Posts
Short reads on a Saturday morning:
• It's hard to keep up with the number of layoffs being seen in the newspaper industry. Even Romenesko, which normally keeps up with these types of things is, I fear, getting a little bored with linking to the news. But for the record, here are some of the headlines: Star-Telegram plans 28 layoffs; New layoffs at ADN (Alaska Dispatch); State newspaper lays off more staff; Layoffs To Hit West Michigan Newspapers; Sacramento Bee to cut 25 more jobs; Los Angeles Times to cut 80 jobs (OK, I cheated with this one as it was announced last week).
• Just in time to report on all the layoffs within its industry focus, Editor & Publisher has risen from the dead, but minus its editor Greg Mitchell and reporter Joe Strupp. Mark Fitzgerald, previously editor-at-large, was named to the editor post by the new owner, boat publisher Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc.
• Late Friday the WSJ reported that Media News Group Inc. said it plans to seek bankruptcy protection. The owner of such newspapers as the San Jose Mercury News said it had reached an agreement with its lenders for a streamlined bankruptcy. As a result, most of the new stock will be in the control of a group of investors led by Bank of America. Dean Singleton will retain control of the company through a special class of stock.
• Tablet rumors continue to dominate the Apple fanboy universe. So wanting to have a leg up on all the other rumormongers, Gawker Media's "Scavenger Hunt" offered its readers $100,000 to the person who could provide concrete details of the elusive media savior. Apple, in return, set its lawyers on the daring web site. "We believe you and your company have crossed the line by offering a bounty for the theft of Apple's trade secrets," Michael Spillner, a lawyer for the company, said in a letter to Gabriel Snyder, editor-in-chief of the Gawker Web site. It's nice to have a group of aggressive lawyers on your side of the table. Last time I was in that situation was at McGraw-Hill. (When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way!)
• As with the Iran protests from last year, Twitter and blogging were essential in the early moments of reporting the massive earthquake in Haiti this week. Major media firms have now made standard the practice of launching temporary blogs themselves in order to report the news, or to pass on news and rumors that originated in other blogs written closer to the scene. As could be expected, by week's end Brian Williams had made his appearance in Haiti signifying the end of the real story and the beginning of the exploitation (and then there was TV's Pat Robertson to give his two cents).
• Finally, three men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Cypriot media magnate Andy Hadjicostis, police said on Thursday. The CEO of Dias Media Group, which runs a TV and radio station, as well as a newspaper and several magazines, was gunned down outside his home in a Nicosia suburb.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Week in Review
Friday, January 15, 2010
Photoblogging Friday - 2
It's Friday, that means photoblogging, our version of catblogging. You can find last week's debut here.
Dean Brierly, of Photographers Speak, selected this untitled photograph from Nathan Troi Anderson from his book Shadows of Time
Dean interviewed him last year:
In Shadows of Time I tried to add as many elements, disparate and related, as I thought I could get away with. It’s the influence of Joyce, but also society today, wherein everything is a layered collage of infinite, disparate, chaotic information. We seem to be facing in all directions at once without a linear path ahead, and our approach is now turning in on itself.
Click here to read the entire interview.
News of Reed sales and closings will trickle out
Reed Business Information, which has not posted any news to its own site since December 1 of last year, will most likely let others report on their transactions.
UBM International Media, the owner of the HBA Global Expo & Conference, reported today that the company will assume the management of the Spa & Resort shows from Reed Business Expositions.
Other outlets have reported that Variety is up for sale -- though, in reality, the company has made it clear that all their properties are currently on the block.
E&P rises from the dead, a couple limbs missing
Nielsen has sold the rights to Editor & Publisher to California boating publisher Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. Mark Fitzgerald, a veteran of the publication, who had been serving as editor-at-large, was named editor. The new ownership has promised the resume publishing the print magazine with the February issue.
Editor-in-chief Greg Mitchell was informed he would not be retained.
"Got call from new buyer of Editor & Publisher, Duncan McIntosh, who publishes Boating World magazine and Fish Rap News in Irvine, Ca., late Thursday, telling me that I am out as editor after eight years (and 10 years with magazine)," Mitchell reported on his personal web site, Pressing Issues.
Long time reporter Joe Strupp said he also would not be joining the new team, writing on his blog "I am not part of the deal. It was not the right situation for me. I am weighing other options."
The E&P web site reported the news last night. "Such a critical information source for a newspaper industry so desperately in need of help should not go away," McIntosh said. "I've been a reader of E&P over the course of 30 years and know its incredible value to readers and advertisers."
As of the time of this posting, the E&P web site had not been updated to reflect the makeup of the new staff.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Going mobile: learn from your web mistakes
Ah, if we only had a time machine imagine what we could do -- like avoid all the mistakes we made when we launched our first online publishing efforts.
Well, it turns out that we can do that as we contemplate moving our products onto mobile devices, readers and ultimately tablets. For many publishers this will be their second chance, and this time maybe we can get it right.
Mistake #1: putting the wrong people in charge.
My early memories of internet launches at some of the publishing firms I worked for seem to revolve around turf wars, sad as that is. At one company web development ended up being the responsibility of the son of the owner; at another it was some guy in a small office who never talked to the publishers or editors (and never the sales people!); and at another the job ended up . . . well, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.
So who is the right person? You won't know until you cast the net has widely as possible. Maybe you could have an open meeting and invite everyone in to discuss mobile media. You might be surprised to find out that the only one in the room with a smartphone or a Kindle is your intern. The fact that your staff is completely unprepared for entering the new space might depress you, but at least you will know, and you'll have identified the only person who knows what they are talking about and are enthusiastic about moving forward.
Newspapers: juxtaposed headlines
• Newspapers still and always the leader in news
• Owner of 3 Alaska newspapers filing for bankruptcy
• LG Offers Flexible E-Paper for Newspapers
• Poll: Most won't pay to read newspapers online
• State newspaper foists 3rd round of layoffs
• More Layoffs At Star-Telegram
• Bee to cut 25 jobs
• Layoffs To Hit West Michigan Newspapers
• Study Finds New Media Doesn't Fill Journalism Gap
