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When I first saw this story the other day I decided to follow Gregory’s tweets – turns out it’s all pretty dull.
Mr Stepp’s concerns about competition are misplaced. Competition DOES exist for newspapers. However, newspapers are no longer competing against one another, they are competing against new digital forms of communication. With a new business and journalistic model newspapers can remain competitive – and the public will benefit. But this is not 1972 when newspapers competed against one anthr. It is a whole new world that requires all new thinking.
This IS great! Thanks for sending it along Michael.
Thanks you are always “in the know”! Amy
I am new to BPRC. Hello everyone!
Welcome to BPRC Alicia. Where do you work? How did you find out about BPRC? Are you attending tomorrow’s program?
Paul Richard, an art critic at The Washington Post for many, many years, is out of a job after this week.
yikes!
no names, but a rough sketch of the damage
BALTIMORE, Md., April 29, 2009 – Members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild said yesterday that Tribune Co. is bent on gutting what was once one of America’s great newspapers after 40 newsroom employees, or 20 percent of the staff, received layoff notices yesterday.
The move comes a day after Tribune fired 18 senior editors and newsroom managers on Tuesday and Wednesday without warning. Many of the editors and managers, who are not members of the newspaper guild, were ushered out of the newsroom by security guards.
“Tribune, through careless management practices, has saddled itself under $13 billion in debt and now Baltimore is paying a price,” said Cet Parks, Executive Director of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. “Tribune is siphoning good jobs from Baltimore and sending work that talented editors, reporters, photographers, copy editors and designers have done here to its home base in Chicago. That is not right.”
Tribune plans to lay off the 40 newsroom employees by May 27. Targeted employees, who include four columnists, photographers, critics and copy editors, received hand delivered letters Wednesday afternoon signed by Monty Cook, senior vice president and editor. Also, in the last two weeks The Sun has laid off seven employees in other departments including advertising and customer service.
Since Tribune acquired The Sun in 1999, the newsroom staff has been cut by more than 60 percent to currently 148 employees from roughly 420.
“While we understand that media companies, especially newspapers, are reeling from declining advertising revenue, shrinking circulation and a year-and-a-half of recession, we believe Baltimore needs a metropolitan paper that covers the important events in the region,” said Angela Kuhl, Guild Unit Chair who works at The Sun. “It is imperative that Baltimore maintains a newspaper that brings people news, exciting and provocative stories and enriches the lives of all who live here.”
From Editor & Publisher:
“They (Sun) are clearly trying to move to be an information producer, not a newspaper publisher,” said Angie Kuhl, Guild unit chair at the Sun. “It is a flattening of the newsroom.”
From Photo District News:
Four photographers, two photo techs and one picture editor were let go, according to Angie Kuhl, unit chair of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild.
Burrelle’s now offers a “one stop shop” where I can can download e-clips of print coverage and access electronic clips for TV coverage, I still get monitoring thru VMS and through Google News Alerts also. Any TV coverage I need copies of I buy through our local friends @ TV News Recordings, $45/DVD. I don’t pay anyone for media database service since 99% of what I do is local media.
We just switched to Vocus. Really liked the one-stop shop offered by Burrelle’s, who we contracted previously. Great customer service to request electronic television clips, and newspaper clips were available on demand.
From today’s Baltimore Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-md.ae.groft28may28,0,6686100.story
Groft named WMAR news director
By Chris Kaltenbach
May 28, 2009
Longtime WMAR staffer Kelly Groft has been named the station’s news director, giving her the chance to head a struggling news operation she joined a decade ago.
“I’m thrilled, it’s something I’ve wanted for a very long time,” said Groft, who officially takes the job Monday. “I’ve never shied away from a challenge.”
Groft, a Harford County native who grew up near Bel Air, came to work at WMAR, Channel 2, in 1998 as a producer for the 6 p.m. news. She and her husband, Jay, a news photographer for WPMT, Channel 43, the Fox affiliate in York, live in southern Pennsylvania with their two children, Hannah, 7, and Camden, 4.
Groft replaces Peggy Phillip, who spent a little less than a year as WMAR’s news director after coming to Baltimore from Syracuse, N.Y. Phillip has been named news director of NBC affiliate KSHB in Kansas City, Mo. Both WMAR and KSHB are affiliates of Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps.
WMAR’s news operation has spent much of the past 15 years mired in Baltimore’s ratings basement. For May, the station’s 11 p.m. weekday news had just over one-third as many viewers as top-rated WBAL, Channel 11. Its evening news fared even worse, garnering less than one-third the audience of top-rated WBAL.
Groft, however, remains optimistic. “I can say, for the first time in a long time, that we really, truly do have momentum,” she said. “We are growing, we’re seeing little bright spots, more than we’ve seen before.
“We are ‘The station that works for you,’ and we’ve stuck to that brand, we’ve embraced that brand. People are learning it, people are reaching out more than they ever have. We’re being noticed by more and more people in the community.”
this is great!
Here’s one source:
http://niagara.cioc.ca/record/NIA2707
Thanks, Michael. I’ll give it a try.
This is too hilarious!
We have used The Communications Center (Nan Tolbert in particular) for media training in the past and have been very pleased with their work. They are in DC but travel up to Baltimore area is not a problem.
Thanks Courtney, this is a good contact to have.
WBAL-TV staffers provided insight and feedback into their newsroom and general station management for more than one hour at the October program hosted by the Baltimore Public Relations Council. Jordan Wertlieb, president and general manager, along with Michelle Butt, news director; Jessica Rahn, assignment editor; and, Wanda Draper, director of programming and public affairs, spoke to more than 30 event attendees about the station’s programming, advertising trends, social media use, and newsroom workings.
“Television viewership is up. The average person watches television four hours and 15 minutes each day, up two minutes from last year,” said Wertlieb. “When television is relevant to the local community, viewership is up. Broadcasts of weather, football and local news keep our viewers watching.”
As Wertlieb spoke to the group, he acknowledged the Internet’s power.
“The [world wide] web is discussed all the time. We can’t hold stories anymore. Stories must get on the web all the time to keep up,” said Wertlieb.
The discussion continued as Butt and Rahn shared their perspectives on news stories, pitches from public relations staff, and the realities of a shrinking workforce.
Butt described an ideal news story as one that has “good stuff, great characters, an interesting story, and a call to action.” “If I find a good story and put it on television, the web, a podcast, people will watch it,” said Butt. “That will never change.”
Rahn agreed, and she shared insight into grabbing her attention at the newsdesk. “Some stories may be great on paper, but not on television,” she said. “Send me interesting visual stories.”
Looking forward to it! BPRC rocks.
Laura Smitherman to be named new business editor?
Does anyone know if AP’s Ben Nuckols was also let go?
I’m a little late getting back to you on this, but I believe he is still there.
Bill, for those of us not on Facebook, does Liz indicate when this is effective?
Yes I can confirm Ben Nuckols is still with AP as I was at a regional PIO meeting the other day where he was speaking on a panel.
FYI, here’s my latest list of contacts @ the Baltimore AP bureau. If anything is outdated, changes are welcomed!
1. Ben Nuckols – bnuckols@ap.org
2. Alex Dominguez – adominguez@ap.org
3. Brian Witte – bwitte@ap.org
4. Kasey Jones – kjones@ap.org (Night Supervisor)
5. Rob Carr (Photographer) – rcarr@ap.org
* Sara Brumfield is working out of AP’s D.C. office temporarily.
sbrumfield@ap.org