Gannett launches Imagn image agency, wire service

Gannett Co. has rebranded its business unit USA Today Sports Images to Imagn and expanded its offerings for news and media outlets to include original sports, entertainment and breaking news images from the USA Today Network.

Along with photos from the USA Today Network, specialized images by partner SIPA US are now available on the Imagn licensing platform. Some 1.8 million images per year will be added to the platform, which already houses 600,000 per year from 10,000 sporting events covered by 300 sports photographers nationwide, according to Gannett. 

The agency serves clients with per picture and per project needs across news and media segments. The wire service is subscription based (or flat fee) and offers unlimited images for all editorial purposes across all platforms, with three content subscription options: only sports, only news and entertainment, or combined sports, news, and entertainment. The wire subscription service is best suited for enterprise customers who have high volume content needs and for clients or work teams who desire content delivered via API (application programming interface), Gannett says.

News and Tech

Why Warren Buffett says the newspaper business is 'toast'

Berkshire Hathaway CEO discusses the decline of the newspaper business and change in how readers get their information.

The Siebold Company acquires Lion Web Components

The Siebold Company has acquired Illinois-based web offset printing press parts supplier Lion Web Components. The purchase is aligned with TSC’s parts expansion strategy to serve their global base of Goss and DGM parts customers, the company said. “Following our three recent acquisitions, DR Press Equipment, Dauphin Graphic Machines (DGM) and Smith Pressroom Products, acquiring Lion Web further strengthens our customer support for our Goss and DGM press customers,”  said Christopher Miles, TSC’s vice president of corporate development. All parts will be inventoried at TSC’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, facility, according to TSC. 

TSC specializes in the newspaper printing, commercial printing and material handling industries and offers press equipment brokering services, equipment re-configuring and reconditioning services, equipment audits and appraisals, and operational consulting.

News and Tech

Tuesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Looks like rain is on the way

LA Times' shrinking local theater coverage - LAObserved

Minnesota's oldest newspaper turns 170 - Wadena Pioneer Journal

10 Reasons Why University Newspapers are Important - The Emory Wheel

Channel Nine offloads its newly acquired regional newspapers - ABC News

AM New York and other free community newspapers serve a need - Fox5NY

Irish newspaper group INM agrees to takeover offer from Mediahuis - Nasdaq

Man accused of newspaper attack takes up an insanity defense - Daily Journal Online

The Washington Post’s latest: an animated film about an elementary school shooting - Poynter

How the decision to paywall NZ's largest newspaper will affect other media - The Conversation AU

Watchdogs Weigh In Against Newspapers In Battle Over Political Ads - MediaPost Communications

LW Graphics has new GMA NewsGrip conveyor upgrades

LW Graphics Systems has introduced a newly designed conveyor control upgrade system for GMA NewsGrip conveyors. The new GMA PLC control upgrade platform is based on the successful LW Graphics PLC upgrade installed on many Ferag conveyors in production facilities across the United States. The upgrade is designed to replace outdated controls using obsolete hardware components that are difficult to operate and maintain, according to LW Graphics. The new PLC-based control system uses HMI touch screens to control all conveyor functions. 

LW Graphics Systems recently installed the new GMA NewsGrip conveyor upgrades at The Lakeland Ledger production facility in Lakeland, Florida. The new controls were installed on two GMA conveyors.

News and Tech

Today in Labor History – April 30th

Everettville mine

50,000 workers in Chicago were on strike, with 30,000 more joining in the next day. The strike brought most of Chicago’s manufacturing to a standstill. On May 3rd, Chicago cops killed four unionists. A mass meeting and demonstration was called for the 4th, in Haymarket Square, where a cop would be killed by an assailant who would never be identified. Ultimately, eight anarchists (many not even in attendance) would be tried for murder and sentenced to death. This event, known as the Haymarket Tragedy or the Haymarket Affair, would go on to be the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, celebrated on May 1st in every country in the world except the U.S. – 1886

The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, miner’s strike continued, with 1,200 workers getting arrested and placed into specially erected bullpens until the strikes were broken. – 1889

An explosion at the Everettville mine in Everettville, West Virginia killed 109 miners, many of whom lie in unmarked graves to this day. – 1927CLICK TO TWEET

The TWU (Transport Workers Union) won $9.5 million in pensions for former Fifth Avenue Coach employees after a long court battle. – 1965

The Obama administration’s National Labor Relations Board implemented new rules to speed up unionization elections. The new rules were largely seen as a counter to employer manipulation of the law to prevent workers from unionizing. – 2012

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/voicesoflabor

USPS to deliver Indiana’s Times-Union

The Times-Union (Warsaw, Indiana) is now partnering with the United States Postal Service for delivery of its newspapers. 

The new delivery was set to begin on April 18.

The move will not affect the timeliness of the news, the paper says. The paper has gone to an a.m. publishing schedule, with press runs at midnight instead of noon.

“Given the current landscape of the newspaper industry, the move affords us significant savings in distribution costs,” the paper says. “We want to thank our many newspaper carriers, who over the years have toiled so loyally for us,” the paper said.

High-Key Enterprises publishes the paper.

News and Tech

Monday Night in the Blogosphere

Twelve days from today, leave your non perishable foods at your mailbox 

Facebook VS Apple News+ Isn’t a Thing - Medium

Cyber attack disrupts Sunday paper delivery - Watertown Daily Times

The great media disruption comes for the Des Moines Register - Politico

Chicago Tribune Surpasses 100000 Digital Subscribers - Globe News wire

Nine sells 160 former Fairfax regional newspapers for $115m - The Guardian

How The Straits Times Schools is bringing news into classrooms - Editors Weblog

How The Washington Post Made Its Publishing Platform A Revenue Driver - Forbes

Tribune Publishing to Report First Quarter 2019 Results on May 8, 2019 - Yahoo Finance

Please, please, please: Shorter sentences, shorter paragraphs, more white space - Poynter

Tribune Publishing Co Given Consensus Recommendation of “Strong Buy” - Mayfield Recorder

Labor Department investigating Alden Global Capital pension management

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital moved almost $250 million of employee pension savings into its own accounts, prompting a look from the Department of Labor, The Washington Post reports. Alden Global Capital owns over 100 newspapers, under its MediaNews Group. Among its brands are the Boston Herald and The Denver Post.

The Department of Labor is probing Alden concerning the running of its pensions, a hedge fund spokesman confirmed, according to the paper.

Recently Alden has been attempting to acquire USA Today owner Gannett, America’s biggest newspaper chain.

“MNG believes that Alden’s management of the pension plan assets for which it provided management services has at all times complied with all legal requirements, including ERISA,” said Hugh Burns, a spokesman for MediaNews Group, in a statement, The Post reports.

The federal ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, concerns private pension holders. It was made law in 1974.

News and Tech

Today in Labor History – April 29th

Coxey’s Army

Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. His Army of the Poor was immediately arrested for trespassing on Capitol grounds. – 1894CLICK TO TWEET

The Return of Coxey’s Army (By Eddie Starr)

    When they busted all the unions,
    You can’t make no living wage.
    And this working poor arrangement,
    Gonna turn to public rage.
    And then get ready . . .
    We’re gonna bring back Coxey’s Army
    And take his message to the street.

Failing to achieve their demand that only union men be employed at the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) dynamited the $250,000 mill, completely destroying it. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas, with orders to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built “bullpens”. From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupied the Coeur d’Alene mining region in Idaho. – 1899

The special representative to the National War Labor Board issued a report, Retroactive Date for Women’s Pay Adjustments, setting forth provisions respecting wage rates for women working in war industries who were asking for equal pay. A directive issued by the board in September 1942 stated that “rates for women shall be set in accordance with the principle of equal pay for comparable quantity and quality of work on comparable operations.” – 1943

Refusing to accept a 9-cent wage increase, the United Packinghouse Workers of America initiated a nationwide strike against meatpacking companies Swift, Armour, Cudahy, Wilson, Morrell, and others. Packinghouse workers shut down 140 plants around the country. – 1948

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/voicesoflabor

2019 Pulitzer Prizes announced

The 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners in 14 journalism and seven letters, drama and music categories were announced on April 15. 

The winners in journalism are the South Florida Sun Sentinel for Public Service; the staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for Breaking News Reporting; Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan and Paul Pringle of the Los Angeles Times for Investigative Reporting; David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times for Explanatory Reporting; staff of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for Local Reporting; staff of The Wall Street Journal for National Reporting; Maggie Michael, Maad al-Zikry and Nariman El-Mofty of Associated Press for International Reporting; staff of Reuters, with notable contributions from Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for International Reporting; Hannah Dreier of ProPublica for Feature Writing; Tony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for Commentary; Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post for Criticism; Brent Staples of The New York Times for Editorial Writing; Darrin Bell, freelancer, for Editorial Cartooning; photography staff of Reuters for Breaking News Photography; and Lorenzo Tugnoli of The Washington Post for Feature Photography.

A special citation was also given to honor the journalists, staff and editorial board of the Capital Gazette, of Annapolis, Maryland, for their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their newsroom on June 28, 2018.

News and Tech

Today in Labor History – April 27th

Bread and Roses Strike

The first strike for the 10 hour day occurred on this date by Boston carpenters. – 1825

1,450 paroled Union POWs died when the steamer Sultana blew up in the worst shipping disaster in American history. The river steamer Sultana was overloaded. It was equipped with tubular boilers which were not well-suited for use in the muddy waters of the lower Mississippi. The boat blew up and sank near Memphis, Tennessee. Over 2,300 perished in all, many of them emaciated Union soldiers returning north after being released from a Confederate prison camp. – 1865

Congress extended the Chinese Exclusion Act indefinitely (first passed in 1882 and again in 1902), making it unlawful for Chinese laborers to enter the U.S. and denying citizenship to those already here. – 1904

James Oppenheim’s poem Bread and Roses was published in IWW newspaper Industrial Solidarity. – 1946CLICK TO TWEET

     As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,
     A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
     Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
     For the people hear us singing: “Bread and roses! Bread and roses!”
     As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,
     For they are women’s children, and we mother them again.
     Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
     Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!
     As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
     Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
     Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
     Yes, it is bread we fight for — but we fight for roses, too!
     As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.
     The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
     No more the drudge and idler — ten that toil where one reposes,
     But a sharing of life’s glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!

President Dwight Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450: Security Requirements for Government Employment. The order listed “sexual perversion” as a condition for firing a federal employee and for denying employment to potential applicants. – 1953

A concrete cooling tower under construction at a power station at Willow Island, West Virginia, collapsed. All of the 51 construction workers on the scaffolding fell to their deaths. OSHA and the contractor agreed to settle the case for $85,500 (or about $1,700 per dead worker); no criminal charges were ever filed. The final OSHA rule on concrete and masonry construction was not issued for another 10 years and improved scaffolding rules, not until 1990. – 1978

The final strike of the education strike wave of 2018 happened in Colorado. Lasting until May 12th, this strike was not as successful as the previous three, ending with an agreement for a 2% pay raise. Just before the strike, Republican State Senator Bob Gardner introduced a bill that would terminate, fine, and even send to jail, any teacher going on strike. The bill was quickly struck down. – 2018

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/voicesoflabor

A day of fishing off the coast of Catalina Island

What a fantastic day of fishing off the coast of Catalina Island yesterday, it was a bit cold, but the fish were biting. Two weeks ago two of our shipmates became sea sick, not on this trip as the waters were very calm.

Gone Fishing

San Diego Community Newspaper Group buys five publications

San Diego Community Newspaper Group has bought five of San Diego Community News Network’s six publications, the group reported. 

The group bought San Diego Uptown News, San Diego Downtown News, Mission Times Courier, and La Mesa Courier. The group owns the La Jolla Village News, Peninsula Beacon, and Beach & Bay Press newspapers. 

Mission Valley News was part of the buy, but it will cease publishing, sdnews.com said. San Diego Community News Network kept Gay San Diego.

“It’s a rewarding industry,” said Julie Main, owner and publisher of San Diego Community Newspaper Group. “One of the more rewarding things about the community newspaper industry is everyone has a story to tell. It’s very gratifying to peel back the layers and find these treasures (stories) and share it with our readers,” Main said. 

News and Tech

Thursday Morning in the Blogosphere

City Hall Los Angeles

Changes coming for growing Times - The Times

The Future of News Media in Detroit Pt. 1 - Detroitisit

Subscription scammers ordered to pay millions - Mail Tribune

Move over, Getty Images - Gannett is coming for you - Campaign

Here’s how to support this year’s World News Day - Editors Weblog

10 percent of Twitter users create 80 percent of tweets, study finds - Poynter

'It's time to stop': Newspaper carrier making final deliveries after 40 years - TribDem

Tribune Publishing Co Given Consensus Rating of “Strong Buy” by Analysts - Fidaily

His father installed printing presses. He dismantles them - Columbia Journalism Review

Murdoch's Daily Telegraph includes pages from rival Sydney Morning Herald - The Guardian

Honolulu Star-Advertiser-Oahu Publications, AMR work with VoicePort

Honolulu Star-Advertiser-Oahu Publications and marketing agency AMR have chosen VoicePort to provide customer care with interactive voice response system CircPort, according to VoicePort.

Deployed in geo redundant data centers and using SIP technology, CircPort provides callers with self-service options and, when contact with an agent is required, smart dynamic routing directs callers to representatives knowledgeable about their product and service, according to VoicePort.

“We needed the ability to provide customers with the highest level of service while making it easy for them to quickly and easily manage their subscriptions,” said Joe Cooper, AMR general manager/Pacific Division. “VoicePort’s IVR is highly intuitive and our expectation is to see an increase in customer satisfaction while protecting our bottom line.”

News and Tech

Today in Labor History – April 25th

Reverend Ralph David Abernathy

The New York Times declared the struggle for an eight-hour workday to be “un-American” and called public demonstrations for the shorter hours “labor disturbances brought about by foreigners.” Other publications declared that an eight-hour workday day would bring about “loafing and gambling, rioting, debauchery and drunkenness”. – 1886

IWW Marine Transport Workers began a West Coast strike. – 1923

The founding conference of the United Nations began in San Francisco, California. – 1945

The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and 100 others were arrested while picketing a Charleston, South Carolina hospital in a demand for union recognition. – 1969CLICK TO TWEET

The Supreme Court ruled that employers may not require female employees to make larger contributions to pension plans in order to obtain the same monthly benefits as men. – 1978

Over one million marched in Washington, D.C. for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights. – 1993

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/voicesoflabor

EU copyright reform clears final hurdle

The Council of the European Union gave its green light to its new Copyright Directive on April 15.

The directive will make online platforms liable for illegal posting of copyright-protected material onto their platforms. It will also make Google, Facebook and other outfits pay publishers for copyrighted material they post.

The directive was backed by 19 countries. Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Finland and Luxembourg voted no. Belgium, Estonia and Slovenia abstained.

“With today's agreement, we are making copyright rules fit for the digital age,” said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. “Europe will now have clear rules that guarantee fair remuneration for creators, strong rights for users and responsibility for platforms. When it comes to completing Europe's digital single market, the copyright reform is the missing piece of the puzzle.”

“The new Directive will boost high-quality journalism in the EU and offer better protection for European authors and performers,” said an EU press release on the measure. “Users will benefit from the new rules, which will allow them to upload copyright protected content on platforms legally. Moreover, they will benefit from enhanced safeguards linked to the freedom of expression when they upload videos that contain rights holders' content, i.e. in memes or parodies,” it said.

The European Parliament voted on the measure in March. EU member states will have 24 months to transpose the directive into their national legislation.

News and Tech

San Antonio woman reads newspapers to thousands of visually impaired

Drupa report: Global print industry stable

The 6th drupa Global Trends Report, available at www.drupa.com, says the global print industry is in stable condition overall. 

Globally 40 percent of printers stated their company economic condition was “good” in 2018 compared to 13 percent who described their condition as “poor.” The rest rated it as “satisfactory.” This results in a positive net balance of 27 percent. For suppliers the positive net balance was 19 percent. Both groups remain optimistic, with 50 percent expecting better conditions in 2019, according to a news release on the report.

North America continued to enjoy strong growth in 2018, Europe and Australia had steady growth, while Asia, the Middle East and South and Central America were cautious and Africa was in decline, the release said. 

The packaging market thrives as does functional, but there are clear signs of increasing caution in the commercial market and publishing remains subdued, with the encouraging exception of the books market, the release said.

Conventional print volumes continue to decline but slowly, according to the release. In 2013, 23 percent of printers reported that digital print was more than 25 percent of turnover. In 2018, the proportion of printers had increased to 29 percent. Nevertheless, sheetfed offset remains the most common form of print technology, present in 66 percent of all printers. Sheetfed offset volume continues to grow in packaging but there was a clear decline among commercial printers for the first time. 

The results are from the sixth annual survey conducted by Printfuture (U.K.) and Wissler & Partner (Switzerland) in autumn 2018. Over 700 printers and 200 suppliers (senior managers who visited or exhibited at drupa 2016) participated, with all regions represented.

News and Tech

Wednesday Morning in the Blogosphere

The daily paper flowing from the printing press

With Alden Global, When It Rains It Pours - Bloomberg

A newspaper war. What side are you on? - Port Townsend Leader

What the Decline of Newspapers Means for Government - Governing

Apple News Won’t Save Magazines. That’s Not Such a Bad Thing - Folio

Warren Buffett predicts decline of newspapers will continue - Nebraska TV

Myanmar's top court rejects final appeal by jailed Reuters journalists - Reuters

At Tribune Publishing, boardroom chaos could be in the rearview mirror - Poynter

San Antonio woman reads newspapers to thousands of visually impaired - KENS5

'It will be heartbreaking': Warroad newspaper prepares to close - Duluth News Tribune

Mobile Apps Are Making a Comeback and Publishers Better Be Ready - Digital Content Next

DDV Druck chooses QIPC-EAE package

DDV Druck, part of DDV Mediengruppe, Dresden, Germany, has ordered a comprehensive QIPC-EAE Performance Package from Engineering Automation Electronics (EAE) to modernize its newspaper printing line.

In 1998, the company commissioned the Geoman press line with ten four-high towers and four folders in a newly built newspaper printing plant in the north of Dresden. Today the printing center produces various regional newspapers: the Sachsische Zeitung (200,000 to 250,000 copies depending on the day of publication), the daily tabloid Dresdner Morgenpost (40,000 to 70,000) and more recently the Dresdner Neuesten Nachrichten (20,000 to 25,000). A series of advertising journals, publishing supplements and third-party products as well as semi-commercial products complete the output.

The package ordered includes numerous upgrades and extensions with which the printing center can jump over several generations of operating systems and software: replacement of the eight previous OS/2-based press control consoles with EAE Baltic Star consoles with new hardware and console software based on Windows 10; replacement of the old EAE AVE system with the production planning and presetting system EAE Print and the existing EAE MuP system with the reporting and logging system EAE Info; and installation of new PC hardware where necessary. New for DDV Druck will be the use of four control console tablets. 

Implementation of the project on site will start in July 2019. The project is scheduled to be completed this year. 

News and Tech

Today in Labor History – April 24th

Mumia Abu Jamal, death row activist, journalist and former Black Panther, was born on this date. – 1954

The International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union halted shipping on the West Coast in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Philadelphia journalist whom many believed was on death row because he was an outspoken African-American. – 1999

An eight-story building that housed garment factories in Dhaka, India collapsed, killing 1,129 workers and injuring 2,515.CLICK TO TWEETA day earlier, cracks had been found in the structure,  but factory officials, who had contracts with Benetton and other major U.S. labels, insisted the workers return to the job the next day. – 2013

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/voicesoflabor