WSJ lawyer fired

The New York Observer reports that the Wall Street Journal's longtime first amendment lawyer Stuart Karle was fired by a Dow Jones senior executive, a recent hire by Rupert Murdoch.
The report says that yesterday Karle was told he would have to leave the paper by the end of March. Some staffers at the Wall Street Journal say they are stunned and angry.
To read the full story click here.

Executive moves at AZ Republic

Nicole Carroll, a nine year veteran at The Arizona Republic, was promoted to executive editor of the newspaper and of azcentral.com.
Carroll fills a spot left vacant by Randy Lovely who was appointed to editor and vice president of news after Ward Bushee left for a job at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Carroll was previously managing editor for features and innovation, features editor and assistant city editor. A Phoenix native, she has also worked at USA Today and the East Valley Tribune.
"Nicole has done an incredible job during her almost nine years with The Republic. She is enterprising, energetic and creative," Lovely said in an Arizona Republic report. "She brings a strong foundation in news along with an innovative mindset for reaching audiences in a complicated media landscape."
With Carroll's move, the paper also announced two other personnel changes.
John Leach, The Republic's current managing editor, will become managing editor for daily print and online operations. And Jeff Dozbaba, senior director for local content, was promoted to managing editor for daily print and online content.
For the full story click here.

Job cuts at Newsday, Boston Globe and Telegram & Gazette

Newsday, the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette all announced they would soon be eliminating positions, according to memos posted by Poynter's Jim Romenesko.
At Newsday, 120 employees could be affected. Some were being notified that today would be their last day of work while some others will be finished at the end of March.
"Though we all know we will not grow by cutting, we have no choice but to respond to the revenue decline and make cost adjustments now," the memo to staffers read.
Meanwhile, voluntary buyouts will begin to be offered to employees at the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. About 60 buyouts at The Globe could be offered next week and around 20 the following week at the Telegram & Gazette.
"This reduction in staff is a difficult but necessary step toward our ongoing goals of reducing costs and finding efficiencies that allow for the long-term health of our business," said Globe publisher Steve Ainsley in a memo to staff. "As you all know, these are difficult times in the newspaper business. The good news is that our on-line revenue continues to grow although not yet at a scale that offsets the downturn in print."
To read the memos visit Romenesko's blog.

Grim news continues for newspapers

Newspaper companies continue to struggle as advertising revenue and circulation numbers remain on the decline.
This week, The Washington Post Company's reports that its fourth-quarter earnings dropped 13 percent. Both revenue and profit continues to decline in the company's newspaper unit, which includes The Washington Post.
Journal Communications also reported that its January revenue is down 3.1% compared to last year. That decline is due to weak classified advertising at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Meanwhile at The New York Times Co., a pair of hedge funds bought about 19 percent of the company's stock in the last two months.
A New York Times story says, the funds, Firebrand Partners and Harbinger Capital Partners, contend that the company would be better off selling some assets like its new headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan, The Boston Globe and several smaller newspapers. The proceeds, they argue, should be invested in Internet businesses.

Pulitzer predictions: biz stories in the mix?

Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp recently announced the stories he believes could be contenders for the Pulitzer Prize.
Pulitzer jurors will sift through entries the first week of March and Strupp listed some top business stories that could end up in the mix of finalists.
Strupp says The New York Times' project "A Toxic Pipeline" by Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker is a likely a top pick in the national, investigative or explanatory categories. For their work, the pair was already awarded the Barlett & Steele award for excellence in investigative business journalism by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.
Also, he said the Chicago Tribune's report on injuries and deaths related to unregulated imported products from China could get some nods.
Strupp also mentioned the Charlotte Observer's "Sold a Nightmare" series which detailed local homeowners in trouble and foreshadowed the subprime crisis.
To read all of Strupp's predictions click here.

Dickey named president of Gannett's Community Publishing

Gannett Co. announced today that Robert J. Dickey will replace retiring Sue Clark-Johnson as the president of community publishing. Dickey was most recently a senior group president of Gannett's Pacific Group and chairman of Phoenix Newspapers Inc.
"Bob brings not only advertising and marketing acumen to this job but also a deep respect for journalism and the First Amendment. Plus, he understands the importance of our customers and how to deliver what they want and need," said Craig Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a release. "This combination of skills, coupled with Sue's great energy and leadership, promises a smooth transition for our publications group."
Dickey said his goal is to make Gannett Co. a leading news and information provider for local communities.

Where are CNBC's younger viewers going? Maybe FBN?

Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici writes about the recent decline of CNBC's younger viewers. He says that although the network has had strong growth in its total audience, it has had a reduced number of viewers aged 25 to 54. He questions if the numbers are a fluke or a trend.
One possible explanation might be that some of these viewers have switched over to Fox Business Network, a place where some of CNBC's talent has moved onto as well.
For the full story click here.

Washingtonpost.com partners with Kiplinger

Washingtonpost.com will expand its online financial coverage through a new partnership with Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and Kiplinger.com, according to reports from MediaPost Communications.
Kiplinger will provide washingtonpost.com with content that includes financial advice on money management, financial security, investing and retirement planning, as well as access to its business and finance-related videos.
This latest move is in addition to washintonpost.com's new financial columns "Market Buzz" and "Ask the Experts."
MediaPost's report states that personal finance sections--both in print and online--have been seen as attractive to advertisers because of their link to investing and buying decisions.
For the full story click here.

Selden Ring Award winners announced

The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull are the 2008 winners of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their coverage of poor conditions and bad management at that Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to reports from Editor & Publisher.
The award is presented by the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and it "recognizes the year’s outstanding work in investigative journalism that led to direct results," a release stated.
Finalists for the award also included:
* The New York Times for “A Toxic Pipeline," an investigation into the dangers of toxic chemicals that "led the FDA to halt the import of diethylene glycol from China, sparked recalls in more than 30 countries and forced China to close a factory."
* Chicago Tribune for “Hidden Hazards," which "shed a powerful spotlight on problems the Consumer Product Safety Commission failed to uncover. The reporters found unsafe car seats, toys and cribs that killed kids. The newspaper gave readers useful graphics in print and online to understand the defects in products and how to use them safely."
For the full story click here.

Rosalynn Carter Fellowships

Journalists are invited to apply for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.
Six one-year fellowships will be awarded to allow journalists to study a selected topic regarding mental health or mental illnesses. Each journalist will receive a $10,000 stipend.
The goal of the fellowships are to:
* Increase accurate reporting on mental health issues and decrease incorrect, stereotypical information.
* Help journalists produce high-quality work that reflects an understanding of mental health issues through exposure to well-established resources in the field.
* Develop a cadre of better-informed print and electronic journalists who will more accurately report information through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, film, and the Internet and influence their peers to do the same.
Applicants must have at least three years of professional experience in journalism. Deadline for applying is April 28.
For more information click here.

Biz reporter to leave Mercury News

After 20 years in newspapers and magazines, business reporter Dean Takahashi announced he's leaving the San Jose Mercury News for a job at VentureBeat, a blogging Web site created by a former Mercury News staffer.
In his last column as a newspaper writer, Takahashi says he's looking forward to the challenges and excitement of joining a start-up company.
And he says he can't wait to focus even more on blogging.

"Even as I wrote for the newspaper, I had more fun writing thousands of blog posts where the readers could offer their immediate feedback. That close back-and-forth communication was addictive and I thank the readers who came back to talk over and over. Now blogging will be my full-time work. I wish my colleagues at the newspaper great success. They have a tough challenge in crossing the bridge from the newspaper age to the digital age. Journalism is changing and we don't know where it will settle."

A CEO in drag? That and more as Jeff Bailey dives deep into Southwest Airlines

After seeing the photo of Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly dressed in drag, Jeff Bailey was sure he was onto something interesting.
Really, how could any reporter pass this up?
In the photo, Kelly, who stands at 6-foot-3, had situated himself inside one of Southwest's cockpits and was draped in a pink sequenced dress and high heels. His outfit was topped off with a bouffant wig as he desperately tried to pass for Edna Turnblad, the housewife star of Hairspray.
The Halloween costume gave Bailey, a business reporter for The New York Times, a glimpse into the airlines colorful CEO and eventually led to his story, "Southwest. Way Southwest."
The story details Southwest's unique culture, one that has helped it remain "the only consistently profitable company in the domestic airline industry."
Bailey, who has covered airlines for The Times since 2005, tells us how he found the story and tapped into the minds of executives to help readers understand Southwest's unique yet successful environment.
How did you decide to do the Southwest Airlines piece?
I'd met Gary Kelly a few times and thought he was in an interesting position: following (with one guy in between) the colorful Herb Kelleher, Southwest's founder, he seemed a little drab, but next to the CEOs at other airlines he seemed quite colorful. When I saw the Edna Turnblad pics, I knew I needed to do a story on him. One of those cases where the art helped get me off my duff and do what I should have done much earlier.
How did you get access to the top executives? How did you get them to share details with you?
I called the company and asked for time with him and others. As I said, I'd visited there on prior stories. I'd like to think it has something to do with me personally, but the sad (and wonderful) truth is that working for a huge and important paper like The New York Times means that doors open quite quickly in most cases.
On getting them to share, I find that if I'm reasonably well-informed about the subject and then ask some honestly-curious questions, people are great about opening up and talking. I try to have fun and laugh and often the interview subjects do the same. Plus, this is a company that cultivates its image of being a little whacky, so it wasn't exactly a hard sell.
What techniques did you use to get in-depth details about how this company operates and feels?
I read up before visiting and did some phone interviews to make sure the trip would be a success. Then went to Dallas and saw as many people as I could and asked away, without worry that they wouldn't want to answer questions. So, the CEO's assistant was kind enough to cough up the stuff about getting his big high heels online and the other in-drag stuff, and others shared, too. I'd say this was a pretty straightforward reporting task. No tricks involved.
What was the biggest challenge you faced when reporting this story?
The story was about Southwest's corporate culture, and how it affects the airline's business. Challenge was to keep it focused on the culture, which is a soft topic not quantifiable, and deal only very briefly with more concrete stuff that has numbers and hard facts to back it up. As business reporters, we're drawn to those numbers and hard facts, as we should be, but this was one story that set out to dwell in mushier areas. So maybe the bigger challenge here was in the writing -- what to leave out.
What tips do you have for other business writers when profiling a company's CEO?
Make the story about the person and not just a look at the company through his or her eyes. If there is something really interesting about the CEO, narrow the piece to that and be willing to exclude all the usual corporate doings that can lard up a story. The more we report, the more sprawling out stories tend to become, and that's a disservice to readers. Most stories should really be about one thing. So, truly make it a profile of a person.

Gorkana defines itself as a must read for biz journalists

Over the last two years, Gorkana has slowly become a favorite of business journalists who want to know about job changes, job openings and new business publications.
The e-mail newsletter, which was started in 2006 and reaches about 5,000 business journalists, is the brainchild of a British public relations firm, according to reports from The New York Times.
Bob Herguth, the new managing editor of The Business Journal of Milwaukee, said he received e-mail messages from friends around the country after his move from The Chicago Sun-Times (he took a buyout last month) was listed in the e-mail message.
“I guess I read it now because I’m wondering if I know anybody who’s on there,” he said.
For the full story click here.

Former Chicago Sun-Times biz editor dies

Editor & Publisher reports that Mary Myers, who became a business editor at the Chicago Sun-Times in the 1970s when female editors at major newspapers were uncommon, has died from pneumonia complications at age 71.
Myers was hired at the Sun-Times in 1973, and from 1978 until 1984 she was deputy financial editor. In the 1980s, she also worked on the financial copy desk and then as a business editor at the Washington Post.
"She was a path-breaker," said Alan Mutter, a former city editor at the newspaper. "She was terribly good at her work; she was an excellent editor in all respects."
For the full story click here.

The Economist won't get domain name

After reviewing a claim filed in November, The World Property Organization has denied The Economist's request to the domain name, TheEconomist.com, according to reports from Folio.
Right now the magazine's site is economist.com and officials from the magazine argued that the domain name they were seeking is owned by an individual with no legitimate interest.
Theeconomist.com was registered in November 1996 by Jason Rose, owner of Maryland-based TE Internet Services. The site has been used as a tribute site to former U.S. chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, but its content has not been updated since April 2002.
Rose, according to WIPO, denies that he had knowledge of The Economist magazine in 1996 when he registered the name.
To read the full article click here.

Natalie Bancroft, the 27-year-old newest member of Rupert Murdoch's board

A story in Portfolio's March issue takes a closer look at the only woman on Rupert Murdoch's board, a 27-year-old an aspiring opera singer and heiress to the Dow Jones fortune named Natalie Bancroft.
Murdoch picked Bancroft to join the News Corp. board in October after his company bought Dow Jones from her family for $5.6 billion. The Bancroft family had owned Dow Jones, which includes The Wall Street Journal, since 1928.
The story says the deal wasn't an easy one for the Bancroft family to agree on. They spent months debating before they sold Dow Jones. But they found comfort in Murdoch's offer to create a News Corp board position for a family member.
The Bancroft’s were sure this would help them stay involved with the business.
But Murdoch didn't interview the family's nominees for the seat. He gave the job to Natalie who had little history with involvement in Dow Jones and no business or journalism in her background.
Porfolio's story, "Lady Sings the News" by Sophia Banay takes a closer look at the new board member and talks to her about the future.
To read the story click here.

More business coverage in Dallas

The Dallas Morning News is expanding its coverage of the commercial real estate market, an area their editor calls "one of the most vibrant in the nation."
The paper will publish a new section four times a year behind its business section dedicated entirely to the topic.
In addition, the paper also will expand their daily business coverage.
Business Editor Dennis Fulton said he has beefed up coverage with help from veteran reporters like Steve Brown and Sheryl Jean. The paper also increased its commercial real estate coverage on dallasnews.com
"We believe the expanded coverage has something for everybody – from industry insiders to casual observers," Fulton wrote to readers. "We've aimed for a smart, insightful approach with a broad appeal."
To read the full story click here.

Financial Times story is named best news story of the year

Matthew Garrahan of the Financial Times won best news story in the Los Angeles Press Club's entertainment journalism awards.
The awards highlight the best news and feature stories and critic in print, television, radio and online media.
In addition to Garrahan, Esquire Magazine's Matthew Belloni received the award for best feature story and LA Weekly's Ella Taylor was named best critic. For the full list of awards click here.

Is the Courier-Post just the beginning?

In the wake of unfair labor accusations from reporters at the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J., Jim Hopkins, who founded of a blog on Gannett Co., said he suspects that overtime abuse is widespread throughout the company.
In a blog post today he called on Gannett's Board of Directors to launch an independent investigation into wage and hour practices at each of the company's operating units.
This post comes after employees at the Courier-Post threatened to file a formal complaint with the U.S. Labor Department on claims that "many non-exempt employees work beyond their allotted hours without being paid overtime."
The employees called on Gannett executives to compensate employees who have worked overtime for the past and to ensure that the company's overtime policy will be enforced by Feb 22. If they do not meet that date, the group said it will move forward with a complaint.
Now Hopkins is pushing Gannett to look at other newspapers to ensure there are fair labor practices for all company employees.
From the blog:

Waiting for more employees to threaten legal action would simply put more
shareholder equity at risk. As one Gannett Blog reader said in a comment on this post: "I hope that editor is ready to sacrifice his job, and the jobs of many others when the labor board slaps millions of dollars in fines on the Courier-Post. And don't think it won't happen. This blog is all the evidence they need to start an audit."

Changes for Chronicle's biz section

In an effort to reduce printing costs, the San Francisco Chronicle will make three changes beginning next week and one involves combining the business and sports sections on Mondays and Tuesdays. On those days, sports will start in the front and business news will begin in the back of the section.
Other changes include printing the Sunday Insight and Books section in a tabloid format and attaching the back of the Classified section to Datebook on Mondays and Tuesdays. Also, columns by two popular Datebook writers - Jon Carroll and Leah Garchik - will move from the last page of Datebook to the second page every weekday.
These changes allow the paper to be printed more efficiently and with fewer presses, which will help cut expenses, according to reports in The Chronicle.
"At a time when newspapers across the country, including the Bay Area, are scaling back, this approach allows The Chronicle to reduce its costs without reducing news space and content for our readers," said Frank J. Vega, publisher and president.
For the full story click here.

The end of The Albuquerque Tribune

After 86 years, it's over.
The Albuquerque Tribune will publish its final edition Saturday. The paper's parent company, E.W. Scripps Co., said the decision was made after it was determined the Albuquerque market couldn't support an afternoon newspaper. Scripps decided in August to either sell the paper or shut it down. The newspaper had a joint operating agreement with the Albuquerque Journal since 1933.
The newspaper's 38 editorial employees were told of Scripps' decision by Editor Phill Casaus in a staff meeting this morning, according to reports from the paper. The Tribune's daily circulation in January was about 9,600, Casaus said. In 1988, the newspaper sold about 42,000 copies a day. The Tribune had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and was a finalist for the prize in 1993 and 1996. "The loss of The Albuquerque Tribune is profoundly sad for the community, its dedicated staff, and all those great journalists who have contributed over the years to the newspaper's outstanding reputation for editorial independence and excellence," said Rich Boehne, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Scripps. A group of concerned readers called Friends of the Albuquerque Tribune have expressed interest in saving the newspaper and operating it as a nonprofit. For the full story click here.

WSJ. -- Wins out over Pursuits

Women's Wear Daily reports that The Wall Street Journal's new glossy magazine has ditched the name Pursuits and instead will call the publication WSJ.
The reports points out that the new name is W, S, J and then a period.
A spokesman for the magazine told Women's Wear Daily that the names "understatedness suits the personality of the Journal and avoids the pretense and artifice of many bad magazine names. The three letters happen to be typographically quite pleasing. And its simplicity gives us enormous flexibility visually and semantically."
To read the full story click here.

More changes at the OC Register

The Orange County Register could soon have free community newspapers, more Web offerings and a smaller main paper, according to reports in the newspaper.
These are the directives of The Register's new publisher, Terry Horne, who said changes are necessary to combat declining ad revenue and circulation.
In his first interview since becoming publisher in September, Horne said the old newspaper business model is no longer viable.
"The Register has to become a 21st century business," Horne said. "We can't have the same model that worked 10 years ago."
Changes will include:
* The subscription-based Register will include content targeted mostly at older readers.
* Free community weeklies that target a broader audience with a hyper-local focus.
* OCregister.com will provide free content to a younger audience.
* A narrower main paper, with the width of each page shrinking by 1 inch in late summer or fall.
* Joining a consortium with other companies, to be announced soon, that will share advertising and news content.
* Considering the expansion of the free Irvine World News/OC Post tabloid to five days a week from three and possibly rolling out the concept in other communities.
Last month, Horne made a immediate changes including 25 layoffs, folding the business section into the main news sections, elimination of the stock tables and Business Monday. He also divided local news into six geographical zones.
To read the full story click here.

Bay Area Buyouts

Editor & Publisher reports that staffers at the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, and the other 22 dailies and weeklies in the Bay Area News Group-East Bay were recently offered an opportunity to apply for voluntary buyouts.
The group, which is part of MediaNews Group, Gannett Co. and Stephens Media's California Newspapers Partnership, must save an undisclosed amount of money. If these buyouts don't achieve that goal, President/Publisher John Armstrong said there would most likely be involuntary layoffs.
"Almost without exception, real estate forecasters believe the Bay Area will be saddled with a housing slump for 12 to 18 months, and talk of a recession is now commonplace," Armstrong said in a statement, which was included in the E&P report. "We have concluded we must reduce our operating expenses quickly, and we cannot get where we need to be without reducing the size of the workforce."
To read the full story click here.

UC Berkeley offers year-long investigative fellowship

With cutbacks hitting newsrooms across the country, UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism is hoping to help encourage a new generation of investigative reporters through year-long fellowships.
The school is accepting applications now for the investigative reporting fellowships, which will be awarded in May. The fellows will be chosen based on their qualifications, potential and on the proposed area they intend to investigate.
Fellowships will be administered by the school's Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) and the program's advisory board.
In the coming year, the investigative program will focus on corporate corruption, particularly the way some U.S. companies operate overseas.
Entries for the 2008-2009 fellowships are urged to present detailed areas of inquiry within this broad subject area. Proposals could include print and broadcast components as well as multimedia projects for the Internet.
Fellows will be paid a stipend of $45,000, which will include health benefits. They also will be able to audit UC Berkeley classes and use campus research facilities.
“More than last year, supporting the development and practice of in-depth journalism in the public interest is critical given continuing cutbacks in broadcast and print newsrooms across the country,” says Lowell Bergman, the director of the Investigative Reporting Program. “The IRP’s fellowship program is unique in the country. Our goal is to provide a model for academic and non-profit organizations everywhere who are dedicated to nurturing the kind of critical cutting-edge reporting that makes democracy possible.”
Deadline for applications for the academic year 2008-2009 is April 1. Recipients will be announced on May 17 and the fellows' year-long tenure will begin on Sept. 1.
The application can be found at: http://jobs.berkeley.edu/ Job # 008023.
For additional details on the fellowship program, contact IRP Deputy Director Marlena Telvick at (510) 643-1299 or e-mail investigativereportingprogram@berkeley.edu.

Thompson gets OK for Reuters bid

The New York Times reports that Thomson Corp. won European regulatory approval Tuesday to buy provider Reuters Group PLC but it must sell off several business-information databases to eliminate antitrust concerns.
To ensure customers still have a choice and will not face high prices the EU would like to see some changes before the deal moves forward.
Reuters would divest its Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters Economics (EcoWin) databases that supply financial-market research reports, earnings estimates and economic data archives.
Thomson would shed copies of Thomson Fundamentals (Worldscope) which provides basic financial data on companies. It may keep Worldscope databases for its own use but cannot sell the information to others.
The companies said they now expect to complete the deal by April 13 and will seek shareholder and court approval for the selloffs. Reuters and Thomson shareholder meetings have been scheduled for March 26.
For the full story click here.

"Sold a Nightmare" series wins Polk Award for business reporting

North Carolina's Charlotte Observer won a George Polk Award for excellence in journalism for their series "Sold a Nightmare."
The series, written by reporters Binyamin Appelbaum, Lisa Hammersly Munn and Ted Mellnik showed how a homebuilder used certain practices to cash in on first-time homebuyers. Their series identified signs of the sub-prime lending crisis well before the topic dominated national media coverage.
In addition to receiving the Polk Award for business coverage, the series also received an honorable mention in the 2007 Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism.
The Polk Awards honor George Polk, a reporter for the CBS television network who was killed while covering the Greek civil war.
Other winners included:
* The Wall Street Journal's Shai Oster received the environmental reporting award for a series of stories on China's $22 billion Three Gorges Dam project.
* John McPhee, a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1965, who won the George Polk Career Award.
* Chauncey W. Bailey Jr., an editor at the Oakland Post who was killed last year while reporting a story, was given the local reporting award.
For the full list read The Wall Street Journal story here.
To read about how the Charlotte Observer series was developed and reported click here.

Advertising Age chimes in on dying biz sections

Advertising Age today takes a look at the demise of stand-alone business sections. The article by Jeremy Mullman looks at the rip and read factor facing local papers, where things stand for business journals and the impacts of new national business organizations such as Fox Business News and Conde Nast's Portfolio.
The article taps into a recent study by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University, which found that "roughly 75% of daily newspapers today run, on average, one page or less of business news a day, and only one in eight daily papers runs a stand-alone section. "
The article continues with:

Andrew Leckey, who runs the ASU program[Reynolds Center], said the editorial impact of the section consolidations is limited because business news has gradually leaked into other pages. Front pages, he noted, have been dominated in recent weeks by stories about the mortgage crisis, a potential recession, Super Bowl ads and even box-office returns.
"Business news makes it into the other sections more than it used to," he said.
Andrea Mathewson, publisher of the Akron-Beacon Journal, which merged its weekday business section into the sports section, said the advertising impact has been minimal. "There really wasn't much support for the stand-alone anyhow," she said.

Read the full article here.

Montana paper opts for more analysis, less listings

On Wednesday, the Billings Gazette will have a new look for business. In an article announcing the changes, editor Steve Prosinski said that the revamp is geared toward more analysis in the hopes of giving readers a better understanding of why markets "did what they did" on any particular day. The new business pages will feature summaries of key results from the previous day's trading, a recap of nine indexes with index trends, analysis for the day ahead, more information on interest rates and the list goes on.

With all the new additions, however, something had to get trimmed. Yes, you guessed it. Stock listings. The trend continues...
Prosinski writes, "we've trimmed up our long lists of stocks and mutual funds to make room for the market information of interest to more readers. Our new format features an online component at billingsgazette.com/markets, where reader-investors can check all their stock prices and dig deep into the riches of market data provided by Morningstar via the Associated Press."

Read the complete story here.

Washington paper cuts Sunday stock listings

The Olympian launched a new Sunday look this week. Summed up: more lifestyle content, less business. A note detailing the changes starts off with the glamorous additions, which include a weekly magazine-style section complete with parenting, entertainment and community content, and tucked at the end are changes to the business section.
The Sunday business section will now be combined with the paper's classified listings and Vickie Kilgore, the executive editor, writes "we realize that the massive listings in the traditional stocks report are not helpful to most stockholders. Nowadays, people can follow their portfolio with more tailored and timely information online. We offer that service as well at www.theolympian.com. So we have replaced the traditional lists in the Sunday business section with analysis, charts and other reports on stocks and mutual funds that give the week at a glance. We'll continue to publish a list of stocks of local interest."

For the full story click here.

New L.A. Times editor shares his vision with the newsroom

Russ Stanton told his staff that he has a deep devotion to the Los Angeles Times. He acknowledged the high rate of turnover in his new position and said as the people in the position have changed three constants have remained: "a smaller newspaper to read, a smaller newsroom to soldier on and no plans to reverse our fortunes."
But he said he took the top editor spot at The Times to break the self-defeating cycle. The strategy of fight-lose-shrink is not working, he said.
Here are some of Stanton's comments:

It is a testament to our ambition and the will of our people that, with a staff that today is one-third smaller, we are still trying to cover the same broad spectrum of topics and geography that we did five years ago. But in many areas, we are straining to do that.
We need to preserve that ambition, and focus our field of vision. There are issues and stories we need to own - local news, immigration, education, health care, the environment, entertainment in its many forms, real estate, national security, the presidential campaign, Iraq, Latin America, Asia and, of course, Dodger baseball. And there are areas that we need to walk away from.

To read Stanton's entire speech click here.

Media companies form alliance to bring in more online advertising

The Tribune, Gannett, Hearst and The New York Times Co. have joined together to form quadrantONE, an online sales organization that targets premium advertisers seeking high-quality audiences and national reach.
The network has a reach of nearly 50 million monthly visitors and covers 27 of the 30 top markets. The companies say quadrantONE will offer advertisers the chance to consistently deliver their brands and messages on a national scale.
“By aggregating the online audiences of quadrantONE's participating media companies, large national advertisers can immediately access tens of millions of unique visitors in the country's top markets,” said Dana Hayes, Interim CEO, quadrantONE, and senior vice president for sales of Tribune Interactive. “Each participating company has agreed to dedicate advertising inventory to quadrantONE, so the network can offer customized online campaigns on a highly competitive basis. Imagine placing the same ad across hundreds of local Web sites on the same day with one buy—that's the power of this network.”
To read the full release click here.

CJR adds The Opening Bell

This week the Columbia Journalism Review launched The Opening Bell, a new daily business column from Ryan Chittum.
Chittum, whose described on the site as a "a crusty-yet-youthful financial journalism veteran," analyzes how the daily media is covering business news.
The column is the newest feature of The Audit, the business-press section of the Columbia Journalism Review.
To check out The Opening Bell click here.

The New York Times to cut 100 newsroom jobs

The New York Times executive editor Bill Keller announced today that the newspaper will eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs.
The story from The Times says cuts will be achieved by not filling jobs that go vacant, by offering buyouts, and if necessary by layoffs. Keller said the more people who accept buyouts, the smaller the prospect of layoffs. The Times has about 1,332 staffers in its newsroom.
The decision to cut staff stems from the same turmoil other newspapers have faced recently, most notable falling advertising revenue.
Even so, eliminating jobs has grown harder “because the low-hanging fruit is gone, and so is some of the higher-hanging fruit,” Mr. Keller said in The Times story. And he suggested that the cuts could not help but affect the newspaper’s journalism.
For the full story click here.

Stanton named L.A. Times editor

Russ Stanton, most recently the Los Angeles Times innovation editor, was named to the top editor post at the newspaper today.
Stanton, a 10-year veteran of The Times, moved last year from his business editor position to the innovation editor spot.
Before joining The Times, he worked at the Orange County Register for nine years and at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the San Bernardino County Sun. He began his career as a business reporter at the Visalia Times-Delta in the San Joaquin Valley, according to reports from the newspaper.
Stanton steps into a role that has been one with high amounts of turnover. He is the third editor to lead The Times in less than three years.
Most recently, James E. O'Shea, left the post after disagreements with other executives about the editorial budget.
Stanton referred to "the high rate of turnover in this job" in a speech he delivered in the third-floor newsroom.
"As the baton has been passed from one editor to the next, there have been only three constants: a smaller newspaper to read, a smaller newsroom to soldier on and no plan to reverse our fortunes," he said. "I have grown tired and am now hopping mad over this seemingly endless 'Groundhog Day' nightmare."
For the full Los Angeles Times story click here.
*Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Tribune Co. to cut 2 percent of its staff

Looming staff reduction plans for the Tribune Co. could mean eliminating 400 to 500 employees throughout the organization.
At the Los Angeles Times, 100 to 150 jobs would be eliminated -- 40 to 50 of them in the newsroom -- through a combination of attrition, voluntary buyouts and, if necessary, layoffs, according to reports from the newspaper.
Other papers owned by Tribune that face job cuts include the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.
To read more click here.

BusinessWeek to outsource contract jobs

The New York Post reports that about 20 BusinessWeek contract workers could be reassigned to Kelly Services, a temporary staffing group headquartered in Michigan.
Keith J. Kelly reports that contract workers, who were assigned for a short-to-long term basis for the magazine and in the past drew paychecks from McGraw-Hill, were not technically fired by reassigned.
Still, he says, the changes have made some staffers nervous.
"People are pretty upset," said one insider. "They go from working for McGraw-Hill, which had some cachet, to working for a temp agency."
A BusinessWeek spokeswoman told Kelly there’s no need for alarm.
"This was a business decision," she said. "It will help manage the administration of their pay."
To read the full story in The Post click here.

Belo swings to a fourth-quarter loss

The Associated Press reports that Belo Corp. swung to a fourth-quarter loss as a result of write-downs, the cost of newspaper spinoffs and weak ad sales.
The Dallas-based media company said Wednesday it lost $333.4 million in the last three months of 2007. That compares with a profit of $51.3 million a year earlier.
Belo posted $367 million in write-downs in the value of some newspaper and television businesses. Newspaper spinoffs also cost the company $6.5 million during the quarter. Belo recently completed a deal to spin off its four newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News.
Belo said the advertising environment for newspapers was soft, though television and online advertising improved, according to AP reports.
The company's newspapers advertising revenue was down approximately 12 percent. Advertising revenue decreased 12 percent at The Dallas Morning News, 6 percent at The Providence Journal and 19 percent at The Press-Enterprise.
To read more click here.

Changes for Dow Jones industrial average

Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp. will replace Altria Group, Inc., and Honeywell International, Inc., in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, effective February 19, Dow Jones & Company announced.
The changes are the first in the 111-year-old stock index since April 8, 2004, when three stocks out of 30 were replaced.
"The catalyst for these changes is the restructuring in progress at Altria, which will result in a much smaller and more narrowly focused company," said Marcus W. Brauchli, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal's top news editor oversees the makeup of "The Dow," which Charles H. Dow created as a 12-stock index in May 1896 and today is the best-known stock-market barometer in the world.
"As usual when we make any change we review all the stocks," Mr. Brauchli said. "In doing so, we saw that the financials industry was under-represented - notwithstanding the current turbulence - and that the oil and gas industry's growing importance to the world economy called for another representative to join ExxonMobil Corp," he said.
To read the full release click here.

WSJ to add a culture section?

Last week, The Wall Street Journal added a sixth column to its front page, allowing for more flexibility and increased space for stories. Before that the newspaper's executives talked about the possibility of adding a sports section.
Now, a story in Women's Wear Daily says the newspaper may be considering a weekly culture section.
The story says that former House & Garden editor in chief Dominique Browning, said she was consulting at The Journal, but would not discuss further details.
From the story:

If given the green light, the culture section would be another move toward (Rupert) Murdoch's stated goal of competing with The New York Times. As Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli told The Times on Monday: "In the news department here, we believe there is no reason that people should have to go to another news source beyond The Journal to find news of consequence to them in any sphere — politics, economics, even culture and the arts."

Phoenix Business Journal seeks project editor

The Phoenix Business Journal is looking for an experienced journalist to fill its projects editor position.
The editor, who should have at least five years newspaper experience, will plan, assign, design and edit all Focus and special sections and supplements.
Editor Ilana Lowery says the paper is in a fast-growing, economically strong city in a very desirable climate. She said her newspaper is in its fifth straight year of strong circulation growth and they value breaking news as well as enterprise and project reporting.
Here's more about the job:

The Project Editor works with staff reporters to generate story ideas, assign and edit stories, and determine content placement. This person also must build and maintain a stable of freelance writers, coordinate photography and graphics for sections, and proof, edit and paginate. Managing staff members and juggling multiple responsibilities is key. Responsibilities also include the preparation of story budgets a minimum of four and a target of six weeks prior to publication, paginating section pages, and supervising copy editing and proofing of section content.

Skills needed include solid business news judgment, pagination, copy editing and proof reading. The position requires a coaching approach to editing, a strong sense of responsibility and the ability to manage multiple deadlines. Supervising skills and the ability to meet deadlines is crucial. Also required is experience with Adobe InDesign and mastery of AP style.

Zell replaces interactive president of Tribune

Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Sam Zell recently replaced his company's interactive president Tim Landon on an interim basis.
Stepping into the posistion is Mark Sotir, managing director of Zell's Equity Group Investments, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The story says that Randy Michaels, whom Zell named Tribune's chief executive of broadcasting and interactive, may have telegraphed a change atop the interactive division on the day the $8.2 billion transaction taking the company private closed.
"There are some pretty obvious and unexploited opportunities," Michaels said in an interview Dec. 20. "I think blurting it out in the paper is probably not the right competitive idea, but I will say this: It's a little bit embarrassing that all media companies have made their Web sites and their Web efforts look too much like their traditional business."
To read the full story click here.

The Ledger eliminates its Sunday business section

Beginning this weekend, The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. will no longer have a Sunday business section.
According to a story in the newspaper, the decision to cut the section was not an easy one. Ledger Publisher Jerome Ferson noted economic conditions for newspapers remain difficult, and how resources are allocated must change.
"Providing first-rate Polk County news and information is one of our top priorities," Ferson said in the story. "Making this change will allow our business staff to focus more on daily news coverage."
The Ledger will continue its daily business news coverage and much of the Sunday content will be moved to those weekdays.
To read more about the coverage changes click here.

Regional biz mags stay strong in down market

Regional business publications aren't "panicking" but rather they are "retaining advertisers, and many are augmenting their revenue with new print and online products as well as events," according to an article today on BtoBonline, a trade publication for media and marketing.
The article sums up the thoughts of attendees of the annual Alliance of Area Business Publications conference. While newspapers continue to downsize, some biz journal executives say for them now may be the right time to expand.
"Your competitors aren't thinking that way, and you can knock the hell out of them," said Grady Johnson, CEO-publisher of the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
It may also be the right time to buy local business media properties with many acquisitions already ongoing in the sector. What about startups? Even with the publishing market faltering overall, it could be a favorable time for biz publication start-ups because in times of economic crisis, both businesspeople and the everyday reader are hungry for more information.

Read the entire article here.

MainStreet.com: It's the TheStreet, but younger

TheStreet.com has officially launched MainStreet.com in hopes of attracting a broader, younger and highly coveted demographic. While the TheStreet is known for coverage of financial markets, economic and industry trends, and investment and financial planning, its younger sibling will mesh money-oriented topics with celebrity news and current events. The new site also has community and online-networking features.
In a launch announcement on TheStreet, MainStreet's managing editor Caroline Waxler, formerly an investigative journalist for Forbes and also a writer for VH1, said, "We are leveraging stories that people are talking about, whether we're covering the squabble over the Brooke Astor inheritance to explore estate planning, or reporting on Jamie-Lynn Spears' pregnancy as a springboard to discuss preparing for the financial responsibility of a new baby. MainStreet is all about getting people excited about places where news, money, and their own lives intersect."
The site's editorial content will fall into four sections: Beginnings (think new job/getting married), Endings (think death/divorce), Windfalls(think inheritances/sale of a business) and Challenges (think unexpected life/financial events).

Visit the new site here.

WSJ's emphasis on politics over pinstripes

The New York Times today takes a look at The Wall Street Journal's recent emphasis on politics.
Reporter David Carr contemplates The Journal's recent coverage writing, "during a week when the stock market fell more than 4 percent, a recession seemed more likely, and Microsoft was putting the moves on Yahoo, The Journal spent almost all of its front-page real estate above the fold on politics, replete with flashy graphics. Out with Ballmer and Bernanke; in with Obama, Clinton and McCain."
Carr also spoke with The Journal's managing editor for the piece and soliticited a response by telephone indicating that the push is being driven "both by the immediate appeal of a running story and a mandate to compete aggressively in general-interest news."

Read the full story here.

Fast Company launches online community

Fast Company says it's the "first major media website to tackle the following problem: Can a business publication blend journalism and online community to create something better than either by itself?"
The publication's answer? Yes. How? With a new online networking platform. Visitors to FastCompany.com can now add their own content in the form of blogs and in conversations with editors on hot topics. There will be member profiles as well, listing content produced and accessible to RSS feeds.
Edward Sussman, president of Mansueto Digital, writes about the new platform:

"First off, here's what it's not: It's not a pure social network. A pure social network tries to recreate what Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook calls the "social graph" of a community that already exists. You go to Facebook or MySpace and find the friends and co-workers you already know. The real world gets reproduced virtually. Maybe you meet a friend of a friend.
We're not that.
We're an entirely new community of people brought together because we want to share ideas about business. We like business. We think it's important. Work gives more meaning to our lives. We believe business profoundly helps define our culture...
Second, the site is not an end to professional journalism. We're still the website of one of the most influential business magazines in the world. Journalists like Robert Safian, Ellen McGirt, Chuck Salter, Linda Tischler, Will Bourne, Charles Fishman, and Adam Penenberg will continue to produce thought-provoking, ground breaking stories."

Read the entire post here.

Boston Herald Business Editor Leaving

Another move out of the newsroom.
This time it's Boston Herald Business Editor Greg Gatlin. Gatlin will leave the newspaper in March to become the director of public affairs at Suffolk University.
According to a release, Gatlin will supervise all print, broadcast and online media relations for the University.
Gatlin has been Business Editor at the Herald since 2006. In his ten years with the paper, he has also served as Deputy Business Editor and as a reporter covering a range of beats including media, retail, marketing and consumer products.

Read the entire release here.

Readers clamor for stock listings

Late last month, Dennis Sodomka, executive editor of The Augusta Chronicle, announced changes to the paper and now readers offer their thoughts.
Changes to the business section are at question in a Letter to the Editor posted today. A reader says, "You have deleted many things from your daily paper in the past, and we've not complained. However, the new business half-page is unforgivable. Please won't you bring back the business pages as they were previously."
One commenter added, "Please return stock listings to the business section. There are stocks of local interest Proctor&Gamble, Southern co., Scana, etc."

Read the complete letter and comments on the post here.

Goldberg to lead WSJ digital operations

Matt Goldberg has been named senior vice president of digital strategy and operations for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network.
He will now assume operational responsibilities across the network, including general management, strategy and business development, finance, research and analytics, licensing, mobile, video and podcasting initiatives.
Goldberg joined Dow Jones in 2003 as director of market strategies for The Wall Street Journal and was later named executive director of Dow Jones Integrated Solutions, a group he launched in 2004 and led through 2006.
To read the full press release cick here.

New publisher for BusinessWeek

Jessica Sibley has been named BusinessWeek's senior vice president and worldwide publisher.
Sibley comes to BusinessWeek from The Wall Street Journal, where she was vice president of multimedia sales for New York, New England, and Europe.
In her new role, Sibley will direct BusinessWeek's integrated sales team and drive all advertising-based revenue for multimedia products, including BusinessWeek magazine, BusinessWeek.com, events, and the brand's mobile, video, and TV offerings.
"Jessica joins us at an exciting time for the BusinessWeek franchise. The magazine's relaunch and record growth in traffic to BusinessWeek.com continue to draw new customers to our brand," said Keith Fox, president of BusinessWeek. "Jessica has the right combination of business acumen, industry experience, and vision to enhance our already strong integrated global sales team. We're thrilled to have her."
To read the full release click here.

ESPN executive to join WSJ

The Wall Street Journal has named Andrew Sippel its vice president of
marketing and business development.
Sippel comes to the Journal after working as ESPN's vice president of sports and production management for its customer marketing and sales operations. There, he managed the strategic development and implementation of unique revenue sponsorship opportunities across sports and within all of ESPN's media assets.
At the Journal, Sipple's job will be to drive customer awareness of the newspaper's brand through marketing and advertising initiatives.
He will support print and online ad sales, develop breakthrough programs for advertisers, establish expertise in the Journal's core advertising categories and create the industries finest events and promotions.
To read the full release click here.

Fines for trades involving Dow Jones

The New York Times reports that a former Dow Jones & Company director and three associates will pay more than $24 million to settle charges that the associates traded illegally on inside knowledge of the News Corporation’s takeover of Dow Jones, federal regulators announced on Tuesday.
David K. P. Li, a powerful financial and civic figure in Hong Kong who sat on the Dow Jones board, passed news of the offer to a friend on a flight last April from Hong Kong to Shanghai, 18 days before the takeover bid became public, according to the Times.
The friend, Michael Leung Kai-hung, and his daughter and son-in-law began buying large blocks of Dow Jones shares that same day. In all, they bought more than $15 million worth of shares and then sold them after the price soared on news of the takeover, for a profit of $8.1 million.
For the full story click here.

Reporter's notebook: covering the automotive industry

Sarah Webster has been covering the automotive industry for the Detroit Free Press for almost six years.
Covering companies that include Ford in a state that relies so heavily on the industry is intense and challenging. It requires a reporter who can develop good sources and one who stays on top of daily breaking news.
Within the last month alone, Sarah has tackled stories about Ford reporting a loss of $2.7 billion in 2007, the launch of the new F-150 and about the buyout packages the company is offering its employees.
And just today, her newspaper ran a story detailing Ford's plans to possibly build their new subcompact car, the Verve, in Mexico.
"With all its complexities, the automotive beat in Detroit can be absolutely unrelenting in its challenges and twists and turns," Sarah said. "One day, you could be writing about a new product. And on any another, you could be covering a labor dispute, a massive layoff, the recall of a truck, a major shift in corporate strategy or examining whether a company has the cash it needs to get through the year."
Sarah's beat sometimes has her covering major global stories. She's also competing with other major news outlets like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
For well-reported stories, Sarah must ask executives tough questions and work with public relations departments who are paid big money to protect their companies' reputations.
"The automotive industry, and the three automakers based in Detroit, are truly global in nature," Sarah said. "Given that fact, and the importance of the automakers to Michigan’s economy, there is a high level of importance and allure to covering the industry. You’re competing against the best of the best -- not just in Detroit, but nationwide and, really, around the world."
Sarah says to succeed as an automotive reporter you must be confident, resilient and savvy. She found this out quickly after moving from the health care beat in 2002.
Now she has photos of herself asking questions of Ford CEO Alan Mulally, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger and former Chrysler CEO Wolfgang Bernhard.
"Developing the right sources is only one small part of the equation in Detroit," she said. "You have to be able to read people, observe, think and find a way to get the information you need, even from people who don’t want to give it to you.
To read some of Sarah's recent stories click here.

Sun-Times considering sale

The parent company of The Chicago Sun-Times is exploring the possibility of selling the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. and its assets.
Reports from Editor & Publisher say the pressure from investors and trouble in the newspaper industry prompted the announcement that the company was "exploring strategic alternatives."
This news comes after a handful of changes over the last few months at the Sun-Times Media Group Inc. including layoffs and buyouts through its publications, changes in leadership and the shutting down of three weekly newspapers that focus on Chicago North Side neighborhoods.

Horne to readers: "Please don’t credit our decisions to greed."

Terry Horne, president and publisher of The Orange County Register, responded to readers unhappy with the newspaper's recent changes.
Earlier this month, the paper announced it would consolidate its business news coverage – including the Marketplace section and Business Monday – inside the main “News” section.
The story detailing the changes prompted almost 100 responses from readers.
"I was unhappy when you cut the number of funds listed in your paper. Now you are going to cut even more," Marna Reames wrote. "I have been a subscriber of you paper for over thirty years, but if you proceed with your plans, I will cancel my subscription and find another newspaper that better fits my needs."
Horne responded to readers by telling them the Register is under economic distress. He said less than 15 percent of revenue of a newspaper comes from subscriptions and that more than 85 percent comes from advertising. And that all this trouble in the newspaper industry is here as a recession looms.
Here's an excerpt from Horne's comments:

Please don’t credit our decisions to greed. The family ownership has agreed to accept dramatically lower performance, both last year and in our projected 2008 business year. They have refused to force management to take some of the more drastic cost-cutting steps taken by many publically owned newspaper companies.
We will work our way through this down period and when business gets better we will again expand the amount of space we give to news. And I’m sure editors will weigh carefully what content to add back to the Register. Your comments are duly noted.

Denver Post folds business section

Beginning tomorrow, The Denver Post's business section will be combined with local news reports, according to the Denver Business Journal.
Business news and the "Denver & The West" sections have been separate up to now, but shrinking advertising made the publication reevaluate business standing on its own.
In an e-mailed response to the Denver Business Journal, Post editor Gregory Moore said staff and resources will still be focused on business news.
"Believe it or not, the column inches devoted to business news will be close to the same," Moore said in the report. "And the single section will have more heft."
For the full story click here.

Philly Inquirer changes its business section

The Philadelphia Inquirer reduced its stock market and mutual fund listings to instead offer a full page of stock market analysis.
The paper also added a new page of personal finance and investing advice.
To read the full release click here.

Goldsmith Prize nominees

Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker, investigative reporters for The New York Times and winners of the inaugural Barlett & Steele Investigative Business Journalism award last year, have been nominated for a 2008 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Journalism.
Their stories, collectively titled “A Toxic Pipeline,” are among six entries being considered for the $25,000 first prize. It is awarded by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
The winning entry will be named March 18.
The stories by Bogdanich and Hooker uncovered a deadly Chinese export: diethlylene glycol, an ingredient found in antifreeze that was used in medicine and is suspected of killing hundreds of people around the world. The stories prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to halt imports of glycerin from China.
Among the others vying for the Goldsmith Prize is “The Other Walter Reed,” a Washington Post story authored by Dana Priest and Anne Hull, which exposed widespread problems at Walter Reed Medical Center in treating war veterans, and “American Imports, Chinese Deaths,” by Loretta Tofani of The Salt Lake Tribune. That story examined the harmful, and sometimes lethal, effects of Chinese products on the factory workers who made them

Star-Tribune's business section undergoes changes

Changes in the Star Tribune's business section will bring more data, deep coverage of local companies and true personal finance, according to the newspaper's business editor Eric Wieffering.
The paper added new beats and will concentrate more on enterprise and investigative stories. Also, a new Minnesota Investor page will offer an in-depth look at the performance of the state’s 100 largest companies.
Other changes include:
• Ka-Ching and Kara McGuire's popular column, Pay Dirt, moves from Friday to anchor personal finance coverage on Sundays.
• Heard on the Prairie, a new staff-written column, also debuted on Feb. 2. The column lets reporters take a deep look at challenges, opportunities, triumphs and missteps at the mainly Minnesota-based companies they cover.
• Juice, a new page that examines energy issues, from green to nuclear, on a local, regional, national and international perspective, appears on the back page on Fridays.
To read the full announcement click here.

NYT Co. launches program to help subprime victims

The board of The New York Times Company's Neediest Cases Fund will contribute $1 million to help victims of the subprime mortgage crisis.
The new program is expected to help New York families relocate safely over the coming months.
The new Subprime Neediest Program will be administered by The New York Times Company Foundation and the Children's Aid Society, one of the seven agencies that receive funds from the annual Neediest Cases Fund campaign. Children's Aid will make grants to families whose urgent need is identified by the seven agencies and other housing and legal services agencies.
"The subprime mortgage crisis is attracting extensive policy attention, but so far we see no attention paid to the plight of people about to be pushed out onto the street," said Jack Rosenthal, president of The New York Times Company Foundation. "This program will help families in need and we hope other donors will join with us in this effort so that we can assist as many families as possible.
To read the full release click here.

Randy Lovely's new role

Today marked Randy Lovely's first day as the top editor at The Arizona Republic.
Lovely replaces Ward Bushee, who left the paper for a job at the San Francisco Chronicle
Lovely steps into his leadership post during one of the Republic's busiest weeks of the year. Both the Super Bowl and FBR Open are this weekend in Arizona and the presidential primaries are right around the corner.
Lovely took a minute from the craziness of his first day to share with us where he sees his newspaper headed in the future and other details about his leadership style.

What are some of your goals this year for the Republic? And what do you see as some of the biggest challenges ahead for the paper?
The good thing about my move into this role is the continuity that it brings to the organization. I have been directly involved for six years in setting the goals for the newsroom, so we will continue to work on the projects that we have outlined for ourselves. The past year was a time of great change with the creation of our Information Center (merging the online content staff into the newspaper staff) and building a team to support content for both the paper and online. That transition has gone very well, so now we can build on that foundation. My goal is to focus less on structure, process and workflow and return more energy to developing top-notch content. We have a staff that is passionate about doing good work, so now is the time to stoke that passion and clear the path for reporters to do great work.

How do you describe your leadership style? What qualities are important for a top newspaper editor to have right now in this age of newspapers?
I hope that my leadership style reflects a desire for collaboration and cooperation. I try to work from a place of respect -- respecting individual differences, respecting individual talents and respecting the incredible profession that we work in. At the center of being a good editor, first and foremost, is a passion for good stories. I hope that never goes away.
But the equation is more complex today, and good editors also need to be creative in using a variety of tools to tell those great stories -- both in print and online. It's also essential for editors today to know their readers -- we can't just force them to read us; we need to be relevant to their needs.

What is something that most people don't know about you?
For anyone who has worked with me, there aren't many secrets. I'm pretty upfront and honest. Most people are surprised to learn that I'm relatively shy. The staff only sees me in my comfort zone, where I'm easily able to express myself. But put me in a room with a lot of strangers, and I'm more likely to be the wallflower.

When you first started in journalism, did you ever dream that you would someday be leading one of the largest newspapers in the country? How has your past experiences shaped the type of editor you've become?
Never. I started as a reporter at an 8,000 circulation afternoon newspaper, so I had very humble expectations. I'm probably part of the final group of journalism students who were influenced directly by Watergate, so I had grand visions of working in Washington as a political reporter, but I saw that more as a dream than a reality. But my career has progressed nicely over the past 20 years and I have learned a great deal. At that first paper, I can remember having to help paste up the paper after I was done with my stories, so I've always had a desire to know everything about how a newspaper comes together. That curiosity has worked well for me, because I still approach my job with the assumption that I have something new to learn every day.

Four Gannett markets hit hard by housing slump

The shake-up in the real estate market hit four Gannett states hard.
And the media outlets in those states -- Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida-- account for more than 40 percent of the company's revenue in community newspapers.
Declines for classified advertising in those states were generally two times higher than the rest of Gannett's markets and national and local advertising also dropped significantly in the fourth-quarter for those media outlets.
"The slowing economy driven by the meltdown in the housing market in some of our communities all contributed to a very soft advertising environment," said Craig Dubow, president and chief executive officer of Gannett. "Four states in which we have a presence and the four states hardest hit by the downturn in real estate had a larger relative impact on our results."
To listen to a webcast of the Gannett earnings conference call click here.

Tribune Co. to purchase real estate

One of Sam Zell's first purchases as owner of Tribune Co. is in an area that's he knows very well – real estate.
Tribune Co. will purchase real estate used by the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Harford Courant. The company, which was leasing the properties, had the option to purchase the real estate for $175 million.
Tribune also announced the sale of Tribune Studios and related real estate in Los Angeles to Hudson Capital, LLC, for $125 million.
For the full release click here.

Gannett profits down 31 percent for fourth-quarter

Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, said Friday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 31 percent on a decline in broadcasting revenue and weak newspaper ad sales, according to an Associate Press report.
The company, like others, has suffered a downward slide as advertising wanes, especially real estate and job ads that have slowed with the housing slump and decelerating economy, according to the report.
In November, the company said it would trim 45 jobs at USA Today, or almost 9 percent of the newsroom staff.
But Gannett still managed to meet Wall Street's expectations, which anticipated a lower earnings per share, $1.27. Gannett declined to $1.28 per share from $1.47 per share a year earlier.
To read the full report from the Associated Press click here.

A question of ethics

Dean Starkman of the Columbia Journalism Review questions ethical decisions made in the past by the new head of The Wall Street Journal's luxury magazine.
The report says new editor Tina Gaudoin, quoted her business partner in a Times of London column and mentioned their business—a small chain of yoga studios—in other columns without telling readers of her interest in it.
Gaudoin was a lifestyle editor and regular columnist for the Times Saturday magazine since 2003 and had written for the paper off and on since at least the late ’90s. Last June, she was named to run the Times’s own magazine for the rich, Luxx, according to the report.
Both The Wall Street Journal and the London Times are owned by News Corp.

Is it the biggest deal in the world? No. The columns, again, are not on the most serious subjects of all time. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of money at stake, and it should be noted that Triyoga is mentioned often in non-News Corp. publications. Also, I have no idea about ethical standards in Britain and Europe; they may be looser than they are here.
But quoting your business partner without disclosing it would be way out-of-bounds at even an average U.S. newspaper. And on this score the Journal isn’t average. Dow Jones & Co., the Journal’s parent, has one of the most restrictive ethics policies in the news business and is not shy about proclaiming that fact.

To read the full story click here.