Tribune, you suck

Cross-post with another on of my blogs. Bob Norman's post (link above)on Flower's boot from her beat at the Sun-Sentinel. Stupid newspaper penny pinchers.


Pulp writes:

And there are murmurings that this could be a Tribune Company-wide trend that could kill local movie coverage in a number of Tribune newspaper towns.

Otherr commenters note:

Tribune will have one central copy editing system operating for all of its newspapers in a few weeks. Local copy desk staffs around the country will work on the same CCI system producing their own newspapers. Once that happens, all Tribune newspapers can share previously edited stories with photos and graphics already attached. The newsroom is rife with speculation about which coverage and sections will be produced by Tribune, with a local designer to fit the chain-wide copy around the ads. Travel? TV? Books? National and international news? Business? Whatever the plan is, the Sun-Sentinel is moving to a universal copy desk to handle the changed workflow.

Yeah. Those of us in the biz know how important it is to make friends with the copy desk. Dude, how do I bring donuts to a universal desk. Not to mention -- papers are supposed to be local.

Another poster notes:

The S-S also is not replacing horse racing writer Dave Joseph, who left to work for the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise.

Bad, bad, bad news...

"What the newspaper industry needs right now is a good publicist"

In January, the Newspaper Association of America announced it was launching a new marketing campaign. Sample copy: "Wait till you see what's in tomorrow's newspaper.... It's not the paper you grew up with. America's newspapers are now delivering their product on Web sites, podcasts, and e-mails." The tagline: "Newspaper. The Multi-Medium."

Catchy, huh? Forget the journalism; it's all about media platforms. Here's another idea: Big picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, with an inset photo of the wounded Iraq veterans who spilled their horror stories on Capitol Hill this week. Below, in an enormous bold red letters: "WHO GOT THIS STORY? A NEWSPAPER, THAT'S WHO."

As every good flack knows, public image is a precious thing. Use it or lose it.

~ William Powers, National Journal