Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Toronto Star to stop print of commuter papers


The Toronto Star will cease to produce print editions of its StarMetro commuter newspapers in five Canadian cities, the paper announced. The final editions will be out Dec. 20. Seventy-three jobs will be lost, the CBC reported.
The Free Daily News Group publishes StarMetro papers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. StarMetro Halifax operates with a joint venture arrangement and will also shutter.
The StarMetro papers are Canada’s last large free English-language commuter daily papers, the Star says.
People in the five cities will have access to local news on the Star’s website, its mobile app and through its newsletters, the Star said. The Star has offered a special deal for StarMetro print readers who want to subscribe for digital access to thestar.com.
News and Tech

New York’s Manchester Newspapers sold


New York state-based Capital Region Independent Media has acquired Manchester Newspapers (Granville, New York) and all associated digital and print products, according to John Thomas Cribb of merger and acquisition firm Cribb, Greene & Cope, who represented the Manchester family in the sale.
Manchester Newspapers is a weekly newspaper and specialty publishing company that prints five newspapers each week as well as 40-plus specialty publications annually. Its parent newspaper, the Granville Sentinel, has been in the family since its founding in 1875.
Other newspapers included in the sale are the Whitehall Times, the North Country FreePress, the Hudson Falls FreePress and the Lakes Region FreePress. All totaled the newspapers are delivered into some 33,000 homes each week.
Publishers John and Lisa Manchester said Capital Region Independent Media was the perfect fit for the purchase.
“The new owner, Mark Vinciguerra, is dedicated to continuing publishing quality, locally owned newspapers and he realizes the importance these newspapers have to the communities they serve. He also will be able to greatly enhance the digital and internet aspects of the business, which is so critical these days,” said John Manchester.
News and Tech

Today in Labor History November 26th

Four months before the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, six young women burned to death and 19 more died when they leapt from the fourth-story windows of a blazing factory in Newark, New Jersey. The floors and stairs were wooden; the only door through which the women could flee was locked. The fire made national news and more that 100,000 people flocked to the scene the next day. A coroner’s jury a month later deemed the fire the result of human error: “They died from misadventure and accident.” – 1910

Monday, November 25, 2019

Echo Journal building to go on sale


The Echo Journal building in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, will be for sale, according to the paper.
Despite the building going on the market, the Echo Journal business, owned by Forum Communications, will continue as a media service that provides information to print and digital audiences, the paper said.
This is the second time in seven years the building has been for sale, the paper said. It was listed in 2012, but was removed from market two years later.
If the building sells, the paper may lease a smaller office or share an office in another business. Another possibility would be to have Echo Journal staff based at the Brainerd Dispatch office, where some of the paper’s work is already being done, the paper said.
News and Tech

APTech offering health plan


The Association for Print Technologies (APTech) will offer an association health plan to its members, extending health care to small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in approved states, the organization announced. In states where the association health plan is not available, APTech will connect manufacturers with available small-group options in their respective states.
“Given the large number of members that are small and medium-sized manufacturers, we couldn’t be more pleased to offer additional health insurance coverage choices heading into 2020,” said Thayer Long, president, APTech.
The plan, called NAM Health Care, will offer a portfolio of health benefits options insured by UnitedHealthcare. In states where these plans are available, businesses with 2 to 99 employees will be able to choose from a variety of PPO (preferred provider organization) and HSA (health savings account) health plans.
Under NAM Health Care, eligible member companies will have access to supplemental benefits including dental, vision and life.
APTech is quoting plans for eligible member groups for a Dec. 1 enrollment date. To request a quote for the plans, where available, interested businesses may visit APTech.NAMHealthCare.com.
News and Tech

Today in Labor History November 25th


George Meany

10,000 New Orleans workers, black and white, participated in a solidarity parade of unions comprising the Central Trades and Labor Assembly. The parade was so successful it was repeated the following two years. – 1883
10,000 black and white march in New Orleans, 395,000 steelworkers strike for recognition, teachers strike in St Paul MN, George Meany becomes president of the AFL and more.CLICK TO TWEET
A strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers continued throughout November. The strike began on September 22 and collapsed on January 8, 1920. The strike was used by the feds as an excuse to deport approximately 250 anarchists, communists and labor agitators to Russia on November 24, marking the beginning of the so-called “Red Scare.” – 1919
The first organized walkout by teachers in the country occurred on this date in St. Paul, Minnesota. The month-long “strike for better schools” involving some 1,165 teachers, and principals, led to a number of reforms in the way schools were administered and operated. – 1946
1,550 typesetters began what was to become a victorious 22-month strike against Chicago newspapers. – 1947
George Meany became president of the American Federation of Labor following the death four days earlier of William Green. – 1952.

GateHouse parent buys Gannett


GateHouse parent New Media Investment Group has completed its $1.2 billion cash-and-stock buy of Gannett, the companies announced Nov. 19. The combined company has adopted the name Gannett Co. and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GCI.
The combined company is the largest local news organization in the U.S. with 260 daily newspapers plus USA Today. In the U.K., its Newsquest division has more than 150 local media brands and a network of websites. Twenty-five percent of its revenue is driven by digital products sold across company brands, which include ThriveHive, ReachLocal, Wordstream and sweetIQ. The company also owns and operates the largest high school athlete recognition program in the U.S. and is the second-largest producer of endurance events in North America.
The merged operation is headquartered in Mclean, Virginia, where Gannett has been based.
Gannett is externally managed and advised by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, a global investment management firm. The management agreement will be sunset at the end of 2021 as a condition of the merger.
The company has indicated it aims to cut $300 million in annual costs post-merger.
“Our powerful network of brands and capabilities position us well to ensure and preserve the future of local journalism,” read a Gannett statement on the merger.
Not all reactions were so positive.
“The future for local news looks bleak,” read the headline on a post-merger piece by Michael Hiltzik, business columnist at the LA Times.
“The deal is bad for journalists, it’s bad for readers and it’s bad for the future of local journalism,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Bernie Lunzer in a statement from the union, which represents employees at numerous of the company’s newsrooms. “Local papers will likely vanish, jobs will be slashed, and reporting will suffer.”
Voluntary buyouts reportedly representing three to five positions were announced at Gannett’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported
Of the 200 dailies at the newly merged company that file print circulation numbers publicly, more than 80 percent are losing circulation at a faster clip than the national average and 10 percent are falling at twice that rate or more, according to a Business Journal examination of the numbers.
News and Tech

Today in Labor History November 24th

Samuel Gompers

The United Cigar Makers of New York affiliated with the Cigar Makers’ International Union (CMIU) to form CMIU Local 144. Samuel Gompers was elected the first president of the local and served several terms before going on to serve as the international’s vice president. “[W]e are powerless in an isolated condition”, Gompers said, “while the capitalists are united; therefore it is the duty of every Cigar Maker to join the organization”. – 1875
The Chicago newspaper printers’ strike began in opposition to the recently passed anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act. – 1947

Smithfield Times to be sold


The Smithfield Times (Virginia) is being sold.
Longtime Virginia newspaper publisher Steve Stewart, principal owner of newly formed Smithfield Newsmedia, has an agreement in principle to buy the paper from John and Anne Edwards, the paper reported
Stewart is a former publisher of the Suffolk News-Herald. The paper will be an affiliate of Alabama-based Boone Newspapers, which owns the News-Herald and The Tidewater News in Franklin, the Virginian-Pilot reports.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Stewart will be majority owner of Smithfield Newsmedia and the paper’s publisher. Also invested are Boone Newspapers, Suffolk News-Herald publisher John Carr, Tidewater News publisher Tony Clark, and Carpenter Newsmedia, a company owned by Boone’s
News and Tech

Today in Labor History November 23rd

The Uprising of the Twenty Thousand

Army troops were sent to Cripple Creek, Colorado to put down a rebellion by striking coal miners. 600 union members were thrown into a military bullpen and held for weeks without charges. When a lawyer arrived with a writ of habeas corpus, General Bell, who led the repression, responded “Habeas corpus, hell! We’ll give ‘em post mortems!” – 1903
Army troops sent to Cripple Creek, the Uprising of the 20,000 occurred in NY, John L. Lewis leaves AFL to lead the new CIO, NFL and Players Association meet for the first time and more.CLICK TO TWEET
The “Uprising of the 20,000” occurred in New York, as female garment workers struck for better pay and an end to sweatshop working conditions. 19-year-old Clara Lemlich, who led the strike, said she had no patience for talk and called for her coworkers to join in a General Strike. Their strike won some gains for workers, like a raise and a reduction in work hours to 52 hours per week, but did not end sweatshop conditions in the industry. During the strike, a judge told arrested picketers, “You are on strike against God”. – 1909
The Uprising of the Twenty Thousand
“In the black of the winter of nineteen-nine
When we froze & bled on the picket line,
We showed the world that women could fight
& we rose & won with women’s might.
Hail the waistmakers of nineteen-nine
Making their stand on the picket line,
Breaking the power of those who reign,
Pointing the way, smashing the chain.”
–from Let’s Sing! Educational Department, International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union
Mine Workers President John L. Lewis quit the American Federation of Labor to lead the new Congress of Industrial Organizations, which was rapidly organizing workers in steel, auto, rubber and other major industries. – 1935
The first meeting between members of the newly-formed National Football League Players Association and team owners took place in New York. Union founders included Frank Gifford, Norm Van Brocklin, Don Shula and Kyle Rote. They were asking for a minimum $5,000 salary, a requirement that their teams pay for their equipment, and a provision for the continued payment of salary to injured players. The players’ initial demands were ignored. – 1956
Workers employed at Walmart, the nation’s largest private-sector employer, struck nationwide for better wages and working conditions. Walmart, whose net sales in 2011 were 443.9 billion, paid its 1.4 million workers in the U.S. an average of $8.81/hour. A third of Walmart’s employees work less than 28 hours a week and don’t qualify for benefits. – 2012

Friday, November 22, 2019

North Dakota papers sold to family-owned group


After 43 years as owners of the Ransom County Gazette in Lisbon, North Dakota, Sean and Cheryl Kelly announced on Nov. 1 that they have sold the publication to NorDak Publishing. 
Besides the Gazette, the Kellys announced the sale of the Sargent County Teller, Cass County Reporter, and Traill County Tribune. NorDak Publishing bought all four papers.
These are the first newspapers NorDak has owned in North Dakota. J. Louis Mullen of Buffalo, Wyoming, owns NorDak. Mullen owns 11 other community weekly newspapers in South Dakota, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.
Kelsey Majeske is the new publisher of the four North Dakota papers as well as three in South Dakota. Julie Bergman of Grimes, McGovern and Associates represented the Kellys in the sale.
News and Tech

SLAPP Suits: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)



After winning a legal battle involving a coal executive and a giant squirrel, John Oliver explains how SLAPP suits are designed to stifle public dissent.



American Media using Yappa tool


Yappa World has announced that American Media, publisher of celebrity and entertainment journalism, has installed the Yappa tool onto two of their celebrity news websites, Star Magazine Online and Life & Style Online.
Yappa allows users to leave “yaps,” audio and video comments, instead of text comments. Since users are required to use their own voice and image, Yappa also helps publishers clean up the hate spam often left on comments by trolls who hide behind fake avatars and text, the company says.
Yappa, based in Marina Del Rey, California, automatically transcribes yaps through its patented technology and can deliver key analytics to publishers, the company says. Users can be flagged for alleged profanity, pornography, bullying and hate speech by admins and other users. 
American Media’s titles include Us Weekly, Star, OK!, In Touch, Life & Style, Closer, Men’s Journal, Muscle & Fitness, Powder, Snowboarder, Surfer, Bike, Mr. Olympia Contest, National Enquirer and other celebrity and teen titles. American Media also manages nineteen different digital sites including Usmagazine.comOKmagazine.comRadarOnline.com and Intouchweekly.com
News and Tech

LA Times is Shocked – SHOCKED – People Aren’t Subscribing


By Daniel Guss

The last two members of my family to read the print edition of the LA Times, the largest newspaper west of wherever, were born when Calvin Coolidge was POTUS 30 and FDR was POTUS 32. 

Within five years, I say that only the Times’ Sunday edition will be in print, and that it will stop printing that within another five years. It’s headed to all-digital in due time. 

But last month, the Times’ dirty little secret was exposed: it has failed miserably to get – and keep – digital subscribers, while the New York Times has 2.7 million, the Washington Post has 1.7 million and the Wall Street Journal has 1.5 million digital subscribers. 

By comparison, the LA Times has a paltry 170,000 digital subscribers, reflecting a net gain of just 13,000 in the first half of 2019 after cancelations are cranked in, known in the industry as its churn rate. The paper had hoped to reach 300,000 and it is galaxies away from the five million digital subscriber goal of its owner of one year, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. 

A fascinating new report from the Harvard-based Nieman Lab addresses the LA Times’ failure. 

Also last month, CNN filed this story on how Times executive editor Norm Pearlstine addressed the issue in a reportedly hostile all-hands meeting. (You know you’re in big trouble when CNN, which hemorrhages viewers, reports on the Times’ hemorrhaging digital subscribers.) 

While the Times staffers seem to think its digital-subscriber woes are due to poor execution on its business side, what they are blind to is this: people do not trust the LA Times to report honestly. 

I reached out to Times spokesperson Hillary Manning to see whether they did any studies to determine why people aren’t sticking around as paying digital customers. She didn’t reply, which you can reasonably take to mean that the Times either doesn’t know why digital subscribers are leaving or they know but are too embarrassed to admit that it has a severe credibility problem with readers. 

Then again, why would anyone pay for news when all the major cable outlets – and aggregators like Google, Drudge, Breitbart and others -- give away the content for free? In fact, Google’s updated Chrome browser now makes it easier than ever to sidestep the Times’ pay wall. 

The LA Times has long gotten away with endorsing politicians who have failed us. It champions them. It makes excuses for their failures. And then promotes their family members to be their replacements. Take a look at its fawning coverage of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA City Council president Herb Wesson, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and most recently, LA City Councilmember Nury Martinez. 

Last month, a huge blaze in the Sepulveda Basin wiped out a massive homeless camp that Martinez has long ignored, both in terms of babies being born there, prostitution and drug use, not to mention the extreme danger to people – and to animals – living there. 

Instead of holding Martinez’ feet to the proverbial fire, the Times instead fawns over Martinez as the presumed next LA City Council president, because it is more focused on helping to make history with Martinez as the first Latina in that role rather than reporting her colossal failures in office. 

That right there is just one example of why people simply don’t trust the LA Times. 

And tangentially, why do we know the sexual (and other) preferences of some of the Times reporters? When did that become a thing, and how has their doing this interfered with their ability to report honestly and without biases or perceived biases? 

This is why people don’t fork over their spare change and stay as subscribers. As they say in the biz, churn, baby, churn. 

Lastly, as this column first pointed out, the rumored $500 million that Dr. Patrick SoonShiong shelled out last year for the Times and an assortment of smaller papers was overvalued by hundreds of millions of dollars. By comparison, in 1993, the New York Times bought the highly accomplished Boston Globe for $1.1 billion. But 20 years later, the Times dumped the Globe for just $70 million to the owner of the Boston Red Sox. That’s a nearly 97% loss on a quality asset. Unless things change drastically at the Times, including establishing public trust, Dr. SoonShiong is setting himself up for a similar massive financial loss. 

(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams. 
- CityWatchLA

Georgia newsprint plant shutting down


Resolute Forest Products announced that it’s “indefinitely idling” its Augusta, Georgia, newsprint plant, the Augusta Chronicle reported.
The move affects 160 employees, the paper said.
Employees had not been working since early last month when the plant was idled. That followed shutdowns earlier this year.
The outlook for reopening the plant is not good, company spokeswoman Debbie Johnston indicated. In a statement, the company cited the newsprint sector’s “continued, challenging market conditions,” the paper reported.
In 2016, Resolute Forest Products idled one of the mills’ two paper machines, cutting 95 jobs.
The company will work on outplacement service to the workers, Fox 54 reported.
News and Tech

Ogden Newspapers buying Ohio papers


Ogden Newspapers will buy The Courier of Findlay and the Review Times of Fostoria (both in Ohio) from Findlay Publishing, according to Jeffrey Potts of Cribb, Greene & Cope, who represents the Heminger family and Findlay Publishing.
The sale is expected to close later this month.
Karl Heminger and his brother, Kurt, are the fourth generation of their family to operate the papers. Findlay Publishing will continue to operate three radio stations in Findlay and four in Columbus, Indiana.
Ogden Newspapers already has a presence in the region, as the company has published the Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin for more than a quarter-century. Earlier this year, the company acquired the Sandusky Register and Norwalk Reflector from the Rau and White families.
News and Tech

Today in Labor History November 22nd

The Great Southern Lumber Co.

The district president of the American Federation of Labor and two other white men were shot and killed in Bogalusa, Louisiana as they attempted to assist an African-American organizer working to unionize African-American workers at the Great Southern Lumber Co. – 1919

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Ogden Newspapers goes with My News 360


Ogden Newspapers will roll out the full suite of My News 360 services to three Ohio newspapers in Tiffin, Sandusky, and Norwalk, according to software developer Presteligence.
Published content will be posted on newly designed websites hosted and powered by My News 360. The web design and layout will be jointly managed by Ogden IT and Presteligence. Stories can be immediately shared and posted to a specific group of newspapers or across the entire Ogden group.
My News 360 enables the Ogden markets to consolidate their news app and e-edition app into one, Presteligence says in a news release. Both the website and app will integrate with Ogden's third party authentication paywall service.
“Presteligence is lucky to work with the stellar team at Ogden Newspapers. Their IT and editorial staff have taken the helm of implementation with enthusiasm. It's inspiring to work with such insightful and motivated people,” says Bob Behringer, president and CEO of Presteligence.
News and Tech