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ULY 2010 WWW.EDITORANDPUBLISHER.COM $8.95
NEW TOOLSInside Journal Register Co.sBen Franklin Project
THE STATE OF THE
SYNDICATESContent sells, but whos buying?
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PhiladelphiaNewspapers
www.edi to randpubl i sher.com J U L Y 2 0 1 0 EDITOR& PUBLISHER 3
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E & P O N L I N Ewww.editorandpublisher.com
FEATURESTHE STATE OF THE SYNDICATESWith newsrooms shrinking and
newspapers still looking to provide
content, one might think the
providers of syndicated content
would be doing a booming business.
But are they? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
A DIGITAL RETOOLING In keepingwith its new CEOs digital-first
philosophy, Journal Register Co. tries
an experiment in which its papers are
asked to swap out its legacy systems
for free Web tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
THE A SECTIONQ&A: Greg Osberg
Philadelphia Newspapers new
publisher/CEO talks about the
challenges ahead in ushering the City
of Brotherly Loves two major papers
forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Diving In A video journalist for
The Associated Press slips into the
oily waters of the Gulf of Mexico to
deliver a firsthand account . . . . . . . 6
Sharing alike Publish2 looks
to target the middleman role of
The Associated Press by fostering
content sharing among various
publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Franchising the news
A former publisher of community
newspapers is back in business with
a plan to launch thousands of
community news sites . . . . . . . . . . 12
Photo of the Month . . . . . 14
DEPARTMENTS
EDITORIALWhen the Federal TradeCommission is proposing government
subsidies for newspapers, its best to
stay skeptical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
THE DATA PAGE Check out the top 25gainers in combined print and online
readership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
INSIDE
AMERICAS EXTRA Aid from theHaiti News Project begins arriving
to help revive damaged
newspapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
SYNDICATES Reuben Award winnerDan Piraro ofBizarro fame discussescartooning and reveals his favorite
part of the job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
OPERATIONS New YorksDailyNews plays the long game in
realizing the potential of its
upgraded plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
MARKETPLACE Highlights of recentproduct and service introductions,
upgrades, sales and installations 26
SYNDICATES DIRECTORYE&Ps annual guide to everything
you need to know about providers of
syndicated content . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
NEWSOSAURAlan D. Mutter on howThe San Diego Union-Tribune added
an extra $100K a week to its gross
advertising revenues . . . . . . . . . .92
Classified begins on page 95
@30 Media President/CEOSherman Frederick fights back
against those who would steal whats
rightfully his . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
ON THE COVER: Clockwise from top left:
King Features Syndicate; United Feature
Syndicate; Creators Syndicate; King
Features Syndicate; United Feature
Syndicate; Universal Press Syndicate.
6
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34 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JULY 20 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com
To jump-start its digital-first strategy,
dailies drop legacy systems for free Web tools
By Mark Fitzgerald
JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S
DIGITAL RETOOLING
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www.edi to randpubl i sher.com JULY 20 1 0 EDITOR& PUBLISHER 35
Its a process: News-Herald staffers used free Internetsoftware to complete an entire edition from start to
finish. Clockwise from top left: Story assignments
were created and shared using Google Docs; an
imposition was made in OpenOffice.org; GIMP,a photo editing program, was one of several used
for toning; layouts were completed using Scribus
Newspapers are process-driven,
Paton says. And in many cases the
processes are broken because the
companies themselves havent
invested in the proper IT, and our
thinking gets heavily invested in
this broken process.
And if any newspaper company
was broken, it was JournalJOURNAL REGISTER CO.S BEN FRANKLIN
Project might strike some as a stunt. But to
CEO John Paton, the reason to make the
chains 18 dailies produce a newspaper
using only digital tools available for free on
the Internet is to force a change in thinking.
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36 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JANUARY 2 0 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com
continued on page 90
Register. Though it has some of the most storied
properties in the nation, such as theNew Haven
(Conn.)Register, it suffered for the better part of three
decades under a succession of ownerships seemingly
determined to test the very limits of cost-cutting. JRC
has terrible IT, Paton says flatly. Not terrible IT peo-
ple, but terrible systems because there has not been a
lot of money invested in the technology.
Paton is one of the newspaper industrys chief evan-gelists for a digital-first, print-last strategy, and Journal
Register Version 1.0 might seem like an unlikely place
to practice that philosophy.
Instead, it spurred him to thinking that, as he notes,
would not seem radical in any other information
industry except newspapers. If you take the crappy
systems and add the need for culture change, why
dont we try crowd-source journalism, open-source
journalism and populate the results of that on Web
and print using only free Web-based tools? he asks.
As editor ofThe News-Heraldin Willoughby, Ohio,
Tricia Ambrose was, in effect, the first front-line guinea
pig in the Ben Franklin Project, along with another
News-Herald, JRCs weekly in Perkasie, Pa. The twopapers volunteered to figure out how to produce an
entire paper using Web tools. Once they successfully
completed their editions in May, Paton promptly
announced that all 18 JRC dailies would do the same
thing on July 4.
It really forced us to accelerate or move in the
first place to digital-first, especially some of the
more veteran journalists who hadnt quite been into
Twitter and other social media, Ambrose says.
It wasnt always a smooth process. TheNews-Heraldfound
that a lot of the digital tools simply werent up to the task.
If youre at your house putting together a newsletter,
theyre fabulous, Ambrose says, but if youre sharing with35 people, its slow going.
Sports Editor John Kuehn, getting his section ready for
the July 4 deadline at The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich.,
found himself struggling to get productivity out of the
painfully slow free page-composition tool Scribus. Theres
a reason its free, he says with a laugh.
Yet in many ways, sharing that learning curve energized
the newsrooms, editors say. Younger journalists were
suddenly the ones mentoring veterans on Web apps.
It was nice to work on a project where everybody is fired
Ben Franklins Tool Shed
Crowd-sourcing
Survey Monkey surveymonkey.com
Polldaddy polldaddy.com
YouTube youtube.com
Vimeo vimeo.com
CoverItLive coveritlive.com
Newsroom
Google Docs docs.google.com
OpenOffice.org openoffice.org
Flickr flickr.com
ShareThis sharethis.com
Composition
GIMP gimp.org
ClipMarks clipmarks.com
Photoshop Online Editor photoshop.com
Picture2Life picture2life.com
DrPic drpic.com
Scribus scribus.net
Aviary aviary.com
JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S DIGITAL RETOOLING
The News-Heraldbefore (upper left) and after (lower
right) its Ben Franklin Project transformation.
up and it didnt involve a tragedy, Ambrose says, referring
to the local and national catastrophes it typically takes to get
an all-hands-on-deck effort going in newsrooms.
The community engagement that resulted from crowd-
sourcing was eye-opening, editors say.
Some of the Web-based digital tools Journal Register Co. used in its Ben Franklin Project:
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90 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JULY 20 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com
Classification of Syndicated Features
orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise....... ............................ ........................... .KFS
Human Behavior/Popular Psychology 1tw -600-800 -mail/ctc -
Adler, Jane.. ........................... ........................... ............................ ...WF
Inspiring Insights For Your Soul & Spirit! 2tm -150-600 -eml -
Thomas-Anderson, Gloria. ........................... ............................ ..........HT
Life Styles 1tw -var -ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee...............................NNB
LifeBeat 1tw -3200 -igp/Wire/eml/line ......................................NYT
Living 1tw -800 -igp/Wire/eml/line -Martha Stewart Living
Magazine ........................................................................................NYT
Love & Relationships 1tw -DF/eml/ctc/line -Staff.......... ........MCT
MCT Weekly Feature Graphics 1tw -line -Various.....................TMS
* Making Family Life More Fun 1tw -var -id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff .......................... ....NAPS
Martha Stewart Weddings qt -Wire/eml/line...............................NYT
MaryJane's Everyday Organic 1tw -500-600 -
orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Butters, MaryJane....................... .........UFS
Miss Manners 3tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc -Martin, Judith......UFS
Mary Mitchell 1tw -600 -orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -
Mitchell, Mary.................................................................................UFS
* Model Pictorials 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -Aquino,
Andres............................................................................................FSP
Modern Living an -sup (10 features) -id/igp/eml/line -Staff...CRE
Moms 1tw..................................................................................MCT
NextSteps 1tw -700 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Collins, Jan K./Warner,
Jan L. .............................................................................................UFS
* Party Pointers 1tw -var -id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -
Staff.............................................................................................NAPS
Prime Time With Kids 1tw -350 -igp/orp/DF/mail/ctc -Erickson,
Donna ............................................................................................KFS
Real Simple Solutions 1tw -500-700 -igp -Real Simple Magazine
Editors............................................................................................UFS
Beauty 1tw -var -Wire/eml/fax/ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee..............NNB
* Beauty Trends 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -
Aquino,Andres.................................... ........................... .................FSP
Best Looks 1tw -600-800 -id/mail/ctc -Abrams, Diane.............. .WF
Bottom Line, The 1tw -600 -mail/line -Basco,Antoinette ............CAT
Bridal -orp/Wire/eml/ctc/line -Staff. ........................... ...............NU
Brides & Bouquets an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line -
Staff ............................ ........................... ............................ ............CRE
Bride's Guide qt -sup -igp/rom/line........................................CTW
* Budget Stretching Ideas 1tw -var -
id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ........................ ......NAPS
Decor Score/Homes 1tw -650 -igp/eml/line -Gilbert, Rose Bennett .....................................................................CRE
* Entertaining Ideas 1tw -var -
id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ........................ ......NAPS
Fall/Winter Fashion and Style an -sup (10 features) -
id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE
* Family Features Editorial Services Inc. 1tw/sea -
ps/hps/qps/pt/hpt/var -disk/eml/mail/line ................. ...............FFES
* Fashion Accessories 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -
Aquino,Andres.................................... ........................... .................FSP
Football Widow Sundays 1tw/sea -qph/900 -eml -
Salfino, Catherine. ........................... ............................ .................MMG
* Paula Royce Graham 1tw/cont -500 -igp/man/mail -
Graham, Paula Royce.....................................................................GNS
Happy Musings 6tw -Huss, Sally ........................... ......................KFS
Heart & Head qt -750 -ctc -Engberg M.D., Karen M............. ......EKM
Hints from Heloise 6tw/S -d-4 1/4"/S-tps/hpt/tpt -
orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise..... ........................... ............................ ...KFS
Hints from Heloise (classified) 1tw -orp/mail/ctc -Heloise......KFS
Hints from Heloise (condensed) 3tw -d-2 1/4"/200-250 -
* Realstyle 1tw -DF/ctc/line -McLaughlin, Patricia... ...............UPS
RoMANtic, The 2tm -2" x 10"/500 -eml/line -Webb, Michael..ROMA
* Runway Fashion-Women 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -
Aquino,Andres............................... ........................... ......................FSP
Sense & Sensitivity 6tw -500 -Wire/DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette UFS
Sense & Sensitivity 6tw -500 -DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette.........NEA
Sew Simple 1tw -550 -id/DF/mail/ctc -Farmer Ellis, Vicki.......KFS
Sex & Relationships -eml -Gibson,Valerie ........................... .....SMC
Shopping Can Be Fun 3tw -500 -aud/fax/mail/ctc/line -Lawson,
Laurie.............................................................................................PITE
Slightly Off! 1tw -500 -man/eml/fax/ctc -Di Sandro, Deb..........SOF
Soap Opera Review 1tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Johnson,
Nancy.............................................................................................UFS
Spring Brides sea -sup -Wire .....................................................SHN
Spring/Summer Fashion an -sup (15 features) -
id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE
* Style Insider 1tw -var -igp/Wire/eml/line -Various ...................NYT
TMS Specialty Products 7tw -sup/var -line .........................TMSSP
Today's Lifestyle 1tw -700 -igp/eml/line -Staff .......................CRE
Variety Pak 1tw -var -id/igp/eml/line -Various.........................CRE
Wedding Bells an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line -
Staff ........................... ............................ ........................... .............CRE
Woman to Woman 1tw -Feldhahn, Shaunti /Glass, Diane...........UPS
* Women and Money S -tps/qps -orp/ctc/line -Orman, Suze .UPS
* Women's News 7tw -var -fax/mail/ctc -Staff............................GIN
You, Your Child and Entertainment 1tw -500 -man/mail -
Nydick, David............ ........................... ........................... ...............DAN
You, Your Child and School 1tw/7tw -500 -man/mail -
Nydick, David............ ........................... ........................... ...............DAN
You, Your Child and Sports 1tw -500 -man/mail -Nydick, David.DAN
Though only a few people came to the community meeting
Kuehn called to discuss what the Oakland Press should
cover in its sports pages, they brought a wealth of ideas that
will be fueling a major series in the paper, he says.
And a far-bigger meeting in Willoughby resulted in weeks
of user-generated content and crowd-source information
about dangerous intersections and blighted properties.
The meeting, videotaped and posted on YouTube, shows
someone making a suggestion about investigating the citys
controversial pay-as-you-throw garbage collection systemthat had many people smuggling their trash into other
municipalities for disposal. The
audience burst into applause.
Whens the last time that
you pitched a story at an
editorial meeting and anyone
applauded? asks JRCs Vice
President of Content Jon Cooper.
As JRC rolled out the Ben Franklin
Project to all of its dailies, the
biggest hurdle was the sheer
number of people who
needed to be trained in
finding and using
digital tools, Cooper
says. In a series of
Webinars, three or
four JRC content
executives managed
to reach about 1,100 employees
from journalists to ad
salespeople to back-office
workers. But just as
important, Cooper says,
was the learning going on
among employees.
That kind of
collaboration has
been lacking at
JRC, he says. But
now people are
finding new prod-
ucts and tools and
saying to one
another, If this
one doesnt work
for you, heres another.JRC created what it calls Ben Franklin in a Box with a
large range of free apps for the project (see sidebar). The free
tools, not surprisingly, make up the first suite of applications
JRC has in common. Like many other chains, some JRC
papers are running multiple versions of Quark, for instance.
We used to have to figure workarounds for outdated
software, Cooper says. By using these tools, we are able to
keep people on a level playing field without having to worry
about somebody saying, I need Photoshop to take print
photographs and size them for online. Well, they dont need
Photoshop. Theres Aviary and GIMP and DrPic. And these
products dont cost anything other than the time it takes to
learn them.
Cooper and CEO Paton give the distinct impression that
they will be hard sells for industry vendors. As much as
anything else, though, the Ben Franklin Project was about
convincing JRC employees that they couldnt wait for a new
box of equipment or software to arrive before changing their
mindset to digital-first. Both note that the great bulk of a
newspapers costs are sunk in infrastructure, with just a third
invested in sales, circulation, advertising, and editorial.
Itd be nice to spend that money on other operations,
Cooper muses.
Paton adds, Its like saying, Everything will be better
when we move into the new building. No newspaper can
wait to make those fixes.wait to make thos
continued from page 36
JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S DIGITAL RETOOLING