Sacramento News & Review president and CEO Jeff von Kaenel was sick of the Sacramento Bee offering advertisers huge discounts in Ticket, the daily's arts and entertainment weekly insert, reports Sacramento Business Journal. So he sent out 250 letters to Bee advertisers that weren't getting discounts -- that is, Bee advertisers that hadn't been poached away from the News & Review -- citing the cheaper rates and asking, "Are you paying this?" Von Kaenel tells SBJ that he sees the discounts as the Bee's attempt to "take us out," and that the daily is "engaging in practices I believe are suspect."
Lloyd Brown, editorial page editor at the Florida Times-Union since 1993, has resigned after a task force established by the paper found three instances of plagiarism and many other instances of lack of complete attribution. The task force was formed in the wake of Folio Weekly's Oct. 12 cover story, written by a former Times-Union staffer, which accused Brown of publishing editorials with portions lifted directly from documents produced by right-wing groups. In a letter that appears in the Times-Union's Nov. 2 edition, publisher Carl Cannon writes, "I have a high level of respect for [Brown's] philosophy."
The recent acknowledgments of circulation inflation by three prominent newspaper companies have prompted at least a half-dozen other chains to install safeguards intended to bolster confidence in their circulation figures. The new policies by the chains - including Knight Ridder, the McClatchy Company newspapers and E. W. Scripps - have all been put in place in advance of Nov. 1. That is the date when the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which acts as both an industrywide clearinghouse and umpire, is scheduled to release March-to-September circulation figures for about 1,000 daily papers.
Folio Weekly's Oct. 12 cover story accuses the Florida Times-Union -- and editorial page editor Lloyd Brown, in particular -- of publishing editorials with portions lifted directly from documents produced by right-wing groups. The article, penned by former Times-Union editorial writer Billee Bussard, has prompted the Jacksonville daily to launch an internal investigation, reports Editor & Publisher. Times-Union publisher Carl Cannon says, "I would never expect to find plagiarism at our paper, and I would be surprised if we did in this case." Brown tells reporter Joe Strupp: "I think we try to base our editorials on fact, and we have to get them from somewhere."
Despite a proliferation of cultural activity, arts and entertainment coverage in most daily newspapers has remained constant, and in some cases decreased, the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University says in its new study, Reporting the Arts II: News Coverage of Arts and Culture in America. Summarizing their findings in the Los Angeles Times, the report's authors say hope lies with public radio, the Internet and alternative papers. "The alternative press, once derided by mainline news outlets, has also proved so successful at covering local arts events that media giants such as Tribune Co. and Gannett have started publications that mimic those brash competitors," they write.
Catherine Nelson, associate publisher of AAN member Shepherd Express in Milwaukee, Wis., is scheduled to deliver a lecture titled "There Are Alternatives" at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association convention next month. The PNA Web site describes Nelson, who was formerly publisher of two Pittsburgh alt-weeklies that went out of business, as "an industry guru on alternative papers." In addition to her position at Shepherd Express, Nelson presently serves as publisher of the new, daily-owned Core Weekly, which competes with AAN member Isthmus in Madison, Wis. (Scroll down the linked page to read about Nelson's lecture.)
The Times Publishing Co., publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, has launched tbt*, a weekly paper apparently aimed at asterisk-loving young adults. According to the Times, tbt* delivers news in short chunks with colorful photos and no attempt at serious analysis, and bills itself as "zippy news for time-challenged adults." Features also include entertainment listings, shopping tips, and advice on computers and romance. Paul Tash, editor and chairman of Times Publishing, tells reporter Helen Huntley: "There's nothing else like it on the market." AAN-member Weekly Planet (Tampa) is distributed in the same area.
In an opinion piece published in Boulder Weekly, AAN executive director Richard Karpel recounts a phone interview he gave to The Daily Camera. The Boulder, Colo., daily is launching Dirt, a free weekday paper targeting 18- to 24-year-olds, and its reporter wanted a comment. Karpel obliged, explaining why Dirt, like any number of similar tabloids, would ultimately fail to reach young people: Daily papers tiptoe around potentially offensive language and subject matter; they're too "objective" for passion or point of view; and they're institutions far removed from the world most young people inhabit. The Camera chose to publish his one comment that tended to make the opposite point, so he lays out his full argument here.
The summer of scandal in the newspaper circulation business has left advertisers and agencies worried about what could possibly be next. Most say they are placing increased scrutiny on audience statements and newspaper ad budgets, though they believe the power of the medium will protect it from any immediate advertiser backlash.
The new entertainment weekly the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel plans to launch this fall could attract advertisers who prefer to stay away from the edgy, controversial content found in The Shepherd Express (an AAN member) or the Onion. That's what Karen Stoneman, media director for a Milwaukee ad firm, told The Business Journal. But AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel predicts that the new breed of tabloids will drown in their own fluff because they lack the "idiosyncrasies and oddball charm" of true alternative weeklies.
