Our Primary Goal Was Reached

When this petition was launched, the goal was to get people outside of journalism to realize that the many closures of newspapers in the past couple years was more than a tragic tale of unemployment, but moreover a serious threat to American Democracy, the loss of watchdogs at the international, national, state and local levels.

As stated several times during the course of the six-month campaign, this was not about saving jobs, or maintaining "paper" newspapers.

We wanted to encourage people to think about what it would mean to lose newspapers — the largest employers of professionally trained and ethically bound journalists.

We achieved that.

The effort was covered by blogs, publications and radio programs around the world. At last count, more than 60 different news organizations had written about the Know Newspapers Petition.

Of course, some will point to the signatures — fewer than 500 of them. It is a rather low number, but, as stated early on, not a surprise. Journalists by their very nature avoid signing petitions of any kind, even those that express dire concerns they personally share.

The problem hasn't gone away, and I for one will continue to try to raise awareness. But this particular effort has expired. The deadline was July 4, 2009.

This site went dark during that period, but it has since been restored for anyone seeking to reference the materials gathered here.

Thank you for your support.

-- TJ Sullivan

End Times

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End Times
www.thedailyshow.com
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-- TJ Sullivan

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Another Crazy Idea ...

Apparently inspired by Sunday's column in The New York Times by Frank Rich, someone at the CEJournal suggests essentially the very same action proposed right here at Know Newspapers back in February with "The Petition to Unplug."

Please visit our FAQ at this link to learn more about the effort.

Here's a snippet from the similar suggestion made recently at CEJournal:

"What if journalism went on strike for, say, a week? No Boulder Daily Camera, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, no ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN (but Fox can continue because it’s not journalism) for an entire week. No WINS radio or KQED. No Time or Newsweek, and no Associated Press dispatches. ESPN? It goes dark. All sources of news, investigation, and non-fiction narrative — off the air, off the Internet and off the newsstands for a week.

What would Google News and all the other blood-sucking news aggregators do? Where would bloggers like me get their bloviational fodder? How would citizens know that a deadly new strain of pandemic flu had just broken out in their local high school? How would they hear that the Taliban in Pakistan had just stolen a nuclear weapon and were threatening to blow up New York City?"

Be sure to read the column by Frank Rich, who observes "Whatever shape journalism ultimately takes in America, make no mistake that in the end we will get what we pay for."

As for the petition ... it has less than 500 signatures to show for more than three months of effort, a situation that I hope is mostly the result of how averse journalists are to signing petitions.

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-- TJ Sullivan

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Why Didn't We Think of That?

From a Q&A with The Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks, as published online by SpliceToday:

"If the industry doesn’t figure out how to make money off the Internet we’re doomed. The leaner staff works for that, not for print, so I hope they know what they’re doing. I think newspapers should collude, shut down their websites on a Monday, re-open on a Tuesday, charging a small Pay Pal-style gateway fee for all users. People want what we produce; they just want it online. But they have to pay for it, even a nickel a view."

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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'The Onion' to Nix LA Print Edition

Now even the "fake news" newspapers are cutting back.

The Onion reportedly plans to shut down its print editions in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

General reaction in car-obsessed LA: There was a print edition?

Here's a snippet from MinnPost.com:

Trying to fulfill Monday's promise to get more details on how the Onion's Twin Cities edition is faring, and whether they'll keep printing here, I received a memo from Onion World Headquarters.

It's good news, for now at least. The humor conglomerate confirms published reports it's shutting down L.A. and San Francisco editions, but has "no plans at this time to cease publication in any of our other markets," writes CEO Steve Hannah.

MinnPost.com also quotes the memo, which includes this tidbit:

Overall, we are weathering the storm, and, as you know, we have avoided taking many of the draconian measures employed by other media companies. Unfortunately, despite healthy readership in both Los Angeles and San Francisco (readership has actually risen despite our reduction in copies in recent months) the advertising in both cities has been abysmal.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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No Bailout ... For Obvious Reasons

No bailout for newspapers, not that anyone in their right mind was considering one to begin with.

Here's a snippet from AFP:

The White House on Monday expressed "concern" and "sadness" over the state of the ailing US newspaper industry, but made clear that a government bailout was not in the cards.

"I don't know what, in all honesty, government can do about it," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "That might be a bit of a tricky area to get into given the differing roles."

Gibbs was responding to a reporter who asked what the White House thought about the recent closure of several US newspapers and a threat to shut down the venerable Boston Globe.

"Obviously (President Barack Obama) believes there has to be a strong free press," the spokesman said. "I think there's a certain concern and a certain sadness when you see cities losing their newspapers or regions of the country losing their newspapers."

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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11 Percent of Top 100 Papers in Bankruptcy

An elaborate interactive map has been generated by The Wall Street Journal to "track events at the top 50 newspapers." Be sure to both mouse over the map highlights, and to use the timeline bar above the map to review changes by year.

Also, notice the clusters around the nation's biggest cities.

(The New York Times created a similar map about a month ago, but it was not interactive.)

In addition, a list of "adverse events" at the nation's top 100 newspapers was created by The Wall Street Journal. It includes a column denoting which papers are in bankruptcy. The result — 11 percent.

The bankruptcy roll call from The Wall Street Journal:

1. Los Angeles Times

2. Chicago Tribune

3. Philadelphia Inquirer

4. Star-Tribune - Minneapolis

5. The Chicago Sun-Times

6. The Sun - Baltimore, Md

7. The Orlando Sentinel

8. South Florida Sun Sentinel

9. The Hartford Courant

10. Morning Call - Allentown, Pa.

11. Philadelphia Daily News

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Denver Resurrection An Epic Fail

Those determined former staffers of Denver's Rocky Mountain News, who bounced back from their newspaper's closure by banding together to launch an online news effort called In Denver Times, have apparently failed to reach their self-imposed, 50,000-subscriber goal by April 23, so ... it appears that news and money are parting ways, again.

So far, the site has not announced how many subscribers it managed to attract, silence that some might say suggests the pay-for-access model fell embarrassingly short of its goal (witness our own petition effort, which has fewer signatures than there were staffers at the former Rocky Mountain News).

Here's a snippet from a story in the Denver Business Journal:

In Denver Times, a news website launched by former staff members of the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News, has lost its key financial backers, according to news reports.

The Associated Press quoted David Milstead, a former News business reporter and columnist, as saying the website staff is now looking for new backers for an online news service under a different name.

[Snip...]

The In Denver Times staff had been volunteering their time to report and edit stories for the website since mid-March. If the venture had gone forward, the website's "official" launch would have been May 4.

If only tenacity were dollars.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Phil Bronstein Represents!

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Phil Bronstein
colbertnation.com
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"Why don't you guys print happy news about yourself and then people will believe in you again."

— Steven Colbert
The Colbert Report

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-- TJ Sullivan

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'The Imminent End'

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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NAA Looks Bad in This One

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Better Know a Lobby - Newspaper Lobby
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... but it's still hilarious.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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No Yawning in the Press Box

Wrigley Field, by TJ Sullivan

Thanks to devastating budget cuts and layoffs at newspapers nationwide, the baseball press box is a much less exciting place than it used to be.

ESPN Page 2 columnist Jim Caple expressed similar sentiments last month when he wrote about the issue. Now the Wall Street Journal steps up.

Here's a snippet:

Baseball's independent press corps, once the most powerful in American sports, is fading. As newspapers cut budgets and payrolls, the press boxes at major league ballparks are becoming increasingly lonely places, signaling a future when some games may be chronicled only by wire services, house organs and Web writers watching the games on television.

"I certainly recognize where things are going," says Jack O'Connell, secretary of the Baseball Writers Association of America, the venerable 101-year-old membership organization for the profession. "I certainly see the dark clouds."

Read the full story at this link.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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AP to Ask Aggregators to Share*

* UPDATED -- The content of the story at NYTimes.com changed from the time of this initial post.

The updated story now says that AP's intention is to demand that Web sites first obtain permission and share revenue before making use of member content. Failing that, the story says, AP will likely resort to legal action.

Here's a snippet:

A.P. executives said they were concerned about a variety of news forums around the Web, including major search engines like Google and Yahoo and aggregators like the Drudge Report that link to news articles, smaller sites that sometimes reproduce articles whole, and companies that sell packaged news feeds.

They said they did not want to stop the appearance of articles around the Web, but to exercise some control over the practice and to profit from it.

More here.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Saving Newspapers: The Musical

An amusing look at saving newspapers.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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A 'Twaper?' ... Shirley, You Jest

In my humble opinion, this story is an April Fools Day joke. But who knows?

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Simon Says Charge for Content

Graphic by TJ Sullivan

Former journalist David Simon, creator of "The Wire," continues to champion the need for newspapers in America. (See previous post).

In a story published Friday by the Guardian, Simon goes after newspaper owners, argues in favor of paid content, and foretells an age of rampant political corruption.

Here's a snippet:

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the award-winning writer and producer launches a tirade against newspaper owners who, he says, showed "contempt for their product" and are now reaping the whirlwind. But he rejects the idea that newspapers should seek ways to embrace the new world of free information, arguing that they must urgently start charging money for content distributed online.

"Oh, to be a state or local official in America over the next 10 to 15 years, before somebody figures out the business model," says Simon, a former crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun. "To gambol freely across the wastelands of an American city, as a local politician! It's got to be one of the great dreams in the history of American corruption."

The full story is at the Guardian.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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'Newspapers ... There are No Substitutes'

Graphic by TJ Sullivan

Should the advertising industry try to help struggling newspapers?

Yes, says Mike Hughes, president and creative director at the Martin Agency, which counts the Newspaper Association of America as a client.

Here's a snippet from Hughes' column published this week by Advertising Age:

It's time the advertising industry did something important.

For our own self-interest -- and for the common good -- we need to start paying attention to newspapers again.

To begin with, it would be good for our business. For our own selfish reasons, we need a medium that targets the well-informed. We need a medium that lets us tell our whole story -- and not just the 30-second version. With each passing month, we need more media that target people where they live. We need more media that let marketers build a brand and ask for the business. We need more media that let writers, art directors, photographers and illustrators practice their crafts.

We need a medium with the immediacy and importance of newspapers.

[Snip ...]

Online or in print, we need newspapers. There are no substitutes. Magazines, TV channels and websites don't do the same things. Not even close.

Our industry needs newspapers -- but just as important, so does humankind. The world needs the kind of journalism practiced by newspapers when they're at their best. The local investigative pieces. The foreign correspondence. The war reporting. Without them, news goes unreported. Viewpoints are narrowed. Governments can run amok.

Read the full story at this link.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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A Very Bad Week at The NY Times

www.NYTimes.com

The newspaper industry's woes continued to take a severe toll this week. It seems no publication is immune, not even one of the best newspapers in the world (and, in my humble opinion, this one is the best).

The New York Times announced another round of heartbreaking budget cuts Thursday, including "60-70" layoffs in the newsroom, 100 layoffs on the business side, and a 10- to 15-percent reduction in freelancer spending.

In addition, most staff members will be required to take 10 days of unpaid leave, and endure a "temporary" 5-percent pay cut. The pay cut is expected to last nine months. (Furloughs would be extended to "most nonunion employees at The Boston Globe.)

Here's a snippet from The New York Times:

Last fall, Times executives said they did not anticipate any news staff reductions in 2009. Similarly, Mr. Keller said on Thursday that with a pay cut, management expects “that the newsroom will get through the year without a round of layoffs.”
“I wish I could make that a promise,” he added. “I can’t.”
In 2008, The Times eliminated 100 newsroom jobs through buyouts and layoffs. But with hiring for new positions, the net reduction was about half that. It has the largest news staff of any paper in the country, and one of few that has not contracted sharply.

Read the full story at this link.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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College Newspapers Endangered Too

Photo by TJ Sullivan

College newspapers are feeling the pain just as surely as their mainstream media counterparts.

The vote set to take place Friday at the University of Texas at Austin is just one of the latest examples.

The Texas Student Media Board has already sold its printing press (they owned their own press?) and laid off the four workers who ran it. Now the board is set to decide Friday on further cuts, including whether to lay off the adviser to The Daily Texan.

The Daily Texan published a story about the pending vote earlier this month. Here's a snippet:

Under the recommendations, the print representative’s position will become an ad supplement designing position, and the KVRX and Texas Student Television advisers positions will be combined into a single broadcast adviser position, [Texas Student Media director Kathy] Lawrence said.

The positions of Daily Texan adviser and advertising supplements manager will be combined into the role of print adviser. The print adviser will also advise the Texas Travesty and Cactus Yearbook. The Travesty currently does not have an adviser, and Lawrence serves as the Cactus’ adviser.

“In no way does any of this represent dissatisfaction with performance,” Lawrence said. “This is just an attempt to keep our budget a little less in the red.”

The job losses are not certain until the Texas Student Media Board votes on Lawrence’s recommendations at its March 27 meeting. The employees would not be laid off until the end of the fiscal year on Aug. 31.

Bad as that might sound to some, there are college newspapers making due with far less.

Read the full story at this link.

* See related Facebook group named "Keep Richard Finnell At The Daily Texan."

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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'Prices Are Well Below Recent Years'

A message from John Cribb of Cribb, Greene & Associates, the oldest newspaper and publication brokerage in the United States.

(via Fitz & Jen)

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-- TJ Sullivan

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