05.22.13
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Plain Dealer Tri-Weekly Home Delivery Starts August 5

Plain Dealer building at 1801 Superior Ave.

Starting August 5, Plain Dealer home delivery goes to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Now we finally know: Plain Dealer home subscribers will get the paper on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Robert Perona, senior vice president of circulation announced the changes in a long column Wednesday.

He said the paper’s “premium print experience” will include “larger news sections and expanded local coverage: a Wednesday edition enriched with more food and dining coverage, a Friday edition with…comprehensive blueprint for entertainment and a Sunday edition.” There will also be a “bonus” Saturday edition devoted to sports.

And there might be a paywall. At least that’s a hint. Perona noted a full subscription – that is, all three days – would include access to our “new digital edition 7 days a week.”

Details are in the entire announcement , which I read on the front page of my morning paper.

The column didn’t mention staffing, although some news is trickling out.  Two staffers – Evelyn Theiss and Sarah Tribble are heading to television and public radio. And Chris Quinn, who headed the Plain Dealer’s coverage of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, will oversee content for the new media group. Sources say he’ll be moved out of 1801 Superior Ave., but couldn’t say where the new offices might be.

The Plain Dealer expects to cut its newsroom by one-third, with layoffs coming later this summer.

05.06.13
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Two More Reporters Leave the Plain Dealer

theiss-small

Longtime Plain Dealer reporter Evelyn Theiss is leaving the paper for WKYC, where she’ll be Tom Meyer’s producer.

Newspaper staff learned Evelyn Theiss and Sarah Tribble will leave on May 24. Theiss goes to WKYC, where she’ll be a producer for Tom Meyer. Tribble goes to Ideastream, where she’ll be a health reporter.
Both women are beating layoffs schedule for late summer. As part of the  Plain Dealer’s digital transition,  the newsroom is slated to lose 58 slots.

Here’s the text of the email staff received today.

“The Plain Dealer’s loss is the broadcasting world’s gain as two members of the health team leave the newsroom for adventures in radio and television.

Evelyn Theiss, who has been at The Plain Dealer since 1990, will join WKYC as Tom Meyer’s producer. Evelyn has done it all at The Plain Dealer. In her early years she was a storied Metro reporter whose aggressive coverage of the school system is still discussed two decades later. In 1998, she headed to the Features Department, where two years later she became style editor. In 2000, missing her time as a reporter, Evelyn left management to become a general assignment features reporter, and three years ago, she joined the health team with a focus on nutrition. She has kept her foot in features with her popular Elegant Cleveland stories offering glimpses into the Cleveland of earlier eras.
Sarah Tribble has been at The Plain Dealer for a shorter period, since October 2007, but has left her indelible mark with watchdog coverage of MetroHealth Medical Center and as part of the reporting team on the medical billing error series. Sarah will join Ideastream has a health reporter, so listen for her on WCPN. Sarah has been medical team reporter for all but a few months at The Plain Dealer, when she wrote a couple of hard-hitting stories out of the courts. Her heart was in medical reporting, however, so she returned to her beat and quickly became a prime mover in the medical billing stories with Dave Davis.
The last day for both is May 24. “
05.03.13
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Plain Dealer’s Sister Paper Goes Daily – Kind Of

Thanks to William Allen for sending this link to David Carr’s story – and reminding me that I’d neglected to publish my original post on the matter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/business/media/in-new-orleans-times-picayunes-monopoly-crumbles.html.O

The Times-Picayune is a daily -  in a way. In August, a tabloid version of The Plain Dealer’s sister paper will  hit the New Orleans streets  on  Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new publication joins a broadside, or full-version of the paper published on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.  An early Sunday edition is available on Saturdays.
Just a year ago, the paperís owners Advance Publications announced a transition that limited newspaper publication and emphasized the NOLA.com site. About 200 staffers lost jobs.  The change caused an uproar when city residents learned – from the New York Times – that their newspaper would no longer be a daily.
Although the din softened, it didn’t disappear.  The new strategy mixes  traditional and digital approaches. TPStreet won’t go to subscribers; they’ll get an an e-edition. “In TPStreet, we sought to develop a publication that would address our single-copy readers and also respond to a repeated request from our home-delivery subscribers for a front-to-back newspaper reading experience in the e-edition on days we don’t offer home delivery,” NOLA.com president Ricky Mathews said on the website.
The question for Cleveland: will the same thing happen here? Although the Plain Dealer is undergoing a digital transformation, the paper will still have daily editions. New Orleans raises a question: will we see a daily broadside, or will Cleveland’s paper resemble its Southern sibling?

04.19.13
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New Orleans Reacts to the Plain Dealer’s Fate

Errol Laborde from New Orleans Magazine

Thanks to Fresh Water Cleveland for linking to “A Tale of Two Cities’ Newspapers.” The commentary by Errol Laborde of New Orleans Magazine claims Advance Publications gave the Plain Dealer a “better deal” than it did the Times Picayune in New Orleans. Of course, that remains to be seen. But here’s Laborde’s argument:

Why did Cleveland get to keep a daily and New Orleans did not? There was active opposition from newspaper staff and citizens (in Cleveland)…New Orleans may have gotten the shaft and Cleveland spared simply because our town came first. The protesters down here may not have saved their daily but they got a message across and that ultimately may have helped The Plain Dealer.

Here’s the entire commentary.

04.16.13
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No Broadband for One-Third of Cleveland-Area Adults, Study Finds

Folks troubled by the Plain Dealer’s digital transition point to folks without home broadband as a reason to keep publishing the newspaper. Those folks have a stronger argument now that a new study shows who is logged in and who’s being left out.

The Cuyahoga County of Internet Access and Use was commissioned by OneCommunity, a non-profit promoting digital access for all residents. Researched questioned 1,261 adults in Cleveland and its suburbs. Highlights from the report show who doesn’t have broadband at home:

  • 34 percent of  all adults in the county
  • 68 percent of county households with an annual income of less than $20,000
  • 56 percent of county residents 65 and older
  • 52 percent of African Americans
  • 43 percent of Hispanics
  • 52 percent of residents with a high school diploma or GED

Some groups, such as African Americans and Hispanics, use mobile devices to access the Internet. But those relying on mobile tended to be unsophisticated Internet users, researchers said.

The survey finds that mobile only users in Cuyahoga County are less likely than home broadband users to engage in many activities we measured, including use of the Internet for health information, voting  information, online training, banking, and access to a variety of government services.

Add accessing a newspaper site to that list, and you’ll see why these statistics might raise concerns about civic engagement or maintaining an informed citizenry.

04.09.13
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Will the Plain Dealer Building Survive the Cuts?

The newsroom of the Times Picayune, a sister paper of the Plain Dealer. Photo from businessjournalism.org

Update #2

This story on DNAInfo, a network of hyperlocal sites based in New York and Chicago, gives more insight into the workplace that Plain Dealer reporters might inhabit after the paper’s digital transition.

The staffs appear to skew young, and the work is demanding. Reporters are equipped with a company-supplied laptop, smartphone and camera, and they are expected to post pictures or video with their stories. Each site posts at least 20 stories a day, with the New York site posting as many as 70 a day, Herman says. The Chicago site posts up to 50.
“We’ve got reporters that file five or six stories a day,” Toomey says. “The vast majority are doing at least a couple of stories a day.” The neighborhood reporters seldom visit their newsrooms; editors prefer to have them prowling the turf they cover. “I don’t want them sitting around the newsroom looking at us,” says Michael P. Ventura, DNAinfo.com New York managing editor.

The original post begins here

We now know the Plain Dealer will be published daily, even though home delivery will be cut to three times a week. But another question hangs: what will happen to their building on 18th and Superior?

For the answer, look at the photo of the “newsroom” at the Times Picayune, the Plain Dealer’s sister publication in New Orleans. The newsroom resembles the publication: smaller, more concise, made for running and gunning because the journalists don’t have assigned desks.

Most importantly, it’s not in the Times Picayune building. Why should it be? A small staff doesn’t need lots of space. And the office is almost a formality. Advance Publications, the parent company of the Plain Dealer, wants its news and sales staffs out in the field, not sitting in an office.

So watch for big changes at 1801 Superior Ave.

Yes, this is a prediction, and predictions do fail. But I’m not peering at tea leaves or into a crystal ball. I’m looking at circumstances and other trends.

For starters, the edifice at 1801 Superior is already too big for the newspaper’s operations. In 2000, the editorial operation alone occupied two floors. Now the entire newsroom of  roughly 160 journalists works in half that space. Planned layoffs will reduce staffers by one-third.

Secondly, other newspapers are putting their property up for sale.

“After The Newspaper Building,”  which just appeared on the New Republic’s website, alerts readers to this trend of reinventing the newsroom by abandoning newspaper buildings. Here’s the magazine’s take on the development:

Traditionally located downtown, close to the centers of power, these buildings were once a paper’s most potent branding tool, a high-visibility signifier of place—not to mention a corporeal reminder of the publication’s significant first amendment powers. In recent years, newspaper buildings have become something else: fabulous real estate. That explains why so many struggling newspapers are now scrambling to convert their flagships into cash. The Boston Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer have all ditched their legacy buildings and, in the process, set out to reinvent themselves in spaces unencumbered by the baggage of the past.

Of course, New Republic didn’t mention the Advance Publication newspapers that are doing the same thing. The Birmingham News, the Mobile Press-Register, The Huntsville Times and the Syracuse Post-Standard.  Here’s what WRVO in Syracuse says about the Post Standard’s change:

Years ago, the old Merchants and Snow building on South Warren Street was where reporters for the Syracuse Newspapers would cash their checks. Starting this spring, it will be the base for a band of digital journalists working for the new Syracuse Media Group. And company chairman Steven Rogers says the new offices in the renovated Merchants Commons will reflect the new digital world. “There are no desks, there are no cubicles. There are reporters and sales people. They have their smart phone, they have their laptop, they have their backpack,” said Rogers.

Interestingly, that approach isn’t new to journalism. It’s been the norm at The AOL/Huffington Post Patch sites. The hyperlocal sites were old-fashioned community news gone digital. The point was to be seen as part of the community by being seen in the community. I was a freelance photographer for local Patch sites for two years, so  I can tell you, the staffers were well-known. But the absence of an address invariably confused the folks I photographed.

A building, of course, connotes permanence. That’s not necessary for a start-up like the Patch sites, but it might be a hindrance for a community institution like the Plain Dealer.

 

04.04.13
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PD Now What: Paper to Reduce Home Delivery

Step two in the transformation of the Plain Dealer: home delivery is reduced to three days a week. Here’s the announcement from the newspaper’s publisher: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/04/northeast_ohio_media_group_to.html#incart_river#incart_big-photo.

Some predictions have come to pass. The paper will follow the lead of its sibling publications and become part of a media group. Staff reduction aka layoffs will be announced later this summer, but the company has already released. Number. It will cut 58 positions. That number may change because staffers are leaving on their own.

I’ll go out on a limb and make another prediction: look for the building to be sold and/or the newsroom to be moved to a smaller site. What makes me think this? One is industry trends. Several major newspapers, such as the Washington Post, have put their papers on the block.
But the stronger hint is the selling of sibling publications’ buildings in Alabama and relocation in New York and New Orleans.

More to come….

02.22.13
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Journal Register Newspapers in Willoughby and Lorain Face Layoffs

newsherald
The Journal Register, the parent company of the Willoughby News Herald and the Lorain Morning Journal, will lay off more than 200 employees when it sells the company in April. According to a story in the Plain Dealer, company is transferring its assets to Alden Global Capital, LLC, which was the sole bidder.

The company, which owns papers in 10 states, expects the sale to be completed around April 17.  According to a letter filed with the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, the Journal Register has “asked the buyer to operate the business using substantially all of our current employees. … In accordance with the Asset Purchase Agreement, the buyer will decide which employees of Journal Register Company it will hire after the purchase.”

02.19.13
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Plain Dealer’s Alabama Sibling Gives a Progress Report

-Update-

Apparently Alabama isn’t the only place where fourth-quarter newspaper circulation was better than expected; the Times Picayune experienced the same success. On Tuesday, New Orleans Media Group president Ricky Matthews, said daily circulation grew by 1 percent, while Sunday circulation remained flat. Matthews was speaking at a publisher’s conference. As in New York and Alabama, a hiring spree followed layoffs.

Carlie Kollath Wells reported on the speech for Poynter.org. She mentioned another  development is worth noting: New Orleans reporters have gone mobile.

“The newsroom is a reflection of the change. Mathews on Tuesday gave conference attendees a photo tour of the newsroom. The outside walls are glass windows and provide a 360 degree-view of the city. Reporters have MacBooks and iPhones, but don’t have assigned desks. ”

- Original posting starts here -

Kevin Wendt, vice president of content for the Alabama Media Group,  just posted a long update for the site’s readers. The Alabama Media Group publishes The Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register, The Huntsville Times, The Mississippi Press, al.com and gulflive.com. Although Alabama is miles away, developments there provide clues about what’s in store for the Plain Dealer and its readers.

Here are the fourth-quarter highlights, according to Wendt:

  • Roughly 200 people cover the state. “Currently, our statewide news team stands at roughly 194, with 12 positions still open…The bulk of our reduction occurred in the group that lays out and designs the print pages, middle managers and support services positions.”
  • On the digital side, page views and unique visitors have increased. “In each month since the October launch, we have broken the previous record for page views and unique visitors, according to our internal tracking.”
  • Sports is bringing in viewers, followed by business, entertainment and the homepage clicks. “But sports traffic alone isn’t enough to account for the 67 percent gain we saw in traffic to our local news blogs…Traffic was also up in the fourth quarter for business stories (17 percent), entertainment stories (58 percent) and the al.com homepage (26 percent).
  • Newspapers are doing better than expected. “In total for all our newspapers, the Sunday print circulation increased 1 percent from September, before the launch of Alabama Media Group, to January. Daily circulation declined 2 percent, which was better than our forecast, during that same timeframe.” Wendt notes, however, readers have complained about typos and other glitches. (Probably because copy editors were shown the door?) “We realized we needed to adjust staffing to put a greater emphasis on proofing in the print edition.”

Read the entire column here. Thanks to Jim Romenesko for the link to Wendt’s column.