Dean Singleton -- A True Believer

As the chairman of MediaNews Group, which owns more than 100 publications and media properties across the country, including the Denver Post, Dean Singleton is a divisive figure in many quarters. But like him or loathe him, he's a true believer in the daily newspaper, and his attempts to safeguard the form could have a profound impact on the medium as a whole. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

Severance Payments Denied At Tribune; Bonuses Approved

Tribune severance payments denied

A bankruptcy judge denied authorization for Tribune to make severance payments to employees laid off shortly before the bankruptcy filing but approved bonuses for other employees.

MediaNews will 'move away' from making print free on Web

MediaNews Group CEO William Dean Singleton and President Jodi Lodovic announced to employees recently a plan to provide less print content on the Web for free and differentiate Web site news from the print product.

Gannett's biggest shareholder sells nearly all shares

At the end of 2008, international insurance company AXA S.A. was the single-largest institutional holder of Gannett Co. stock with nearly 31 million shares, a 13.37% stake. Monday, it disclosed that it has sold nearly all of its holdings.

Is New York Times Co. headed to bankruptcy?

In an analysis posted on the Silicon Alley Insider blog Friday, the former star stock analyst Henry Blodget concludes The New York Times Co. is heading toward bankruptcy.

Metro to sell Seabay its U.S. papers

Swedish newspaper group Metro International SA said it agreed to sell its unprofitable U.S. papers.

No News Is Bad News in 'The Scarecrow'

Former LA Times reporter Michael Connelly chronicles the demise of newspapers in his new fast-paced murder tale "The Scarecrow."

• Excerpt: "The Scarecrow"

Denver Post now printing Fort Collins Coloradoan

The Denver Post today is printing the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the copies of USA Today that once rolled off the Coloradoan's press.

• U.K. Paper Says 'Sorry' to Readers
• S.F. Chronicle begins layoffs
• Globe publisher sees future for paper
• News Corp. papers to start charging for online content
• Union-Tribune cuts 192 positions
• NYT pub Sulzberger helps unveil, hails new Kindle

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No More Raises at Los Angeles Daily News

A memo in the newsroom today says merit raises are suspended at the Daily News. It comes amid gossip about furloughs, pay cuts and other draconian steps to stop the fiscal bleeding. [Update: And it affects all the LANG newspapers; they all got the memo.] [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

LA-Area Newspapers to Merge Copy Desks

Announcements have been made in multiple newsrooms ... that a plan to merge all LANG copy desks into a central desk at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, is tentatively scheduled for February or March and 2008 LANG-offered buyout options will remain in effect: one week of pay per year of service up to six years plus three months COBRA and a promise not to contest unemployment.

The terms of layoffs/buyouts are subject to negotiation for Guild-covered staffers. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

Detroit Papers Cease 7-Day Delivery

It's official: The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, will become the first major U.S. newspapers to cease seven-day home delivery. The news was announced by the Detroit Media Partnership, the agency controlling the interests of both the Gannett and Media News papers, at a press conference this morning in the Motor City.

The confirmation comes after several days of speculation, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, about a fundamental change in the business model for the struggling Free Press and News. The papers work together in all matters other than editorial under a Joint Operating Agreement. The change is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2009.

The highlights of the plan:

• Goodbye to every day delivery: Both papers will cease seven-day home delivery to all subscribers as they begin transitioning to more online delivery of news.

• Hello to three-day delivery: The JOA will instead focus on Thursday and Friday delivery of both papers and Sunday delivery of the Free Press only. Those days are the most lucrative for advertising and have often been considered in the newspaper world as the “money” days for both sales and circulation.

• Get it on the newsstand: The papers will offer single copy editions six days of the week; only the Free Press will publish a Sunday single copy edition.

• A new pricing model for subscriptions and a push to online: Seven days of access to an e-edition would also include the three days of home delivery. [Click for MORE]

> Detroit newspapers fewer days for home delivery; union says 9 pct. job cuts also planned

> Hunke says 'a day of reckoning coming'; In historic move, Detroit ends most home delivery

> Text of Detroit CEO Hunke's memo to employees

> Detroit News' story on the changes | Free Press' story
> Comments from Free Press editor Paul Anger
> Letter to News readers from the editor and publisher
> Doing the math on Detroit newspapers' big gamble

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It's All About Reputation Now for Zell

At this point, the only remaining incentive for Sam Zell to slog through a Chapter 11 reorganization likely to last a year or more appears to be the chance to repair his reputation as a businessman. Long known as a canny dealmaker in the real estate business, Zell had an opportunity with Tribune to prove himself as a corporate strategist. [Click for MORE]

> L.A. Times journalists respond to Tribune's hard times by working hard
> The case for and against Sam Zel
> How Zell screwed up on Blagojevich
> MediaNews Sees Bad Timing on Newspapers, Not Bad Bets
> Newspapers' voices changed once, and might again Sphere: Related Content

Reports: Detroit Dailies to Curtail Home Delivery

From GannettBlog.com:

Here comes The New York Times, now reporting: "The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are planning to stop home delivery most days of the week and print a pared-down version of their papers for newsstands on those days, according to people briefed on the plans. They will be the first major dailies in the country to take such drastic steps."

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Gannett hasn't made a final decision. The paper cites a source it did not identify. "But the leading scenario set to be unveiled Tuesday would call for the Free Press and its partner paper, The Detroit News, to end home delivery on all but the most lucrative days -- Thursday, Friday and Sunday," the WSJ says. "On the other days, the publisher would sell single copies of an abbreviated print edition at newsstands and direct readers to the papers' expanded digital editions."

The changes are likely to result in significant job cuts, the story says. "Because the Detroit papers will continue to publish daily electronic versions, the cuts are expected to come mostly, if not entirely, from outside the newsroom, according to sources," the WSJ says.

WUSA-TV: Union deal paves way to hire 'mojos'

Under an agreement this week with labor unions, Gannett's broadcast flagship will become the first station in a major market to replace crews with one-person "multimedia journalists," who shoot and edit stories single-handedly, The Washington Post says today. The station -- which is running last in the local ratings -- also plans an across-the-board cut in reporters' salaries as it increases their responsibilities. Multimedia journalists will earn 30% to 50% less than what traditional reporters have been earning, with salaries topping out at around $90,000 annually, the Post says, citing sources it doesn't identify at the station. Sphere: Related Content

What Could Go Wrong...Go Wrongh...GWrng...WoGonh...

Apparently the switchover to a faster Internet server has wreaked havoc across Singleton's SoCal empire. All* of the papers carry a version of the following note to readers on the front pages of their websites (this one is from the Daily News):

To our readers - Due to technical problems, some sections and regular features of the of the Daily News do not appear in today's paper and your edition may arrive late. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Indeed, it looks like the server was knocked completely off-line last night and continues to be down this morning. I'm told the morning papers look they were written on typewriters and that Unisys, the database reporters and editors use to actually create the paper, continues to be off-line as well. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

Carolina Garcia Rumored to Be New Daily News Editor

Carolina Garcia, executive editor at the Monterey County Herald, is rumored to be a leading candidate to succeed Ron Kaye as editor of the Los Angeles Daily News.

Garcia, a Texas native, came to the Herald in 2003 after five years as managing editor at the San Antonio Express-News. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

Ron Kaye May Be Out as Editor of L.A. Daily News

Sources at the Daily News and outsiders close to Ron Kaye say he will be replaced by an editor from Northern California. Nothing official yet, but the announcement could be made as soon as Thursday. Kaye reportedly got the word Monday from Dave Butler, his predecessor as editor of the Daily News, now the overall editor for Dean Singleton's papers in California. The terms of Kaye's departure have apparently been in negotiation since. He declined today to confirm the change to LA Observed. [Click for MORE]

> Last competent LANG editor hits bricks
> Singleton's small-town L.A. papers nosedive
> Remembering when the Press-Telegram was the most important paper in town Sphere: Related Content

Bay Area News Group Asks Staff to Devise a 'NewPaper'

Leave it to the cost-cutters at MediaNews to try to sell their East Bay readerships a newspaper makeover that will improve the quality of journalism with fewer journalists.

Last week, local management sent its employees — well, those who survived the recent buyout purge — at the company's 23 East Bay newspapers, which include The Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune, a memo detailing a bold restructuring plan.

According to the March 12 memo, the key feature of the so-called "NewPaper Project" will be a task force of newsroom employees who will ask a series of fundamental questions about journalism in order to design an "innovative newspaper blueprint." The task force will question such elements as design, coverage priorities, and the breadth of coverage areas. In the memo, Kevin Keane, the executive editor of the Bay Area News Group (BANG), MediaNews' local consortium of papers, said he expected to roll out the NewPaper makeover by the end of the year. [Click for MORE]

> Despite the cuts, we're still dedicated to our community

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