Tag Archives: Journalist

Media News & Moves for May

Posted on May 15, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Fort Lauderdale’s South Florida Sun Sentinel (http://www.sun-sentinel.com) won the prestitgious 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its outstanding series “Above the Law: Speeding Cops”.  The series led to numerous police officers being suspended and one who got fired for his excessive abuse of speed. Investigative Reporter Sally Kestin, Investigative Editor John Dahlburg and Database Editor John Maines were part of an entire team at the Sun Sentinel that worked on this series. You can read the winning series here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/speeding-cops/

The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com) won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News with its coverage of the Aurora Movie Theater mass shooting last year.  The Pulitzer cited the Post’s use of social media, video and the written word in their winning coverage of the story. You can check out their winning coverage here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Breaking-News-Reporting

The Alcohol Professor (http://AlcoholProfessor.com) is a new blog about liquor, spirits & ale. It was started by beverage connoisseur Adam Levy (https://twitter.com/AlcoholProfessr) who also founded the New York International Beverage Competitions. The sites main contact is Senior Editor-in-Chief Amanda Schuster (alcoholprofamanda@gmail.com).

Minneapolis’ Star Tribune (http://www.startribune.com) won two 2013 Pulitzer Prizes for Local News and Ediorial Cartooning. Glenn Howatt, Brad Schrade and Jeremy Olson won the Local News Pulitzer for their work on a series about the rise in infant deaths at Minnesota day-care centers. You can read that series here: http://www.startribune.com/local/150283965.html. And Steve Sack won the Editorial Cartooning award. You can view a bunch of his great political cartoons here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Cartooning

Columnist Daniel Ruth and Editorial Editor Tim Nickens won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com). Their op-ed pieces and columns were a campaign that helped reverse a decision to take fluoridation out of the water system in the area. You can check out pieces of their work here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Writing

The New York Times has made its own crossover as for the first time ever, they have published an article in Spanish. “A Drug War Informer in No Man’s Land” will go down in NYT history.
You can read it in Spanish here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/mexico-dea-fugitive.html or in English here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/us-mexico-dea-informant.html?pagewanted=all 

Representing The New York Times in the category of Investigative Journalism, David Barstow (barstow@nytimes.com) and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were selected as Pulitzer Prize winners for their year and a half long project which centered on Walmart’s interests in Mexico. The journalists investigated the Multinational Retail Corporation’s use of coercion as a means to gain a competitive advantage in Mexico. Eventually, the exposé led to an investigation by the Justice Department into whether Walmart violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A series of 10 articles which covered the business practices of Apple and other technology companies, won a group of journalists at The New York Times a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Explanatory Journalism. The series focused on the question of whether or not the United States could be considered a lucrative place for innovators to manufacture new products. Apple’s choice to employ cheaper manufacturers in China, passing over the opportunity to invest in the United States’ turbulent job market, was one example used in the series. The reporters included Keith Bradsher (https://twitter.com/KeithBradsher), David Barboza (barboza@nytimes.com), Charles Duhigg (duhigg@nytimes.com), David Kocieniewski (kocieniewski@nytimes.com), Steve Lohr (lohr@nytimes.com), John Markoff (https://twitter.com/markoff), David Segal, David Streitfeld (https://twitter.com/DavidStreitfeld), Hiroko Tabuchi (https://twitter.com/HirokoTabuchi), and Bill Vlasic (vlasic@nytimes.com).

The Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting was given to David Barboza (https://twitter.com/DavidBarboza2), Shanghai Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Barboza composed a series of articles that focused on the overwhelming wealth which many of China’s top leaders have kept in hiding. According to Barboza, over the span of a year he “pieced together hundreds of names and a web of connections among more than 100 companies found in China’s official financial records.”

Sports Reporter for The New York Times John Branch (https://twitter.com/JohnBranchNYT) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Feature Writing. Branch composed an article entitled “Snow Fall: the avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” about a fatal avalanche in the Washington Cascades. Branch combined text, online video and graphics to vividly illustrate what took place.

The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C. is launching yet another magazine. It already publishes PineStraw and O. Henry. Now it adds Salt magazine to its line-up of cultural publications. As with the other magazines, Jim Dodson will head up Salt as Editor. The free, monthly magazine is scheduled to launch later this month with a distribution of 18,000.

Following up on a Charlotte, N.C. story previously reported on in MEDIAware, the FCC gave final approval on the sale of WYMT-TV and WJYZ-TV to Fox Television. With the ruling, the stations were free to hire more personnel. Lynda Grahl was chosen as VP of Finance and Jay Abbattista was added as VP of Sales. Both report to the previously hired GM Karen Adams. As a result of this purchase by Fox, another local Charlotte station, WCCB-TV, will switch affiliations from Fox to the CW this summer.

There have been two personnel changes at the Cooking Channel and Food Network. VP of Digital for Emerging Brands Mark Levine (mlevine@scrippsnetworks.com) has been promoted to VP of Programming and Multiplatform. And new to the stations is Todd Weiser, who was hired as VP of Programming and Development. He arrives from Animal Planet, where he was previously Director of Development.

After 21 years in print, The Rhinocerous Times (http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com) is now an endangered species. The publication originally had two editions: Greensboro and Charlotte. It folded the Charlotte edition back in 2008. Now with a growing debt, the Greensboro edition is closing as well. The website will remain but for how long is not known.

Culture Critic Philip Kendicott of The Washington Post won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In one of the articles submitted for the award Philip examined the use of controversial photographs in the media. You can read the piece here: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-27/entertainment/36016736_1_images-subway-track-pleasure

Aereo (https://www.aereo.com)has been hit with a copyright lawsuit by almost every major network trying to prevent Aereo from creating a free streaming of their content. This is something to keep an eye on, as it can change the way networks will distribute its content if Aereo wins the case.

KSL-TV, the Salt Lake City NBC affiliate, has announced on its Facebook page as well as its website that it will no longer air episodes of the network series “Hannibal.” This decision was made due to the extensive graphic nature of this show. The time slot will be replaced with a special edition of KSL 5 News at 9 pm. “Hannibal” is a TV show about serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a literary character created by author Thomas Harris and initially made famous by the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.”

KMOV-TV in St.Louis won the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. Craig Cheatham and Jim Thomas won in the category of “Ware Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City.” Read more at http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kmov-wfaa-win-ire-awards_b86802

Mike Herrera, Long-time New Orleans broadcaster, passed on April 6 at the age of 66. Herrera who for the last five years served as an engineer at WWL-TV previously worked as a staff announcer, Weathercaster and Producer/Director at WVUE-TV for more than four decades.

William Glaberson says farewell to The New York Times. His 25-year career at the newspaper came to a halt on April 26th. He most recently served as Court Reporter, throughout these 25 years he covered Guantanamo Bay and the Crown-Heights trail.

Highly respected Chicago Sun-Times Movie Critic Roger Ebert has passed away. Over the course of his expansive career, Ebert hosted various television programs such as “Sneak Previews”, “At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert”, “Siskel and Ebert and The Movies”, alongside Gene Siskel, and the series “Ebert & Roeper & the Movies”. He also produced his most recent show, “Ebert Presents: At the Movies”. Ebert was an author of more than 20 books and won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Nils Larsen has stepped down as CEO at the Tribune Company. He managed Tribune local stations, WGN America and WGN Radio. Jonathan Wax has been named Senior Vice President of scripted programming for WGN America. Wax currently serves as Vice President of drama development at Twentieth Century Fox, Inc.

Edible Milwaukee, a new magazine set to launch its May issue, will focus on the production, distribution and consumption of food in the greater Milwaukee area. The magazine reaches out to the local and regional food consumers and buyers who are zealous about food quality. Jen Ede will serve as Publisher and Editor for the quarterly. You may reach her at jen@ediblemilwaukee.com or http://ediblemilwaukee.com.

You can view the whole May issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/May-2013-Updates-By-Region.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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Media News & Moves for March

Posted on March 5, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Over the past few years Newsweek Global (https://twitter.com/Newsweek) has endured several foundational changes including a 50/50 partnership with The Daily Beast in 2008 and the groundbreaking announcement of plans to go digital late last year. With a new year and a new digital Newsweek and Daily Beast on the horizon Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown (https://twitter.com/TheTinaBeast) unveiled a new name — NewsBeast.

Beginning in March, readers will notice one notable Editor missing from the Vogue (https://twitter.com/voguemagazine) masthead. Managing Editor Laurie Jones announced that February 28th would be her last day with the mag. Before beginning her iconic tenure with Vogue, Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour was hired by Laurie Jones at New York Magazine. Later Wintour brought Jones over to Vogue where she would become Managing Editor.

The International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Company’s 125-year-old Paris-based newspaper is getting a name change. This Fall the paper will be known as The International New York Times. In addition, the brand change will combine forces between the New York Times website and the Tribune’s to create one international news site for the rest of the world outside of New York, You can check out the newspaper here: http://global.nytimes.com and https://twitter.com/iht.

Global pharmaceutical company SCRIP Intelligence (http://www.scripintelligence.com) names Brett Chase US Companies Editor. Chase was previously Deputy Managing Editor for Crain’s Chicago Business, Deputy Business Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, health industry team Assignment Editor for Bloomberg News and Milwaukee Bureau Chief of the American Banker in Chicago. Contact Brett on Twitter at https://twitter.com/brettchase

A rash of television station re-designs have occurred this past month with three in the South being updated. WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, WXIA-TV in Atlanta and duopoly WDRB-TV/WMYO-TV in Louisville have all recently undergone renovations. WTVC-TV in TN now features a high definition set with LED color changing lights, large back-lit graphics and a 1×4 strip of monitors in the Weather Center With a rear projection screen.NBC affiliate WXIA now includes a new Gannett graphics package. Also, the set has color changing, frosted plexiglas and flat screen monitors including a large freestanding 3′ by 4′ monitor array. While construction on the set of the Louisville stations has just begun, it is scheduled to be expanded by 11,000 sq. ft. The existing facility dates back to 1980 and is too small for the station, which has grown considerably in that time.

Being a field reporter has its dangers. Just ask News 14 Carolina Reporter Caroline Vandergriff. Vandergriff was struck by a car while reporting on a story about severe weather in the area. While reporting from a major intersection in Charlotte where the traffic lights were out due to the storm, two cars collided after one lost control and struck Vandergriff. She was immediately taken via ambulance to the local hospital where she ended up staying for a week. She is back at work now.

Entertainment Weekly announced two veteran Contributors would bid farewell to the Time Inc. magazine. Senior Writer and Film Critic Lisa Schwarzbaum was the first to accept a buyout package earlier this month. Shortly after TV Critic Ken Tucker followed suit. Tucker was a member of the founding staff of the magazine in 1989. According to Adweek, the buyouts are a result of a 6% overall cutback set in place by publisher Time Inc.

WSB-TV in Atlanta is just one of the many companies in Georgia donating to the relief of tornado victims.After a tornado struck down in Bartow and Gordon counties, the ABC affiliate donated $50,000 to the Red Cross to help victims of the tornado, which spawned winds of more than 135mph. The epi-center of the storm was in Adairsville, Ga., where three fatalities were reported.

WKYT-TV in Lexington is adding another newscast to its line-up. The CBS affiliate will now air news 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. This makes two early afternoon newscasts in the market with WLEX-TV of NBC being the other. WKYT-TV’s news will be anchored  by DeAnn Stephens. She was re-hired specifically for the show. She can be emailed at deann.stephens@wkyt.com. Stephens also can be heard on WBUL-FM in the morning. A pioneer in Carolinas television passed away last month.

Reporter Jane Harrington-Smith passed away at the age of 62 from heart failure. Harrington made history as the first black female Reporter/Anchor at Winston-Salem, N.C. station WXII-TV in the turbulent 70s. She also hosted a weekly program called “Shades of Ebony.” She worked there for six years before moving to Indiana. She worked at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, covering such big stories as the Mike Tyson rape trial in 1992. Harrington was a graduate of Fisk University in Nashville and a member of the Black Professional Journalists Association.

Last month, Reporter Ann Mercogliano (http://twitter.com/AnnMercogliano) departed WCBS and sister station WLNY-TV. This month she join joins WPIX-TV (http://pix11.com/) as a freelancer. She will be reporting both mornings and evenings when needed.

Ken Tonning, the President and General Manager at Tampa’s WTSP-TV announced he will retire in July. Before joining the station in 2008, Tonning worked for stations including KUSA-TV in Denver and WXIA-TV in Atlanta where he was the Sales Manager. Beginning his career in 1974, he was credited for altering traditional journalism and pushing the envelope of newscast reporting. http://www.wfla.com/story/21058646/gm-of-st-pete-tv-station-to-retire-in-july

In a strange twist, Orlando’s WKMG-TV hires the son of an Anchor at a competing news station. Justin Warmoth joined WKMG as a News Reporter with the blessing of his father Greg Warmoth who is the Anchor for Orlando’s WFTV-TV. Surely journalism runs in the genes of this family. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2013/02/wkmg-hires-son-of-wftv-anchor-greg-warmoth.html

The Web Producer at WFOR-TV, Dave Game has passed away. Dave was only 57 and leaves a long legacy in the industry. Game, a veteran journalist, came to WFOR in 1985 where he served as a General Assignment Reporter, Investigative Producer and Reporter. He is accredited with creating one of the first broadcasting websites in South Florida for WFOR. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/02/06/longtime-cbs-miami-web-producer-dave-game-dies-at-57/

WTVT-TV Channel 13’s Andy Johnson has left the Fox TV station after over three decades with the company. Johnson joined the station in 1979. A native of Tampa as well, the low key retired Meteorologist has not spoken on his plans hereafter. http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/content/wtvt-ch-13-forecaster-andy-johnson-leaves-air-today-after-33-years-marking-low-profile-depar

Journalist Mike Guy (http://twitter.com/MrMikeGuy) has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of The Fix.com. He still regularly contributes to Playboy Magazine and Wenner Medias Men’s Journal. He will also continue to be the Editor-in-Chief of Hopper.com. Thrillist (http://twitter.com/Thrillist)features off-the-beaten-path activities, restaurants and products found around the world. The website is easily accessed by each city; a total of 21 are featured, including New York, London and Miami. The site managers are looking to add more cities to explore in the near future.

London’s Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk) is opening a new Washington, D.C. office and it will be headed by David Martosko (http://www.twitter.com/EditMeDavid). Martosko was the Executive Editor at The Daily Caller. Martosko’s new title will be U.S. Political Editor.

You can view the whole March issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/%20

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/March2013UpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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Media News and Moves for February

Posted on February 5, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Time Inc. (http://www.timeinc.com), publisher of Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, People and In Style announced that they would be laying off 500 employees across the world. These cuts include 250 jobs in New York which accounts for 6% of its workforce. Among those cut was Health Editor-in-Chief Ellen Kunes. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang‘s put the layoffs in motion after Time Inc. saw a 6% decrease in revenue in the third quarter of 2012. The culprit of the layoffs was a revenue shortage caused by the drops in print advertisments and magazine subscriptions.

Al-Jazeera (http://www.aljazeera.com and https://twitter.com/ajenglish) purchased Current TV (http://current.com) for $500 million. Current TV was former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s startup vehicle designed to provide news analysis, politics and commentary. This purchase puts Al-Jazeera into nine times the amount of homes it was reaching previously.

The Boston Globe could be up for sale again. The New York Times Company tried selling the paper three years ago but was unsuccessful in finding a deal. The possibility of selling the paper was revisited again last year although CEO Janet Robinson wanted to wait in hopes that the launch of the Globe’s new pay wall would improve its sales.

Univision has renamed and rebranded their Telefutura network. It is now named Unimas. http://tv.univision.com/unimas/

This month The New York Times (http://twitter.com/nytimes) announced major changes to its masthead with several top veterans accepting buyout packages. Among those saying their final good byes to the paper are Assistant Managing Editor Jim Roberts, Sports Editor Joe Sexton, and Culture Editor Jon Landon. The buyout packages were developed as a way to avoid major layoffs and did alleviate the bulk of the necessary budget cuts. Editor Jill Abramson (abramson@nytimes.com) (https://twitter.com/JillAbramson) expressed sincere gratitude to all those who will be bidding the paper farewell. Now that the NYT’s shake-up at the top has come to an end, expect several familiar names at the paper to take on new and increasing responsibilities.

Boston’s Phoenix Media WFXN-FM has been sold to Clear Channel Communications. Only the signal has been sold, Phoenix Media will keep its call letters. The station consisted of 21 employees. Most of the employees’ have left except for Program Director Paul Driscoll and Promotions Director Mike Snow.

The Crossover (https://twitter.com/crossover) is a brand new show which premiered on January 26th on the NBC Sports Network. The show is hosted by Michelle Beadle (https://twitter.com/MichelleDBeadle) and Dave Briggs (https://twitter.com/DaveBriggsTV). Beadle is a former ESPN SportsNation host and Briggs is a former “Fox & Friends” host. The show features sports news, pop culture and social media news.

The Financial Times (http://www.ft.com and https://twitter.com/FinancialTimes) is planning to cut 25 jobs via either buyouts or layoffs. Editor Lionel Barber believes this will save up to $2 million a year. He also hopes to add 10 new staffers to the digital side of their operation.

SiriusXM Satellite Radio (http://www.siriusxm.com) added two million new subscribers in 2012. They now have 23.9 million subscribers tuning in daily.

The Tribune Company has emerged from bankruptcy. After restructuring, the company is anticipated to trade its newspaper assets and focus on its 23 television stations, including WGN America. Peter Liguori has been named CEO of Tribune Company. He will manage the Tribune Broadcasting Company network and the company’s publishing and digital operations. Liguori most recently served as COO at Discovery Communications.

There’s a new publication in Miami, Florida. NEW YOU magazine (http://www.newyoumedia.com) is a quarterly magazine dedicated to helping women find the latest anti-aging methods and technologies. Ruchel Louis Coetzee (ruchel@newyoumedia.com) is the Editor. Follow NEW YOU on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NewYouMedia

Earlier this month, Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive (cynthia_leive@condenast.com) (https://twitter.com/cindi_leive) announced the addition of Ying Chu (ying_chu@condenast.com) (https://twitter.com/yingchunyc) to the Glamour (http://twitter.com/glamourmag) masthead as the new Executive Beauty Editor. Chu comes to the magazine after a stint as Marie Claire‘s Beauty and Health Editor for several years.

The Washington Times (http://www.washingtontimes.com and https://twitter.com/washtimes) started the year with at least 20 layoffs including Sports Reporter Patrick Stevens (https://twitter.com/D1scourse). Executive Editor David Jackson had announced in November that there could be layoffs and there were in January.

Joanna Coles (https://twitter.com/JoannaColes), who just recently took over as Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine (http://www.cosmopolitan.com/ and https://twitter.com/Cosmopolitan and https://www.facebook.com/Cosmopolitan) made an exciting announcement earlier this month. The magazine will be featured on an upcoming reality show on CBS called, “The Job” (http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-job/ and https://twitter.com/TheJobCBS). Coles is no stranger to the TV world as she had a recurring mentor role on the hit show, “Project Runway” while she was Editor-in-Chief at Marie Claire. “The Job” will air on Fridays at 8pm ET in February and Cosmopolitan will be featured on its second episode airing on February 15th. Five contestants will compete for an editorial assistant position at Cosmopolitan.

The Star-Ledger (http://www.nj.com/starledger/) recently announced a large-scale layoff of 34 employees including 18 from the newsroom. The layoffs were due to financial hardships and the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The paper is also considering outsourcing the printing and packaging of the paper. The following link is provided for additional information on this story: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/star-ledger_announces_layoffs.html. The Star-Ledger can be followed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/starledger and on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/Star.Ledger.

After a short prime time career WNYW-TV’s (http://twitter.com/myfoxny) Greg Kelly (http://twitter.com/gregkellyfox5) will be returning to “Good Day New York” as Co-Anchor with Rosanna Scotto (http://twitter.com/rosannascotto). The network announced that Kelly would Anchor the 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. newscast just a few months ago while veteran Dave Price (http://twitter.com/DavePriceTV) returned to the network taking over Kelly’s open morning spot alongside Scotto. However, in an unexpected turn of events Price will once again depart from the network allowing for the return of Kelly. Additionally, current early morning Anchor Steve Lacy will be filling in during Kelly’s prime time spots.

ESPN all-pro Sports Reporter Rachel Nichols (https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols) has traded teams and is headed to CNN (Cable News Network) to become a Sports Anchor/Reporter there.

You can view the whole February January issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/February2013UpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: twitter.com/PRNmedia

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Media Moves & News for November

Posted on November 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, featuring media news and job changes in the last month, is now available. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Newsweek (http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/newsweek.html)announced it will cease printing with its last issue on Dec. 31st. Newsweek will be an online publication only in 2013. Newsweek estimates that its been losing $40 million annually on the print edition. Layoffs are expected in the transition. The new online product will be called “Newsweek Global”. Some Newsweek articles will continue to be available on The Daily Beast (http://www.thedailybeast.com) free website run by the same company. Newsweek began in 1933 and competed and battled with Time magazine to provide readers with the top weekly news stories in the newsweekly magazine business. The magazine peaked in 1991 with 3.3 million readers and was down to 1.5 million at the midway point this year. The lack of advertising dollars for a national weekly losing readers played a part in the demise as well.

It’s stormy weather for employees of The Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com) lately as approximately seven percent were laid off last month. The Atlanta-based company, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, had to lay off employees as part of a restructuring. The restructuring affected about 75-80 people. The last such layoff was in 2008 after NBCUniversal acquired a controlling share of the company. Meteorologists Jeff Morrow and Adam Berg were among those out.

The Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.com) reported on its own employees protest against the company, following the company’s controversial decision to purchase a full-page ad supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna. More than 100 Seattle Times news staffers – including reporters, photographers, columnists, artists, editors and online news producers – signed a letter protesting the Times Co’s decision to sponsor newspaper ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate McKenna and a statewide referendum for legalized gay marriage. The employees cited threats to the paper’s credibility and neutrality as reasons for the protest.

Anderson Live (http://www.andersoncooper.com), Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show, will not return for a third season. The program will run until Summer of 2013 completing its second season. You can still see Anderson Cooper on his CNN program “Anderson Cooper 360″ (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/).

After Newsweek announced its move to digital earlier this month, popular Senior Correspondent Peter J. Boyer makes a major move. The former New Yorker and Vanity Fair Staff Writer has been named the new Editor-at-Large of Fox News. The new hire was named by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in a statement to his staff, describing Boyer as a “talented and insightful journalist.”

Former “CBS This Morning” Co-host Erica Hill has joined NBC’s “Weekend Today” as its new Co-host. Hill will host on Saturdays and Sundays beside Lester Holt. In addition to her new Co-hosting duties she will be a national correspondent for NBC News reporting on “Today” and “NBC Nightly News”.

Comedian Adam Carolla has joined Fox News Channel (http://www.foxnews.com) as a Contributor mainly on “The O’Reilly Factor” program (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html). Carolla is set to appear each Monday on the show to comment on political and social issues. In addition to appearing on “The O’Reilly Factor” he will make appearances on other Fox News Shows. You can also see Carolla on his daily podcast show “The Adam Carolla Show” (http://adamcarolla.com).

As countless publications continue to take major hits due to the economic recession Condé Nast Corporation (http://www.condenast.com) announces several cutbacks. Eight editorial staffers and three business staffers were laid off at Self Magazine as part of Condé Nast’s 2013 budget cuts. According to New York Post, reports state that each title under the major publishing house must cutback by an estimated 5%. Although the cutbacks are said to continue within the coming months, large brands such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker may escape staff reductions this time around. However, other powerful names were not so lucky, such as Susan Portnoy (Vice President Media Relations for Digital and Corporate Communications), most commonly known for her involvement in New York’s annual Fashion’s Night Out.

LANG (http://www.langnews.com) which include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Torrance Daily Breeze and seven other papers has taken the obvious next step into becoming a regional news operation with an emphasis more on digital and less on geographical. Carolina Garcia will take over as Managing Editor of digital news for all LANG papers.

The Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com) has announced the hiring of Actress and Author Jenny McCarthy as Columnist. Ask Jenny will appear in the newspaper’s Splash section, and her blog will run Monday through Friday at splash.suntimes.com. The column will focus on and answer questions about love, sex, parenting, friendship, fitness and duties of a single mother.

Wired (http://www.wired.com) is bringing advertisers and the blogging community together by running ad-sponsored blogs. http://www.adweek.com/news/press/wired-bringing-advertisers-and-its-blogs-closer-together-136211

The Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com) circulation figures are showing an increase due to paid digital subscriptions: http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2012/10/digital_helps_lat_ga.php

Meteorologists Dick Albert of WCVB-TV (http://www.wcvb.com) in Needham, MA and Steve Cascione of WLNE-TV (http://www.abc6.com) in Providence, RI are teaming up to create a weather-focused online forum called SkyWatchers (http://skywatchers.me) which is set to launch by the end of this year. SkyWatchers will be a platform for weather lovers to connect with and share information about all things weather. They are tweeting: https://twitter.com/skywchrs

The Press of Atlantic City (http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com) powered on through Hurricane Sandy and printed 24-page editions on Tuesday Oct. 30 &  Wednesday Oct.31st.

You can view the whole October issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/November2012AgilityUpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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How to Pitch Lifestyle Editors

Posted on August 31, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Publicity Club of New York (PCNY) hosted a luncheon earlier this month, featuring a panel of five lifestyle editors who discussed how they like to be pitched. Check out comments about it on Twitter via #PCNY.

Peter Himler (@PeterHimler61), president of PCNY, kicked off the dialogue by telling the crowd that these days, “publicists outnumber journalists 3 to 1.” Sharpening your pitching technique is more important than ever if you’re looking to land press coverage.

Each panelist spoke for about 10 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of general Q&A, moderated by Edelman Worldwide’s Lisa Kovitz (@lisakovitz50):

New York Daily News: Life & Style Editor/Producer Lindsay Goldwert

  • Goldwert looks for stories with a “women’s magazine-type feel,” including topics like body positivity and food, as well as “feel good” themes.
  • She notes that article pitches must be as current as possible and relevant to “right now.” She needs subject-matter experts who can talk right away.
  • Stories on celebrities with health problems (and relevant experts) are especially pitch-worthy, e.g., when Paula Deen announced she had diabetes.
  • Pictures are great and the most important part of a pitch!
  • No time for desksides.
  • Contact: @lindsaygoldwert11or lgoldberg@nydailynews.com

WNYW-TV “Good Day New York”: Executive Producer Jason Hartelius

  • Hartelius receives hundreds of emails daily — sometimes even a thousand or more. Be concise, don’t overpitch (i.e., don’t send the same email every day) and don’t use bait-and-switch tactics.
  • Pitches can be as simple as: “Hey, I got this idea — what do you think?” Put relevant information at the top; don’t be longwinded.
  • Subject lines should be catchy. If you write “Attention Jason Hartelius: [Topic]” he will very likely read it.
  • Stories must be local. And no promotional material — the segment should be about the story, not selling. “Know the show!”
  • There is one slot per day for a fun or remote piece. Recent examples include local firemen washing circus elephants and an anchor taking a ride in a monster truck.
  • The show generally has no interest in featuring a guest who has recently appeared or will soon appear on a competitor’s show (no “same day” bookings). The only exception might be if it’s an extremely famous celebrity.
  • Contact: @jasonhartelius12 or desk@foxfiveny.com or GDNYpitches@gmail.com

The Huffington Post: Women’s Editor Margaret Wheeler Johnson

  • HuffPost Women typically features news items and original reporting, essays from “ordinary” women, body image, women’s health and compelling stories.
  • Do not pitch off-topic ideas about dieting and nutrition, parenting and fashion and style. Wheeler Johnson is not interested in any stories that include the words “your man.”
  • If you’re a woman, ask yourself: “Would you want to read this story?”
  • No product pitches.
  • Images are great! Nice images can be turned into a slideshow. This is a great option for book publicists in particular.
  • To know what types of topics to pitch, read the front page! And watch out for cross-posting (e.g., sometimes fashion stories are reposted from HuffPost Style).
  • She looks for fresh perspectives from subject-matter experts.
  • Experts must have links to back up their statements. Quotes from health experts in particular will be checked.
  • Wheeler Johnson doesn’t usually leave the office to cover events, since Huffington Post has a national audience.
  • She doesn’t understand the concept of a deskside; the pitch should be engaging and well-crafted enough that a deskside isn’t necessary. If she’s looking for a fresh quote, she’ll call you on the phone.
  • Typos in article submissions are a big no-no; the editorial department is busy enough already.
  • Contact: @mwjohnso14 or scoop@huffingtonpost.com

WPLJ-FM “The Big Show With Scott & Todd”: Producer Joe Pardavila

  • Radio in general has a large reach for suburbanites, particularly in the New York area, which has lots of commuters (i.e., “bridge and tunnel”).
  • This morning radio show targets women ages 25-54 in the New York area in particular. The crowd includes college-educated women, soccer-mom types and even teeny boppers (since they’re in the car with Mom). This audience might not want to listen to Justin Bieber, but they certainly know who he is.
  • Press releases and pitches don’t need to be longer than one paragraph. If Padavila isn’t interested in the idea, extra paragraphs won’t help.
  • Have fun with a pitch. Pardavila is not interested in anything morose, depressing, technical or “high brow.” Simple stories are best!
  • People say: “I want to wake up and laugh.” Keep that in mind.
  • Contact: @joepardavila or bigshow@plj.com

BuzzFeed Shift: Editor Amy Odell

  • BuzzFeed wants every single article they post to go viral. Most traffic on the site comes from Facebook. Think about what people want to click on.
  • Common topics cover style, beauty, health, fitness, food, grooming, powerful women, career, celebrities, relationships, hipsters. Anything funny!
  • Fashion pitches in particular must be funny or relatable; high-fashion pieces are not appropriate.
  • Odell says press releases are basically never funny, and she hardly ever finds story ideas from them. She might open a press release if the idea sounds really bizarre.
  • What does Odell want from PR pros? Exclusive access to experts or celebrities.
  • She can’t use content if it’s posted on other sites — original material is a must.
  • She prefers to use stories immediately; there’s not much lead time, unless it’s an interview a celebrity that has to be planned in advance, for example.
  • Odell typically doesn’t cover events, but she might send reporters to an interesting event so they can live tweet from it (to draw in new followers). But it most likely will never become an article.
  • No desksides.
  • Contact: @amyodell56 or amy.odell@buzzfeed.com

Written by Grace Lavigne, senior editor of ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. To read more from Grace, check out her blog on the free social networking site ProfNet Connect.

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Journalistic Freedom – Don’t Take it for Granted

Posted on July 18, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Yassen Zassoursky, President of the Lomonosov Moscow State Univeristy’s Department of Journalism, and a legend in journalistic circles. (Courtesy, ITAR-TASS)

Today, I was thinking about how I would start this blog post on journalistic freedom, and found myself standing on my driveway for several minutes holding my local paper in my hand.  My neighbors leaving for work must have thought I was crazy.  What stopped me was the renewed realization that the news in that morning paper was made possible by the dedication and sacrifice of thousands of journalists around the world, many of whom are struggling to have the freedom of speech we take for granted.

At the World Media Summit, I had the good fortune to meet several journalists who had been leaders in the fight for journalistic freedom in their own countries, in the face of oppression and censorship.  Their stories, dedication and creativity under fire were uniformly inspiring.

I talked at some length with Adel Ghonim, the Board Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East News Agency (MENA) in Cairo.  He told me privately that MENA stands for free speech, and will as long as he runs the agency.  MENA journalists were at the forefront of the Egyptian Spring uprising, and reported what was really happening in Tahrir Square without censorship – frequently at the risk of their lives, in many cases using social media channels.   When those were blocked, they did whatever they could to get the word out.   Adel later reinforced this idea through an interpreter to the WMS delegates during his speech in one of the breakout sessions: “Censorship must be fought…  We must continue to search for new techniques that are interactive between the media and the mass public.”

Cherif Rezki, CEO/Publisher of El Khabar newspaper in Algeria and Adel Ghonim, Chairman of the Board and Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East News Agency in Cairo, Egypt.

Cherif Rezki, the CEO/Publisher of El Khabar in Algeria echoed this sentiment.  El Khabar is an independent newspaper that started in 1990, after the fall of the repressive one-party government in 1988.  El Khabar’s Arabic and French editions are frequently critical of the government.  During the civil war in 1992, many of El Khabar’s journalists were jailed, and were targets of fundamentalists in their country.  To Cherif, he is proud of the ability his staff has in journalistic freedom because it was fought for so desperately.

Mujtaba Ayan, the Senior Program Manager of Internews, a radio station operating under the USAID Afghanistan Media Development and Empowerment Program, had another interesting story.  Journalistic freedom is a new concept in their country, and in many cases truthful but unpopular messages can result in danger to their local correspondents.  Still, Internews prides itself on its integrity, and truthful reporting.  Terrorists are in almost every village, and keeping their journalists safe require some very difficult measures.  Even then, it doesn’t always work.  Last year, Internews lost 17 of their number in the line of duty.  The sincere way Mujtaba told me his story was very moving.

I also talked with representatives from the Croatian and Montenegrin news agencies about their experiences before, during and after the Balkan war.  Both were journalists during this period, and both had similar stories about censorship, repression and eventual journalistic freedom.

There was considerable discussion during the Summit on this topic as well.  On the third day of the conference, during a speech by Peter Horrocks of the BBC Worldwide where he commented that the government of Iran has threatened and imprisoned family members of his journalist team and jammed the BBC Farsi signal, Ali Akbar Javanfekr Shahri, the Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran) challenged Horrocks ,  saying through an interpreter that what the media is reporting in Iran is not truth, but “the global hegemonic powers have always worked to carry out their imperialistic goals and through skilled methods have caused fear in my country.”  Horrocks then invited Shahri to come on his BBC Farsi television show in person and refute those claims.   The discussion got more heated before the session ended.  During the break, Horrocks was mobbed by other journalists who wanted to shake his hand.

The highlight of that day was being able to spend a few minutes with Yassen Zassoursky, the prestigious Moscow State University’s Department of Journalism.  Zassoursky survived extreme censorship and repression under the Stalin regime, and has seen the changes over the last 60 years in Russia.  An educator since 1957, Mr. Zassoursky has trained the most prominent journalists in the Russian Federation, and an outspoken critic of journalistic openness in Russia.  He holds numerous awards, including the prestigious Mahatma Ghandi  medal from UNESCO.  In the few minutes I was able to speak to him, he told me the Russian Federation has too few independent media, and not enough journalists .   Russia will not have true journalistic freedom until there is greater diversity and ‘too many voices to silence’.   He is an amazing old gentleman, and it was a great honor to meet such a legend in the field of journalism.

All of this was running through my head as I stood on my driveway.  I thought of the challenges these people, and those like them have faced in their careers, and still face every day.

I’ll never look at my morning paper the same way again.

 Author Colleen Pizarev is PR Newswire’s vice president of communications strategy.  She is a global media expert and is available to consult with PR Newswire clients on global press release distribution.

 

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Seven Strategies to Connect with Reporters

Posted on April 1, 2012 by | 3 Comments

I was recently a panelist on a Bulldog Reporter webinar, “Seven Proven Techniques for Getting Journalists to Call You to Generate Massive Coverage.” While I don’t consider myself an expert on public relations, my years of working with both journalists and PR pros here at ProfNet have given me some insight on ways that both sides can work together. Here are some of the tips I shared during the webinar. I hope you find them useful:

Be the Expert on Your Experts

Sure, you know that the CEO of the tech startup you represent graduated from Yale, or that the owner of that small flower shop can provide consumers with tips on how to make their flowers last longer. But how well do you really know them?

There is more than one way to get your experts in print. Consider “non-expert” queries, where reporters are looking for anecdotes or “man on the street” interviews — like a recent one from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was looking for day traders, or the New York Times reporter who needed to talk to coaches who used to be ministers.

The more you know about your experts, the more opportunities you’ll find. So when that reporter from the Associated Press is looking for the CEO of a small tech startup who likes to hang-glide on weekends, you’ll be ready.

Plan Ahead

Reporters typically use the first good source that replies to their queries, but they also want responses that are personalized and include a quote or statement from the expert. That’s a lot to put together in a short amount of time, but with a little planning, you can have most of it ready to go when a reporter reaches out.

There are some topics that happen every year, at the same time of year. For example, if you represent an expert on autism, you can prepare a lot of material in advance of Autism Awareness Month (April). Create a document with background info on the expert, some bullet points regarding new research, even some quotes from the expert. You may need to edit the document so it fits the exact needs of the reporter’s query, but doing the legwork in advance will save you valuable time and allow you to respond quickly.

You can also send out a press release in advance of news, to get on reporters’ radars. If you’re a ProfNet member, you can also issue an Expert Alert, via which you “alert” reporters to experts who can talk about timely topics.

Think Like a Journalist

One thing I consistently hear from journalists is that PR reps that make life easier for them are the ones they go back to again and again. Think about the kind of information they need to include in an article, and make it available to them. When pitching by email, write the subject line as an article headline. Don’t use excessive jargon. The less work they need to put into it, the more likely they’ll be to use it.

Speak in Sound Bites

This applies both to PR pros and experts. In this era of Twitter, everyone needs to think in sound bites. Thoughts should be concise and quotes should be tweetable.

Last year, I attended the RealTime NY conference. One of the panel speakers was Frank Eliason, SVP of social media at Citi. While there were four others on the panel, Eliason’s quotes were the most tweeted. Why? He spoke in sound bites.

Your expert could well be the perfect source for a reporter, but unless he/she can succinctly express his thoughts, he/she still won’t get quoted.

Be a Connector

Your primary goal is to get press for your experts — that’s a given. But if there’s a publication or reporter that’s part of your media plan, help them out even when there’s no direct benefit to you. Become the person the reporter can go to in a pinch, and they’ll come back to you when it will benefit your client.

Also, be available when others aren’t. This doesn’t mean you have to answer your phone at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, but someone — whoever you designate that to be – should be available when there’s breaking news in your expert’s industry. Include after-hours numbers in every communication – in your email signature, on press releases, on your website, on your Twitter/Facebook pages, etc. If a reporter is on deadline and is looking for a quote, be the one he knows he can get through to.

Be Where the Reporters Are

At a Social Media Week panel last year, one of the sessions was on how to increase your interaction with your audience. The key takeaway was, be where your audience is. The same advice applies to PR: Be where the reporters are. Have a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora.

Develop Online Influence

Having a presence on social media is not enough, though. You must interact and contribute meaningful content. You must engage. Don’t just link to articles – add your own take and expertise.

Participate in Twitter chats in your industry – not only will they open you up to a new audience, but they can also introduce you to journalists in the industry who are researching via hashtags.

Start a blog. Remember that material I suggested you put together for pitches? You can take a lot of that and turn it into blog posts. Also, monitor ProfNet queries to spot trends – that’s what people are talking about and that’s what you should be writing about.

Cross-post your blog on other networks. Not only will you reach a new audience, but you’ll also get promoted by the other network. For example, Beth Monaghan of InkHouse Media + Marketing, regularly contributes the blog posts she writes for her own Inklings blog to the ProfNet Connect network. Her posts are well-written, informative, timely – and very popular. In fact, her posts are often the most read on the site in any given month.  What’s the payoff for her? ProfNet Connect has been a major source of traffic back to her blog. Her posts have also been cross-posted on PR Newswire’s Beyond PR blog, giving her and InkHouse even more exposure and traffic.

Share your expertise. Answer questions on Quora, LinkedIn and other services that have Q&A areas. Send press releases about any content you create. For more tips, read Curating Content for Thought Leadership.

So that’s it, those are my seven tips for connecting with reporters. What do you think? Any you would add? What strategies have worked for you?

Author Maria Perez is director of news operations for ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. To read more from Maria, visit her blog on ProfNet Connect at http://www.profnetconnect.com/profnetmaria/blog/

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Socializing the News: Old Media Style

Posted on February 28, 2012 by | 1 Comment

It’s been a rocky relationship for social media and traditional news. And who can really blame mainstream journalists for not taking to social media at first?  After all, social was invading reporters’ turf, beating them to the punch breaking news on twitter.  It was the new, unknown kid on the block, trying to change things up and mainstream media didn’t like it. But in just a few years, the new kid on the block has become the coolest kid on the block that everyone wants to know and hang out with.  Now, social media is being integrated into every aspect of major news organizations.  This was clearly evident by the panel of social media editors from CNN, NBC, NY Times, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters assembled for a sold out Publicity Club of NY luncheon during Social Media Week in NY.  The panelists included:

The fact that such esteemed news organizations as these created social media editor positions in their newsrooms speaks volumes about the growing role of social media in the old media world.

So what does a social media editor do these days?  Much of their time is spent teaching journalists how to use social media to promote their work and find leads.

Bloomberg’s Yurow admits they are playing catch up compared to some other news orgs.

“We slept through the blog generation and arrived fashionably late to the Twitter and Facebook party.”  As social media producer, Yurow faces a unique challenge. “We have to work to balance between our wire service and social media so that both can thrive.”

I can see how Bloomberg was tardy to the party.  I’ve found that most of the journalists I come into contact with through my media relations work here at PR Newswire are still reluctant to jump on the social media bandwagon. Or should I say they’ve jumped on, but aren’t sure what to do next.  (Full disclosure: I was one of those old media hold outs who finally gave in to social media a few years ago, but not without a lot of  kicking and screaming).

CNN’s Krakauer recalled Piers Morgan’s aversion for Twitter. That changed after 12,000 followers poured in immediately after his very first tweet shortly before his show launched.  Krakauer says it’s about transferring twitter users to television watchers, which apparently is working for Morgan’s show.

“About 7 minutes before the Charlie Sheen interview, Piers tweeted about it and our average audience tripled.”

Social media editors walk a fine line between training, social strategizing, research and development and what Mandy Jenkins, former social editor for Huffington Post politics, refers to as the “twitter monkey”.  Twitter monkeys are left to manually manage their brands’ twitter accounts, alone, 24-7, with little time for anything else. The term got a strong reaction.

“We don’t consider ourselves twitter monkeys,” said Heron.  She is one of of two SM editors at the NY Times “We’re looking at how to bring social media into newsgathering.  We’re constantly looking at new platforms to see where we fit in,” said Heron,.  She added that at the Times, each desk is responsible for its own social media strategy.

When the panelists were asked if they retweet news from other sources, all agreed that curating is a key part of the job.

“In order to be the place where everyone gets news, you have to be a beacon for all news,”  De Rosa replied. “You make yourself more valuable by curating news.”

Though much of the two hour lunch focused on Twitter, other platforms got honorable mentions. In fact, at one point, the moderator asked “if Twitter didn’t exist, what would you be doing?”

Facebook’s new subscribe button, Linkedin, Google+ are all being utilized by the panelist’s news companies as is Pinterest which they are beginning to experiment with.  They each have their own value.

“Pinterest is sustainable because it appeals to the masses,” says Kannally, the youngest on the panel who joined NBC News three months ago.  He says he uses it regularly but is trying to figure out the best way to use it for news.

“Social media is not new. We have to figure out how to be different and innovative and cut through all the noise.”

Author Brett Simon is a member of PR Newswire’s audience development team, and is one of the voices heard on the @prnewswire Twitter presence.

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February Media Moves and Changes

Posted on February 2, 2012 by | Leave a comment

PR Newswire’s Audience Research Group continually updates the media database that powers our MEDIAtlas service, and our popular Microlists, which let you target niche audiences on the fly.  Here’s a summary of recent media and blogger updates.

A new year means out with the old and in with the new, at least for ABC Network (http://abc.go.com). The network launched a new show in its afternoon lineup called “The Revolution”. The show replaces “One Life to Live” in the network’s 2:00 p.m. ET time slot. ‘The Revolution’ is hosted by Ty Pennington, Tim Gunn, Harley Pasternak, Dr. Jennifer Ashton and Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry. Broadcasted from ABC Times Square Studios, these six experts will help women transform aspects of their lives including body, health, style, mind and environment. Each week, the show highlights one woman over the course of five months. Executive Producer is J.D. Roth. You can follow The Revolution on Twitter http://twitter.com/therevolution or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/therevolutiononabc.

The Washington, DC region received a late news gift in January with the addition of a second all-news station to the area. WNEW-FM, 99.1 on the dial, is now broadcasting news 24/7. Michelle Dolge is the News Director and you can send news to this CBS station via email: desk@wnew.com. Amy Morris and Bill Rehkpf are the Morning News Anchors. The station is on the web here: http://washington.cbslocal.com/station/wnew-99-1-fm/ and tweets here: https://twitter.com/WNEWNews

Univision (http://www.univision.com) will now be providing English subtitles to their telenovelas in an attempt to attract the non-Spanish speaking audience. Televisa has countered this move by teaming up with Lionsgate to create new English telenovelas with the same Spanish flare.

There is no doubt that the Hispanic population has grown in the US, and that their votes are really important. Univision’s Anchor Maria Elena Salinas was given the first interview with President Barack Obama after his State of the Union Address, beating out ABC’s Diane Sawyer for the interview.

Dylan Byers on Media is a newly created blog produced by The Politico (http://www.politico.com) which will feature a combination of politics and Media. Political Media Reporter Dylan Byers (dbyers@politico.com)  is the author of the blog. The blog will serve as a replacement for the Ben Smith blog, which ceased continuation when Ben Smith recently accepted a position as Editor-in-Chief at BuzzFeed. For more information, visit http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/  You also follow Dylan Byers on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/dylanbyers

First on television and now in a magazine, Reality TV stars are getting their own weekly magazine. Reality Weekly (http://www.realityweeklymagazine.com) launched last month but so far has not been as successful as hoped. But it’s still early and publisher American Media is not giving up just yet. The Editor-in-Chief is Richard Spencer. Send him tips at tips@starmagazine.com. Reality Weekly is a sister publication of Star Magazine.

While still only in the testing stage HGTV Magazine (http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-magazine/package/index.html) is a hit! The newest Hearst publication has already produced solid subscription numbers and Hearst will make the decision whether or not to keep the magazine in its line-up shortly. The magazine will parallel the programming on the HGTV Television Network. The Editor-in-Chief is Sara Peterson (speterson@hearst.com) and the Associate Editor is Rachel Jacoby (rjacoby@hearst.com).

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News (http://www.philly.com) are raising their rates at the newsstand. The increase will be 25 cents. The Inquirer and Daily News will now cost a dollar each during the week.

Colorful Meteorologist John Bolaris has mutually parted ways with Philadelphia’s FOX 29, WTXF-TV. Bolaris recently was interviewed in Playboy about being robbed in Miami last year by two professionals. The station apparently did not like the way he represented the station in the article. You can read about it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/entertainment/celebrities_gossip/John-Bolaris-no-longer-employed-by-Fox-29.html . The meteorologist is famous for his missed call when he was at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and wrongly predicted the snow “Storm of the Century”. His blown call at the time forced him to move on to a new gig.

Condolences to the family of retired CBS Correspondent Richard Threlkeld. He was recently killed in a car crash. He was 74.

Going forward, KNBC-TV will be known as NBC4 Southern California (http://www.nbclosangeles.com). The re-branding is part of the station’s makeover in an effort to boost ratings and standings among local stations.

Los Angeles Daily News Columnist Dennis McCarthy is retiring from the newspaper business after 40 years of service.

Geraldine Baum has bid farewell to the Los Angeles Times. Baum had been with the paper since 1989 and was most recently New York Bureau Chief. Tina Susman will take over as the new Bureau Chief.

OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network (http://www.oprah.com/own) has decided to part ways with long-time Oprah Executive Lisa Erspamer. Erspamer who has worked with Oprah for 18 years will be replaced by Discovery Channel executive, Rita Mullin.

Veteran newsman George Lewis has announced his retirement. Currently the Senior Technology Correspondent at NBC Television Network and MSNBC/Microsoft-NBC, Lewis began working for NBC in 1968. He started his career covering hard news and his resume includes coverage of some of history’s biggest stories. Among them: the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square, Operation Desert Storm, the Iranian hostage crisis, the Exxon Valdez oil spill as well as two Olympics and the infamous O.J. Simpson trials.

Time.com’s (http://www.time.com) Executive Director Catherine Sharick (catherine_sharick@timeinc.com) has been promoted to Managing Editor. Sharick joined Time.com in 2002 as Web Producer. The timing coincides with Time.com’s launch of Time Business. This vertical will be overseen by Scott Medintz and will cover subjects such as Wall Street, trends, small businesses and more. Other Time.com verticals include Ideas, Entertainment and Newsfeed and Lightbox.

The Conde Nast empire is planning to expand. The company has committed to 1,138 million square feet of office space in the new World Trade Center. They have agreed to a 25-year lease before the project is even finished. The expected completion date of the tower is sometime in 2014.

Meredith, publisher of Better Homes and Gardens reports a loss in revenues from $36 million, compared to last year at, $42 million. Despite the decrease in profits, the circulation revenues increased – online orders for print magazine subscriptions doubled to 500,000, an increase from 2011.

In an effort to cut down on costs, The Boston Herald (http://www.bostonherald.com) has made an agreement with The Boston Globe (http://bostonglobe.com)that would allow the Globe to print and deliver the Herald’s newspaper in the Boston area beginning some time in January. This agreement has allowed the Herald to save on costs by eliminating the jobs of 53 truck drivers and other delivery workers that have been laid off due to budget cuts.The newly launched Jack & Jill blog offers news that is largely geared towards African American political issues and current affairs. The blog also features news and commentary on the  impact of  African-American politicians and the effects of African-American culture in the United States. The blog is authored by Jack Turner (jackturnerpolitics@gmail.com) and Jill Tubmain. For more information , you can visit http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com

The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com) will begin offering voluntary buyouts to newsroom staffers in an effort to trim down costs due to financial difficulties. The buyouts will be available to all editorial staff with the exception of top departmental management.

Toledo television stations WTOL-TV (CBS) (http://www.wtol.com) and WUPW-TV (FOX) (http://www.foxtoledo.com) will combine their efforts in sharing news, access to studios, master control, technical facilities, maintenance and promotional efforts.

The Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com) has just announced its soon to be new home located on the grounds of the former U.S. Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, FL. Publisher and President David Landsberg has made the announcement after having signed the lease at its new address located on 3511 NW 91st Avenue, which will soon be renamed One Herald Plaza at Westpointe Business Park. The changes are said to take place some time in May of 2013.

Former Miami Reporter at WSVN-TV, Rene Marsh (Rene.Marsh@turner.com), joins CNN Newsource as a National Correspondent. She will be based in the Washington D.C. bureau.

CNN – Cable News Network announced the promotion of Rick DiBella (rick.dibella@turner.com) who has been promoted to Executive Producer. Prior, he served as a Senior Broadcast Producer and a Senior Producer for “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”. Also making moves is former Bloomberg Correspondent Lizzie O’Leary (lizzie.oleary@turner.com), who has joined the CNN Network as Aviation and Regulation Correspondent. Charley Keyes steps down from his position as Senior National Security Producer. He retires after 24 years of being with the network. On another note, the network welcomes Flora Zhang (flora.zhang@turner.com) as a New York-based Opinion Editor. She recently served as a Co-Editor for The New York Times blog called “Room for Debate”.

The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com) announced plans last month that at least 20 employees were going to be laid off throughout the company. This number includes 5 newsroom staff members. Another 10 to 12 layoffs were said to be coming later in the year as well.

Back Porch View (http://www.backporchmagazine.com) is a new quarterly magazine from the Flathead Valley Montana region. The magazine features articles about family life, frugal living, sustainable living and work-at-home enterprise.  Chris Friar is the Editor: crisfriar@yahoo.com.

Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA) — The McClatchy Co. announced the consolidation of its five California newspaper’s copy desks to the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com). The move is expected to create 20-30 jobs at the Bee.

Sacramento’s Capitol Weekly, a magazine focused on California government and politics, is no longer producing its print publication. They will continue online only for now, and can be found at: http://capitolweekly.net . John Howard is the Editor: news@capitolweekly.net

WVUE-TV‘s Jennifer Hale is pulling double duty and adding Sports Reporting to her resume. In addition to Reporting and Anchoring the news for the local New Orleans FOX affiliate, Hale is covering NFL games for FOX Sports. Jennifer is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenHale504

Khloe Kardashian Odom, the newest high-profile resident of Dallas, TX, is now hosting a midday show on KDMX-FM. She and husband Lamar, who plays Forward for the Dallas Marvericks, moved to Big D in December 2011. Khloe is on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/KhloeKardashian.

KHOU-TV (http://www.khou.com) in Houston, TX, has added new social media features to its iPad application. Facebook and Twitter links are now embedded in the news app to create the full social media experience for the user. Also, since adding these features, the average time spent browsing the site has increased.

Javier Garcia has been named General Manager of US Hispanic Business & Operations for Yahoo.

Luis Fernandez-Rocha has been named Senior Vice President of Telefutura after the resignation of German Perez-Nahim.

ImpreMedia and its six publications are still at a crossroads. While the staff has been working without settling a contract since May 2010, there is now word that Argentine newspaper La Nacion is trying to purchase ImpreMedia.

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ProfNet #ConnectChat recap: Online tools for journalists

Posted on January 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

With new websites and online tools popping up every day, it’s hard to keep track of all the resources out there for journalists. In our latest #ConnectChat, Mike Reilley (@journtoolbox), founder of the Society of Professional Journalists’ research site, The Journalist’s Toolbox, shared his expertise on how journalists can improve their reporting using online tools.

Reilley teaches several classes at DePaul University, including courses on online journalism, news editing, multiplatform news editing, reporting for converged newsrooms, online sports reporting and an intro to journalism. He was one of the 11 founding editors of ChicagoTribune.com, and serves as faculty adviser to DePaul’s SPJ chapter, named National Student Chapter of the Year in 2011. He and his students run a weekly Twitter chat, #SPJchat, for the SPJ National office. The Thursday night discussions, which start at 7 p.m. CST, explore various issues in the journalism world.

Following are highlights of the chat:

ProfNet: For those not familiar with the Journalist’s Toolbox, can you tell us a little more about it?

Reilley: The Journalist’s Toolbox started as 10 links off an online news-writing syllabus when I taught at Medill in the late 1990s. I turned it into a dot-com in 2000, sold it to the American Press Institute in 2002, then resold to SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists) in 2007. SPJ has been a great home for the Toolbox and elevated what we can do with it. I update the site 2-3 times a week with helpful tools for journalists. The site is organized by beats/topics for newsrooms. We have a lot of election resources on the Toolbox right now.

ProfNet: What are some of the newest online tools for journalists?

Reilley: Storify is great for curating social media coverage of news stories. Here’s a Storify we did of the Blagojevich sentencing: t.co/mjyL1sRx. Here’s a Storify we did from the Chicago blizzard last February: t.co/YMCnS64o. Storify is free and a great way to create sidebars/reaction stories to supplement your reporting. I’ve also been toying with Dipity, a free tool that creates timelines. Students really like it. Delicious and Pinboard.in are great for bookmark links. Here’s how I use Delicious: www.delicious.com/mreilley. Some of my old favorites: PACER for court documents; Open Secrets for campaign fund tracking; Guidestar to track down Form 990s and public documents. Many public records sites are on this Journalist’s Toolbox page: t.co/8ELWILPH. PACER and Guidestar do have fees for public records.

@NewsworthyinDC: What are the most common missteps new journalist make?

Reilley: Credibility is a huge obstacle for young journalists. You have to double- and triple-check everything. Once you earn the readers’ and editors’ trust, you’re set. Also: Don’t be afraid to take stories nobody wants!

ProfNet: Great advice! Do as many as you can.

@meg_heckman: Any examples of tools that help news organizations foster community engagement?

Reilley: We just talked about this in class. I like Twitter chats (hashtags) as well as CoverItLive (free live-chat tool). Also, Storify local reaction to major news events (bin Laden’s death). Search Trendsmap.com by ZIP Code.

ProfNet: You listed some good tools for journalists. Any others before we go to the next question?

Reilley: I like Hootsuite as my desktop Twitter client. You can manage up to four accounts for free. Hootsuite also has an iPhone app, though I use Twitter for the iPhone as my main mobile client. Other good mobile apps for journalists: Dragon Dictation, Convertbot, Wolfram Alpha, Pages, Numbers, Thesaurus, Factbook, Delicious bookmarks, Foursquare, Dropbox, Evernote, Photoshop Express, ReelDirector video editor, ProPrompter, Recorder, Recorder Pro, Garage Band, Soundcloud.

@meg_heckman: Our reporters are in love with SoundNote on the iPad 2. Any tutorials out there on using Wolfram Alpha?

Reilley: Never used SoundNote but will try it. I just used Wolfram trial and error to learn it. Search YouTube for a tutorial.

ProfNet: What about more popular sites, like Facebook and Twitter? How can journalists use those (or use them more strategically)?

Reilley: Facebook: Join groups/pages that may help you in your job. For example: I belong to Social Media Educators group. Create a page for readers to follow/interact with you. Nancy Loo of WGN-TV is great at this. Follow her and see. Twitter: Interact with readers. Share your stories/blogs that are published. Use social media curation to supplement your reporting. Hold online chats with a hashtag in your community about a story or issue you wrote about.

@bikespoke: Kred is an interesting new tool that helps you understand those who truly influence and connect.

Reilley: I will definitely check out Kred.

@comminternships: What multimedia tools do today’s journalism students need to be equipped with when they walk out the door?

Reilley: They need to be able to write a basic news story, single-topic blog, edit video (Final Cut), edit audio (Garage Band/Audacity), build audio slideshows (Soundslides), podcast and use social media.

ProfNet: That’s a lot to ask of them! Will they learn that in journalism school, or should they take other types of courses?

Reilley: Most good journalism schools teach software and tools in reporting/editing classes. Some students may take digital media outside. If your schools don’t teach social media and technology, ask them to! We really pressed for this at DePaul and got it!

ProfNet: What’s the most challenging part of teaching social media to students?

Reilley: Getting them to look past Twitter and Facebook as just tools to talk about themselves or “open text” friends. It’s still a hard sell with some students, but they realize they must use social media to work in journalism. Each year it gets a bit easier to teach social media. More students are using Twitter coming into class than 2-3 years ago.

@comminternships: For me, it’s teaching them that personal and professional shouldn’t mix in a social media feed. Have a separate account for each. In other words, don’t drunk tweet tonight and then tweet about a news story tomorrow.

Reilley: Or post drunk photos to your Facebook page! Ha!

@comminternships: One issue I’m finding in the classroom is students are more focused on the technology than on the writing — or the grammar.

Reilley: Good point. I teach an editing class on Wednesday nights. Start with iPad grammar apps, but use a grammar book too.

ProfNet: Do you think reporters should have separate social media accounts, one for personal and one for work?

Reilley: Good question. It depends how much they use the accounts for personal sharing. If you live-tweet your life, then separate. But if you balance it out — 70 percent professional and 30 personal personal — one account could work. Also, don’t tie Twitter to Facebook and LinkedIn. They’re usually different audiences or redundant for those who follow you on all two or three.

@comminternships: I advocate for separate personal and professional accounts, especially for students, because their professional and personal widely diverge.

@SaleemChat: It may be prudent to have a separate account if you want to post about intensely personal parts of your life. I find it useful to separate accounts by activity, e.g., a separate chat account, and one for high-volume live-tweeting.

ProfNet: Will social media ever be a suitable replacement for traditional forms of reporting, or just another platform?

Reilley: Absolutely not. It supplements first-hand reporting. @acarvin of NPR talked about this at SPJ’s national conference this year. You can use Twitter or Facebook to crowdsource and develop sources/relationships anywhere, but social media doesn’t replace a first-person, one-on-one interview.

@thegrammarnazi: Nor does e-mail, students.

@SaleemChat: The “Z replaces Y, which replaces X” formula is wrong-headed. New tools supplement or round out ways to tell stories/engage.

ProfNet: Any tips for PR professionals wanting to connect with reporters on social media?

Reilley: Yes, follow the key media in your field and encourage them to follow back. Keep pitches short (140 characters!). The key to building a relationship with reporters is to give them relevant information and provide access. A good place for PR people to go and find journalists on social media is Muckrack.com. It’s organized by beats, outlets.

@SaleemChat: Keep pitches to 140 characters in email, too, with background below. I don’t like to be pitched on Twitter, nor do others I know. Engage on matters of substance first. Ask how to pitch.

Reilley: Some do like to be pitched on Twitter. DM with a link. It’s easy to check and frees up clutter in email.

ProfNet: You also host the weekly #spjchat. Can you tell us more about that?

Reilley: Thanks! Yes, #spjchat has been on hiatus for a bit but will return in February with new guests. Follow @spjchat. The chat will be on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. CST, staring in February. @spjdepaul students and I run it: t.co/96iS7pND. We cover a wide range of journalism topics: ethics, social media, sports, copy editing, entertainment reporting, etc. @acarvin of NPR was the most popular guest. We archive the chat on Storify: storify.com/spjchat

ProfNet: That’s about all the time we have today. Mike, thank you SO much for taking the time to answer our questions! And thank you to everyone who participated!

Author Maria Perez is director of news operations for ProfNet, a service that helps journalists connect with expert sources. To read more from Maria, visit her blog on ProfNet Connect at http://www.profnetconnect.com/profnetmaria/blog/

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