Editor & Publisher 2010-01: Vol 143 Iss 1

11.4 MB·English

W'bM
EDITORe^
iUuk*..,
‘E&P’ IN
PERIL
AFTER
125 YEARS
PUBLISHER
JANUARY 2010 WWW.EDIT0RANDPUBLISNER.c6m $5.95
Do they still go together as revenue
pressure, in print and online, grows?
8581-21-125 Ul 3JI3Ayj
BS8T X08 Od
Aiisa3AiMn Urtoi
frOE88t( ZT28 2TOO OlMWf T dQ3 TWC
” JOO 0ia3a«9/a3/da3M28820T #
21-125 oxadHxait
FOUNDATION
45“’ ANNUAL COMPETITION
2010 FELLOWSHIP WINNERS
SHIHO FUKADA LISA HAMILTON TARA MCKELVEY
Freelance photographer, Beijing, China Freelance writer, Mill Valley, CA Senior editor. The American Prospect
"Japan's Disposable Workers’ “Environmental Challenges in Washington, D.C.
American Agriculture" "The Military's Black Operations"
ANDREA PEACOCK ALESSANDRA SANGUINITTI WILL STOLZENBURG
Freelance writer, Livingston, MT. Freelance photographer, Brooklyn, N Y. Freelance writer, Shepherdstown, West VA.
"Searching for Oil and Gas Beneath "America's Food Supply" “Rescuing the Fauna of Oceanic Islands"
America's Sacred Lands"
T
JUDGES FOR THE 45* ANNUAL he Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship program for journalists was
established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson, who was editor and
COMPEXmON WERE:
publisher of Newsdayiot nearly twenty-three years before her death in
1963. One-year grants of $40,000 and six-month grants of $20,000 are
Roger Atwood, contributing writer, Art News magazine
awarded to working print journalists and photographers. Fellows pursue
and APF Fellow 2002
independent projects of significant interest and write/illustrate articles based
Christian Davenport, reporter, The Washington Post, on their investigations for the APF Reporter, a quarterly magazine of the
and APF fellow 2007 foundation, available at www.aliciapatterson.org.
Stephanie Mencimer, legal affairs reporter, Mother Jones For program information and applications for the 46th annual competition,
magazine, and APF Fellow 2004 contact the Alicia Patterson Foundation, 1090 Vermont Ave. NW,
Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 Phone: [phone] or
John Margolies, photographer and author, APF Fellow 2003 e-mail; [email protected]. Applications also may be downloaded at
www.aliciapatterson.org.
Marjorie Vaibrun, freelance writer and APF Fellow 2001
APPLICATIONS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY OCTOBER 1, 2010.
E&P ONLINE
www.eclitoranclpublisher.com
-_ (*^3 --~XtAR.
'' !owa University
FEATURES
AD STANDARDS FALLING?
The
pressure is on to grow online revenue,
and newspapers face some difficult
choices about unusual Web ads. But
what do readers think? See the results
of one study by The Seattle Times .. 18 John Kent Cooke Sr., center, John Kent
T A%.E»e IMTCPDITV IM IcnOAOnv Cooke Jr., rear left, and Thomas Kent
—“anoESB” ■ IIiIluKIIY 111 JLlJrAnUY Editors Cooke of Cooke Communications announce
attempt to become more flexible the 2009 acquisition of three daily and
here’s a lot more to your Editor & about unorthodox print ads, while weekly Cox Enterprises newspapers,
Publisher subscription than paper keeping an eye on the ad side .... 23
and ink! As a subscriber you IL ErrTr pS iMiRAKi/Er AA nDEraAiL PhotO OF THE MoNTH .11
Newspaper sales
can go online for premium content — DEPARTMENTS
may surge in 2010, thanks to new
at no additional cost.
profits and some new players .... 28 ri„enrf^ni r
This is just some of the valuable NEWSPEOPLE Carol Hudler named
information you can get every day, at THE ‘A’ SECTION publisher of The Tennessean .... 14
www.editorandpublisher.com: Still loving the ‘News’ EDITORIAL As E&Fs fate remains
Billionaire Warren Buffett talks to uncertain, we encourage our readers
Director; of Online Services
E&P about one of his passions, conversation going ... 16
newspapering, as the active owner
■ Breaking News Visit of The Buffalo (N.Y.) News ... .6 E&P TECHNICAL Connecticut dailies
www.editorandpublisher.com/news T-i.- move to a Massachusetts printer’s
Sweet home Chicago This ,^
■ Two new blogs Visit www.eandppub.com and news co-op dj evo^t edj to, l ocal1 coverage publishing systems.32
www.fitzandjen.com hourly for new content employs a business model that just SYNDICATES Editorial cartoonist
■ Departments: Business. Ad/Circ, might become more common.8 examines his life in new book ... 38
Newsroom, Technology,. Online, and THE DATA PAGE
Sailing on Hearst unveils its The top 25 list of
Syndicates news at
service and digital store Skiff, devoted pajiers by combined readership .. 40
www.editorandpublisher.com/departments
to delivering content in hi-res_10
■ Newspeople For industry staff appointments, -30-EefFs editors weigh in on our
go to virww.editorandpublisher.com/newspeople. What NEXT? A Journalism Shop parent’s decision to shut down_42
survey of former L.A. Times journos
MES Sneenwds npeewops loer@ preodmitootiroannsd opru sbtlaifsfh cehra.cnogmes. to calls attention to their talents .... 13 CLASSIFIED BEGINS ON PAGE 36
HE SEATTLE TI ■le tLteertst@erse dtoi ttohrea nEddpituobr liEs-hmeari.lc oums a t Cover illustration by Bruno Budrovic/lmages.comTh e Seattle
BERT/T ■at wPowdwca.esdtsi toDraowndnlpouabd loisuhr ewr.eceokmly /ppooddccaasstt s TFiamrnees’s sJ, alneeftt,
N LAM ■ Newsletters Sign up now for the E&P Weekly KLaauthray MBecsAt,d oo,
KE Briefing, E&P Technical, and Steve Outing’s Sarah O’Brien,
OR; “Stop the Presses” — at Nadine Selden
ILY REFLECT w■www Cwwol..ueemddiinttoosr raaFnnrddespphuu bbinllsiisisghhheetrr .d.ccaooilmmy /a/cnto elwumslentst ers asrEetniuagddde ireNe rdMisc owahlcoeolw eua ldn
be affected by
■ Classifieds Search for your next job now at various types
www.editorandpublisher.com/jobs of online ads
placed alongside
editorial content.
(JO TO
'www.editorandpublisher.com
FOR HOURLY UPDATK.S
www.editorandpublisher.com JANUARY 2010 EDITOR & PUBLISHER 3
LETTERS
said he was “going to have a good cry.”
And he wasn’t kidding. The insight and
inspiration you and your staff delivered
is irreplaceable. Here’s hoping for a
rebirth of E&P in the weeks ahead.
ERIC EBELING
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The Indiana (Pa.) Gazette
OU GUYS HAVE SERVED US ALL
very well. Hard to imagine
When the The Nielsen Co. announced I of The Star-Ledger’s Pulitzer Prize in what is happening, how fast it is
I
on Dec. 10 that it planned to shut 2006. Those clips are THE prize! happening, and how we will wind up.
dozen E&P — ending the magazine’s I So I wanted you to know, it hurt when MICHAEL GETLER {
125-year run in print — our inboxes I heard E&P might fold. I shed tears — OMBUDSMAN
were flooded with hundreds of e-mails and it was the first time I’ve been moved PBS
from well-wishers voicing their shock, since the abrupt end to my career, the 1 Washington, D.C.
appreciation and support. As we go waves of layofis of friends and 367 days
to press there is still a chance we might and counting without work. When I HAVE BEEN RELYING ON EdP EVER
continue. Below is a very small sam¬ heard E&P might fold, that’s when I since I was a newspaper reporter at
pling of those letters. knew it was time to throw my notebook the University of Georgia, 35 years
in the air and run the other way. ago now (eek!). It has always been an in¬
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY GEORGE JORDAN valuable, independent and informative
T Newark, N.J. voice for everyone who cares about the
RIZE-WINNING TO THE END. YoU industry, including those of us who
and your team should hold your his is absolutely devastating now try to teach journalism to the first
heads high — for the toughest, news, from a business, profes¬ “digital native” generation. Like so many
crankiest, thinnest-skinned audience on sional and personal standpoint. others, I am so very sorry to hear of the
earth, you delivered. Best wishes to you all. It’s hard to imagine a day in the industry plans to cease publication.
DIANA B. HENRIQUES without the opportunity to read Editor If there is any hope for a revival, I
SENIOR FINANCIAL WRITER & Publisher, or check the E&P Web site, would be more than happy to pay for an
T The New York Times \ several times a day — and that doesn’t online subscription or to contribute in
even count the times we visit to ensure some other way.
his is a sad, sad day eor the our advertising is running! Your articles, JANE SINGER !
industry and the profession of blogs, interviews and overall industry ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
journalism. As long as I have coverage is invaluable, and your venues School of Journalism
worked this unique craft, almost 35 offer vendors such as ourselves who and Mass Communication
years, ECiP has been a window on what serve this important industry a perfect University of Iowa
we all have to say and report about each place to make this support known.
other. This is a dimming of the lamp. I feel as though I am losing a very T’S BEEN A FEW YEARS SINCE I
DENNIS ANDERSON smart and very close friend. worked in the newspaper business:
EDITOR DEBRA J. KALISH My last stint was with The Times-
Antelope Valley Press VP/ MARKETING & SALES Picayune in New Orleans, when I had
I Palmdale, Calif. Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, Inc. my one (but very important) encounter
Rockleigh, N.J. with E&P. I was working in the photo
’M A 28-year veteran of news- lab at the paper at the time of Katrina.
papers. Last year, my career was AM HEARTSICK AT THE NEWS OF Ordinarily, I rode out every hurricane at
ended in the“dow'nsizing” at The Editor & Publisher’s closing. Words the T-P offices. This time, my mother
Star-Ledger. But I wept like a grand¬ alone can’t express the profound begged me to bring my friends and ride
mother when I heard about E^P. loss this is to our industry. One reporter out the storm at her house in Prairieville
In my view, the ultimate was to make i in my newsroom just left for lunch and {Continued on page 39}
Editor Publisher. You w'eren’t someone 50YEARSAGO
in journalism unless you made E^P. I
made your pages the first time in 1983 NEWSPAPERDOM® FROM EDITOR & PUBLISHER
at The Plain Dealer. A decade later, JAN. 2, I960: and-white pages in nine more attaching denials to news
when I shared the 1992 Pulitzer Prize Gaines products spent $4.5 to promote its newest product: stories and editorials in Cuban
at Newsday, it didn’t count until the million in ads that included Gravy Train dog food. newspapers that did not favor
winners’ names ran in E&P. Clipped it, four-color pages and double the regime. “There now are no
put it on the w'all, carried it in my wallet, pages in Sunday supplements JAN. 23, 1960: guarantees for free expression
in 22 newspapers and black- Pro-Castro union printers began or thought,” wrote one publisher.
sent it to my mom. Did the same in
2006, when E&P ran the winners’ names
4 EDITOR&PUBLISHER JANUARY 2010 www.editorandpublisher.com
CHECK OUT THE
NEW & IMPROVED
Reynolds Center
BusinessJoumalism.org
at
OUR REVAMPED News Free training Story ideas Help with stories
WEB SITE INCLUDES Chat with business journalist^ Job listings & More
FREE WO R K $ H 0 P S & WEBINARS
JAN 1 PHILADELPHIA MAR 1INDIANAPOUS MAY 1 PORTLAND, ORE.
221 “Tracking the Economic Recovery 101 “Investigating the Business of College 71 “Investigative Business Journalism on
in Your Town’ with New York Times Athletics’ with Pulitzer winner and a Beat’ with Alec Klein and Pulitzer
reporter Ron Nixon. best-selling author Buzz Bissinger. winner Gary Cohn.
JAN 1 ONUNE MAR 1 PHOENIX MAY 1 ONUNE
2^291 ‘Investigative Business Journalism on 181 “Produce a Business News Video 10-141 “Show Them the Money — Rnding
a Beat’ with former Washington Post in a Day,’ with ASU instructor Brian Personal Rnance Angles on Any Beat’
reporter Alec Klein. Snyder. Pre-SABEW event. with BusinessJoumalism.org bicker
F8E-B9 11 ONUNE MA1R9 11 PHOENIX 1 Melissa Preddy.
“Writing Business News for the Web “How to Look Natural On Air,’ JUN LAS VEGAS
91
- Breaking News and Beyond’ with with ASU professor Sue Green. “Investigative Business Journalism on
Pulitzer winner Jacqui Banaszynski. Pre-SABEW event. a Beat’ with former Washington Post
FEB 1 ONUNE APR 1 ONUNE reporter Alec Klein. Pre-IRE event.
22-231 ’Networking for Better Business 19-201 “Using Social Media to Cover BusF JUL 1 ONUNE
Stories - and Jobs’ with ’Ask the ness ^tter’ with Robin J. Phillips, 19-231 “Unlocking Rnancial Statements’
Recruiter’ blogger Joe Grimm. • Web ME of BusinessJournalism.org. with University of Kansas journalism
professor Jimmy Gentry
■ REGISTER TODAY AT ▼ FOLLOW "i flO TWIHER rZl FACEBOOK
[Hi LI)
BUSINESSJOURNALISM.ORG ^ US ON ' @BIZJOURNALISM BIZJOURNALISM
I
si reading at 102
F
BY MARK FITZGERALD
or a new customer apprecia-
tion program at the Lodi (Calif.)
News-Sentinel, Circulation
Director Steve Knape has been combing
through subscriber lists to find longtime
readers who are recognized with a note
on the front page of Tuesday editions
that says, “Good morning (subscriber
name here), thanks for reading the
News-Sentinel\^ And then Manner came
across Sadie Jauch. The 102-year-old
has been reading the News-Sentinel
Warren Buffett, left, and Publisher Stan Lips! down some dogs at a Buffalo News picnic.
religiously for 90 years.
Knape and Editor Richard Manner Owner still loves the ‘News’
quickly decided a short note wouldn’t
be enough. Knape brought flowers to Inffalo. Buffett-style
Jauch’shome,
accompanied by
,1 rGeupionrnte arn Jdo rdan DAN EV
A
pDhaont oEgvraanpsh. er WBY JOE STRUPP That is not likely anytime soon, given NS/LOD
“Everyone who HEN Warren Buffett told the News' current positive cash flow, I (C
A
wcaemnet obuatc kth searyei ng, “CnNeBwCsp laapset rNs ohvaevme gboert tah at tliaocnk loofs dseesb. tW anhdil er etlhaeti vineldyu ssmtryal ils c rierceulilna¬g LIF.) N
‘inWgh laatd ya,n v aemrya z¬ I tTehrrei Bbluef ffaultou r(eN”. Ya.n) dN pewresd, imctiegdh ht ibse p “atpheer , from massive layoaffn'sd, hpulugme mdeebtti nloga adds EWS-SEN
lfTNorehoownekslt -a-oSp ^deainagmtyien e oes lvtt ooerrderya /7 ,d 0eJ,ra” u scahysa shnr eadM,cr pasa,hl,n leneh deed,r oaf. ielIrtsnshnt a yt - iII nal—aroso tatiu ncmnedda. w,nB c esuotafanlfnteshdittdii,ene sagrtms, ” —ho ii tnmb dgusr steehiwlnefe aimsn srdeomuaselst ntnar eyswt-uwst¬eid e trdaaenakvi leoeynnd idu saie tds,y o.Br meSuvufeeftrenhetu,ti ’neistg hl hooiatnfss e TINEL; THE BU
freiwad binegc atuhsee N heewr bs-rSoethnetirn wela isn a 1 p9a2p0e rfboory . j opnape enremwasnp.a Bpeurt hmea aklesso tshaayts ehaasvieinr,g a jluloswt - lsimkea rott hmear npaagpeemrse, nbtu t FFALO (N
Every journalist must ask a centenari¬ I ing him to have a hand in the business wVrP. andJ Ediit or ,a nd c,r eativ,e changes .Y.) N
an her keys to longevity, of course. j he loves but avoid many of the headaches Margaret Sullivan have kept the paper EW
Jauch’s advice; “Keep that pump going, j newspaper chains are suffering. going in good shape. S; D
eat well and get some fresh air.” With a “If we had 40 newspapers, it would be “You try and cut in a way that doesn’t EREK
lianuspgihr,e edd ait oner wM aadn nselor gsaany sf oJar uthche nheaws s¬ iI hatatradc htom heanvte a qs uyiotue thhaev es atmo eo neem,”o Btiuofnfeatlt aSftfaenc tL tihpes iq, uwahlioty h oasf tsheer vpeadp ears, ”p suabylsi sher GEE/TH
apnapde lri:v e“ Rtoe abde tah ev iLtaol,d iin Nteelwlesc-tSueanlltyin aelle —rt !I taetltlasc Ehm^Pe.n t“ It oh a[vthe ea N beigw se^m. oBtuiot nifa li t had “signigcea n1t9ic8”3 n. eMwes ehsotliem aatt easb othuet 7p0ap%e.r ’s E BUFFA
102 years old like Sadie.” 11 i unending losses, we’d have to end it.” While the paper has offered two LO
N
EW
S
6 EDITOR&PUBLISHER JANUARY 2010 www.editorandpublisher.com
rounds of buyouts, one each in 2007 never gotten out of Coverage of a 2009
and 2008, the news staff has been control,” says Zremski, plane crash won The
reduced by only 40 since 1999, standing a 25-year staffer and Buffalo News several
now at 160. There have been no news¬ former president of state AP awards.
room layoffs since Buffett bought the the National Press
daily in 1977, and some 700 total Club. “We’ve always in Clarence News the best
employees are still on the job. The picked our spots.” regional paper in
papers last daily competitor, the The paper’s the U.S. The push
Courier-Eocpress, folded in 1982. coverage of a city has been strong
“We have a very tight management government scandal, enterprise and
group. I let people run their own meanwhile, last year investigative —
departments, and I don’t have a lot of led to the departure enterprise on the
turnover,” says Lipsi, 82. Profit margins of a city council front page every
run at about 11%, he adds, admitting member and an single day.”
that’s down from the 20% profits of just economic develop¬ Buffett, whose
five years ago. But he stresses that’s bet¬ ment official. In Berkshire Hathaway
ter than most metro dailies that are addition, the Society SliinihB properties have
swesN.Y.
stemming losses, helping to pay down of News Design finmaitin made him one of the
school aid
debts or dealing with bankruptcy. has rated the News richest men in the
On the news side. Editor Margaret among the top 20 I world, grew up a
Sullivan, who started in 1980 as an newspapers for I newspaper fan, with
intern and has overseen the newsroom each of the past I five different paper
for 10 years, says her staff is still able two years. I routes in Washington,
to cover local news, investigations “It is doing I D.C., at age 13. The
and big breaking stories, such as the better editorially than it was five or six son of Congressman
February 2009 plane crash of a years ago,” says Geoff Kelly, editor of Howard Buffett, he made his money
Continental commuter jet in which 50 ArtVoice, Buffalo’s largest alternative elsewhere — but always wanted a hand
people were killed. That story earned weekly. “They are dedicating more of in news-papers. He admits his news¬
the News numerous state Associated their reporting talent to stories of local paper interest “is not totally rational.”
Press awards and is likely to make the interest. We find ourselves more in Although he has been on the board of
paper a Pulitzer Prize contender. “It was direct competition with them, which is The Washington Post Co. since 1974, he
all hands on deck,” Sullivan says of the great for both of us.” But that doesn’t wanted to own his own paper and tried
plane coverage. “It , mean other money- unsuccessfully to buy The Cincinnati
was the first big saving moves have Enquirer and the Albuquerque Journal
story we covered on not been made. in tbe early 1970s. “It is more fun to
the Web. It showed Three suburban have your own,” he says. “I feel an
that we have a top- bureaus were closed identity with it.” He ended up with the
flight news staff that in the past year, News for $31.5 million.
is capable of rising with those staffers “People ask me what I would have
to the occasion and moved back into done if I had not gotten into business,”
come together.” the main office. he explains. “I say, T’d be a reporter,
The News still The paper because that is what I do in my job. I
maintains one- ''' also a member of assign myself a story. The story might
person news the Northeast be, ‘What is Coca-Cola worth?’ and then
bureaus in Albany, I Consortium, a I write the story.”
the state capital, 1 content-sharing Buffett says the local focus and inter¬
and Washington, I alliance forged in est is a key for the paper: “In the end,
D.C. Its four-person 1 2008 with five you’ve got to be primary in areas of
investigative unit is B other metro dailies interest to your readers. Your reader
also intact, despite W ,. in New York has to have a reason to give up time
staff cuts in recent ^ Jersey, and money to you. In Buffalo, they
years. D.C. scribe .. I including The Star- have done a good job on that.” Buffett
J
Jerry Zremski Ledger in Newark further invested in the paper’s future in
spent most of 2008 “It is more fun to have your own” paper, and the Daily News 2004 with the installation of new $40
covering the presi¬ says Buffett, left, with publisher Lipsi in in Manhattan. million presses.
dential primaries, 2004. “I feel an identity with it.” “We are lean, He credits Lipsi — who he has known
with then-New York we are not big since 1969, when Buffett bought a
Sen. Hillary Clinton a candidate. He has spenders, but we do the things that string of Nebraska weeklies from him —
even embedded in Iraq. are worth it,” says editor Sullivan. with following smart management
“What is key about the News is that it “Journalistically, I think I have a very even before the tough times. “It was
spends money when it has to, but it has free hand. My aim was to make the ungodly profitable for years, and people
www.edltorandpublisher.com JANUARY 2010 EDITOR & PUBLISHER 7
THE ‘ A ’ SECTION
in the business never fully appreciated Circulation and ad-revenue declines 2007 and USA Today since July 2008.
that,” Buffett says of other newspaper are forcing Lipsi to find new ways to The paper even went so far as to rent
owners. “You didn’t need to manage raise revenue and cut costs. “I don’t out its luxury box at Ralph Wilson
them well, you didn’t need to manage budget,” he tells E&P. “We watch every Stadium for Buffalo Bills games. “This
them at all. But the people that ran single expense against the previous year is the first time we have sold them,”
them well 20 years ago are succeeding year.” he says of the seats. But Lipsi also
today. Stan ran it well all the time. He
never forgot what he learned from the “In the end, you've got to be primary in areas of
small operation.”
interest to your readers. Your reader has to have a
That success in Buffalo, however,
is as difficult as anywhere, says Lipsi. reason to give up time and money to you."
He says the paper, even with all its
positives, is still being hit by ad revenue — WARREN RUFFETT/Owner, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News
and circulation slides like everyone
else. Daily circulation dipped from One move to save money has been a II praises Buffett for staying with the
175,984 to 165,511 for the six months two-year management salary freeze. paper, not requiring a set revenue
ending Sept. 30, according to the last Last March, Lipsi also got a concession stream, and letting it maintain the staff
Audit Bureau of Circulations FAS-FAX from the local Newspaper Guild for needed to cover news. Asked if the News
report. Sunday saw a similar slip, buyouts and a reduction in a contracted may go to a paid Web site, Buffett
dropping from 255,369 to 248,016 raise, down to 1% from 2%. Circulation responds, “We are going to look at
during the same period. distribution managers also took a 10% everything everyone else does.”
“I know we will do relatively well as wage cut. In 2007, the paper got into But it is also understood that none
long as a significant number of people the commercial printing business and of Buffett’s millions are there to truly
read daily newspapers,” says Buffett. “It has been printing The New York Times subsidize the paper. “We have to stay
gets tough when you get below 30% since October, when it also began profitable,” Buffett adds, “because when
of households, less important to the delivering the Times. For the News, that you get unprofitable, it just creates
advertiser. There is a point at which you practice isn’t new: it has been delivering problems. It is nice to have it make
don’t deliver tonnage.” The Wall Street Journal since January reasonable money.” 0
Chicago bullish on local news co-op
BY MARK FITZGERALD The story was broken by Dan Los Angeles Times in early 2008 when
EW ISSUES RANKLED CHICAGOANS Mihalopoulos, who used to cover City he refused to make another round of
more than the city’s decision to Hall for the Trib but left to join the deep cuts in the newsroom.
lease its parking meters for 75 Chicago News Cooperative. The CNC These days, many downsized
years to a private com¬ journalists have
pany that immediately started or joined
jacked up rates and Web sites devoted
ended free parking on to local coverage.
Sundays and holidays. Examples abound
So a newspaper report from MinnPost in
in early December the Twin Cities and
that profits from the the St. Louis Beacon
meters were going to a to The Texas Tribune
big German financial in Austin and Voice of
company — and the San Diego. CNC isn’t
investment arm of the even the only example
Abu Dhabi govern¬ in Chicago, home to
ment — not surprising¬ several such sites
ly stoked civic anger. including Gapers
What was surprising: Block, Beachwood
The report wasn’t Reporter and Chicago
published in the Jim O’Shea, left, editor of the Chicago News Cooperative, Staff Writer Dan Cun'ent, the for-profit
Chicago Tribune, the Mihalopoulos, and Deputy Editor David Greising pore over documents related to their Web and print news¬
investigation into Chicago's controversial privatization of city parking meters.
Chicago Sun-Times or paper that Geoff
any of the many suburban dailies. It was co-founded by James O’Shea, the Dougherty started as a successor to his
appeared in The New York Times — yet former Tribune managing editor who non-profit Chi-Town Daily News.
it wasn’t WTitten by a Times reporter. was forced out as editor of the sibling But after barely two months of
8 EDITOR&PUBLISHER JANUARY 2010 www.editorandpublisher.com
THE ‘A’ SECTION
existence, the Chicago News Cooperative stories have shown in
stands out for both journalistic and the past year. I
business reasons. If CNC can get 30,000
For one thing, it quickly found a to 40,000 subscribers
steady, prestigious — and paying — paying $2 a month, it j
client for its work: the New York Times. figures it can increase its '
Every Friday and Sunday, the Gray staff — now six full-
Lady sets aside two pages in papers timers and seven regular
circulated in the Chicago area for CNC freelancers — to 25 to 30 \
stories. But the Times is doing more and begin more elaborate !
than running CNC material. The paper projects with WTTW and
is furiously promoting the arrangement other electronic media.
in Chicago with sticky ads on front O’Shea rejected going
pages, Web ads in Chicago-oriented for-profit right away,
sites and a TV spot. although some private
CNC is also that rare start-up that equity money did
actually managed to attract working approach CNC. “My i
journalists from what they surely once view is, it s hard enough
imagined would be their dream job. to do non-profit, without
David Greising, for instance, was a there being these guys !
star business columnist for the Tribune banging on us,” he says
who was more likely to be offered — with a laugh. '
again — the position of business editor Much of the workings
than shown the door in the next round of the business operations '
of layoffs. “But as I saw what was Chicago News Cooperative Staff Writer Dan Mihalopoulos, of CNC — for now,
happening about the time that [Sam] I left, and Deputy Editor David Greising during a news meeting. soliciting funds, forging
Zell came in, I decided I needed to partnerships, writing
look at what alternatives there might “vast wasteland” of television) and by grant proposals — falls to Greising, who i
be,” he says. book publisher Peter Osnos, O’Shea for the first time is using the acumen
One of those alternatives turned out to quickly drew up a budget, successfully he developed as a business journalist |
be the news organization that came upon sought a $500,000 expedited grant in an actual start-up. Greising says he |
O’Shea like an epiphany very late one from the John D. and Catherine T. alw ays wanted to be a writer in his i
night at Cambridge, Mass., where he was MacArthur Foundation, and fashioned ! new spaper career, but in contemplating i
a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard and CNC as an extension of the Chicago leaving the Tribune, “I didn’t want to !
beginning work on a book on the Times I public television station WTTW, just transfer the column to the Internet.
Mirror acquisition that arguably sent 1 allowing it to get charitable funding as In this role. I’m really helping to build
Tribune on the path to filing for bank¬ I a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. the business.”
ruptcy reorganization in December 2008. In 2010, CNC is likely to become one Greising has been so busy with the i
“It was 3 a.m., and I suddenly woke of the first news organizations to do funding side of CNC that three weeks
up and thought, a co-op model, like business as a so-called L3C, a low-profit into its contract with the Times, he had j
an agricultural co-op,” O’Shea says. limited liability company. Some in the written only one short squib. But jour- [
nalism is at the heart of what CNC does, '
When he left the Chicago Tribune, '*1 didn’t want to he and O’Shea emphasize. CNC is not
distracted by chasing breaking news J
just transfer [my] column to the Internet. In this and can do the stories the city’s dailies
role. I’m really helping to huild the business.” are missing, they say. j
“The Tribune and [Chicago] Sun-
— DAVID GREISING/Deputy Editor, Chicago News Cooperative Times have cut back so much, they’ve j
made our job easier,” says O’Shea. CNC j
though he might also have cited a industry, including the Newspaper Guild, operates from a Chicago Loop low-rise |
famous cooperative blocks away: the 1 believe L3C status, which positions a it shares with such neighbors as the '
Harvard Co-op bookstore. In a classic company as providing a social good Chicago Opera Theatre and the Council
cooperative, the enterprise is owned I through education. More important, an for a Parliament of the World’s Religion.
and controlled equally by the people ! L3C allows a news organization to be a Like an old-fashioned print editor, :
who work in it. hybrid of for-profit and non-profit. O’Shea chases his staff out of there: “I
Once O’Shea hit upon the co-op “The goal is for this thing to make it tell them get out of downtown and the
model, events followed quickly — even self-sustaining in five years,” says Loop, and get out in the neighborhoods,
frenetically, in O’Shea’s retelling. Urged j O’Shea. Donor fatigue, he warns, is and tell those stories.” 0 I
I
on by former Federal Communications I inevitable, as several flamed-out online Visit www.editorandpublisher.com/ I
Commission Chairman Newton Minow ! local news sites that tried to survive on news for replarly updated news reports. j
(famous for his 196I speech on the donations or “tip jars” for individual
www.editorandpublisher.conn JANUARY 2010 EDITOR & PUBLISHER 9
_THE ‘A’ SECTl ON
Hearst sails this Skiff into the e-futun)
market. Skiff, smartly, doesn’t want to to be specific on any split.
Propelling new digital reader,
wed itself to one device. Skiff is also attempting to standardize
and much more The service platform promises to advertising formats, providing
deliver high-resolution content along marketers a cohesive way to reach
BY JENNIFER SABA with interactive advertising capabilities. consumers across several devices and
OR THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS, “It’s the impact of print with the magic publications. “The goal is to make this
speculation about the Hearst- and depth of an interactive ad,” says simpler across screen sizes and resolu¬
backed FirstPaper e-reader took Fuchsberg. tions,” says Fuchsberg.
on a life of its own. While Amazon, He explains that advertising revenue The company has partnered with
Sony, QUE (nee Plastic Logic) and Sprint to provide 3G con¬
others were busy unveiling digital read¬ nectivity, and will sell the
ers with the hop>es of enticing holiday e-readers in more than
shoppers, Hearst sat quietly — until 1,000 Sprint retail locations.
Dec. 4, when the company that publish¬ Additionally, Skiff is
es the San Francisco Chronicle, the working on a “system on a
Houston Chronicle and several maga¬ chip” with semiconductor
zines announced the arrival of Skiff. company Marvell to
The company, which operates in true encourage more digital
start-up style in spartan offices not far device makers to come to
from Hearst’s glorious headquarters in market, making it easier for
midtown Manhattan, is about more Skiff to broadly distribute
than just digital readers. content. “We’re not just
Skiff is a service and digital store specializing in the delivery
SkifTs full ambition is to render and presentation of newspaper and magazine content. building a service and
newspaper and magazine content (and praying that someone
books as well) and optimize it for is just as important as subscription comes along,” says Chief Marketing
e-readers, netbooks and smartphones ! revenue for tbe model to work. “If Officer Kiliaen Van Rensselaer.
through its e-reading service platform, i publishers are bringing their content “We want to be flexible and nimble,”
which will also support advertising. i and advertising they deserve the major¬ he adds. “We’re not betting on a piece
Gilbert Fuchsberg, Skiff’s president, ity’ of the revenue,” he adds, declining of hardware.” 11
sums up tbe challenge and solution:
“Publishers are looking to publish once
and distribute broadly. That’s the Can pay walls work in small markets?
problem we’re trying to solve.”
His company’s service platform is
device-agnostic, because there are A
too many competitors fighting for BY JENNIFER SABA close to us that come in and gather
dominance over a very small slice of SMALL CLUSTER OF NEWSPAPERS news in our market,” says Ned Cowart,
consumers. Consider that Forrester in Northwestern Pennsylvania, publisher of Derrick Publishing, a
Research estimated in a May research halfway between Erie and family-owned company (the Boyles)
report that by 2012, only 12 million Pittsburgh, in 1997 started a Web site — since 1871. “We knew we were the local
people will own e-reader devices. a basic operation that published some source of information. We decided,
Then take into account that many i stories culled from their print editions with that sort of a base, let’s go with a
more people already access newspaper i to go along with obits and classifieds. paid model.”
content through smartphones. The I Twelve years later, a lifetime in Internet After considering several vendors to
New York Times, for example, said in ’ years, they decided it was time for an handle the site hosting — including
December during an investor confer¬ I overhaul — and while they were at it, Saxotech and SCS, which in this case
ence in New York that two million j they concluded it was best to affix a proved cost-prohibitive — Derrick
people have downloaded its iPhone app. I price tag to that content. turned to Our-Hometown.
Compare that with the Times' latest 1 That’s what happened on Nov. 1, Our-Hometown uploads the stories
March 2009 Publisher’s Statement, i 2009 when the Derrick Publishing Co., and advertising from the two papers to
in which its average daily circ for I which owns and operates a string of the site, once the papers ship in PDFs.
e-editions — which includes Kindle newspapers including The Derrick and Now, readers can get access to the
subscriptions, the Times Reader and I The News-Herald, both six days a week, entire print edition.
Newsstand.com — was only 43,884. 1 re-launched TheDerrick.com. When the official unveiling of the
A snappy netbook from Apple, should I “We are somewhat unique in our new Derrick.com occurred on Oct. 1,
it ever surface, could upend the entire geography. We don’t have any markets it was still free. “Our response was
10 EDITOR&PUBLISHER JANUARY 2010 www.editorandpubllsher.com