are thousands of blog posts already out there that describe strategies for driving up vote totals on community recommendation engines. A particularly controversial one is here. The advantage of the “command-and-control” journalism model is that it’s relatively transparent. Fact-checking and decision-making are done by human editors who are responsible for their actions. In contrast, decision-making by algorithm is inherently subject to manipulation.

Karp takes issues with those who argue that algorithms can be developed to detect gaming. The most sophisticated schemes will always be hard to detect, he says. That doesn’t make citizen journalism bad, though. In the end, Karp argues, there’s much to recommend the community-driven model, but we need to be aware of its flaws, too.

Scott Karp offers some thoughtful and constructive perspective on citizen journalism, which he calls “networked journalism,” in this post on Publishing 2.0. One of the greatest risks of unfettered community reporting is the risk of someone gaming the system, he notes. There are thousands of blog posts already out there that describe strategies for driving up vote totals on community recommendation engines. A particularly controversial one is here. The advantage of the “command-and-control” journalism model is that it’s relatively transparent. Fact-checking and decision-making are done by human editors who are responsible for their actions. In contrast, decision-making by algorithm is inherently subject to manipulation.

Karp takes issues with those who argue that algorithms can be developed to detect gaming. The most sophisticated schemes will always be hard to detect, he says. That doesn’t make citizen journalism bad, though. In the end, Karp argues, there’s much to recommend the community-driven model, but we need to be aware of its flaws, too.

Mother Jones has another one of those opinion pieces by a journalist who is outraged – outraged, I tell you! – over the loose editing and poor fact-checking of citizen journalism. In this case, the villain is the Tallahassee Democrat, which published a popular blog by a local PR person whose topics sometimes touched upon issues that related to her clients. In one anecdote highlighted in the piece, the blogger supported a proposal to build a Wal-Mart near town while her firm was doing PR for Wal-Mart.

Well, shame on the Tallahassee Democrat, and shame on the blogger, but please no shame on citizen journalism. The problem here is that the newspaper chose to feature prominently someone whose profession should have raised warning flags and then didn’t fact-check her work. In a true citizen journalism environment, the blogger would be subject to community fact-checking, which would have quickly identified her conflicts of interest. She also wouldn’t have enjoyed the unfair advantage of the newspaper bully pulpit. She’d have to earn respect and trust on her own instead.

In attempting to trash citizen journalism, this article actually does the opposite. It highlights the risks of the hybrid models now being tried by mainstream newspapers as they desperately seek a viable business model. Take the newspaper out of this story and there’s, well, no story.

Update

Adam Weinstein, author of the Mother Jones article, responded to my comments via e-mail:

“Read your comments about my Mother Jones piece, both on their site and your own blog, and I just wanted to say: I couldn’t agree more. If I had it to write again, I would want to stress that the problem is not with citizen journalism, but with one particularly offensive media corporation’s attempt to co-opt it. They were less interested with understanding the open system, or with improving their responsiveness to community issues, than with cutting corners every step of the way.

“My gut says that print organizations can partner with citizen media and better use the Web, but that might require a greater degree of editorial vigilance, a tough pill to swallow for both (justly) free-spirited bloggers and (unjustly) penny-pinching newspaper publishers. But there’s a whole lot more Stacey N. Getzes out there, and until the mainstream media and readers grow to understand exactly how citizen journalism polices itself, a lot of Stacy Getzes are going to give bad names to both the ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs.'”

Dramatic Losses Force Union-Tribune to Lay Off Employees – voiceofsandiego.org, Jan. 16, 2008
[The paper, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006, has cut about 15% of its newsroom employees in the last three years as Sunday circulation has plummeted 19%. Owner Copley Press’s Washington, D.C. office has been cut in half. Copley CEO Gene Bell wrote in a memo: “[A]ll communications media now face destructive competitive forces seldom seen before…never in our history have we faced revenue losses as dramatic as those of the last 12 months.” -Ed.]

Beaver County newspaper announces employee layoffs – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Jan. 15, 2008
The Beaver County Times in Bridgewater announced Monday that it has laid off 10 full-time and 11 part-time employees in what it calls an effort to eliminate duplication of duties and to streamline production.

[Newport News] Daily Press to cut 14 jobs — dailypress.com, Jan. 14, 2008
[The Newport News paper has cut nearly 100 jobs in recent years as circulation has shrunk 20% since 1995. -Ed.]

Post-Tribune workers face layoffs – NWITimes, Jan. 12, 2008
[The northern Indiana newspaper is cutting 20 positions as part of the broad cost-reduction initiative by parent Sun-Times Media Group. – Ed.]

Allentown, Seattle newspapers will cut jobs – Reuters, Jan. 9, 2008
[I’ve already noted the cuts at the Seattle Times. The new information is about the loss of 10 positions at the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. This appears to be less than 5% of total staff. -Ed.]

Editorial Cartoon Group Prez Hits Huge Payout to Former Tribune Co. Boss — And Delivers ‘Top 10’ List – Editor & Publisher, Jan. 5, 2008

[News that former Tribune Co. executive Dennis FitzSimons had received a $41 million golden parachute prompted one Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist to express outrage that the payout was so low. Nick Anderson then proposed the “Top 10 ways that Dennis FitzSimons can get a bigger payoff.” They include “Remaining staffers at Tribune papers sell a kidney to go the extra mile for Fitz.” – Ed.]

Back to the chopping block – Reflections of a Newsosaur, Jan. 13, 2008

[Alan Mutter isn’t optimistic about the economy in 2008, and he sees terrible implications for newspapers. If newspaper revenues decline 7.9%, as one analyst has forecast, instead of the generally accepted 5%, then the cost
cuts needed to sustain profitability would amount to 15% of total newspaper payroll. And that’s not all. Debt service costs could increase and papers could be required to make deeper staff cuts to balance increases in insurance and other expenses. Unless the economy rallies, it’s looking like an ugly year. – Ed.]

The Cincinnati Enquirer Expands Coverage and Grows Online Video Presence with Avid Media Publishing Solutions – Business Wire, Jan. 8, 2008

[This press release notes that the Enquirer “has a team of 40 video producers and online editors trained to generate news stories with video elements – up from eight this time last year.” The newspaper, perhaps emboldened by the recent death of the Cincinnati Post, appears to be making some significant investments in multimedia coverage. -Ed.]

Media Biz: Dead trees, dead stocks, dead cat bounce? – CNN Money, Jan. 7, 2008

[A columnist sees another tough year for newspapers, with pressure growing for some companies to go private. But there are bright spots at companies like the Washington Post, which is diversifying and growing revenue. More papers should follow the Post’s lead, he says. -Ed.]

Newspapers:
Hitting The Coffin Nail on the Head – Seeking Alpha

[Noting that the internet is “not built on big. It’s built on a mass of smalls. And newspapers think big. That’s their real challenge,” Jeff Jarvis suggests that newspapers brought their current crisis on themselves by focusing their sales efforts on $100,000 advertisers and ignoring the mass of $100 advertisers. He suggests that the only way out of this predicament – if there is one – is to spin off sales units to go after small customers. It’s wise advice, but can newspapers make the attitude shift to embrace the Long Tail? Doubtful. – Ed.]

Here’s the problem with journalism – Steve Outing, Jan. 10, 2007

[Steve Outing notes new research showing that about 1/4 of reporters have blogs and about half lurk on blogs, reading them but rarely commenting. He’s shocked that the numbers are so low, though he acknowledges that some people might call this progress. I’m with Outing. What really surprised me was the lurking figure. It’s hard to believe that half of all journalists don’t use a ready-made news source like blogs to cover their beats.
What are they doing, monitoring the police band? -Ed.]

The downside of newspaper reader blogs – A shel of my former self, Jan. 9, 2008

[Social media guru Shel Holtz tells of a renegade blogger who used language of questionable taste on her LA Times blog and asks whether newspapers should edit the very community journalists they now invite into their space. -Ed.]

Wall Street Foresees Horrible Year For Newspapers: Are They Killing Themselves? – The Daily Bellwether, Jan. 10, 2008

[Imaginingg a newspaper’s call to the suicide hotline. The author is a veteran journalist who took a buyout from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and appears to be rather cynical about the whole industry. -Ed.]

The ultimate insult is to make The Simpsons

Gawker has a clip of Nelson dissing a newspaper journalist.

The
Seattle Times Cuts 86 Jobs – Associated Press, Jan. 9, 2008

[Actual layoffs total 31 people; 55 vacant positions won’t be filled. Most of the cuts are in circulation. Since the paper delivers The Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Financial Times to the Seattle area, we can assume this indicates broader circulation weakness. -Ed.]

Shrinking Union-Tribune: ‘Doing Less With Less’ – Voiceofsandiego.org, Jan. 7, 2008

Herald-Republic announces job cuts, expense trimming – Yakima Herald.com, Jan. 3, 2007

Quoting: Yakima Herald-Republic has laid off five employees, closed its Sunnyside bureau, and eliminated its zoned edition for the Lower Valley to trim expenses for 2008.

The Herald-Republic will leave several open positions unfilled, including one news reporter job. It will revamp its Spanish-language weekly, El Sol de Yakima, partly by outsourcing some page production to Mexico…”I don’t think it has to negatively affect the product,” [publisher] Shepard said. “Like any business, we can try and do as much or more with a few less folks.”

Sun-Times to cut costs; layoffs loom — chicagotribune.com, Dec. 15, 2007

[The Sun-Times had previously announced plans to cut $10 million in operating expenses, so this is a dramatically more ambitious goals. The CEO is quoted as saying, “We have to accept that the print advertising market may never again reach the levels of the past. We must scale our organization to meet that reality.” – Ed.]

How Garry Steckles can hang around – Chicago Reader Blogs, Jan. 9, 2008

[As the Chicago Sun-Times prepares to cut 30 editorial positions, staffers have come to focus on two employees who have recently been promoted to exempt positions and spared the threat of layoffs. Both are pals of EIC Michael Cooke, and speculation is rampant that that’s what saved them. Worse, this columnist claims, one is effectively a do-nothing consultant. -Ed.]

Cuts at Yakima, Bremerton and byline strike in Maine – Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild Blog

The end of the year was a good time for newspaper insiders and critics alike to review a pretty terrible year and wonder what come next.

$23B zapped in news stock value – Reflections of a Newsosaur, Jan. 1, 2008
[Alan Mutter runs the numbers and concludes that US newspaper companies have lost 42% of their market value in the last three years, with the majority of that decline coming in 2007. He further suggests that Wall Street’s lack of confidence in newspaper stocks is an indication that investors don’t believe that newspaper executives know how to pull out of the tailspin. As usual, his analysis is well-researched and pointed. – Ed.]

Lee CEO Junck Optimistic About Newspaper Biz – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 31, 2007

[A newspaper CEO points proudly to a year in which her company’s financial performance sucked less than that of its competitors’. -Ed.]

Enduring Values in a Time of Change – washingtonpost.com, Dec. 30, 2007

[The Washington Post’s ombudsman looks on the bright side. Deborah Howell starts by detailing the declines in circulation and revenue at the paper, but finishes by describing the shift in attitude about the Web that’s occurred among the reportorial staff. While it’s clear that some are adapting to the new online channels out of self-preservation, Howell clearly believes that most of the staff is embracing new media and trying to reinvent the paper. -Ed.]

‘Cincinnati Post’ Closes, Other Newspapers Outsource To India – MediaPost, Dec. 31, 2007

Quoting: “The Miami Herald announced Thursday that it is outsourcing some advertising production tasks to India as a cost-cutting measure, beginning in January. The New Delhi firm Mindworks will handle copy editing and design for special advertising sections, including a weekly community section covering Broward County. So far, the move hasn’t resulted in any layoffs in the paper’s Florida offices. However, Herald executives say the outsourcing is a test–implying that some jobs could go to India if it proves successful.

“The Miami Herald is actually the second newspaper owned by the McClatchy Co. to outsource to India. At the beginning of December, The Sacramento Bee also said it would experiment with outsourcing some ad production tasks.”

[This really isn’t surprising. Many functions associated with running a daily newspaper can be managed remotely, and why pay $25/hour to someone in the US when you can get the job done for $5/hour overseas? These early outsourcing experiments have sparked considerable teeth-gnashing in the newspaper industry, which is interesting, considering that creative cost-cutting initiatives like these are clearly needed. – Ed.]

Old and new clash in a struggle for dominance – The Boston Globe, Dec. 30, 2007
[A Globe columnist sums up the rough year that mainstream media has had and asks what’s next. “As old embraces new, some fear that the basic function of old media – watchdog, investigator, pillar of democracy – will be lost in a sea of microtargeting and snark,” she says. It’s an interesting observation, because blogging is, in many respects, the epitome of democracy and communities have proven to be pretty good watchdogs when they’re given a forum to talk about what they see. As for the investigator role, we’re still working out how to sustain that valuable function in the new world. Sending 2,500 reporters to cover the Iowa caucuses was not a great PR move for the newspaper industry. -Ed.]

Album Sales Plunge, Music Biz Rethinks – Media Post, Jan. 4, 2008
[The topic isn’t newspapers here, but the dynamics that are killing the music industry are meaningful to any mainstream media business. Record companies have long resisted buyers’ demands that they provide more flexible means to acquire their products. They’ve stubbornly refused, insisting that consumers buy an entire album, even if they only want to listen to one song. So customers have stopped buying, and now the recording industry is paying the price. Album sales are off a stunning 15% year-over-year, continuing a long-term decline. A desperate industry is forced to resort to desperate measures, but their reputation is so tattered that it’s questionable whether customers will give them another chance. This is a harsh lesson of the digital media age. -Ed.]

There are signs that the industry is trying to reinvent itself, or at least complain more vociferously about the forces that are marginalizing it.

What’s Black & White And Spread All Over? – MediaPost, Dec. 10, 2007
[A study commissioned by the newspaper industry finds that newspaper readers are more likely to be influencers than non-readers. The results really aren’t surprising. In percentage terms, twice as many people over the age of 60 read daily newspapers as under the age of 30. Given that newspaper readership increases with age, it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that older people would be more influential in purchasing decisions than kids. You can also assume that people who can afford a subscription to a newspaper are somewhat more affluent than those who rely solely on the Web. It’s hard to tell; the rather skimpy 10-slide presentation on the NNN’s site gives no demographic breakdown. – Ed.]

Unfettered ‘citizen journalism’ too risky, ajc.com, Dec. 13, 2007
[The author calls for “citizen journalism” to be regulated and/or certified. The scenarios he outlines to support his case are valid. Unfortunately, professional journalists aren’t licensed or certified, so the idea that ordinary citizens should be subjected to some kind of review process rings pretty hollow. -Ed.]

Local Papers’ Web Scramble – WSJ.com, Dec. 18, 2007
[Newspapers are rapidly losing market share in the one market in which they should have a significant edge: local advertising. In 2007, for the first time, pure-play Web companies had a larger share of local advertising than newspapers. In just three years, newspapers’ overall share of that market is down from 44% to 33.4%. This is largely newspapers’ own fault. Instead of investing in local sales staff over the last decade, they have mainly focused on trying to sell more high-margin national display advertising. Meanwhile, pure-play Web companies swooped in and took their market share. -Ed.]