Learn about Newspaper Next's recommendations for moving to multi-platform journalism

“A powerful wave of disruption is sweeping the newspaper industry, but it doesn't have to be a disaster. There are at least as many growth opportunities as threats.”
– Newspaper Next consultant Dr. Clayton Christensen

David Lieberman reports for USA TODAY that newspapers grappling with declining circulation and profit margins can turn themselves around if they quickly develop publications and affiliated websites packed with local information, according to Newspaper Next, an industry report. Newspaper Next is a $2 million American Press Institute project that makes recommendations on how newspapers can prosper in the face of new competition and declining readership. “The land rush to meet local information needs has barely begun,” says Newspaper Next: The Transformation Project, based on a study of business models and practices sponsored by API. For example, the report says that newspapers might assemble databases about parks, medical facilities and restaurants, information about schools, consumer-supplied ratings for restaurants, mechanics and contractors, as well as chat groups for parents and shoppers. API launched the project with Innosight, a consulting firm that specializes in innovation led by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. “The future of journalism and the civic mission of newspaper companies will be much easier to maintain if newspaper companies can develop profitable new business models to support them,” the report says. Come hear more about Newspaper Next at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 at the PNNA annual Conference at The Benson Hotel in Portland. For more information contact Jack Bates at jack@pnna.com.

One month until PNNA's annual meeting

Nov. 8-10, PNNA members will gather at The Benson Hotel in Portland, to discuss issues facing newspapers. Thursday, Nov. 9 will feature two sessions dealing with print, online integration, a session on human resources issues, the AP Hour and a presentation by API on the Newspaper Next innovation project. Friday, Bob Hale, publisher of the Juneau Empire, will lead the Great Ideas Roundtable. The registration form and the schedule of events for the PNNA Annual Meeting in Portland are posted on the PNNA website. For more information see the schedule and registration form or contact Jack Bates at jack@pnna.com. See you in Portland!

PNNA to announce award winners at annual meeting

PNNA will present awards for several contests at the 86th annual PNNA meeting in Portland. The results for the following contests will be presented:, C.B. Blethen Awards, Dolly Connelly Awards, 2006 Print Quality Contest, Ted M. Natt First Amendment Award and the Associated Press Staffer of the Year Award. For more information on the awards contact Bryan Clark at bryan@pnna.com or 888-344-7662. 

Dow Jones Newspaper Fund adds online
editing to 2007 internships

The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund announced in a press release it is inviting college students to apply for its 2007 online editing internship program, which is made possible by a grant from Yahoo! News. “Through our close partnerships with a wide range of news organizations, Yahoo! is deeply committed to the vitality of online news operations,” said Neil Budde, general manager of Yahoo! News and a former Newspaper Fund intern. Each program offers $1,000 scholarships to those returning to school full-time after their internships. Participating newspapers agree to pay a minimum of $350 a week in regular wages. They support the cost of training interns through grants of $1,000 per intern for online and business reporting interns and of $1,800 per intern for general news and sports copy editors. Editors may request an intern by completing an enrollment form under the section for News Professionals. Students can also request application forms by sending an e-mail to the Fund at newsfund@wsj.dowjones.com with “application” in the subject line. The application postmark deadline for all programs is Nov. 1.

NAA New Media Fellowship program restructured

After eight years of success, the Newspaper Association of America restructured its New Media Fellowship Program. Newspapers with a circulation of 25,000 or less without a website or seeking to improve an existing website are eligible to participate in the program. The yearlong program for new media professionals will focus on developing leadership, financial administration and strategy development. The selected newspaper will receive a personalized business plan for a website operation, and a representative from the paper will travel at NAA’s expense to the 2007 NAA Marketing/Connections Conference. The application deadline for the New Media Fellowship is Oct. 31.

NEWS:

Ridgefield to pay The Columbian $24,000 
in open records case

A Clark County Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Ridgefield, Wash., to pay $24,000 to The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver in a dispute over public records. The Columbian sued on June 2 to obtain documents concerning Ridgefield’s city hall and the police department. Judge Roger Bennett ordered Ridgefield to pay the newspaper $22,455 for legal fees and $200 for the cost of filing the lawsuit. He also penalized the town $1,375 for withholding the documents, calculated at $55 a day for the 25 days the city failed to comply with the newspaper’s request. Lou Brancaccio, editor of The Columbian, said he has no immediate plans to appeal Bennett's decision. Ridgefield’s attorney, Mike Wynne, called the ruling “very fair and reasonable.” The $1,375 in punitive damages will be donated to a Ridgefield community organization, Brancaccio said. The records were related to Ridgefield Police Officer Carl Mealing, who’s been fired; Ridgefield City Manager George Fox, who's on paid leave; and a city investigation into Mealing and Fox conducted by two Kirkland police officers. The city claimed the records fell under an exemption in the Public Records Act.

New postal rates predicted by May

The National Newspaper Association reports that U.S. Postal Service governors passed a fiscal year 2007 budget that predicts new postal rates by May 6, 2007, nearly a month earlier than most mailers had hoped. The rate timing will depend upon acceptance of rates recommended by the Postal Rate Commission. An increase of within-county periodicals rates in the 25-30 percent range has been proposed, along with a more modest increase of 8-10 percent for other periodicals and an 8.5 percent increase overall in all rates. The new budget assumes there will be no postal reform legislation from the 109th Congress. The governors also accepted a change in the rules for periodicals subscription pricing. Publishers may now discount a subscription up to 70 percent without losing the credit for that subscriber toward paid circulation requirements.

Pentagon hires PR firm to boost Iraq media coverage

The Defense Department has hired a public relations firm to improve media coverage of the U.S. military in Iraq. The U.S. Army awarded a two-year contract to the Washington-based Lincoln Group. Under the contract, Lincoln would monitor English and Arab media outlets and write material and speeches for military commanders. In 2005, Lincoln was identified as having paid Iraqi newspapers and editors for stories favorable to coalition forces. At the time, the company and Pentagon came under severe criticism for seeking to manipulate the Iraqi media. The Multi-National Forces-Iraq has been contracting the Washington-based Rendon Group to monitor the media for the U.S. military in Iraq. Rendon’s one-year contract had been extended from September to Oct. 27 until Lincoln could assume the project.

Washington Post launches made-for-mobile websites

MediaWeek announced that Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive has launched made-for-mobile versions of the websites for three of its largest properties, WashingtonPost.com, Newsweek.com and Slate.com, as part of a new mobile services initiative at the company. The sites are available free of charge for any users that have a Web-enabled handset by logging onto the addresses mobile.washingtonpost.com, mobile.slate.com and mobile.newsweek.com. Each site features daily content offerings from each property, as well as 14 days of archived content for WashingtonPost.com and Slate and 30 days worth of content for Newsweek. Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive is the latest major publisher to push its content further into the growing mobile content space. A few weeks ago, The New York Times unveiled a similar mobile version of its Web site.

New high school national ad network launched

The high school national ad network provides advertisers with a new way to engage teens through their school newspapers. This initiative springs from work in high school journalism conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. By booking online, advertisers can reach more than a half-million teens through more than 325 high school newspapers in 45 states. Seventy-five percent of every ad dollar goes back to support school newspapers. In addition to the ad network, the initiative has five other projects: the educational site, online hosting for school newspapers, summer training for high school journalism teachers, a wire service and a partnership program that connects high schools and daily newspapers.

New York Times execs forgo stock compensation

The New York Times Co. disclosed in a regulatory filing, that Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the chairman of The New York Times Co., and his cousin, Michael Golden, the vice chairman of the company, are taking a pay cut this year and next year to create a bonus pool for employees. Sulzberger and Golden told employees of their personal decision in a letter that their plan to forgo stock-based compensation for two years would provide about $2 million for payments to reward exceptional performance by staff who don’t participate in the Times’ annual bonus plan. Last year Sulzberger and Golden received restricted stock awards and stock options valued at $2.2 million, according to the company’s proxy statement. Sulzberger got a salary of $1.1 million and a cash bonus of $560,521, while Golden had a salary of $608,960 and a bonus of $233,536. The grants will be made across the company, Sulzberger and Golden said, and will be left to the discretion of senior management.

Reuters provides funds to hire first editor 
of NewAssignment.net

NewAssignment.net announced Reuters is giving $100,000 to the site that will underwrite the costs of hiring its first editor. The website is an experiment under the direction of New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen who plans to launch the program next year. Rosen says the idea is “to draw ‘smart crowds’… and get stories done that way that aren’t getting done now.” Reuters says it will have no editorial control over the site’s projects, and it will not hold right of first refusal for any of the stories that the site is covering. “We need to support good journalistic ideas, encourage broader public participation in the reporting process, and explore different newsgathering business models,” writes Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters Media, in a piece at Huffington Post. 

Washington Times puts articles online as sound files

Click-2-Listen is a new, free capability from the Washington Times, in partnership with NewsworthyAudio. The Times is the first daily newspaper to partner with NewsworthyAudio. Click-2-Listen allows site visitors to listen to complete news stories on the Washington Times website. Audio files of the articles can also be downloaded to a computer, iPod or other mp3 player. Newsworthy’s “Professional Text-to-Speech” technology converts the complete text of the articles to audio files automatically.

Ruling supports newspaper unions

The Associated Press reports that the Supreme Court sided Monday with Detroit newspaper unions and some employees who were fired for their actions during an 18-month strike in the mid-1990s. Justices declined to hear the newspapers’ appeal of a National Labor Relations Board ruling ordering the partnership that prints, distributes and sells advertising for The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press to reinstate fired employees. The court’s decision ended years of litigation over the firings. The workers lost their jobs after the newspapers said they blocked entrances at a distribution facility and the Detroit News building in violation of court orders during the strike that ran from July 1995 to February 1997. The NLRB determined the employees had not engaged in misconduct but were instead exercising their right to strike.

PEOPLE:

Crider leaves Herald-Republic for ME position in Maine

Bob Crider, who was managing editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic in Washington. since 1997, was named the new managing editor for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in Maine. Crider  is known for mentoring journalists and supervising major enterprise and investigative projects. Before becoming the No. 2 editor in Yakima in January 1997, Crider was an assistant editor at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin in Washington. He began his journalism career in 1976 as a reporter for the East Oregonian in Pendleton, Ore. He is a native of Wisconsin and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1974. He replaces Eric Conrad, who left in May to become editor of the News-Times in Danbury, Conn.

Union-Bulletin hires Web content editor

Carlos Virgen joined the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Washington. in September as its Web content editor. Virgen moved to Walla Walla from the Los Angeles area. His duties will include publishing the newspaper’s content online, maintaining the overall quality of the site and developing Web-exclusive content, such as audio and video clips. Virgen has worked as associate publisher and art director for the L.A. Alternative, an independent weekly, and has done freelance graphic and Web design for various clients. He grew up in Los Angeles and studied graphic design at Brooks College in Long Beach, Calif.

Statesman names Quast as ad director

The Idaho Statesman has promoted Travis Quast to advertising director. Quast, 35, joined The Statesman in November 2004 as the classified advertising manager and was named display advertising manager in 2005. He has worked in newspapers for more than 14 years, including with The Salt Lake Tribune/Deseret News in Utah and The Bellingham Herald in Washington. Quast began his professional career as a retail territory sales representative for the Newspaper Agency Corp. in Salt Lake City, Utah, before working as a sales trainer and classified manager for the company. While working at The Herald, he was awarded the Retail Manager of the Year Award in 2003 by the Gannett Co., which then owned The Statesman. The newspaper is now owned by The McClatchy Co. Quast and his wife, LaNae, are native Idahoans and graduates of the University of Idaho. He succeeds Art de la Torre, who has been named advertising director of The Community Newspapers of North Texas.

Post-Register announces new circulation director

The Post-Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho, announced in September the promotion of Brett Acor to circulation director. Acor replaced Stacy Simonet, who took a job at the Teton Valley News. Acor, 38, is a native of Idaho Falls and graduated from Ricks College and Idaho State University. He was named Display Salesperson of the Year in 1998, his first year on the job, and again in 2004.

IN MEMORIAM:

Dick Moody, 89

For 35 years, Dick Moody covered crime, current events and consumer affairs for The Seattle Times. During a power outage Monday Sept. 18, the day before his 89th birthday, Moody fell down a staircase at his Laurelhurst home, said friend Jack Hauptli. Moody was knocked unconscious and died Wednesday, Sept. 20. Moody was 89. Born in Mount Sterling, Ill., Moody was one of three children. He attended Monmouth College, graduated with a degree in economics and married college classmate Harriet Rathbun. He then served as a Navy lieutenant and was deployed to Japan at the end of World War II. Upon returning to Illinois, Moody briefly worked as a reporter at the Rock Island Argus, a newspaper south of Mount Sterling. He and his family then moved to Anaheim, Calif., where Moody worked for City News Service in Los Angeles. In December 1947, he was hired as a police reporter at The Times. Moody later worked as an urban-affairs reporter and in 1970, he began writing the Troubleshooter column. After retiring from The Times, Moody worked as a stringer for The New York Times. Moody's wife preceded him in death. In addition to his son, who lives in Virginia, Moody is survived by two daughters.

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