By: Joe Strupp Herewith my annual list of the top ten newspaper industry stories -- not all of them grim.
10. Bilal Hussein
The Associated Press photographer, first detained by U.S. and Iraqi military in 2006 for undefined terror-related crimes, spent the entire year (and more) in jail and recently went to court to face charges that remain unclear. The Iraqi snapper, whose gripping photo of insurgents on the attack helped the news cooperative win a 2005 Pulitzer, drew international attention and support for his cause with several organizations (especially the AP) demanding his release and one group collecting 2,200 names on an online petition. Elsewhere in Iraq, dozens of more Iraqi and foreign journalists were killed amid continuing violence.
9. Newspaper Guild Election and Battles
Linda Foley had essentially run The Newspaper Guild unopposed since taking the presidency 12 years ago. She was continually re-elected with no major opposition. But with the newsroom union facing tough battles in the age of job cuts, economic problems and more newspapers trying to break local units, a clear opponent arose in Secretary-Treasurer Bernie Lunzer.
Although the election is not slated to occur until late spring 2008, the battle began months ago with dueling Web sites and increased rhetoric between the two factions. Meanwhile the guild found tough contract battles this year in Philadelphia; Toledo and Dayton, Ohio; York, Pa.; and Rochester, N.Y. MediaNews Group, which has been taking a hard line in York, actually pulled the plug on the Guild unit at its Oakland (Ca.) Tribune's Alameda Newspaper Group after merging it with a non-union sister chain.
8. Conrad Black Guilty
Lord Black, whose Hollinger International newspaper empire stretched across most of Canada -- as well as controlling dailies from The Jerusalem Post to the Chicago Sun-Times -- was convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice for his part in defrauding shareholders and skimming profits. Sentenced to six and a half years, and forced to pay a $125,000 fine, Black was one of several Hollinger executives brought down in the scandal, which was the second for the Sun-Times after its well-publicized circulation fraud problem years ago.
7. Federal Shield Law Gets Farthest Ever
For the first time, a bill that would create a federal shield law made it through the House of Representatives and a U.S. Senate committee, then on to the Senate floor. That occurred in October when Sen. Arlen Specter's Free Flow of Information Act was approved and put before the full body for review. A companion bill passed the House in October, 222 to 194, but also needs Senate approval. A full vote is still pending.
Previous versions of the proposed law, which would offer shield protection now available in 39 states to those in federal courts, had been knocked out during committee in the past. Although President George W. Bush has said he would veto such a law, this level of success gave press freedom advocates the most hope ever in the wake of anonymous sourcing cases of recent years, ranging for the Valerie Plame scandal to the BALCO steroid stories.
6. Cross-Ownership Ban Partially Lifted
The Federal Communications Commission, overturning a 32-year ban, voted just this week to allow broadcasters in the nation's top 20 markets to also own a newspaper. The change puts new power in the hands of major media outlets to keep their multi-platform revenue streams going, and editorial outposts growing.
It may well set the stage for a full lifting of the cross-ownership ban especially as the growing web world gives anti-ban voices more ammunition to claim cross-ownership is not the monopoly it once was. On the other hand, citizen protest of lifting the ban remains high.
5.Twin Cities
If job cuts and other economic reductions weren't enough for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and The Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, there was the multiple fallouts from the sale of the Pioneer Press to Star-Tribune owners McClatchy.
After taking control of the Press as part of its Knight Ridder purchase in 2006, McClatchy sold both the St. Paul paper, to MediaNews Group, and its own Star-Tribune, to local investors Avista Capital Partners.
That's when the fun began as Avista hired Press publisher Par Ridder to run the Star-Tribune and he chose to bring some confidential Press documents with him. When MediaNews sued, the entire newspaper industry kept watch on the St. Paul court house where Ridder, his father Tony, and others took the stand. Even MediaNews Group boss Dean Singleton showed up to watch. When Singleton won, Ridder was eventually forced to step down.
Of course, staffers at both papers had to contend with the fallout, as well as the huge bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in August, which sparked one of the area's most challenging stories to cover.
4. ABC changes to include Web
Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is the definitive source for newspaper readership data, made major changes to its readership tallies to include Web audiences for the first time in its history. The change was in response to many claims by publishers that, despite regular circulation declines, their content was being read by more people than ever, on the Web.
ABC allowed newspapers to submit online traffic for the semi-annual FAS-FAX reports, which are listed alongside readership and print circulation figures.
3. Tribune Company Goes Private
Sam Zell did it, completing his $8.2 billion deal for private ownership of the mammoth Chicago-based media company that owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and various broadcast outlets, as well as the Chicago Cubs, although they are likely the first to be sold off.
The privatization also means a new employee-ownership approach and adds the media chain to the trend of some major publicly owned newspapers going private that have included the likes of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Star-Tribune in Minneapolis. Will they at least keep some Wrigley Field season tickets?
2. More cuts and buyouts
The job hits kept coming and coming in 2007 with layoffs or buyouts, or both, at papers big and small. As newspaper executives continued the insane short-term fix of excessively cutting resources and staff in the wake of declining profits and readership, the impact struck major dailies like USA Today and The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, as well as the likes of the Flint (Mich.) Journal, San Antonio Express-News and the Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register.
While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sought 50 takers for buyouts and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reached its goal of sending 60 staffers packing, others from The Tennessean in Nashville, The Oregonian in Portland, and The Indianapolis Star followed.
The San Francisco Chronicle became the poster child for job slashing with 100 bodies out of 400 news people ousted, including that of managing editor Robert Rosenthal. The 25% reduction was among the deepest cuts at any paper and even sparked the creation of an obituary-like Web tribute on the departed at the Chronicle Web site.
1. Murdoch Buys Dow Jones
In some ways, this mammoth deal symbolized where the newspaper industry is headed. The world's biggest media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, with global print, broadcast, and cable assets, takes over the ultimate family-run, prestigious daily, The Wall Street Journal.
Hollywood could not come up with a better script. Dow Jones, with other valuable pieces of course, initially rebuffs the billionaire titan's overpriced advances, but is worn down after he throws more money at the company, along with promises of an alleged "editorial control" provision. It doesn't hurt that the Bancroft Family, with controlling interest, could not agree internally on the deal, or that the company has economic problems that make such a sale more attractive.
Then there were the Dow Jones' unions, in the midst of contract talks, begging the family not to sell. In the end, of course, money wins out and the deal is done.
All that's missing is a FOX reality show on life inside the newsroom. Or maybe a Murdoch-hosted program a la Donald Trump's "Apprentice" in which challengers compete to become a Journal editor, with loser's hearing an Australian-accented, "Ya Fired, Mate!"
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