How to Save Florida Newspapers: It's the Advertising, Dude

  Editor and Publisher has a pretty interesting story today on the newspaper industry in Florida and how one of the states that have historically been most hospitable to newspapers has become a much tougher environment.

It's a long piece, but it tells a simple story: Florida newspapers are getting squeezed by the implosion of the real estate market, the disintegrating classified ads business, rising newsprint prices and an audience that is aging faster than it is growing.

Besides talking about the recent reductions we've been implementing in staff and size of the paper, the piece also references cuts at Media General's Tampa news operations, especially the Tribune, and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune down south.

Newspapers' biggest problems right now are that nearly all the methods in which we have traditionally made money are under challenge. Advertising is down, classified is down, readership is flat or declining and new platforms such as the Web and TBT depend on the reporting resources of the newspaper newsroom without generating the necessary profits to help keep all the staffing.

I'm not sure anyone in the country has found a solution. I do know that, as cool as it would be to see folks in the community rally by purchasing a newspaper subscription or two, what newspapers really need is for advertisers to purchase more ads -- including those of you who might place a classified ad.

In other words, if you really believe in newspapers and want to see them continue, you might help most by turning away from Craigslist and Monster.com and paying to place your help wanted, car for sale and apartment for rent ads in your local daily.

It won't be free, or close to it. But you will help save an important informational resource.   

Big Changes Coming for the St. Petersburg Times on May 19

The St. Petersburg Times will be seriously redefined on May 19.

That's when the paper will implement changes designed to emphasize material readers have told us they value most in the weekday paper and bring down costs. The big changes: Floridian, our daily features section, will publish just on Sundays, while our business section will merge with our B section metro news in a new section. TV listings, comics, Dear Abby, crossword puzzles and the more popular syndicated elements of our features section will move to a new section called BayLink.

As always, when circumstances compel the Times to reimagine the newspaper, executives have tried to husband resources while emphasizing elements readers will like in new ways. So there are new features added to the Taste section -- including a weekly restaurant review -- a return of the color weather map, four new comics and the move of our daily entertainment report, The Juice, to the inside front page of our A section, among other changes. The Sunday paper, where much of our readership's attention falls, will change little.

Leaders here are hoping BayLink -- which combines classifieds, syndicated features and news content in a section they're imagining as newspaper's closest thing to a shopping mall -- will be seen an innovative effort at collecting material readers want in one section. 

Among the big elements which will disappear: traditional stock listings (some will be available in a new format; many papers have eliminated them, because the information is so readily available online), the Road Test column, the Parenting column (though more parenting coverage is planned, both online and for the paper), the Working section and the Sew Simple feature.

There will also be a half-page in Sunday Floridian featuring much of the material featured in this space, called, surprisingly enough, The Feed.

Top staffers at the paper have been working on these changes for months, with an eye toward creating a more streamlined paper during the week, eliminating material readers may not value so much, and, in the midst of a serious recession, cutting costs. It is the second time we've redesigned the paper since 2006 -- coming close on the heels of the Tampa Tribune's reconfiguration in March -- and the open question is always how will readers react to paying the same price for a smaller product? 

Our executive editor Neil Brown will introduce readers to these changes with a column on Sunday, and there will be stories in the paper each day next week outlining how each section will change and where people can find the material they've come to enjoy.

It's a tough spot for a media critic to negotiate; I'm not an ombudsman with a contract guaranteeing employment no matter what I write, so I've tried to respect the organization's need to plan while pulling together this blog post to give anyone who reads this space early notice on the coming changes.

I've written before in this space about how the Times' business model ensuring our independence -- the fact that we're owned by a non-profit, the Poynter Institute -- has given us a bit more time to deal with the financial forces that are dramatically transforming other newspapers. But we're not insulated from the pressure, and these changes are evidence of that fact.

Looks like we're all stepping into a new era together, starting May 19.

Newspaper Circulation Figures Bring Good News for The SP Times, Bad News for Many More

First, the good news: The St. Petersburg Times was one of just two newspapers in the nation's top 25 daily papers to see a circulation increase on Sundays, up .44 percent to to 432,779 from 430,893. (the other paper to rise, over 1 percent, was the St. Louis Post Dispatch).

Now, the bad news: Many more papers saw steep declines in the figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulation Monday for newspaper subscriptions in the period ending March 31. The New York Times, for example, was down 9.2 percent Sundays (to 1.4-million) and 3.8 percent daily to 1-million, according to the trade magazine Editor and Publisher.

The Washington Post, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe all lost circulation in daily and Sunday subscriptions. Among the top 25 newspapers, just two gained daily circulation, both at the top of the list: USA Today rose .27 percent to 2.28-million and Rupert Murdoch's evolving Wall Street Journal -- which covers business less than it used to, according one analysis -- rose .35 percent to 2.069-million, according to E&P.

In Florida, the Tampa Tribune is down nearly 15,000 on Sundays, to 283,784 and down 6,468 daily to 220,522. The SP Times is also down a bit daily, dipping 6,764 to 316,007. The Orlando Sentinel gained a bit daily, up 739 to 227,593, but fell Sundays by 3,660 to 332,030.

The Miami Herald once again saw some of the biggest declines, falling 31,000 to 311,245 on Sundays and down 31,969 to 240,223 subscriptions daily. Bad news for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as well, which fell 8,457 on Sundays to 125,644 and 3,424 daily to 114,904.

While Florida's newspaper industry continues to struggle with cratering advertising revenues, it can't help to see subscriptions dipping like this in a state with so many older, traditional newspaper readers at hand.

Deggans Among Three Times Finalists for Sunshine State Awards

Got some good news this week: I was named a finalist in the criticism category for the South Florida Society of Professional Journalists' Sunshine State Awards. The list of finalists released so far is here.

I join fellow Times colleagues Josh Korr (criticism) and Stephanie Hayes (humorous column writing) as finalists from the paper. Since the local SPJ chapter no longer presents awards, the Sunshine State Awards are the closest thing we have to a regional, general interest journalism awards contest.

I was surprised at how many Tampa-area outlets actually were featured among the finalists, including nods for Creative Loafing's Wayne Garcia and Brian Reis, the Tampa Tribune's Jeff Houck, Gretchen Parker, and Michelle Bearden and Florida Trend's Cynthia Barnett.

Doubt I'll make the May 31 awards ceremony, where winners are to be revealed. Since I'm up against Josh and the Miami Herald's ace TV critic Glenn Garvin, I'm not sure how good my chances are anyway. But it sure is nice to be nominated....   

New Tidbits Revealed About Media General Buyout Offer

I recently received a copy of the packet sent to Media General employees laying out the terms of the buyout offer from the company. As I noted Monday, the offer has gone out to half the 1,326 employees of Media General subsidiary Florida Communications Group, which includes outlets such as WFLA-Ch. 8, the Tampa Tribune, TBO.com, Hernando Today and many more outlets.

The information in the packet is mostly technical, with details on handling 401 (K) plans, medical benefits and such. Rumors abound that certain types of employees -- copy editors, photographers and people who already practice a lot of convergence -- have not been offered the buyout. The fate of some of the Tribune's biggest stars, including columnists Dan Ruth and Steve Otto, has not yet been announced (TV anchors and on air types working under contract and are also exempt).

"It has become clear that the recession in Tampa is now so deep, that the cost-saving steps we have implemented will not be enough," reads a letter from FCG head John Schueler included with the packet. "If the necessary staff reducations are not achieved through this voluntary program, we are likely to  require an involuntary program."

The money provided in the buyout is the same amount an employee would receive if they were laid off involuntarily, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to participate -- particularly if certain employees are not being informed that they will be laid off involuntarily if they don't take it; Schueler insists that is not happening.  And because the company hasn't announced target levels for savings or buyouts, it's tough to anticipate whether involuntary layoffs will be necessary

Some notes:

-- The packet says positions reduced in the buyout will not be replaced, resulting in a "permanent reduction" of positions.

-- If more people apply for the buyout than the company need, they will accept requests according to hire date -- first in, first out.

-- According to the company's timeline, employees who apply for the buyout will be notified between May 20 and May 23 if they have been accepted, with June 15 as their last day of employment.

-- Employees rehired within six months of their last day of employment must repay their severance. (Small update: I wonder, after talking with some friends about it, if this provision may also help prevent managers from giving someone a buyout and then rehiring them right away at a lower salary).

Here's a clip from my appearance on Media Talk, speaking on Dr. Phil and the buyouts.

Lessons of the Tampa Bay Media General Buyouts: Florida's Media Economy is Terrible

It's hard to know what to feel when a competitor falters.

Those outside the media might assume folks at the St. Petersburg Times would be popping champagne corks as Media General Monday presented a buyout offer to about half its 1,326 employees in the Tampa Bay area, but that's not necessarily true.

Because we know what this news really means: the state's media economy is getting worse, not better. And the result will be fewer media jobs for everyone.

The problem, as has been noted here before, isn't circulation figures. Here at the Times, we've kept our paid circulation numbers stable and even increased a small bit. But that hasn't helped with the faltering advertising scene, where free classifieds services such as Craigslist have taken huge bites, and problems for retail and real estate have meant fewer ads sold (when business plunges, advertising budgets usually take the first hit).

The result is a tough decision for media managers: If you cut staff enough to bring profits, you may also thin out your product so much it loses credibility with readers. But if you don't cut expenses, especially at a public company like Media General, the market will not tolerate sinking profits for long.

I'm hardly the expert many are in the field, but I heard a few things in reporting yesterday:

--- Florida Communications Group president John Schueler denied rumors that specific employees were being told to accept the buyout offer. he also denied rumors the company specifically hoped to save $3-million. And he doesn't expect to accept buyouts from anywhere near then umber of employees who are eligible for them.

-- Much as Schueler says their reorganization has nothing to do with the proxy fight underway at Media General, it will be tough for company executives to argue their efforts aren't a way to show the company is trying to cut costs in a market that both sides in the proxy fight agree is dragging down the company's stock price. And the deadline for applying for the buyout is one day after stockholders vote on directors for the company's board, choosing between nominees suggested by Media General and dissident investors Harbinger Capital Partners.

--- Much as Harbinger seems to want it, a sale of the Media General properties in Florida makes little sense. Credits markets being what they are, its tough to imagine anyone who could afford the purchase, or anyone who could even make money by selling off the parts. At a time when everyone from Clear Channel to Tribune co. is trying to get smaller, who would want to buy such a huge operation in such a depressed media market -- and why would Media General sell when they are likely to get a rock bottom price?

-- The typical view of convergence -- having staffers work across media platforms such as print, online and TV -- is that its a difficult tool for reducing staff costs, both because its tough to find people who are talented enough to work in multiple mediums, and because it is tough for one person to find the time to complete tasks across all platforms.

For example, if a photographer at a news event has to also shoot video, do reporting for the web site and do "talkback" interviews for a TV station, it may be tough to do every task as well as competitors who only have a couple of those tasks. With this new streamlining, Media General will put that concept to the test.

Why Do Journalists Care About the Pulitzers When Readers Don't?

It's a reaction I often see after newspapers run their list of the winners in the biggest prize journalism has to offer: the Pulitzers.

It may be the first line in the obituary of every journalist who wins one, but that only shows that obituaries are a form usually featured best in newspapers. Because each time the list of winners goes up, there is the resultant drizzle of blog posts and columns from people criticizing the awards process and the newspaper executives who get so worked up about them.

As someone who has helped establish journalism contests in Pittsburgh, New Jersey and the Tampa Bay area, I can tell you that awards help encourage journalists. And when journalism's highest honor goes to incisive reports about Walter Reed Hospital, the influence of Vice President Dick Cheney, toxic chemicals in products imported from China, faulty regulation of consumer products and the operation of civilian security contractors in Iraq, it only encourages journalists everywhere to swing for the fences.

These are stories which spawned major headlines worldwide when they were first printed and were dissected on media outlets ranging from local TV shows to The Daily Show. So how does somebody like Gawker president Nick Denton criticize newspapers for honoring this work, saying these outlets should be working harder to chase readers?

If Denton really knew the media world he was criticizing, he would realize that most newspapers' problems these days aren't sliding circulation figures. Our problem is the decimation of advertising revenues; free classifieds online and the demise of the real estate industry is really buffeting our bottom lines.

This is the kind of hard news investigation which fuels the great turning wheel of 24/7 cable news and endless punditry on blogs and talk radio. Denton smirks about newspapers creating journalism to impress their colleagues -- he doesn't get that the Pulitzer's also are about inspiring colleagues to dig up the kind of stories that can change a nation's view of its vice president, its military or its war time conduct.

These are the kind of game changing stories every journalist should aspire to tell at some point in their careers, because they are the fuel that powers the engine of democracy. That Denton sees it solely as an exercise in self congratulation may say a lot more about his work than the awards he's criticizing.

Washington Post Wins Six Pulitzers, Bob Dylan Wins One

Overlooked again.

Journalism's highest honor in 2008, the Pulitzer Prizes, were announced today, and once again I must live vicariously through former Times colleague Anne Hull, who won this year with Dana Priest at the Washington Post for her most excellent series exposing the shortcomings at Walter Reed Army Hospital. In all, the Post took home six awards -- its most ever -- including another by a former SP Times alum, Jo Becker, who worked with Bart Gellman to expose the enormous influence (and man-sized safe) of Vice President Dick Cheney. (UPDATE: I've also been informed that Anne's partner Dana Priest was also an SP Times alum from the '80s, which I didn't realize because I wasn't working here then.)

I also seem to remember that the day her Cheney story ran last year, Jo managed the awesome feat of getting a front page byline at the Post, where she used to work, and the New York Times, where she now works. (a Washingtonian magazine piece back then presciently asked, "What happens if the Post's Cheney series wins a Pulitzer?")

In criticism, the Boston Globe's Mike Feeney won; the paper provides a collection of his stories online, which range from movies to photography. It is very good work, and I applaud a newspaper which has the resources to keep publishing a writer who critiques photography (along with finalist Inga Saffron, who writes about architecture for the Philadelphia Inquirer).

But I do long for the days when beat critics such as Roger Ebert and Tom Shales won Pulitzers for the work they did in the crush of keeping readers informed, day-to-day, about TV and film. It seems to me too often the Pulitzers criticism honors go to writers who are a bit disconnected from most of the criticism average readers consume.

But since Bob Dylan got a Pulitzer for, well, being Bob Dylan, maybe that's already taken care of.

Here's the list of winners, courtesy of the AP:

JOURNALISM:
Public Service: The Washington Post
Breaking News Reporting: The Washington Post staff
Investigative Reporting: Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune Staff
Explanatory Reporting: Amy Harmon of The New York Times
Local Reporting: David Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
National Reporting: Jo Becker and Barton Gellman of The Washington Post
International Reporting: Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post
Feature Writing: Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post
Commentary: Steven Pearlstein of The Washington Post
Criticism: Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe
Editorial Writing: No Award
Editorial Cartooning: Michael Ramirez of Investor’s Business Daily Breaking News
Photography: Adrees Latif of Reuters Feature Photography: Preston Gannaway of the Concord (N.H.) Monitor

ARTS:

Fiction: “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)
Drama: “August: Osage County,” by Tracy Letts
History: “What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815-1848,” by Daniel Walker Howe (Oxford University Press)
Biography: “Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father,” by John Matteson (W.W. Norton)
Poetry: “Time and Materials,” by Robert Hass (Ecco/HarperCollins) and “Failure,” by Philip Schultz (Harcourt)
General Nonfiction: “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945,” by Saul Friedlander (HarperCollins)

MUSIC: “The Little Match Girl Passion,” by David Lang, premiered Oct. 25, 2007, at Carnegie Hall, New York. (G. Schirmer, Inc.)

SPECIAL CITATION: Bob Dylan

   

Death of Newspaper Critics Feels Like a Metaphor for the Industry

A journalist friend of mine last week recalled a quote about the newspaper industry I found funny: No other industry defines its premiere product -- quality investigative news and substantive hard news reporting -- as broccoli to be choked down by a readership which doesn't get it.

I found myself thinking of that quote while reading this piece about the disappearing newspaper TV critic at major regional daily newspapers. It dovetails with stories here and here about the vanishing movie critic at major dailies. And let's not forget this wordy but comprehensive piece by Eric Alterman at the New Yorker about newspapers.

I am obvious the most biased of biased sources. But both these trends seem bassackwards as the broccoli=serious news attitude. There is obviously loads of interest in movies, movie stars, TV, TV actors and the evolution of modern media. So why are newspapers firing, laying off, reassigning or buying out the people who have covered these beats for years?

Reason #1: It saves money -- True enough, most people in these beats are older employees with big paychecks. But look at what happened at the Tampa Tribune when they eliminated longtime movie critic Bob Ross. After trying to develop a squad of average people to do his job, they've turned to TV critic Walt Belcher, asking him to step in and review movies or write trend pieces about films and stage shows, proving it isn't so easy to replace a critic with wire copy as it might seem.

Reason #2: Readers don't care about the content -- This is the toughest argument to gauge. While it's true there isn't a clear cause and effect relationship between critics and audience, critics can do a lot more than evaluate entertainment product. We explain, verify, outline trends, dig up news, start conversations and amplify them. How can you measure that in a poll or box office receipts?

Reason #3: It's old fashioned -- This is argument I understand least. At a time when digital technology is revolutionizing media, why would you eliminate the person whose job involves tracking all of that? If critics are writing boring stuff, then editors should be helping them energize their work, not figuring out how to make them take a buyout. One look at the websites started by pushed-out TV crits Ed Bark in Dallas and David Bianculli in New York shows how little the newspapers which employed them actually allowed these guys to do. In these times, cutting a pop culture arts critic feels like eliminating the cops reporter's job because stories out of the police department are boring. Shouldn't you just improve the performance of your cops reporter?

Yeah, I've got a vested interest in this one. But I wouldn't have spent nearly 20 years honing my abilities as a TV/media critic if I didn't think it was also an important beat to cover well. Hope more newspaper editors start believing that, too...

 

Deggans PunditWatch 08: Another CNN Stop and an Award From Columbia University

The stars have aligned, and I'm coming back to CNN two weeks after a well-received appearance to talk about the media, Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Once again, I'll be on Howie Kurtz's media show Reliable Sources at about 10:30 a.m., this time to talk about the role of Fox News Channel in a political world which may be dominated by Democrats. I'll be appearing with Time magazine's James Poniewozik to discuss a piece he wrote about this very issue in Time magazine. My own writing about Fox has been more sporadic; here's an old piece about the channel's coverage of the then month's old war in Iraq.

I also got some good news a few weeks ago, confirmed by a press release issued recently: My work has been honored once again by Columbia University's Let's Do It Better Awards, a program aimed at improving coverage of people of color by highlighting "best practices" examples of good work.

The good folks at Columbia honored a selection of my columns over the last two years, including this, and this and this. As a result, I'll go to Columbia early next month and meet all the other honorees -- two years ago, I met CBS News legend Ed Bradley there not long before his death -- participating in a panel on race and election coverage moderated by Ray Suarez from PBS' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

All the print stuff will be released in a book, while the TV stuff will be released in DVD, helping other journalists figure out how to negotiate these difficult stories.

Click here to see the release:

The State of the News Media in 2008: More Unraveling Ahead

The Project for Excellence in Journalism yesterday released its latest, comprehensive survey/analysis of the news media. And like most news about big institutions these days, it's mostly frightening.

The big headline: Many things we thought we knew about how digital media is unraveling traditional news media outlets aren't really true. More individuals aren't really creating meaningful news content, the diversity of news platforms (online, podcast, web video, etc.) isn't really translating into a diversity of subjects covered. And while newspaper newsrooms in particular are trying hard to experiment and reinvent, the advertising and marketing department which are expected to generate the revenue which pays for their efforts are lagging behind.

The scariest part of their analysis: news and advertising are decoupling.

Many people don't realize it, but modern news consumers almost never directly pay what it costs to gather the information they absorb. TV, radio and newspapers make most of their money selling their audiences to advertisers, allowing them to offer the news product which creates the audience for free or almost free to the public.

Digital technology is pulling that model apart, like an insistent child tugging on a woven sweater's loose thread. Cynical critic that I am, I think the hidden truth here is that digital media removes a lot of doubt about who is consuming what; on a newspaper website, for example, you can see how many users are reading each story and whether they are local consumers. So advertisers have much more information to lower and target their advertising dollars, which limits revenues for publishers.

Other high points from the PEJ study:

* News is less a finished product and more a continuing service. This is something I've only noticed in part of our work -- namely, the breaking news stuff we do on the Web. But our most popular stuff tells people something they didn't know, or helps them do something they couldn't before.

* Citizen journalism and blog sites are nearly as resistant as old school media in allowing public posting. The hidden truth here is that creating media content is tougher than it looks, especially in news. Most sites are recreating the "gatekeeper" model, where a relatively small circle of contributors create content.

* While newsrooms are working hard to innovate, advertising and marketing departments are having trouble changing their game. This is something I've seen locally; as the established adversing model unravels, business side departments are having a tough time finding new methods to earn the same dollars.

* Story subjects have narrowed in American news media. This is something else I've seen up close. We have more platforms than even here at the Times, but we're chasing a harder-to-reach audience. So our efforts are focused on subjects and approaches which we know our audience finds compelling. Nationally, the PEJ found that more 25 percent of news coverage in 2007 focused on two stories: Iraq and the presidential election.      

Too Pretty To Fly Girls Squashed by Dr. Phil?

  Anybody who read my Times colleague Bill Levesque's most-excellent profile of media savvy attorney John Trevena could not be surprised to learn that the lawyer is now representing the two Oldsmar girls who earned headlines not long ago by claiming Southwest Airlines treated them badly because they were too pretty.

The girls -- Nisreen Swedberg, a 19-year-old University of South Florida student, and her best friend, Sarah Williams, 18 -- will appear in today's episode of the popular daytime talk show Dr. Phil, where they are expected to encounter some serious skepticism from the tough-talking doctor.

Today's show is focused on recent allegations from young women that they were treated poorly on Southwest flights, presumably because of their beauty (waitress Kyla Ebbert made similar charges last year and scored a pictorial in Playboy before the dust settled). But Swedberg and Williams' charges were greeted coolly by many media outlets, despite the fact that their allegtions earned them attention everywhere from the cover of TBT* to Inside Edition.

Host Phil McGraw apprently shared in the skepticism exemplified by a travel writer for MSNBC, who noted: "Ladies, it wasn't that you were 'too pretty to fly.' You were too rude. And, sadly, stereotypically clueless."

Looks like a typically juicy Phil fight-a-thon is in the works.

Here's a CNN story on their allegations....

And Southwest Airline's response:

Still Defiant: David Simon Caps Five Seasons of Unspooling The Wire

The best series currently on television will end its five-year run Sunday night. And most of America's TV audience will never notice.

While  most viewers gear up for next week's American Idol episodes, HBO's The Wire will conclude its run as TV's most challenging, dense creatively astute series. (also, as TV's only predominantly black TV series which isn't perceived as one)

It's not hard to see why Idol gets more attention: The Wire practically dares its audience to keep up, slinging around lingo from politics, cop work, the streets and newspaper newsrooms with no explanation, tackling some of America's most daunting problems with a fatalistic realism that can be unsettling for those used to the way CSI wraps up a murder in 60 minutes or less.

Creator David Simon's message: that few individuals, no matter how heroic, can beat a venal, exploitive bureaucracy. And those who try -- normally the triumphant heroes in more conventional narratives -- usually wind up with the crap end of the stick.

Simon stopped doing interviews when the writers strike broke out in November, so he wasn't available to talk before the debut of the shows last season in January. But with the series finale airing at 9 p.m. Sunday, I finally caught up with the big man to ask a few compelling questions.

Was it tough not talking to the press as your last season started?

“I was very amused by the reaction. People who become fans of the show, they want to see more of what they enjoyed in the past. They want that validated. They always felt that way with (NBC cop show)Homicide. By the time I got to Homicide, Andre Braugher was dying to see his character do something different. But people just wanted to see Frank Pembelton take apart a suspect in the interview room one more time. This season, we went through the same thing.” Hear Simon's take in an interview with National Public Radio's Fresh Air here.

You brought in the media this year. And I was surprised by the way critics who had no problem with the liberties taken in cop shows such as NYPD Blue and Law & Order were complaining about the journalism stuff in The Wire.

“If you’re at a newspaper now where the technology seems to be running against the industry, there’s some frustration is seeing anyone critique the product. I sort of understand that. I believe there was relevance in the critique. I don’t believe that journalists and journalism are wholly innocent in what’s happening. My argument will be that the Internet is a tidal wave, and to withstand it, newspapers had to be strong and vibrant and essential to their communities. After the last few years of profit taking, they were anything but. I know they did when I was at The Sun."

As you say, you were a cops reporter at the Baltimore Sun for many years. Why are so many journalists so resistant to the scenes you're showing in The Wire?

“I knew by presenting this critique that a lot of people would get cranky. There is a wonderful hypocrisy to all the journalists who thought we were doing God’s work when we were lampooning police officers, but the notion that a managing editor might be fatuous or venal, or that the profession might be portrayed in a way that wasn’t ennobling -– now you’re talking outrage. I mean, we had a cop legalizing drugs in season three. I couldn’t sell that story to the mainstream press. Ed Burns gave a bunch of interviews about education to all the education periodicals last season. They were fascinated by the school stuff in season four. But season five... For the first time the mainstream media wants to discuss the content of The Wire. TV critics were talking about the content, but it didn’t make it off the entertainment pages, until we started talking about journalism. And everybody got excited.”

Your downsized Baltimore Sun misses nearly every major story which breaks in the city during this last season -- a lesson about what happens to newspapers with slashed staffs. Do you think people are missing the point because if your well-publicized feud with the two guys who ran the Sun when you left, John Carroll and Bill Marimow?   Read Simon's account of that moment in a first0person piece for Esquire here.

"I have, since 2000, been very public saying that I hold the editors who used to run my newsroom in very low regard. I don’t care that it strikes some people as inelegant or rude or arrogant. These fellas emphasized that in journalism which I did not find meaningful. Ultimately, they aggressively defended a fabricator who had been caught time and again and did so by maligning anyone who would raise the issue personally. For that reason, I’m comfortable with my opinion. I left the paper in 1995. When I left, I still kept them in low regard, but I kept my mouth shut until 2000. They ignored all of it. They kept submitting his stuff for a Pulitzer. A lot of honorable journalists were appalled with what was happening in that newsroom. Four years later when it happened again, and they were apologizing to the governor, at that point, I resolved that I was going to own my past."

But your style of narrative journalism is what wins awards these days -- we practice it at the St. Petersburg Times. Why didn't you feel support for your work at the Sun?

"They value impact journalism. Surround something that is fundamentally unjust and attack it with a series of blunt articles until people react. That is Pulitzer logic. I was on the street doing (the book) The Corner when Clinton’s welfare reform came through. All the adult males had been thrown off the welfare rolls. They were herding them onto (Social Security disability) rolls...because there was no safety net anymore. Did the Baltimore Sun cover the dramatic turn of events as the result on welfare reform? No, they did a series about how so many people were cheating on SSI."

So, to bring a question I've wanted to ask for weeks: Why did have to kill Omar?

“Read your Greek plays – read Antigone. All that stuff you didn’t read in high school. The Wire is cyclical, like most Greek tragedies. The Wire is cyclical in its sense of the permanence of fate. It’s kind of a hard thing for some people to accept. We’re more comfortable with the later western tradition. Characters confront their inner demons and they change their destiny. We like to believe that. But I'm not sure it happens often."

What's the legacy of The Wire?

  “I have no idea. I think we took a lot of risks. We were committed to our content. There’s no reason other people can’t do this, or other shows. There’s every reason to hope some aspect of TV will do the same thing. I’m very grateful to HBO that they gave us 60 episodes and let us do exactly what we wanted. I wouldn’t change a thing  -- well, I wouldn't change anything of real substance. Nothing’s perfect -– nothing is every truly finished, just a little bit abandoned. At the same time, in terms of overall message and intent and storytelling, I’m pretty sanguine."

Tampa Tribune Cuts Down Sections; How Will Readers React?

I've just seen the Tampa Tribune's note today about how the paper will be reconfigured, so I'm not yet sure what to make of it.

It's always delicate territory talking about changes at a competitor, especially when your own organization has implemented its own newsprint-saving changes in the past and may yet create more.

Still, the Tribune's editor's note this morning buries the lede a bit, just as our own communications with readers about slimming the paper emphasized all the new stuff we were doing while de-emphasizing all the old stuff we were not.

What the Tribune is not doing, it seems, is publishing a features section on Mondays and Tuesdays. Daily comics have moved to the front of the classified section, while the features section BayLife becomes a tabloid Wednesday through Saturday. The Tribune's success with advertising in its Saturday health tab 4You hasn't gone unnoticed over here; apparently, they're going to try expanding that success to their features sections.

Their Sunday features section will combine Travel and BayLife in a section called Getaway, TV critic Walt Belcher's column goes four days a week and runs inside the paper's first section (called Nation/World) behind the front page. Its Monday business section will also end, with business news placed inside the Nation/World section. And daily TV listings also go away, available in print only on Sundays in the traditional TV guide booklet.

Newspapers across the country are implementing similar changes, striving to save newsprint, possibly reduce printing costs and shave down staff. I haven't spoken with anyone at the Tribune, so I don't know which, if any, of these issues spurred their changes.

The open question, of source, is how readers will feel about paying the same amount for a newspaper which is going to be smaller and offer less material. The answer to that question, might also answer some worrisome questions about the future of our entire industry.

What do YOU think?

Here's a sample of the letter some of the Tribune's advertising clients are getting:

Dear Client:

You will see changes in our newspaper beginning Monday, March 3.

*Monday – A Monday Business report will publish within Main News.  The Business and Careers section has been discontinued. 

*Monday – BayLife has been eliminated.  The comics will be part of the Classified section. 

*Tuesday – No BayLife, comics will publish in the Classified section

*Wednesday – Flavor has been redesigned as a tab and the comics will publish with Classified.

*Thursday – At Home (formerly a Saturday feature section) will publish as a tab and the comics will be in Classified

*Friday – We are eliminating the Baylife Insider pages from Friday Extra.  Comics will publish with the Classifieds.

*Saturday – 4 You will be our feature section and the comics will publish with Classified.

*Sunday – Baylife and Travel will be combined into one broadsheet section. 

Movie times will be listed as follows:

1.       In The Tampa Tribune and Sunbelt News (Community News sections) within the Tribune on Wednesday and Saturday

2.       In Friday Extra

3.       In Sunday Baylife

McCain and the Lobbyist: Will Journalists Derail His Straight Talk Express?

I gave a speech yesterday to a community group and made the mistake of bringing up perceived political bias in the media. Usually, I try to explain why people on the right think mainstream media is biased to the left (our aggressive pursuit of social justice stories) and why people on the left think mainstream media is biased to the right (our support of corporatism, capitalism and materialism).

But these folks were having none of it. Many of the most vocal participants were conservatives, convinced that Rush Limbaugh and Fox News present the only "fair and balanced" reportage. My speech, which was contentious but ended on common ground, wound up with a  fellow asking me in a portentous voice: "Tell me, honestly, what do you think of the New York Times?"

Given the newspaper's revelations yesterday about John McCain and his ties to a beautiful, 32-year-old female lobbyist, I wonder how my inquisitor would answer that question himself, now.

I'm not that old, but I still remember the days when a bombshell newspaper story would mostly produce one question: Did they get it right? But today's media have been so demonized -- and in a post Jayson Blair, Post-Judith Miller-age, rightly unmasked as occasionally dysfunctional -- bombshell political media stories bring a different question.

Why are they reporting this? And why now?

Indeed, that's the biggest question left following the New York Times' revelations that McCain aides  interceded to make him back away from an apparently close friendship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman (okay, maybe the second-biggest question; the first being, did they, or didn't they?) The Times report was echoed by the Washington Post a few hours later, but rumors of this story surfaced in December; why did it take the Times and Post so long to publish?

Obviously, the Post's report reveals there was competition for the story, and rumors abound the New Republic is publishing a piece today on the fight within the Grey Lady over the delay of the story.

Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford has written some interesting stuff about how politicians have convinced the public to mistrust the media. I found myself thinking about his work this morning, as I parsed all the reasons why the New York Times wouldn't necessarily be gunning for McCain now: the newspaper endorsed him during the New York primary; the newspaper, along with other media outlets, has long been accused of being too soft on McCain; the newspaper didn't publish the allegations when the Republican primary was still in doubt, or when the general election was in full swing -- much more delicate times for the candidate.

There are even some bloggers implying that the Times held the story because they were intimidated by conservatives -- conveniently forgetting the way many politicians and pundits called for the Times to be prosecuted for treason in 2006 over its reporting on the Treasury Department's monitoring of financial networks for terrorist activity without oversight.

I liked this piece noting that there's no better time for McCain for this piece to hit print: It solidifies conservatives behind him as a victim of a liberal press, coming after he's sewn up the GOP nomination but before the general election, so voters have plenty of time to forget it. But then the author makes an uninformed observation, blaming the Times for endorsing McCain while its reporters were working on this story.

Those of us who know newspapers know that the editorial boards are separate from newsgathering operations. The editorial board likely werote its endorsement with little knowledge of the news side's McCain story beyond the rumors which surfaced in some press stories in December. Indeed, that separation is the primary argument editors use when people accuse the paper of reporting which serves its admittedly liberal op-ed focus.

It's an interesting paradox: people have complained about the press giving McCain a free ride because they like him so much. But when the New York Times tries to show there may be some hypocrisy behind his anti-lobbyist stance, they are criticized for trafficking in old news. And some of the same people who complain about an inaccurate, trigger happy press also grouse when the newspaper takes time in reporting a blockbuster story. 

And as I think back to the fellow I met last night -- who wasn't buying my answer that the New York Times' problems have a lot less to do with political bias than he thinks -- I wonder what it would take to convince that guy anything printed in the Times was true.

 

Black Cartoonists Use the Same Joke to Make Their Point

Loyal blogreaders may remember a piece I did a while back about black cartoonists staging a protest in which several of them would draw the same strip on the same Sunday. The point being: Though editors and some readers may think their strips are interchangeable, they are not.

Here are a few of the strips which were published yesterday -- 11 cartoonists in all agreed to participate -- as part of that effort. Since humor is the most subjective art on the planet, I leave it to you to decide whether the strips are actually funny. But the point about differences in the strips seems well made (because I had to reduce these strips to make them fit on my blog, I suggest you click on the cartoon to see it in full, undistorted glory).

     

Tribune Co. Owner Sam Zell Speaks the F-You Heard Around the Media World

I've been a journalist for nearly 20 years, at papers which have endured strikes, cutbacks, layoffs, sales and more, and there's one thing which remains constant about us Fourth Estaters.

We love challenging authority -- even, occasionally, those who employ us.

So it was with some dismay that I read this Gawker story about new Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell's acerbic performance at an employee forum held by the Orlando Sentinel (UPDATE: This is the company which owns the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers). Apparently, after a question from a journalist who wondered if the newspaper's mission might not be corrupted if it worked too hard to chase reader preferences, Zell added an f-word for emphasis under his breath.

Zell reportedly has apologized for his lapse to the photojournalist he insulted. But at a time when every journalist in mainstream media is worried about their future, such astonishing resistance to a contrary view doesn't fill me with confidence for Tribune's future management.

Imagine trying to keep Zell from putting the latest Britney Spears story on the cover of the Chicago Tribune or stripping ads across the front of the Los Angeles Times.

An f-you might not be the half of the response -- hardly a quality management technique. (UPDATE: Tribune Co. spinmeisters say Zell was reacting to being asked that question at several papers and the perception that the photog, who was walking away from him while he answered, wasn't listening. Read the Sentinel's take here)

Check out the moment for yourself:

   

PolitiFact Hits the National Stage; But Emphasis on Polling Remains Media Flaw

It's been great fun to see the hard-working folks from the Times' political fact-checking site, PolitiFact, expand the brand. At a time when presidential candidates are slinging all sorts of charges, CNN, MSNBC, the Dallas Morning News and a wide assortment of bloggers have regularly turned to Politifact to sort truth from fiction.

Wondering what the make of the charges and counter-charges thrown around during last night's GOP debate? Check Politifact's nearly live coverage of the event, featuring several assertions vetted with admirable speed (Times editor in chief Paul Tash even managed a good zinger, asking Giuliani why he spends so much time talking about how immigrants should learn to speak English, and then drafts campaign commercials for Florida in Spanish?)

But you can't have a compliment from a critic without a little qualification. And what's bugging me about recent coverage of Florida is our continued reliance on polling to forecast the results.

Pundits and anchors spent weeks apologizing for the mess that was New Hampshire coverage, admitting  that Obama's performance in Iowa's caucus, and polls suggesting he might find similar success in New Hampshire's primary, faked them into believing an Obama surge would overwhelm Hillary Clinton.

Now we have polling suggesting that Giuliani is about to lose big in Florida, dooming his campaign amid a risky strategy to focus on this state as his first real proving ground. Our own poll, conducted with the Miami Herald and Bay News 9, was widely quoted Thursday as proof, with folks saying he's fallen "faster than the Dow Jones average."

Giuliani, asked about the poll results Thursday, neatly compared himself to the New York Giants rather than use the most recent political example of resurrection and poll defying success which comes to mind -- namely, his nemesis Hillary Clinton.

I think the Huffington Post may have the best idea here, vowing to treat polling results with the same amusing superstition we reserve for astrology columns and fortune cookie predictions (I'm not, however, down with their advice that readers should hang up on pollsters and refuse to participate).

How many times do journalists need to get bitten by this issue before we put polls and horse race predictions in the proper perspective?

Are Black Cartoonists Unfortunate Predictors of the Entire Industry?

After 18 years in the business, you'd think I would know by now: if you're lucky enough to stumble on a good story, get it into print soon as possible.

Case in point: fellow Times staffer Charlos Gary told me in mid-2007 about a possible protest by several of the small number of black people who pen daily cartoon strips for newspapers nationwide, in which they would all draw the same strip to satirize the idea that comics page editors -- and some readers -- seemed to view their comics as interchangeable (I can't reprint the strip here because syndication companies are especially touchy about publishing cartoons before they are released to clients).

When he confirmed that it was happening last week, I began digging into the issue, trying to learn more about why these guys complained about a "two strip rule" in which most newspapers seemed to only feature two strips starring minority characters on a page which might hold more than 20 -- forcing black, Latino and Asian cartoonists to compete for just one of two slots instead of the wider field.

"It seems clear that it’s tokenism to me,” said Darrin Bell, who introduced the strip Candorville in 2003  and has since seen it featured by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and many other newspapers -- often viewed as a successor to Aaron McGruder's provocative, black-focused strip The Boondocks.

“I find it hard to believe that a newspaper wouldn’t have Curtis and Candorville and Café Con Leche all in the same paper; all they have in common is the ethnicity of the characters,” Bell added. “I dread hearing what strip I’ve replaced when I’m added to a newspaper, because more often it’s Curtis or Jump Start or one of the other comics which encouraged me to get into the business.”

Unfortunately, one of the cartoonists also sent an email to the newspaper industry magazine Editor & Publisher, which broke the story out from under me a couple of days ago (no shame on E&P or the cartoonists; I should have moved quicker to get it in print). My column on it all runs Monday, but I figured I'd give a preview now -- because I believe these cartoonists are actually canaries in the coalmine, reflecting more intensely a difficulty to break new talent which affects the entire comics industry.

On Feb. 10, Bell and at least seven other black cartoonists will present the protest comic: Charlos Gary (who does two strips, Café con Leche and Working It Out), Cory Thomas (Watch Your Head), Stephen Bentley (Herb and Jamaal), Jerry Craft (Mama’s Boyz), Stephen Watkins (Housebroken), editorial cartoonist Tim Jackson and Keith Knight (K-Chronicles). Bell hopes more cartoonists will sign on as word spreads.

They all will duplicate a strip originally created by Thomas, whose Watch Your Head is the only  participating comic which appears in the St. Petersburg Times (though Charlos Gary works as a graphic artist at this newspaper, the Times doesn’t publish either of his strips). Overall, Editor and Publisher estimates there are about 15 black cartoonists in national syndication to newspapers, among more than 200 artists in the field.

Thomas said he ran into some of the issues raised by their “protest” – Bell balks a using such a serious word to describe complaints about cartoons – when the Times first began publishing Watch Your Head, which was adapted in 2006 from a strip about six college buddies he drew for historically black Howard University’s The Hilltop newspaper.

“Visiting the (St. Petersburg Times’) message boards was a rude awakening,” he said. “A lot of people were bashing (the comic), saying it wasn’t a worthy replacement for The Boondocks. But how do you know my strip isn’t a replacement for Cathy? If you’re looking to my strip to find the things you found in The Boondocks, you’ll be disappointed, because my strip is nothing like that.”

In fact, as the newspaper industry contracts, comic artists find their traditionally popular pages squeezed as well. Common complaints include: editors who balk at changing comics pages for fear of angering longtime readers; editors who choose comics reflecting their own sensibilities instead of reflecting their own community’s diversity; the persistence of “legacy” comics such as B.C. and Beetle Bailey, which are still produced -- often at lower quality – by relatives or other artists long after their creators have died.

At the St.Petersburg Times, features editor Mike Wilson admitted there could be more ethnic diversity on the newspaper’s comics page, which currently features just two strips centered on minority characters among about 28 comics featured weekdays.

“There’s certainly no ‘two strip rule’ here…but we have these problems because of the extreme difficulty replacing anything,” said Wilson, who recalled receiving 250 reader complaints when the newspaper cut longtime strip Cathy in 2006. “This isn’t like adding a new columnist on home repair. You have to really engage in a deep conversation with readers because they care a lot about this.”

All I know, is that I used to live for reading the comics pages in my youth, and now I barely look at them. When I do, they seemed filled with comics which are hardly funny, many of which were ancient when I first started reading them. Can't help but believe some new blood would help. 

   

Eight Media Faces to Watch in '08

The Writer's Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers -- Their dispute over a new contract has served as an example of the forces tearing the TV industry apart, sidelining Hollywood's entire creative community just when they need to be proving their worth to an increasingly fragmented audience. Already, the clock is ticking -- if the strike lasts into March, the next year's TV season may not survive and audiences driven from free network television by reruns and reality TV may never return.

Rupert Murdoch -- While the world is distracted by Sam Zell's purchase of Tribune Co., the owner of Fox News Channel and the New York Post just cemented his dream of controlling the gold standard of business journalism, the Wall Street Journal. What he does with this brand over the next 12 months may affect what we learn about everything from the effect of inheritance taxes to the operation of China. Can the man who created a sycophantic cable TV news channel for conservatives be trusted with the most hallowed name in business journalism?

Bubba the Love Sponge Clem -- Cox Radio is paying him nearly $2-million to try taming his x-rated  satellite radio act for Tampa and Jacksonville free radio. If it works, he'll not only make history as the first jock to succeed in both places, he'll pave the way to building an even more lucrative syndication deal for himself in other markets. Can he pull it off?

Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson -- Last year, it looked like American Idol was poised to Jump the Shark with a predictable slate of finalists and a winner who once again offered a dog of a debut record. But with the writer's strike paralyzing Hollywood, Idol could wind up an even bigger hit with an audience starved for new TV.

FCC Chair Kevin Martin -- He's fighting public advocacy groups on all sides, members of Congress from both parties and most of his fellow commissioners in a bid to relax media ownership rules which will surely play out in 2008. Who knew there was somebody who could run that agency worse than Martin's predecessor, Michael "Colin's son" Powell?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs -- Most experts agree the last frontier in media is finding a way to meld the computer (active media use) with the television (passive media use). And even though his Apple TV hasn't yet turned that corner -- only works with TV stuff downloaded through iTunes and is still a little too complex -- Jobs is best positioned to produce the killer app that unites PC and TV, perhaps this year.

Meredith Attwell Baker, acting assistant secretary for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration -- I'd never heard of her or this group before, either, but it turns out the NTIA is responsible for advising the president on communications issues -- and will be responsible for helping 20-million TV viewers use a voucher handed them by Congress to upgrade their TVs when the nation's television signals switch entirely to digital. About 20-million people don't have cable, satellite TV or digital TV sets, and will see their ability to access TV signals disappear on Feb. 18, 2009. How well the FCC and NTIA helps these people -- many of them poor, elderly and living in rural areas -- may dictate how well the digital TV transition goes for everyone.

YOU - At the risk of repeating the mistake Time magazine made a year ago, the future of nearly every media platform rests in your hands. You will decide whether to keep reading newspapers in enough numbers to keep the business model alive; you will decide whether parking it in front of the small screen every night in huge numbers makes any sense; you will decide whether to buy music from established outlets or steal it for nothing. The digital revolution has put the future of nearly every entertainment media platform in your hands -- use that power wisely over the next 12 months. Please. 

Deggans' Nine Media Mistakes in '07: Part One

I was surprised as anyone to find I had written one of the most-viewed stories featured on Tampabay.com this year. Imagine my greater surprise when I realized the story in question wasn't about Don Imus, or media consolidation or Barack Obama's unique handling of race or the tragic deaths of local media luminaries: it was