Category Archives: Newspapers

Print cancellation is a “dose of reality” for Globe subscribers

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Source: j-source.ca

By Kelly Toughill, Business of Journalism editor

Canadian newspapers gave readers a sharp reminder this week that advertisers – not subscribers – still rule the show in print.

Four Postmedia newspapers and the Globe and Mail cancelled Labour Day publication because of low ad sales, theCanadian Press reported. Globe and Mail advertisers found out weeks ago about the change, but readers only learned Tuesday that they will not have a paper at the door Monday morning. Globe and Mail publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley said a few readers have complained about the cancellation – and the reason for it.

“Some (readers) have said, ‘Hey, what’s this about you saying it’s lack of advertising?’” Crawley said. “Well I think a dose of reality is not a bad thing. That’s the truth of the situation, so let’s not pretend it’s any other.”

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California newspaper defies industry wisdom to stay alive – and prospers

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Source: theguardian.com

Orange County Register shocked the crisis-stricken industry with an ambitious experiment. One year later, the paper is celebrating Conventional media wisdom posits several ways for a newspaper to commit suicide. It can drive up costs by multiplying staff and pagination. It can prioritise print over digital. It can erect a hard paywall to seal itself from the internet. click here to read the entire story

Chicago Sun-Times lays off its photo staff

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Source: my.chicagotribune.com

By Robert Channick, Tribune staff reporter

The Chicago Sun-Times has laid off its entire photography staff, and plans to use freelance photographers and reporters to shoot photos and video going forward, the newspaper said.

A total of 28 full-time staffers received the news Thursday morning at a meeting held at the Sun-Times offices in Chicago, according to sources familiar with the situation. The layoffs are effective immediately.

The newspaper released a statement suggesting the move reflected the increasing importance of video in news reporting:

“The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network.”

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other links related to story Mashable

Winnipeg Free Press restricts online comments to subscribers in effort to reduce “digital diatribe”

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Source: j-source.ca

The Winnipeg Free Press is restricting its online comments to print and online subscribers in an effort to keep “the e-party going without the party-crashers.”

The newspaper’s editor Paul Samyn said the new commenting policy designed to reduce the “digital diatribe” will go into effect on June 3.

“The thinking behind our policy change is the bulk of the ugliness that lands from time to time on our website comes from those abusing the “free” in Free Press to engage in gutter talk or worse on our no-cost forum,” he said. “There will no doubt be some who will accuse the Free Press of limiting their right to free speech, or complain that we’re not living up to the “free” in Free Press. They, of course, are entitled to their opinion, but, just for the record, there are no charter rights requiring us to have their voice heard at our water cooler.”

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Sun paywall needs more than 300,000 subscribers to cover outlay, say analysts

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Sun+ service predicted to result in drop in online ad revenue with NI also paying £30m-plus for digital Premier League rights

Source: guardian.co.uk

The Sun will need to attract more than 250,000 subscribers to its £2-per-week online service to cover the loss of online advertising and recoup the £30m-plus it paid for the digital Premier League football highlights, according to City analysts’ estimates.

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Black Press Lower Mainland bargaining suspended

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Source: mediaunion.ca

Bargaining between Local 2000 and Black Press Lower Mainland was suspended Tuesday after company negotiators, for the second time, presented the union with a proposal for a five-year contract with no general wage increases.

The company has proposed a one-time lump sum payment of 1% effective April 1, 2013, but only to employees at the top of their pay scale, prorated on an employee’s fulltime equivalency. In addition the company has proposed a one-time lump sum payment of 1.5% effective April 1, 2014, but only to employees at the top of their pay scale, prorated on an employee’s fulltime equivalency.

Under this company proposal there would be no general increases to the wage grid in the five-year period between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2015.

The company is saying it needs this freeze in the wage grid in order to compete with wages paid at Glacier Media.

The company did agree to getting rid of the bottom rung of the bindery wage grid, which would have the effect of changing the starting rate from $10.58 per hour to $12.08 per hour. This would only affect new bindery employees and those currently paid $10.58 per hour.

The company also agreed to change the Shipper/Receiver rate to the same grid as General Clerk. This change would see the top rate for that job increasing from $17.98 per hour (after 2 years) to $19.74 per hour (after 4 years).

Under the company proposal there would also be a few minor concessions. The joint composing room board for Tri-City/Maple Ridge/Burnaby/New West would be split into three boards. As well the company is asking for a weakening of our “hot goods” clause in the contract.

Your bargaining committee believes the company’s general wage proposal to be unacceptable. It has decided to spend the next two weeks consulting with the membership.

Please email Vice President Gary Engler at gengler@mediaunion.ca with your comments or questions or talk to one of the bargaining committee members.

Members of your bargaining committee are:

Debbie Irvine — Abbotsford bindery

Jessica Unger — Campbell Heights bindery

Channy Dhillon — Abbotsford pressroom

Eileen Jarrett — Peace Arch News composing

Rich Weldon — Langley composing

Bonnie Pierotti — Abbotsford classified

Phil Melnychuk  — Maple Ridge editorial

Copy editors laid off more than other newsroom staffers—but can newspapers’ credibility afford the cut?

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Source: j-source.ca

Kim Covert remembers the “dead silence,” broken by muffled crying.

She and two dozen other copy editors were clumped around the large central table in Postmedia Network Inc.’s newswire office in Ottawa. The group, which gathered national and international news and copy edited it for use in Postmedia newspapers across the country, gaped at the company’s vice-president of editorial operations, Lou Clancy, as he announced Canadian Press was taking over their jobs. It was cheaper; they were fired.

“We all kind of looked at each other and thought, ‘What the fuck?’ because most of us hadn’t expected any such thing,” says Covert. “My first thought was, ‘Oh my God, my mortgage,’ and my stomach just fell.”

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Newsosaur: Why Digital Natives Hate Newspapers

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Source: editorandpublisher.com

by: Alan D. Mutter

Several years ago, The Washington Post convened a series of focus groups to learn why most people younger than 45 did not subscribe to the newspaper — a problem persisting to this day throughout the overwhelmingly print-centric industry.

It’s not that people didn’t like the Post, reported the American Journalism Review in a 2005 article describing the research project. The problem was that the respondents — many of whom happily consumed news on digital devices — drew the line at piles of old newspapers cluttering up their lives. According to a Post executive quoted by the AJR, more than one respondent declared: “I don’t want that hulking thing in my house.”

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Vancouver Sun and Province get new president, discuss content-sharing

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Source: thetyee.ca

By ROBYN SMITH

A former managing editor of the Vancouver Sun is the new president and publisher of the newspaper, as well as The Province, it was announced today.

Gordon Fisher, most recently the president of the National Post, will now oversee the Pacific Newspaper Group, the company that manages the major B.C. dailies.

“A major focus of this year’s business strategy is to redefine our organization and today we announced changes to the senior management group,” wrote Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey in a statement. “I have great confidence that Gord will be able to parlay the successes he has had in Eastern Canada and bring his insights and passion to our BC operations.”

Fisher succeeds Kevin Bent, who’s held the job since 2006 but is now leaving to pursue other opportunities, according to Godfrey’s statement.

Postmedia suffered a decrease in its first quarter earnings, the Globe and Mailreported last week. To pay down debt and invest in profitable areas of the business, Godfrey said the company must cut up to $80 million out of its operating budget over the next two years, as well as boost digital revenue.

Today’s announcement follows discussions among senior management about sharing content between the two newspapers. On Jan. 17, The Province’s editor-in-chief Wayne Moriarty sent an email to the paper’s editorial team about some of those discussions, which The Tyee obtained. We reprint some of that email below:

“The Province and The Sun have pooled resources and shared a photo department since January 2010. This eliminated duplication — those occasions when each paper dispatched photographers to the same news events, games, concerts, meetings and other assignments. The move also enabled a rationalization of assignment staffing, with one editor from each paper able to cover the department around the clock.

“The papers centralized the assignment and editing functions for both newsrooms’ production of Travel, Driving, New Homes, At Home, and Recreational Properties. The Specialty Publications department works closely with advertisers to produce copy for both papers, with an office and supervision that is completely separate from the two newsrooms, and more closely allied with Advertising and the Creative departments.

“For special events the two newsrooms have combined staffing in order to eliminate duplication and increase the volume of content online and in the papers, including the 2010 Olympics, and provincial and civic elections.

“On Wednesday [Jan. 16], section heads and senior management from both papers met to discuss the next step in sharing content. The three areas most affected will be city, sports and entertainment. The objective is to eliminate some duplication in areas around commodity news and event coverage. Excluded from the sharing strategy will be all enterprise reporting and reporting that either paper deems necessary to maintain its unique identity.”

Robyn Smith reports for The Tyee.

Print’s financial future may last longer than expected, according to new reports

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Source: poynter.org

As this year begins, three notable reports share the same conclusion about the future of news: The path we are on is uncertain and debatable. But two of the three studies now see an extended economic shelf life for print, even as audiences swing digital and the search for viable digital news products continues.

 

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