Everything To Do With Newspaper Writing's Journal

7:31PM - If you could make the readers understand just one thing...

As a random little community wake-up, I thought I'd pose this question:

If you could make the readers understand just one thing, what would it be?

Personally, I think I'd want to drill into their skulls the fact that they don't rule the paper with their fifty cents a day. Seriously, I don't know how many times as a reporter I had someone wanting something we couldn't or didn't provide, or just plain not liking the way we did do it, and immediately start in with the infamous, "Well, then! I'll just CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION!" Yeah, yeah, readers are nice...but oh, how to ever begin explaining about advertisers?

On a related note, there's the also infamous "do what I say, because you're a service for the community and I'm a taxpayer!" I'm sure we've all had that one as well :-0

How about everyone else?

8:18PM - Facebook and Twitter

Hi everyone. I need a little help, if you can give it.

At the request of the editor, I created a group Facebook page for our newspaper. I also created a Twitter feed as well. Now I'm trying to get my tweets and my Facebook page to merge. When I tried to merge the two through Twitter, Twitter told me that I needed a personal page first. I tried a Facebook Twitter app, but that doesn't seem to be loading.

I have a personal Facebook page, but I really don't want to link it to my company's page. My personal page is set for friends only, and I'd like to keep it that way.

So...what do I need to do to get the two to play nicely?

1:11PM - Media CEO compensation

I love public records. Not so keen on what they say sometimes, but getting the records is a good thing.

While journalists everywhere are getting laid off, pay cuts and furloughs, here's the bonuses and compensation for some of the top publicly traded media company CEOs last year.


http://www.pdnpulse.com/2009/04/what-ceos-earned-duing-a-year-of-layoffs.html

3:58PM - Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers

I work for one of the papers that covers Hopewell, Va. (The area has one regional, one local and one hyperlocal.) I think we're among the few that care beyond the fact that the news was allowed to cover his remains arriving in the U.S.

Is it just the local journalist in me or does anyone else think it seems that the dead airman is taking a backseat to being able to cover that there is a dead airman? I know his family isn't ready to talk but it wouldn't take much work to find out what year he graduated from high school, his wife's name, how many children he has, &c.

2:02PM

Turner Classic Movies is showing a series of journalism movies today. The Front Page just started and they're showing Libeled Lady, Teacher's Pet and It Happened Tomorrow later.

5:56PM - Web readers

Do any of your respective newspapers charge for any online content? Are you making money from it or losing it? How many hits are you getting?

My paper doesn't charge for any online content, and I don't think we ever will, but my coworkers and I were musing over the thought. I know the NY Times used to charge for online access to their paper and it backfired. That was several years ago.

Right now my paper has almost as many online viewers as we do subscribers. Lately we've had a lot of people cancel their subscriptions and become strictly online viewers. I wonder if we're shooting ourselves in the foot over this.

Thoughts?

11:33AM - News for free

Hello,

I work as a TV reporter in local news channel in Sevastopol (Ukraine) and I can provide any information agency or newspaper with up-to-date news from the city in English on a freelance basis. My major interest is to practice and improve my English, so I  will work for free in case of your assistance in language (if needed).

I have professional experience of work as a correspondent of The Ukrainian news agency.

Please, use this e-mail to reach me: konvertik@bigmir.net

Sorry, if that's off topic.

8:26PM - would like reassurance here

new conflict, maybe

ran an ad that had one of those circular "no" symbols over top of a town board candidate's name, and the people who paid for the ad signed their name in the ad, so we ran it

tonight at the town board meeting, one of the candidates let it be known to the board that he felt it was terrible and that it makes our paper look bad to allow it to run just before an election, giving that particular candidate no time for rebuttal (it wasn't against him)...i didn't know what to say to him, but i didn't like it either, and there were no specific details in it that could be argued...no details period, just a "don't vote for him" ad, no reason at all...

furthermore, there was a bigger ad in the paper that actually was from a different private citizen, who signed his name to it, that told people to vote in favor of the same candidate

next guy later tells me he understood why it was run and that he would have ran it too (and he is another board candidate this time around)

all three of us agreed it wasn't very tasteful to do in this little town, but now it leaves me wondering

what would you do if you got that kind of ad? was it fair to run it? would it have been unfair to tell the people we will not run it? we ran the one in favor of the same candidate.

we don't allow letters to the editor regarding political candidates, and if an anti-candidate ad came in with slams that don't have all angles of the story, and it could jeapordize an election based on misinformation or lack of full information, then we would reject it or edit the crap out of it....but it was just a plain "vote against him" note, that's it.

so meanwhile this one board candidate decides to tell the board, in open public session for public record probably to be published in our own paper in the minutes...he decides to tell the board that he thought it was a crappy decision to allow it, and that he felt it made us look terrible as a paper, and then he also complained that on another page we wrote a story about our newspaper awards...with this ad in the same paper that shows we make bad decisions and look bad in the public eye

what do you think of all this, and how would you react to it

3:24AM - i like this story idea, but others don't

While I'm on a roll with the controversy, and people in here aren't nearly as hateful toward me as the general public...There is a difference. Reporters know how to listen. Some others don't listen to get your point. Instead they read their own ideas into what you say.

I thought about writing a story about mixed race people who live in this town. The only ones I know of are in either middle or high school, and they are both boys. I'm talking mixed similar to Obama, half black and half white. I thought it would be a timely feature to discuss their life experiences growing up in an almost pure white community, being raised by a white mother, and basically being viewed as a black person by everyone around them. I feel that could have potential and be an interesting story, and the timing is good right now. However, I ran this by a couple people, and they cringed and didn't like it. They figure the mixed race people would not want to do it. I don't know why they think that. It's not like I'd be drawing attention to them that they don't already have. Being one of maybe five black people in an entire school district does make you get noticed at least to some degree. So it's in my backburner brain. I don't know if I should try it or not. It's success as a story would really depend on what I can get a couple teenage boys to talk about, and as it goes in our news world, you have good interviews that make for great stories, and then you have those who can't get past the "i don't know" or "yep" or "nope" answers no matter what questions you ask. Teenagers are unpredictable, too.

And see, I'll also get pegged prejudice just for picking those boys out of the crowd, which is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. I want to do it, but I face discouragement. Ultimately, it is my choice.

11:21PM - just say gay or black, key words to get yourself attacked no matter what

Is it possible to say the word "gay" without being attacked, if you are a straight person? I don't think so. Is it possible to say the word "black" without being attacked, if you are a white person. I don't think so. Is it acceptable to try to learn about gay people if you are not gay. I don't think so. Is it acceptable to try to learn about black people if you are a white person. Probably not. If you aren't one of them, the message I get is, it's none of my business. I don't need to know anything about them, and I am to agree with everything they tell me regardless of my lack of knowledge. I suppose that's how white people kept the slaves in their control. Don't let them go to school, and don't let them read books or get any kind of education. Don't let them know what is going on around them. Keep them dumb so you can control them. Nice concept, and it's exactly what I see certain groups attempting to do to me, except I'm not that dumb, and they make me trust them even less, and I still get to vote for or against their causes. This is my life experience so far. And I guarantee I am going to get attacked for this simple explanation of my own experiences....absolutely guaranteed. Am I bad for being curious and for wanting to learn about things I don't know much about? Am I bad that life didn't automatically provide me with such learning experiences? Yes, I will be considered bad. You say the word black or gay in any sentence, and you're bad. The upcoming attacks further prove that I am right.

1:29PM - i can puff out my chest

Okay, I'm open for criticism. I was taking down names of a group of 1979 basketball players at their reunion, and one of the guys decided to spell out his whole (long) last name for me, and he really had a rude tone about him, like he was talking down to me. His name is long but common around here, and I've ran photos with him in them in the past. Anyway, I felt he was being a dickhead. Umm, is that politically correct? As the professional that I am, I would not normally say anything in response but just ignore the pricks of the groups. However, it just spilled out, with a dead tone not necessarily sarcastic, just monotone-bored tone. "Wow, how old were you when you learned how to spell that name?" The guy next to him laughed, and he just took a step back and raised his eyebrows and came up with nothing. Yeah, not a biggy, but BAM in your face dingus boy. Sometimes I just don't care what people think and think it is okay to show a backbone to people like that...in front of their friends.

10:08AM - Sad but true...

Recasting "Lou Grant" for the modern newspaper era...

11:46PM - Gannett to furlough employees

From The New York Times

"The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/business/media/15paper.html?em

9:06PM

I apologize to everyone who reads journalists but felt this was important enough to cross-post, at least to those lucky few of us who still have jobs.

From The New York Times

"Just short of a year after Sam Zell took control of the Tribune Company, the newspaper and television chain that publishes The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune, the company filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, hoping to restructure $13 billion in debt that threatens to cripple it in the face of a sinking economy and a collapse in advertising...

"A memo on a Web site accessible only to Los Angeles Times employees said the company would stop making payments to former workers who took buyouts. It was not clear whether the company would resume those payments, or if the employees would join the long list of unsecured creditors..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09tribune.html?ref=media

10:24PM - Hi

Hey.

I'm new to this community and just wanted to share the website of the weekly paper I write for. It will be updated by noon tomorrow.

Nice meeting you all,

beauty

http://www.dyersvillecommercial.com

12:59PM - 45 years ago today

A collection of reporters' memories of the day JFK was shot

1:29PM - what do we do with this one, he's not dead

Oh great. We just got a call to let us know that a particular man is NOT dead, and we have a photo in the paper stating that he is deceased. This guy brought in a photo of four generations standing next to a tractor and wanted us to print it, showing that the tractor has been used by four generations in his family. He said it was taken in summer 2007. So he was told we would like one that is more current. He said something like "what difference would it make, the photo would look exactly the same." It was repeated that we want our photos current. He said "but I can't because "John" is dead." (name changed). I let the photo sit for awhile before deciding, 'what the heck, it will make the guy happy'. We had a page running with historical society things running, so I put it on that page, and noted that the guy was dead. The call came today. HE IS NOT DEAD. So how do I run this correction?! That guy is probably going to get more phone calls in the next few days than ever in his life. We probably will, too. I have yet to see the family reaction. All we can figure is that the person who brought in the photo did not want to go get another photo, so he made up the excuse that one of the people in the picture is now dead, so he can't get another photo. I don't know. It's hard to figure.

2:35AM

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9:18PM - Endorsements

Does your publication endorse presidential candidates? If so, who are you endorsing?

My paper endorsed Obama. It was the first time we've endorsed a Democrat for president in several decades.

5:11PM - Win $25 for Voting

Voice your Vote for a chance to win $25!

Who do you support?
Obama/Biden
McCain/Palin

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and if my mock election has the biggest turn out I'll give out more prizes!