Inside Out: Exploration of Media, Community, Change

Pulled quote: Words transform nothingness

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:23:00 PST

The right word makes such a difference. It helps us acknowledge something vague as something concrete.

'Words do not label things already there. Words are like the knife of the carver. They free the idea, the thing, from the general formlessness of the outside. As a man speaks, not only is his language in a state of birth, so is the very thing he is talking about.'
--Eskimo saying
From Working with Words

Words are not always enough. I sometimes find that I need a doctor to agree that I'm sick. A listen to the congestion, a peek at the inner ear, a swab of the throat - those gestures grant permission to collapse under covers.

At first, I want to explain away fatigue and other symptoms by attributing all to multiple sclerosis. Doesn't every treatment for a flareup end up with a few days of weakness? Of tiredness? Who needs a doctor for that!

Fortunately, the the sign that I'm on the road to recovery is easier to read. When I yearn for the shampoo bottle, I know wellness is near.

Deadly bullet points? Mid-Michigan Battle Decks ‘09

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:50:26 PST

How quick are you on your feet in a presentation before people you don't know well? Or is it harder to be quick when you're presenting to people you know? Can you react quickly when the wrong slide comes up on the screen? Does your speech echo the bullet points or are people reading something different?

If you're good, consider a national contest called PowerPoint Karaoke or Battle Decks that is coming to East Lansing on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. The idea behind Battle Decks is that you get up in front of a group to do a PowerPoint presentation that lasts about 5 minutes — with the kicker being that you have no idea what is in the deck you are presenting. Some of the slides may be serious quotes, another could be an Excel spreadsheet graph, some could be silly pictures. Get the details, including the prizes, in Mid-Michigan Battle Decks ‘09

I won't be there, although I am feeling very good about surviving a presentation I did last week. I tried to find a substitute since I wasn't feeling good and am trying to follow my doctor's advice to avoid people. I knew something was wrong when I arrived to a nearly full parking lot. What a joy to learn I was told the wrong time for the class - it started in 15, not 45, minutes. Fortunately, there was an experienced expert to help set up the projector and computer. I started on time, finished on time and left with mostly satisfactory evaluations. Oh yeah, I should have listened to the doctor.

Building a better journalist disappoints

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:05:30 PST

The goal was to become a better journalist by attending a daylong session. But Matt Davis left unimpressed. or maybe it was left disappointed.

Part of the disappointment came from learning what happened after a three part investigative story on how there was a documented evidence of a cover-up in a case where a police officer sexually assaulted a woman while on duty.

Yes, despite the investigation, the published report the two key figures are still working in their departments.

There's more on some other breakout sessions in a column you'll enjoy. Byron Beck misses having an editor, Jack Hart shared some writing stories and the comments help.

Conde Nast hires crisis intervention expert

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:22:30 PST

Things are getting serious. The New York Post reported that Conde Nast is hiring a crisis intervention expert. bUT I must admit that the Gawker report and comments on the hiring of the man who calls himself a "confrontational debate specialist" and "one of the most utilized consultants" are just a bit more fun to read. That piece identifies a picture of Scrooge as chairman S. I. Newhouse.

The Post article says CEO Charles Townsend and Chairman S.I. Newhouse, Jr. hired Washington, DC-based crisis manager and media coach Michael Sheehan to help with PR.

Sheehan has coached Democratic presidential candidates, including Barack Obama and "handled AIG during its near-death experience and JP Morgan in its acquisition of Chase." The magazine branch of Advance Publications has folded six magazines, including Gourmet and Cookie, and fired at least 460 employees.

The Post article also points out the rising influence of the Lucky publisher in the Newhouse family of publications.

AnnArbor.com staff meeting leads to stat reveal

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:37:13 PST

There was this Tweet:

AnnArbor.com just held a full staff meeting after three months in operation. We're a hit. Literally: 1.5 million unique visitors to our site

which led to this:

AnnArbor.com is averaging 170,000-180,000 average weekly unique visitors; 30,000-40,000 average daily unique visitors.

which led to this:

AnnArbor.com has more than 22,000 readers and growing subscribed to its daily e-mail newsletter.: "

which led to this:

Summary: AnnArbor.com has created a sustainable business model that is working.

Meanwhile, Michigan media again goes under the microscope, this time at Convergence and Society: The Changing Media Landscape (#cconf09) Doug Fisher writes more about this panel and others.

Class party: Words expensive to buy

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:18:52 PST

Amazing. A Michigan writer is learning that his words may be too costly to buy. The New York Times would charge Joel Thurtell more for reprint rights then it paid him to write a story. Details in Class party

Columnist: Mive.com moving into top lists

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:08:51 PST

The progress of Mlive.com, the central home for Michigan newspapers affiliated with Advance Publications, climbing the charts is part of a column on The changing face of news media

Candace Beeke, editor of the Business Review West Michigan, shares that mlive.com reaches "1.77 million unique users per month — making it the largest news site in the state."

She also writes that "the Web site is now in the top 30 for newspaper sites in the country, according to Neislen's Internet ratings."

Oh, and she's looking for feedback on mlive.com's new look, how people use online news and how your news preference is changing.

Oregonian editor: Not enough taking buyout; 70 must go

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:17 PST

A memo from Sandy Rowe, editor of the Oregonian, warns that not enough employees have signed up for a buyout from the Advance Publications newspaper.

Williamette Week published the memo under the headline Layoffs Are "Inevitable"

Rowe says 70 positions need to be eliminated but "only 25 full-time staffers and 6 part-time have either accepted the buyout offer or have indicated to us they are going to sign the paperwork" by the Nov. 9 deadline. Among those going is the person behind the Portland Arts Watch, who posted "The first words of a long good-bye" online.

The Oregonian newsroom is rearranging its structure to cope with new staffing levels and news requirements.

Other Advance Publications employees weighing buyout offers include those at the Star-Ledger (50 must go), Staten Island Advance (40 must go) and Times-Picayune.

Another Newhouse newspaper says 40 must go

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:53:33 PST

The 'Staten Island Advance' offers a buyout and warns layoffs coming if 40 employees at the New York newspaper don't accept the offer by Dec. 21.

The offer includes two weeks' pay for every year of service up to six months of salary, along with medical coverage.

The Staten Island Advance is part of Advance Publications.

New blog (to me) leads to inspiring story, inspiring site

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:18:55 PST

Gosh, Google Reader figured out I might be interested in blogs about multiple sclerosis. Not sure if it is because I've already subscribed to so many or the words in my blog. So over on MS News Updates: I learn about a new web site using storytelling and also a story about using adaptive devices.

Serono, makers of Rebif and Cladribine and behind MSLifelines, an online support group/website with nifty journals, symptom trackers and information, now is using storytelling by 5 people diagnosed with MS in the 2000 to distribute information and tips. The best part - the company is paying the five bloggers - to be a part of How I Fight MS.

MSLifelines has featured stories before, so what's different here is that there is ongoing storytelling by the individuals.

Also shared on the site was an article about a woman with MS who leads city tours for government officials via wheelchairs. The Star Ledger’s Oct 15th Middlesex County Newswrites about Jackie Jackson and her learn by doing tours.

Save journalism? Or save democracy?

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:17:48 PST

Bill Mitchell of Poynter shares some of the conversation from last month's Community Conversation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in Four things people miss about newspapers and what can be done about it

You've heard some of the people and conversations before. Mitchell sums it up:

"Much of the discussion involved the role a newspaper plays in facilitating in-person discussion -- in homes as well as broader communities -- in ways that online news might not. Other gaps mentioned by the group included newspaper-as-common-document for the community, the story-telling form of a newspaper article and a popular re-use of newspaper delivery bags."

Interesting conversation about what happens when newspapers stop "creating the space journalism occupies" and its effect on narrative commitments. Will it jar as black-and-white movies do for some teens?

I've been wrestling with journalism and democracy, so the comeback to AnnArbor.com's We're here to save journalism added another round. Do we need journalism to save democracy?

You can read an earlier update on the forum or look at the post to get an idea of what was to happen.

Another Michigan publication switching publication plan

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:29:44 PST

Editor & Publisher says another Michigan newspaper will drop its Monday edition in 2010. The 'Huron Daily Tribune' will publish a Saturday newspaper to meet the customer's demand "for more timely coverage in print of important events, like local sports and breaking news from Friday evening." That quote is from Mark Aldam, senior vice president and group publisher for Hearst Newspapers.

The Huron Daily Tribune also will move printing to its Midland production facility, which also prints the Midland Daily News.

Moving on, moving up

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:45:03 PST

A former Flint Journal employee, Carol D. Rugg, will become vice president-communications at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in January. She left the newspaper's lifestyle section in 1985.

One year later: Journalist to lobbyist

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:05:32 PST

For 12 years, David Reinhard was an editorial columnist for The Oregonian. He's spent the last year getting surprised in his new job as a lobbyist. The former journalist talks about what he misses and what is different in his new role in The education of a Salem lobbyist

If you believe the photo bylines and ignore the text byline, you can still read what Reinhard thought he was moving from and to in "And one more thing: David Reinhard says thankyou and goodbye."

"I want to be part of a team that shares a common goal and commitment. I want to work with folks who share my basic values. I no longer want to be the odd man out."

Or maybe the last one out of the newsroom?

Technology 'ruins' night for political geeks - columnist

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:25:15 PST

Many Michigan ex-journalists will need to adjust to something different tonight - an election night without waiting for results, an election night without pizza, an election night outside the newsroom.

Brad Flory of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, who is still collecting a paycheck from a Michigan news organization, mourns the way technology has changed coverage of voting results in Election nights aren't the party they used to be

He calls the gathering and waiting of votes a "fairyland for political junkies." Check it out.

Out front: Do Birmingham publications suffer from a lack of diversity?

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:14:04 PST

Media of Birmingham uses a new landing page for the Birmingham News to ask Do Birmingham publications suffer from a lack of diversity?

Two of the eight columnists featured are women, all are white.

The post prompts comments asking if the columnists match the newspaper's and news site's audience?

Birmingham News is an Advance Publications newspaper. Media of Birmingham is a networking group in Alabama.

CEO: Newhouse business journals suffering cold

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:40:50 PST

Talking Biz Journal pulls some nice quotes out of Whitney Shaw in American City Business Journal CEO talks about the business of business news

The 40 business journals are doing better then the Newhouse newspapers and magazines because of lean staffs, no printing presses and no debt, Shaw tells the Talking Biz Journal.

Shaw also puzzles over why newspapers cut back on business coverage when the economy is such so important today, though says he's never studied if his publications benefited from that decision of newspapers.

Interesting read - more on events, wooing of reporters and editors and more. Head over.

Oakland Press plays it right; picks up circulation from Detroit, Flint

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:49:14 PDT

OK, no polish 'cause I am busy, busy, busy trying to translate some reports into one easy-to-read report and I have a deadline. But I can't ignore this:

The Oakland Press took advantage of moves by its competitors and ended up with more paying customers. In fact, its circulation gains of about 7% pushed the Michigan newspaper into an unusual spot: the third highest increase of all U.S. newspapers with a paid circulation of more than 50,000.

Now, I do find it rather odd that the Oakland Press has an AP story about that achievement. But, maybe that's another indication of its focus on not trying to be everything to everybody.

The Oakland Press continued delivering its newspapers seven days a week in its home market while the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News to the east and the Flint Journal to its north dropped home delivery to three days a week. Other changes in the market included elimination of some weekly newspapers by the Observer-Eccentric company and the replacement of the Ann Arbor News with annarbor.com

The gains came as the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Monday that average daily circulation dropped 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month span in 2008.

The gains came after the Oakland Press cut its staff by 20%, started a citizens journalism program and relied on more free-lancers and bloggers to help cover the community.

But, it was the continued daily newspaper delivery that is making a difference - if I had more time, I'd track down a few folks who shared on Facebook last week how they've started liking what's in the Oakland Press enough to drop their long-time subscriptions to the Detroit newspapers. (Yeah, I know it's public if it is out on Facebook but I usually get permission first so ....)

I'd run across that while working on a post on the two executives from the Detroit Media Publication talking about "What every newspaper can learn from Detroit's bold experiment" at the recent Southern Newspaper Publishers Association News Industry Summit. Paul Anger, editor and publisher of The Detroit Free Press, and Jonathan Wolman, editor and publisher of the Detroit News shared how the new model was developed and how it was impacting business. Now remember, this was a group of publishers so revenue was the focus and ideas included getting more of it from selling content, more print ads on Mondays-Wednesdays and Saturdays and increasing online reenue. Oh yea, save costs. More later, perhaps.

Meanwhile, back to the Oakland Press....

Joe Strupp of the Editor and Publisher wrote:

The Oakland (Mich.) Press, which saw a 7.26% increase to 68,067 daily from 63,458, attributed much of the upswing to former readers of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

"We aggressively pursued the business we knew would be available in Detroit," said Circulation Director John Lazzeri. "We put together a marketing campaign and threw all of our ammunition at the opportunity and as a result got a nice increase."

The company, whose parent company recently came out of bankruptcy, doubled the number of places where you can buy a copy of newspaper and emphasized its daily home delivery to those in its base county.

Crain's Detroit Business also reported that the Macomb Daily is benefiting from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News decision to limit the number of days the newspapers are delivered and increase its single-copy price.

By the way, the Detroit newspapers are giving themselves more time to call its new model successful, according to several published reports. Although originally the goal was to have a positive cash flow by the end of this year, the new goal is by the end of 2010.

Also, look for more reliance on readers to help finance the operations. Traditionally, newspaper revenue has been more reliant on advertising then circulation. But advertising is hard to come by in Michigan, still hit hard with the rippling effect of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford's economic woes.

Some of that comes from Poynter Institute's Bill Mitchell who interviewed a number of Detroit Media Partnership execs to pull together numbers and explanations last week. Numbers like readers will provide 40 percent of the news organization's revenue by Jan. 1, 2011 came from the former Detroit Free Press reporter (1972-92) Bill Mitchell.

A comment on his post led me to Post Advertising, a blog those explores what replaces the dead model of traditional advertising. Plus, Mitchell does a followup piece on the idea of readers providing more of the revenue.

OK, back to this circulation piece again.

On March 30, The Detroit Free Press and News went to home delivery for Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. On June 1, The Flint Journal, Bay City Times and Saginaw News went to the same three days.

The Oakland Press and Flint Journal coverage areas once lapped in southern Genesee County and northern Oakland County. But The Journal had started pulling in resources from that area even before its decision to limit the number of publication days.

Editor and Publisher was told that the Oakland Press put out about 700,000 pieces to "let people know they have a choice."

"No surprises," he added. "We saw it as an opportunity and took every advantage of it. We expected it to happen. There was no magic, just hard work and aggressive campaigning."

Anderson named publisher at The Oregonian

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:24:09 PDT

N. Christian Anderson III, former publisher and CEO of The Orange County Register, has been named publisher of The Oregonian.

The announcement was made today by Wesley Turner, President of Strategic Planning for Advance Publications, Inc., parent company of The Oregonian.

I think it is classy that Advance waited until the week after Fred Stickel's community farewell to announce the appointment.

More later.

Alliteration alert! Britta and Bill battle as 'The Bickersons' raising cash for Girl Scouts

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:07:25 PDT

Alliteration alert! Britta and Bill battle as 'The Bickersons' to help Michigan Girl Scouts Shore to Shore raise funds through a program called That's Entertainment.

Learn more about “The Bickersons,” an old-time, live-radio comedy sketch coming to life Oct. 29 in Grand Rapids.

“That’s Entertainment” event is from 6-9 p.m. at the Wealthy Theatre, 1130 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids.

Bill Iddings, who writes Extra Iddings, and is doing the male role says "we’ll stand next to each other at microphones, and give each a hard time."

That's because Girl Scouts throughout Michigan are having a hard time making budget at a time when many girls ages 5 to 17 could use the benefits of becoming leaders.

Michigan city to vote on moving legal notices out of newspapers

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:48:24 PDT

Michigan city officials decided not to wait for more newspapers to switch publishing schemes before seeking an alternative to posting legal newspapers in print products.

Voters in Trenton, Michigan, will vote Nov. 3 on a proposal to allow legal notices of meetings, zoning changes and other matters to go on the city web site or the city-operated cable channel instead of a newspaper.

The News-Herald talked to a representative of the Michigan Press Association and city officials in a pre-election article.

I suspect we'll see more elections like this. What I worry about is how well and often city websites will be updated.

Goodbye to All That [*updated, unfortunately]

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:37:30 PDT

I meant to share this earlier, but by waiting we get an updated version from a writer in Oregon who is grateful there's a non-journalist/person interested in making a living without words we get more. Read Goodbye to All That [*updated, unfortunately]: "

"And yet, I am wistful. I love being a journalist, a long-form journalist who goes off, sometimes for weeks, months, looking for and bringing back the stories."

More then enough links, explaining and good writing to make a click worthwhile.

Oregon reddit is different, better starting today | Idaho's Portugal - – OregonLive.com

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:31:21 PDT

Reddit changed and OregonLive has adapted its presentation and use of a tool that can highlight interesting links in/about Oregon. See Oregon reddit is different, better starting today It's in Idaho's Portugal over on OregonLive.com

(and hey, isn't Idaho's Portual, the title of a blog based in Oregon a wonderful description. There's even a link to why.)

New York Observer explains "The Si Way'

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:09:44 PDT

The New York Observer takes a long look at what changed in the Newhouse company to make magazines gold in the The Si Way |

It's a decent big picture overview in light of the layoffs, closures and buyouts in Advance Publications, Advance Internet, Conde Nast and other entites under the Newhouse umbrella.

Update on Ann Arbor citizen journalism forum, workshop

mcwflint@gmail.com (Mary Ann Chick Whiteside) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:53:04 PST

A commitment made months ago kept me away from the Citizen Journalism workshop in Ann Arbor but I found some coverage. First, Arbor Update had a post before the event and comments tell you about a low turnout.

Shawn Smith, who taught (led?) a session, shared a self-promo toolkit via a Tweet.

Tools for Self Promotion Research: TwitScoop>WhatTheTrend>Twitter Search>Google Alerts
Sharing: Tumblr Bookmarklet>Facebook Bookmarklet>Bit.ly Bookmarklet>Ping.fm>Hootsuite
Messaging: Wordpress>Tumblr>Twitter/Facebook Fan Page>FriendFeed> Facebook Tumblr App>Facebook Selective Tweets App
Consistency: Gravatar>BackType>SocialOomph
LIVE: Google Mail>YouTube
Syndicate: Feedburner>MyBlogLog>LinkedIn

Read, Listen, Watch.
Penolope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist
CopyBlogger
Gary Vaynerchuk’s Keynotes
Freelance Switch (+Podcast)
Seth Godin

Two Tweets from @TonyDearing:
At Poynter forum on community news needs. Welcome to the world of traditional, social, partisan and passive news consumers.

Among the ways the Fifth Estate differs: it sees opinion as more important and values crowd wisdom.

AnnArbor.com put up a video showcasing Kelly McBride of Poynter Institute talking (see below)..