Inquirer Publisher Seeks More Cost Cuts – AP, Jan. 23, 2008

Quoting: “The owners of Philadelphia’s two largest newspapers said they need tocut costs by an additional 10 percent or the company will face dire consequences…Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC would have trouble meeting debt payments if it doesn’t make changes…[A columnist says:] ‘We’ve gone through a series of economic cuts in the past years, and it is hard to see where they can cut further.’…One year ago, the company gave layoff notices to about 70 Inquirernewsroom employees, or 17 percent of the editorial staff, and laid off 34 people in advertising, or nearly 10 percent of the sales force.”

Inquirer Staffers React to Tierney’s “10 Percent” Threat – The Daily Examiner, Jan. 23, 2008
[The Philadelphia magazine website account adds some facts and color:

• The Guild is speculating that the threat of cuts is a bargaining tactic against the union;
• A Guild memo says executives “did not say what would happen if savings targets are not met, but made references to outsourcing jobs overseas.”
• One features writer asks “Who needs a Neighbors section when we could have the New Delhi Digest every day?”
• Quoting: “When Eagles head coach Andy Reid was suddenly scheduled to appear at an impromptu news conference, an editor went running through the newsroom looking for somebody, anybody, to cover it. ‘There are situations like that every day,’ says a staffer. -Ed.]

Metro – Sources: Globe will cut back staff, raise price – Metro, Jan. 24, 2008
[A strange media war is playing out in Boston, where the Globe and an alternative daily paper in which it owns a significant interest are competing with each other to scoop each other’s bad news. The Globe recently scooped the Metro in reporting the paper’s mounting losses. – Ed.]

Quoting: “The Boston Globe will soon announcecutbacks at the newspaper, including hundreds of layoffs, and anincrease in the per copy price of the paper to 75 cents as of Feb. 1,according to several sources inside and outside of the paper….The Globe saw a nearly 7 percent decrease — from 386,417 to 360,695 —in its daily circulation between Sept. 2006 and Sept. 2007.”

Globe says no big layoff coming — its Metro free paper got it wrong – Boston Business Journal, Jan. 24, 2008

[A Boston Globe spokesman says a report of impending layoffs of “hundreds” of Globe staffers published by Metro, a free paper in which the Globe owns a 49% stake, are false. However, his wording leaves plenty of wiggle room. The spokesman said the story is “factually incorrect” (how is this different from “incorrect?”) and that “There are no plans for a staff reduction of the size cited in the Metro.” His wording leaves leeway for the Globe to lay off up to 199 people and still call the Metro story incorrect. -Ed.]

The Sun May Be Getting Smaller, but We Won’t Give Ground On Local News – Kitsap Sun, Jan. 12, 2008

[The editor of the Kitsap Sun, which has been ravaged by staff cuts, declares his intention to continue the paper’s local news coverage. -Ed.]

After Job Cuts in 2007 — What’s Ahead? – Editor & Publisher, Jan. 15, 2008

[An E&P editor recaps the grim ledger from 2007, when US newspaper industry employment declined almost 3%. -Ed.]

Meanwhile, layoffs at the Chicago Sun-Times announced nearly a month ago continue to generate lots of coverage:

Sun-Times staffers get pink slips…by phone — chicagotribune.com, Jan. 23, 2008
[Management apparently just can’t wait to get laid-off staffers out the door. -Ed.]

Sun-Times wrestles with new reality – LATimes Pressmen Forums

‘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.

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.'”

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 following commentaries come from longtime foot soldiers of newspapering who speak out against the bottom-line mindset that has overtaken their industry.

MAGPIE » Killing the watchdogs. – Arthur Magazine blogs for you…

[David Carr presents an impassioned and eloquent argument for the value of investigative reporting, despite the fact that it will never be a profit-making activity. “Thousands of bloggers could type for a millennium and not come up with the kind of deeply reported story that freed innocent men — an effort that takes years of inquiry, deep sources and a touch for making unholy secrets knowable,” he writes. Layoffs and cost-cutting are threatening to kill this vital public policy role that the media plays. -Ed.]

Scholars and Rogues » Blog Archive » Journalism then; journalism now: comprehending the difference

[Denny Wilkins remembers the best editor he ever had and rues the fact that big corporations have turned news reporting into a commercial endeavor. He quotes frequently from David Carr’s piece noted above. – Ed.]

Gannett’s got a brand new (anonymous) blog!

[The Gannett Blog is all about Gannett Co., Inc. Only it’s not published by Gannett. The author describes him/herself as “Not in management. Not a union member. No ax to grind. And Gannett Blog has no formal affiliation with Gannett Co. Inc.” One thing’s for sure: the author is prolific, often posting several items a day. The blog was launched in June but has only been actively updated for the past month or so. Gannett employees are encouraged to submit tips. – Ed.]

Buyouts offered to Free Press employees-memo – Reuters.com

“The Detroit Media Partnership, a joint operating agreement between Free Press owner Gannett Co Inc. and MediaNews Group, which owns The Detroit News, aims to cut 110 positions, it said in a memo to employees on Friday. ‘If the voluntary offer doesn’t result in a sufficient number of volunteers, or if in the future, economic conditions worsen, it may be necessary to consider layoffs,’ the memo said.”

Saving investigative journalism – Steve Outing

“A new non-profit group called Pro Publica is being formed to fund and produce investigative journalism projects, which it will pitch to newspapers and magazines. One of the founders is Paul Steiger, who was top editor of the Wall Street Journal for 16 years.”

Black day for hockey coverage in the Bay Area, SF Chronicle and SJ Mercury News buy out and lay off Sharks beat reporters – Julia Dominic

“The San Francisco Chronicle bought out the contract of Sharks beat writer Ross McKeon, who has been covering the team since 1991. Also, Sharks beat writer Victor Chi is on the list of 31 San Jose Mercury News employees who were laid off on Monday. Fifteen others, including soccer and boxing reporter Dylan Hernandez and photographer Meri Simon, voluntarily resigned.”

[Maybe it’s a good thing that Bay Area sports fans don’t have much to cheer about these days – Ed.]

Bear Stearns Predicts Ripple Effect of Real Estate Decline – Editor & Publisher

”Retail is going to be the most vulnerable category, since consumers will probably spend less. Florida, predicts Bear Stearns, will feel these affects more acutely. It’s expected that retail sales will drop in Q3 and as a result retailers will cut back dramatically on advertising. In Bear Stearns coverage universe, Tribune and E.W. Scripps have the most exposure to Florida and California in terms of revenue at 37% and 14%, respectively.”

[It’s beginning to look like a perfect storm for newspapers, at least in some areas of the country. Demographic shifts and online competition are combining with a softening economy to accelerate declines in advertising. This leads to layoffs, a weaker product and more reader flight. – Ed.]

Chronicle colleagues who care

[Former San Jose Mercury News staffers have set up a blog to commiserate, keep in touch and share job leads. The paper has reportedly cut its reporting staff by half from its peak. – Ed.]

• Writing for the Seattle Times, John Harner visits a couple of veteran journalists and turns up all the stereotypes about bloggers. It will be a step forward when journalists stop dismissing bloggers as just a bunch of undisciplined vermin and start working with this democratic medium to make it better.
• MediaPost cites the unusually dire language financial firms use in recent forecasts for the newspaper industry. Moody’s lowered its outlook for the New York Times Co. to a rare “negative” rating. Fitch Ratings noted that at least half the recent declines in revenue are due to “secular” rather than “cyclical” factors. That means that money ain’t coming back. Fitch then piles on by forecasting that newspapers’ online revenue will be under continuous pressure from the large number of alternative venues that advertisers have there.
• Maybe the salvation of print is scratch-n-sniff advertising, which is being tried out by the LA Times, according to Forbes. At least that’s one idea that can’t be duplicated online. Or can it? Back in the dot-com bubble, a startup called DigiScents invented a product that could transmit smells over the Internet. A company called TriScenx is still pushing the concept. It takes all kinds.

This remarkable exercise in community journalism from last June just came to my attention from reading Jay Rosen’s PressThink post. Working from a terse report by the Greensboro News & Record of layoffs of 41 of its own employees (why are newspapers so timid about covering their own bad news?), Ed Cone decided to let the people affected by the layoffs tell their own story.

And they did. As you can see from the frequent updates to Cone’s original post, affected staff members named names, told of the subdued atmosphere in the newsroom and fretted about the future. Some of their comments are touching. This account certainly adds depth and clarity to the unspecific report from the newspaper itself.

But I guess Ed Cone shouldn’t be taking seriously. After all, he isn’t a “journalist.”

Jay Rosen at PressThink has amassed an interesting list of triumphs of citizen journalism that he plans to post in response to Michael Skube’s rather self-righteous essay on the difference between bloggers and journalists.

The debate over whether bloggers are journalists strikes me as pointless because it’s so subjective. Wikipedia defines “journalist” as “a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people.” But is a person who contributes an essential fact or perspective to a story also practicing a form of journalism? For that matter, isn’t Wikipedia acting in a journalistic capacity with coverage of events like the Crandall Canyon mine disaster?

Earlier this year, CNN and other major news organizations turned to bloggers and camera phone users to help with coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. Was it wrong to rely on these eyewitnesses because they weren’t professional journalists? Does someone have to carry a press card to contribute meaningful reporting?

This is a debate over terminology that is increasingly meaningless in a new world in which everyone is a publisher. Yes, news organizations will always have a vital role to play in disseminating credible, balanced, well-researched information, but individual citizens and groups of people who choose to act as journalists should also be heard. Ultimately, the checks and balances of a free debate will expose inaccuracy and bias. Shouldn’t the decision about what constitutes “journalism” be left up to the person who consumes the information?