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LOCAL NEWS Mercury News Membership Meeting
Veteran Mercury News reporter Cathie Calvert dies at 74 Veteran San Jose Mercury News reporter Cathie Calvert died May 17. She was 74. Graduating with a journalism degree from San Jose State College, Calvert went to work as society editor for the nearby and now defunct Sunnyvale Daily Standard. She joined the then-afternoon Mercury News 13 years later, in 1970. FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS
Can the dailies survive behind paywalls? A little over a year from now, you may no longer be able to read any Bay Area daily newspaper online for free. And it's not just happening here. All over the country, after years of bankruptcies and plunging revenues, the largest media and entertainment outlets are finally getting up the gumption to demand that you pay for what they produce. If they succeed, the odd quirk of history that gave us instant online gratification will come to an end. But will they succeed? More objections filed in MediaNews Group parent's bankruptcy case Two more objections were filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in connection with the pre-packaged reorganization plan offered by Affiliated Media Inc., parent of Denver-based newspaper chain MediaNews Group Inc. BANG-EB: THE GUILD UPDATE News of the MediaNews bankruptcy The MediaNews bankruptcy marches ahead. So far, proceedings in Delaware bankruptcy court seem to agree with the idea that Chapter 11 proceedings will be limited to MNG's holding company, Affiliated Media Inc., and will not affect employees or union contracts. David R. Hock of Cohen, Weiss and Simon represented The Newspaper Guild/Communications Workers of America locals at the first day hearing on Jan. 26. It appears the pre-packaged bankruptcy will come to a swift conclusion, heading for confirmation without objection on March 4. MediaNews Group reportedly worried its phones will be shut off In its reporting about the impending bankruptcy filing by Affiliated Media, the holding company of MediaNews Group, its owner, the Denver Post left the B-word out of the headline -- and its published version of an Associated Press story about the filing left out intriguing info included by other papers, including details of MediaNews boss Dean Singleton's salary. PRESS RELEASE
CEO and top editor named for S.F. news launch Nonprofit to supply Bay Area news for NY Times The Bay Area News Project, a new nonprofit public media organization based in San Francisco, announced today the names of its two senior leaders, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Frazier and Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Weber. In conjunction with The New York Times, the media non-profit also announced it will supply news for the Bay Area sections of The Times. BANG-EB: THE GUILD UPDATE MediaNews bankruptcy filing stirs union legal action Guild will fight to protect contracts MediaNews Group's planned bankruptcy filing raised alarms throughout the company, and Guild members have wasted no time getting our legal department on the case. Our East Bay leaders were part of a national MNG Guild gathering in San Francisco, where an announcement was issued the day after the long-rumoured debt plan was unveiled. FUTURE OF JOURNALISM News Project on track, posts for new tech job KQED won't be 'founding partner,' says UC dean Neil Henry of UC Berkeley confirmed that the News Project has "secured an outstanding CEO and an extraordinary editor in chief whose names will be announced later this month," and added that "KQED will not play a role as a founding partner, but we look forward to its active participation." A report on MediaBistro discusses a new job posting and says the project is "moving forward." The Tablet Hype
They can't possibly save magazines and newspapers Sports Illustrated dazzled the technorati and knuckle-draggers alike earlier this month with a demo of a digital tablet prototype of the magazine promised for 2010. Radiating a wow-factor equal to some of the media gadgets in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, the SI demo promises full-motion video, lightning-quick screen refreshes as you flick from page to page, and the power to customize the device per your preferences. SINGLETON MESSAGES STAFF
MediaNews nearing debt deal with banks Singleton asks patience of employees MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton and President Jody Lodovic said Thursday that the company is close to an agreement with its banks on a debt restructuring plan. Once the plan is completed toward the end of the first quarter of 2010, they added, the company expects to have a "manageable level of debt" and will look forward to "a changing but exciting future."
Joe Strupp: Goodbye 'E&P'? A wonderful ride After writing about too many layoffs, buyouts, furloughs and shutdowns, I got the news myself Thursday when bosses at parent company Nielsen gave us the word that E&P would cease to exist. THE NEWS PROJECT Top management to be named soon for Bay Area startup Participants in the founding of the Bay Area News Project outlined some of their goals in a status report published by the American Journalism Review. For the Guild, it's all about quality jobs. One union representative said the effort is intended "to invent a new structure and a new model to set the foundation for what we really want to do, which is journalism." BANG-EB: THE GUILD UPDATE Health care costs creep ever higher Management has sent open enrollment packets for next year's health benefits to all workers at both the Bay Area News Group-East Bay and the Mercury News. In most cases, California MediaNews Group employees -- union or not -- are covered by the same health plan. The Guild has negotiated protections against premium increases at the Merc and Monterey Herald, but we did not yet achieve this in our first round of contract negotiations in the East Bay. Our contract guarantees, however, that Guild-covered workers at BANG-East Bay be treated the same as management when it comes to health care. Brokaw Road office closed in San Jose We spend less on rent, more on staff and organizing In an effort to better use the resources of our newly merged local, staff and officers of the Mercury News unit decided to close the Guild office on Brokaw Road. We finished packing and gave the keys back to the landlord last week. This will allow us to maintain a high level of staffing and organizing support despite budget constraints. FUTURE OF JOURNALISM
Cal journalism students celebrate hyperlocal launch Richmond Confidential news site debuts online Students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism launched Richmond Confidential, the school's third "hyperlocal" news site, with a pizza party Thursday night at North Gate Hall. Local politicians offered congratulations along with Cal faculty and the Media Workers. We urged the students to make their voice heard as the new nonprofit media collaboration known as the Bay Area News Project takes shape. How union helped new Bay Area News Project San Francisco philanthropist/financier Warren Hellman grabbed most of the ink, and pixels, after the announcement last month that he would provide $5 million in seed money to help UC Berkeley and KQED sponsor a nonprofit multimedia local news website. Pretty much ignored in the press coverage was the role of the local Media Workers Guild in creating the Bay Area News Project (BANP)-- the current informal name of the embryonic news enterprise. NEWSROOM OF THE FUTURE
Hellman news play: KQED, UC -- and N.Y. Times? Nonprofit in talks with NY Times Financier Warren Hellman is teaming up with public broadcaster KQED Public Media and UC Berkeley's graduate school of journalism to create a nonprofit news organization by next year to fill gaps in local news coverage left by the decline of the San Francisco Chronicle and other daily papers. The venture may also include the New York Times Co., which said it has had "fruitful" conversations with the other participants. FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS
Time for frank talk about Mercury News 'Our work here is important. We need your help to preserve it.' We need to talk. We need to talk about the Mercury News, about why it's vital to you and about how we can make it better in a time of shrinking staffs and declining profits. Maybe you've read about how the newspaper business, and the Mercury News with it, is struggling. Maybe you've taken that to mean that we've lost our determination to bring you the news, or that we're just playing out the string. We haven't and we aren't. Text of award honoring Sylvia Ulloa The Frank Rene Sauliere Award is the highest honor our local can bestow on one of its members for outstanding Guild service. It is not given every year, only when a Guild member exhibits exemplary leadership and service. It has been awarded only 15 times over the San Jose Guild's 72-year history. This year, the honor goes to Sylvia Ulloa, who over the course of her years serving as unit chair, local president and vice president of the newly merged San Jose and San Francisco local, has displayed remarkable leadership and a fierce commitment to protecting the interests of Newspaper Guild members during the union's most tumultuous and challenging period, which includes the merger of the locals. BULLETIN More layoffs imminent at Chronicle No details known as yet The Guild was given a "heads-up" today that more layoffs are in store for The Chronicle. There were no details as to numbers or departments, but additional information was expected within a day or two. Palo Alto's Daily News packs on the pounds For the third time this year, the Daily News of Palo Alto is undergoing a format change. Starting Tuesday, it will measure 21 inches in length -- this after having already tried on and rejected lengths of 16 and 11 inches. The paper apparently can't stop swigging from the "Drink me" bottle. BANG-EB: THE GUILD UPDATE Copy desk, other issues raised with MediaNews Guild representatives from BANG-EB and the San Jose Mercury News met with MediaNews Group representatives this week to discuss the recent staff reductions, copy desk consolidation, internships and other important issues. Both units had concerns about the recent move of copy editors from San Jose into the Walnut Creek newsroom. Williams joins California Watch The Center for Investigative Reporting announced today that it has hired Lance Williams as an investigative reporter covering money and politics for CIR's new California Watch project. Williams joins California Watch from the San Francisco Chronicle, where he helped break many of the newspaper's exclusive stories on the BALCO steroid scandal. With Mark Fainaru-Wada, he wrote Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports. The book, combined with the Chronicle articles, prompted Sen. George Mitchell's investigation of baseball's steroid era and led to many reforms. Mercury News layoff and buyout information Mercury News layoff and buyout information Guild contractual benefits available to editorial members who took a buyout or were laid off by the Mercury News. |
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