Ann Arbor

[RickStain]

i have a question:
what if, in say three years, people decide newspapers are relevant again and the ad dollars start flowing (doubtful, but for the sake of argument, lets say they do). How do you bring all of these newspapers back to life?

Buy up the physical assets (printing press, etc.) and start hiring. There are always going to be entry-level people willing to work for $25k or so. How much did we make at our first post-collegiate job? (Mine was under 20k, but that was in the 80s and stuff didn't cost near as much... had a NICE apartment for $250 per month and gas was 85 cents per gallon.)

What I wonder is if this business will eventually take on that model: a couple of old guys at the top and a BUNCH of young pups doing the work. The burn out after 3-4 years, decide they want to make real money and leave. So you replace them with another batch of rookies.

Eventually? That's the model *now*

Rick
(three years out of college, $22.5k/year)

 

[Magic In The Night]

2underpar, the simple answer is, you don't.

Magic, we're comparing apples and oranges. You're ranting against producers v. journalists (perhaps legitimately), while the original point was that I don't think a lot of the folks at the A2 News can do the things I listed, and because of that AnnArbor.com won't hire many of them.

My point is that journalists can learn these things. It's not some secret talent that is unattainable. What is so hard about learning how to post things on a Web site and/or write a blog or take pics and post them? Most sports writers have been writing blogs for years long before they were called blogs. Back then, they called them "postcards" from big events, etc.

 

[Jim_Carty]

Magic - Perhaps most can learn them, but most at the A2 News have not done so. It's a staff that skews older and has resisted change. There is not a single blog associated with the paper that is known as a must-read in the community on any subject.

And, because of that, the vast majority of them won't be hired at AnnArbor.com, imo.

 

[mustangj17]

Does writing a blog make you valuable now though? I'd argue that anyone who can log into news edit, or whatever program the paper uses, can log into a web system and write a blog. These things aren't terribly complex. I work with some real knuckleheads when it comes to computer issues, but even they know how to log in, post a story, add a photo and refresh the page.

I feel like the newspaper could train the entire newsroom in a week or less and everyone could know how to post their own stories, videos and photo galleries. When I transitioned to the web, it took very little time to get a hang of the things - this coming from a guy who can do about three things on the computer: burn a c.d., install a driver and play Snood.

 

[Magic In The Night]

Does writing a blog make you valuable now though? I'd argue that anyone who can log into news edit, or whatever program the paper uses, can log into a web system and write a blog. These things aren't terribly complex. I work with some real knuckleheads when it comes to computer issues, but even they know how to log in, post a story, add a photo and refresh the page.

I feel like the newspaper could train the entire newsroom in a week or less and everyone could know how to post their own stories, videos and photo galleries. When I transitioned to the web, it took very little time to get a hang of the things - this coming from a guy who can do about three things on the computer: burn a c.d., install a driver and play Snood.

Ding, ding, ding!!! Winner. I mean seriously, I can guarantee you I could learn how to post stuff on the Web faster than some of our "producers" could learn subject-verb agreement or spelling or other necessary elements of journalism.

 

[deskslave]

To cover a couple of things ... no, I don't think most reporters and editors have new media skills, if by "new media skills", you mean an ability to write an interesting and technically competent blog, to take and edit video and photos, and to use Twitter and other tools (although I think Twitter is moronic and won't last).

There are complexities in the Detroit News/Free Press relationship that make it unlikely either paper will fold any time soon. Singleton gets a guaranteed annual payment from Gannett, which basically greatly subsidizes the Detroit News, and is a fixed amount regardless of what the economy does. He's sitting pretty on that front.

Meanwhile, Gannett appears very committed to the Free Press (for instance, exempting it from furloughs).

I'd be surprised if either folded, but then I was surprised this week.

Isn't the Free Press exempted from furloughs because of the union contract, rather than any generosity on the part of Gannett?

 

[Magic In The Night]

To cover a couple of things ... no, I don't think most reporters and editors have new media skills, if by "new media skills", you mean an ability to write an interesting and technically competent blog, to take and edit video and photos, and to use Twitter and other tools (although I think Twitter is moronic and won't last).

There are complexities in the Detroit News/Free Press relationship that make it unlikely either paper will fold any time soon. Singleton gets a guaranteed annual payment from Gannett, which basically greatly subsidizes the Detroit News, and is a fixed amount regardless of what the economy does. He's sitting pretty on that front.

Meanwhile, Gannett appears very committed to the Free Press (for instance, exempting it from furloughs).

I'd be surprised if either folded, but then I was surprised this week.

Isn't the Free Press exempted from furloughs because of the union contract, rather than any generosity on the part of Gannett?

The Free Press is exempt from furloughs. The reason given was that because of all the staffing needed for this new three-day home delivery plan that Gannett excused the paper from it. But I think the Free Press is one of the few papers left in Gannett's empire with a union so that may have come into play. However, the union did sign off on the wage freezes but managed to squeeze an extra year on the contract out of them because of it.

 

[IGotQuestions]

I still believe the Free Press was furlough-exempt because there will be more drastic changes. Just a hunch.

 

[mustangj17]

Does writing a blog make you valuable now though? I'd argue that anyone who can log into news edit, or whatever program the paper uses, can log into a web system and write a blog. These things aren't terribly complex. I work with some real knuckleheads when it comes to computer issues, but even they know how to log in, post a story, add a photo and refresh the page.

I feel like the newspaper could train the entire newsroom in a week or less and everyone could know how to post their own stories, videos and photo galleries. When I transitioned to the web, it took very little time to get a hang of the things - this coming from a guy who can do about three things on the computer: burn a c.d., install a driver and play Snood.

Ding, ding, ding!!! Winner. I mean seriously, I can guarantee you I could learn how to post stuff on the Web faster than some of our "producers" could learn subject-verb agreement or spelling or other necessary elements of journalism.

Aren't most of your producers from a journalism background anyway? Or converted reporters/editors?

 

[Magic In The Night]

Does writing a blog make you valuable now though? I'd argue that anyone who can log into news edit, or whatever program the paper uses, can log into a web system and write a blog. These things aren't terribly complex. I work with some real knuckleheads when it comes to computer issues, but even they know how to log in, post a story, add a photo and refresh the page.

I feel like the newspaper could train the entire newsroom in a week or less and everyone could know how to post their own stories, videos and photo galleries. When I transitioned to the web, it took very little time to get a hang of the things - this coming from a guy who can do about three things on the computer: burn a c.d., install a driver and play Snood.

Ding, ding, ding!!! Winner. I mean seriously, I can guarantee you I could learn how to post stuff on the Web faster than some of our "producers" could learn subject-verb agreement or spelling or other necessary elements of journalism.

Aren't most of your producers from a journalism background anyway? Or converted reporters/editors?

Well, if that's a "journalism" background, I hate to see the rest of what is coming out of journalism schools these days.

 

[jackandcoke]

So, with much fanfare, the new AnnArbor.com has unveiled its logo: An acorn that is designed by a New York firm and looks like a bad piece of clip art. This is the future of journalism? Yikes.

http://annarbor.com/2009/06/annarborcom-introduces-logo-that-reflects-both-tradition-and-a-new-beginning.html

Also, the site appears to have hired Dave Birkett of the Oakland Press to cover University of Michigan football.

 

[RickStain]

So, with much fanfare, the new AnnArbor.com has unveiled its logo: An acorn that is designed by a New York firm and looks like a bad piece of clip art. This is the future of journalism? Yikes.

http://annarbor.com/2009/06/annarborcom-introduces-logo-that-reflects-both-tradition-and-a-new-beginning.html

Also, the site appears to have hired Dave Birkett of the Oakland Press to cover University of Michigan football.

The comments are hilarious.

 

[WaylonJennings]

An acorn, huh?

The logo should be a parking meter.

 

[mustangj17]

An acorn, huh?

The logo should be a parking meter.

Or a donkey.

 

[jackandcoke]

A friend pointed out the logo's striking resemblance to a buckeye nut. That will go over well with the football crazies.

 

[slappy4428]

With this three-headed monster in charge and an Ed-clone working in sports, will the Huron River turn into the Lake of Fail?

 

[WaylonJennings]

So today I walked past a garbage can someone had out for pick-up that was strictly a recycling bin for newspapers, distributed by the city.

Oh, the irony.

 

[IGotQuestions]

So much for change. All four managers hired so far are Ann Arbor News workers and the publisher is the new CEO.

Jim, do they have new media skills, or is it more of the same in cluelessness?

 

[Jim_Carty]

Questions ... give me a day or two to answer that. I'm going to blog in it.

In a related matter, Michigan football beat writer John Heuser exits the building tomorrow via buyout.

Best journalist I've ever worked with, bar none. Six straight years of APSE Top 10s in one form or another. The most popular and hardest-working man in the newsroom, a consumate professional, and with all that, a better person than journalist:

http://papertigernomore.blogspot.com/2009/06/heart-and-soul-of-a2-news-sports.html

 

[WildBillyCrazyCat]

An excellent tribute to someone who is well-deserving of it.