Member Announcements:
Gannett acquires New Jersey’s The Record, Herald News Staff (USA TODAY)
Gannett has acquired The Record (Bergen County, NJ), the Herald News, and affiliated digital properties, and Community News Group, the Magazine Group, and the Events Group from North Jersey Media Group Inc., growing to 109 local daily papers, plus USA TODAY, across 34 states.
Lexington Herald-Leader to be printed in Louisville, will put downtown building on market (Lexington Herald-Leader)
The Lexington Herald-Leader announced that it will transfer its printing and packaging operations to Louisville and will put its building in downtown Lexington up for sale. Gannett Publishing Services, in Louisville, will print the Herald-Leader beginning Aug. 1. The move will allow the Herald-Leader to be printed on newer presses, and is also more cost effective. The Herald-Leader’s news, advertising, audience and administrative staff will still be based in downtown Lexington.
Patrick Dolan becomes majority owner of Newsday Media Group (Newsday)
Patrick Dolan, President of News 12 Networks, is buying a majority stake in the Newsday Media Group from Altice USA. An entity led by Dolan will own 75 percent of Newsday Media, which includes Newsday, amNewYork, the Hometown Shopper papers and related websites and mobile apps. Dolan will become president of Newsday Media and will continue to lead News 12. According to a letter from Dolan to Newsday Media employees, day-to-day operations will continue to be led by Ed Bushey, senior vice president/general manager, and Debby Krenek, senior vice president/digital and editorial director.
Staff Announcements:
Gannett Co., Inc.:
John Fenix was named Vice President of Labor Relations at Gannett, effective July 11
Chris Davis was named Vice President of Investigative Reporting for USA TODAY NETWORK
Jaime Spencer was named General Manager of Iowa City Press-Citizen
New England Newspapers: Edward L. Woods has resigned as CEO and regional publisher of New England Newspapers Inc. Martin Langeveld, former publisher of The Berkshire Eagle, has been named acting publisher.
News Media Alliance Announcements:
FCC Longs for the Days of Gas Rationing and Bell-Bottoms
In this Op-Ed, president & CEO David Chavern criticizes the recent FCC decision to keep the ban on media cross-ownership in place. Last month, the head of the FCC announced a proposal to keep in place a ban on media cross-ownership. Established more than forty years ago, the ban was instituted in the days of gasoline rationing and Bell-bottoms. A few things have changed since then – the advent of straight-leg jeans (several times), punk rock (several times) and, oh yes, that thing called the “Internet”.
Webinar: Managing Changes in The Department of Labor’s Overtime Rules The U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, announced the final changes to the regulations that govern the “White Collar” overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). NAA members: Join us on Tuesday, July 12 from 2-3 p.m. EST to hear Tammy McCutchen, principal of Littler Mendelson and former administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor, and Andrew Voss, shareholder of Littler Mendelson, provide detailed guidance on the new overtime requirements and provide practical steps on how newspapers and media companies can respond to these changes. No cost for members.
Retail Revenue Exchange Conference
Members: Join us for the 2016 Retail Revenue Exchange Conference, taking place September 7-9 in Chicago. Newspaper companies will have the opportunity to meet with key advertisers and agencies all in one place for productive one-on-one meetings. Members only. Register today! (member log-in required)
Webinar: Innovations in Audience Strategies That Reduce Subscriber Churn In this webinar on Thursday, July 21 from 2-3 p.m. EST, Mather Economics President, Matt Lindsay, and the audience executives from Newsday and the Columbus Dispatch will share strategies that are delivering significant, measurable success in lowering churn and improving the performance of news media companies in both digital and print platforms. Register today to learn about this strategy and adaptable tactics to better retain subscribers and the programs essential to achieving the goal of building audience and revenue.
What We’re Reading:
A Boston journalism nonprofit is among the first publishers to sell subscriptions on Medium (NiemanLab)
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism is the only local news organization offering subscriptions through Medium’s beta program, asking readers $3 a month and has garnered 23 subscribers in its first two weeks.
Why The Washington Post is integrating vertical video into its strategy (Journalism.co.uk)
Producing vertical videos required an additional effort, as animations and other graphics are usually required, but has paid off in engagement and optimization on mobile platforms.
Young and old news consumers want to get their news in very different ways, says Pew (Nieman Lab)
The new research shows that 54% of 18-29 year olds prefer to get news digitally. Just 38% of those 30-49 and 15% of those 50-64 say the same. The disparity in news consumption is even more drastic when it comes to mobile.
News media move to ban ad blockers from websites (The Financial Times)
Ben Barokas, chief executive of Sourcepoint, predicts that most publishers will have adopted some kind of technology to circumvent ad blockers by 2020.
What We’re Tweeting:
@NAAupdates: Good read on public notices in #newspapers and impact on minorities | NAHP News –http://bit.ly/29ozGhR
@NAACEO: Interesting podcast about why people like news so much: Why Do We Really Follow the News?http://freakonomics.com/podcast/113127/via @freakonomics
Lindsey is Director, Communications at the News/Media Alliance. She has over 15 years of experience working in communications for nonprofits.
