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Seattle P-I Prepares to Go Web-Only

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Margaret Santjer, left, business editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, works with seattlepi.com senior producer Sarah Rupp on Jan. 9 as they post a story about the P-I being offered for sale. In the background, Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers, addresses the P-I staff. (Credit: John Dickson/Seattle Post-Intelligencer)  

Announcement on Paper’s Fate Expected Any Day

First, Mark Trahant quoted Ogden Nash:

"I find it very difficult to enthuse
Over the current news.
Just when you think that at least the outlook is so black
that it can grow no blacker, it worsens,
And that is why I do not like the news, because there has
never been an era when so many things were going so right
for so many of the wrong persons."

Then, in a note to friends and colleagues, Trahant, editorial page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, made an amendment. "This poem wants me to adjust my Fedora, stick a press card in the crown, and shout out, ‘Give me rewrite!’ Rewrite Nash? Yes, I agree with him that it’s difficult to enthuse over the current news. But this is not an era going so right for so many of the wrong persons. The idea should be flipped: Much is going wrong for the right persons; we’re in this mess together."

As the New York Times reported Thursday, "The Hearst Corporation has given the first concrete sign that it might turn its Seattle newspaper into an Internet-only news outlet, making offers to some of its staff to stay on in such an operation, journalists there said on Thursday.

"Hearst said in January that if it could not sell The Seattle Post-Intelligencer by this Tuesday, it would stop printing the paper and either shut it down or become a much smaller online publisher. No buyer has emerged, and an announcement is expected next week."

In the P-I itself, Dan Richman wrote, "Staffers selected to participate in an online-only version of the Seattle P-I were notified of their selection Wednesday and Thursday. . . . Two reporters said they received ‘provisional offers’ from P-I New Media head Michelle Nicolosi or Hearst executive Ken Riddick. They said they were told they will be given formal offers if the Web site gets the go-ahead from Hearst’s senior management."

"One metro reporter, Hector Castro, said Riddick didn’t ask him not to comment. The general assignment reporter, at the P-I for nine years, said he turned down Riddick’s offer. He said the offer increased his health insurance cost, cut his salary by an unspecified amount, offered to match his 401(k) contributions, required him to forgo his P-I severance pay, reduced his vacation accrual to zero and required him to give up overtime."

Another who turned down the offer was Candace Heckman, assigning editor for breaking news who is national treasurer of the Asian American Journalists Association.

"After a lot of soul searching, I declined their final offer late Thursday night," she told Journal-isms. "It was gut-wrenching because I worked so hard over the last three years to turn this newsroom – a lot of talented, old-school veteran journalists – into a Web-first operation. It’s been my mission to grow our readership. We’ve done that. And now I must step away.

"But it came down to money, a sense of worth – not just for me, but for professional journalism – and the new P-I’s sense of direction. My bosses kept telling me that this must be a money-making venture, and the low salary offers were all to keep the budget in line. Well, I didn’t become a journalist to get rich, but I would rather work for a company that’s not just for profit.

"One thing I have discovered, though, is that diversity is alive and well in a number of other industries, especially the government. So, our journalism skills and talent take us even farther when seeking non-journalism opportunities."

Trahant, who is also board chair of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, was likewise optimistic about life’s possibilities outside the P-I.

"I have had a blast," his note continued. "I never could have imagined three decades of so much professional fun. Every newspaper job I’ve had has been exciting and intellectually challenging. I’ve worked with great people and colorful characters. All along I’ve thought: ‘This is too good to be true. One of these days, they’ll stop paying me to do this.’

"Even though that date is quickly approaching, I can’t complain about a thing.

"So what’s next? My plan is to write. I have a couple of books rolling around in my mind (one, a monograph on Sen. Henry Jackson," the late Washington state Democrat who championed defense issues, "is well past deadline). It’s time to extract these ideas and transfer them to paper. I’ll also be giving speeches – contact me, if you’re interested – and tackling any other project that suits my interests (while wondering, ‘does it pay?’) I’m ready for the challenge and excited by the outlook because I know it’s only black until dawn – and I’ve always loved mornings."

. . . Star-Telegram Laying Off at Least Three of Color

At least three journalists of color have been laid off at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as publisher Gary Wortel announced on Thursday that because of "unprecedented revenue declines due to the economic recession," the paper would be reducing its work force by about 12 percent and enact a wage cut.

Those cut include Jean Marie Brown, a black journalist who was deputy managing editor/news and active in diversity efforts; and, according to Editor Jim Witt, two Hispanic journalists whom he did not identify.

Liz Zavala, the public safety/justice editor who is vice president/print of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, counted herself among the casualties, but Witt told Journal-isms, "Liz isn’t gone yet depending on who takes the voluntary" buyouts. "Because we’re doing a voluntary buyout before layoffs, it’s impossible to know who else might be going right now," he said.

Brown told Journal-isms, "I’m not looking for another job in journalism. I got to live my dream and I’m going to have another. There are not a lot of people who get to be what they dreamed of when they were children. I’ve had a ball, it’s time to do something different."

Zavala said she, too, had no idea what she wanted to do next. "It’s still pretty raw ‚Äî knowing that my journalistic career comes to a screeching halt by March 20.

"I hope it’s only temporary. I still love being a journalist ‚Äî it’s what I’ve done for the past 24 years.

"I’m heading up the Professional Development committee for NAHJ. Boy, it was a hard task before this turn of events, but this only makes me more determined to help our organization and our sister UNITY groups through these challenges," she said via e-mail.

Brown, who has conducted content audits¬†for the Maynard Institute as well as diversity training, said the news industry "is losing too many fault lines" as it contracts. "When you think about it," she said, the industry "wasn’t doing the stories that reflect the life that I know when we were at our peak. Think of how much harder it’s going to be."

"The Star-Telegram reduced its work force by about 18 percent last year through voluntary buyouts, layoffs, attrition and outsourcing," the story recalled.

NAHJ Cautions on Layoffs at Spanish Networks

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists Thursday urged media organizations that serve Latino communities "to be extremely diligent when considering the impact that budget and staff cuts will have on their audiences.

"A recent reduction by Univision Communications of six percent of its workforce and Telemundo’s announcement today of cuts will invariably result in less coverage of issues important and necessary to the Latino community and those who depend on Spanish-language news and information," it said in a statement.

"Ultimately, the survival of Spanish-language media corporations will depend on their ability to serve these communities. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has. Hispanics represent the fastest-growing minority group in the nation and while the economy, election and war have dominated news coverage for the last couple of years, there is still much work to do in the areas of immigration, health and education, work that will be incomplete without the voices and work of the journalists whose jobs it is to cover these issues."

NBC-owned Telemundo station WNJU-TV in New York reportedly announced Wednesday it was canceling its morning, noon and weekend newscasts.

[Carlos Sanchez, president and general manager of WNJU, also known as T47, told Journal-isms on Sunday:

["Unfortunately, due to the economic environment and its continued downtrend, we were forced to reevaluate all our operations across the board and make some tough calls. Some of those calls affected various jobs, 15 in total, 8 news positions in particular, but no anchors or reporters were affected. 

["We cancelled the weekday morning and noon newscasts and the 6PM edition of our weekend news. We reformatted the ll PM weekend news to review the top stories of that week. Despite these latest moves, our T47 family’s commitment to news and to the various communities remains intact. We have reallocated our resources to areas that will most benefit and contribute to produce and deliver the high caliber news product our viewers are accustomed to.¬† We will continue to offer news cut-ins from 6am to 2pm every half hour which will offer the latest in breaking news.

["In addition, we will strengthen the various franchises we have always offered viewers that target immigration, health, education, housing and the day’s main topic, the economy.¬† In short, our on-going mission to keep our viewers informed, to be the eyes and ears needed for them to make educated decisions, will not change.] [Updated March 7]

¬† In center painting, Barack Obama’s teeth are shaped like the White House.¬†

Artist’s Site Features "Bad Paintings of Barack Obama"

A Cincinnati artist has come up with an idea for a Barack Obama-related feature that most likely hasn’t been done.

Chris Collins, 24, a Web designer who scours eBay and other Internet byways, has assembled 50 paintings in a collection he calls "Bad Paintings of Barack Obama."

Each time the viewer refreshes his Web site, a different image appears.

To qualify, the images had to be perhaps hilarious, maybe weird or "a little off," and "constructed in a sincere way."

Since Collins launched the site on Feb. 23, only Alex Leo of the Huffington Post has written about his collection, he told Journal-isms.

Group Faults News Media on Health Care Coverage

"Major newspaper, broadcast and cable stories mentioning healthcare reform in the week leading up to President Barack Obama’s March 5 healthcare summit rarely mentioned the idea of a single-payer national health insurance program, according to a new FAIR study," the progressive media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting said¬†on Friday.

"And advocates of such a system ‚Äî two of whom participated in yesterday’s summit ‚Äî were almost entirely shut out, FAIR found.

"Single-payer ‚Äî a model in which healthcare delivery would remain largely private, but would be paid for by a single federal health insurance fund (much like Medicare provides for seniors, and comparable to Canada’s current system) ‚Äî polls well with the public, who preferred it 59-to-32 over a privatized system in a recent survey (New York Times/CBS, 1/11-15/09). But a media consumer in the week leading up to the summit was more likely to read about single-payer from the hostile perspective of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer than see an op-ed by a single-payer advocate in a major U.S. newspaper."

Phoenix Sportscaster Calls Off Search for Son

"Pointing to new details from the lone survivor of a boating trip that left three other men missing, the family of NFL player Marquis Cooper decided to end their personal search Friday," Gannett News Service reported.

Phoenix sportscaster "Bruce Cooper, father of Oakland Raiders lineman Marquis Cooper, says new information has come to light that made the family believe Marquis is gone.

"Oakland Raiders lineman Cooper, NFL free agent Corey Smith and former University of South Florida player Will Bleakley have been missing since Feb. 28, when their boat capsized 38 miles off the Gulf of Mexico.

"Former USF player Nick Schuyler, who was also on board, was the lone survivor found clinging to the boat Monday.

"The family says, as Nick Schuyler continues to get better, his recollection becomes clearer each day. Bruce Cooper says Schuyler recently gave authorities a more detailed account of what happened in those final moments while the men were hanging on to the capsized boat.

"’His (Schuyler’s) recollection of the facts are believable to us,’ said Bruce Cooper.

"Cooper did not want to elaborate on what that new information is but says authorities will release it soon."

KPNX-TV, where Cooper works, sent its news director, Mark Carey, anchor Mark Curtis and photojournalist Garrett Wichman to Florida to follow the story, working out of a sister Gannett Co. station, WTSP-TV, a CBS affiliate.

Iran Reported Ready to Release Roxana Saberi

"A downer of a week in which the financial markets continued their grim slide south nevertheless ended with something to celebrate. On Friday came news from Iran that North Dakota journalist Roxana Saberi is expected to be released from Tehran’s Evin Prison," Jill Burcum wrote Friday for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

"Saberi picked up some powerful advocates during her month-long detainment. North Dakota’s senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan pressed the U.S. State Department to intervene through diplomatic channels on her behalf. And no surprise that Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the daughter of a newspaperman, was a strong advocate for Saberi, too, sending a strongly worded letter to the United Nations Secretary General. On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Iran through diplomatic channels to release her."

The Asian American Journalists Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and Unity: Journalists of Color Wednesday added their voices to those demanding that Iran release Saberi.

Bakery Leader Said to Brag About Bailey Killing

"Former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV bragged in jail about ordering the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey in 2007 because Bailey had financial information that Bey IV ‘didn’t want to get out,’ according to a statement taken by investigators late last year," Thomas Peele reported Thursday for the Chauncey Bailey Project.

"Bey IV said he had to ‘sacrifice a soldier’ to ‘take out’ the Oakland Post editor to protect the bakery, according to the statement taken by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office from a confidential informant. Bey IV remains uncharged in the Aug. 2, 2007 killing of Bailey; he is jailed awaiting trial on unrelated kidnapping and torture charges."¬†

McClatchy Promotes Susan D. Leath to Publisher

Susan D. Leath, the top advertising and marketing executive at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., Thursday was named president and publisher.

Leath, 44, joined the newspaper, now owned by McClatchy Co., from the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News in July 2005 and has held a variety of advertising executive roles over her 20-year media career. She replaces Adrian Pratt, who is resigning to pursue other interests, the newspaper said.

Leath joins an unofficial, incomplete and shrinking list of publishers of color at mainstream newspapers:

Edwina Blackwell-Clark, Journal-News, Hamilton, Ohio; Digby Solomon, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.; R. Daniel Cavazos, Brownsville (Texas) Herald; Sammy Lopez, Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.; Curtis Riddle, Wilmington (Del.) News Journal; Monte Trammer, Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette; Maurice Jones, Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.; Orage Quarles III, Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer; Rufus Friday, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.; Mi-Ah Parrish, Idaho Statesman; Robert Aguilar, San Angelo (Texas) Standard Times and Mark Frisby, Philadelphia Daily News.

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