Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Obituary: Tom Norton
Tom Norton, who retired in 1997 as production director of The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., died May 16. He was a 46-year veteran at the paper and helped oversee the design of The Times Leader’s production facility. Mr. Norton was 76.
In Brief
Tribune Co. named Steve Gable executive vice president/chief technology officer; David Eldersveld senior vice president/deputy counsel and corporate secretary; Dan Kazan senior vice president, development; and Naomi Sachs senior vice president, strategy. Tribune’s publishing unit named Vince Casanova senior vice president, circulation.
Barbara Rosenberger, production director at The Reporter in Fond du Lac, Wis., and Bill Taylor, operations director at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, were awarded President’s Rings by Gannett Co. Inc. for outstanding performance in 2008.
Goss International Corp. said Ian Buckley, operations director for its Preston, England, facility, will now have overall responsibility for the vendor’s Lifetime Support program in the United Kingdom. Service managers Peter Banks and David Tootle will oversee commercial and newspaper customers, respectively, and Goss said it has combined the installation and service departments. Finally, David Russell was named to manage parts supply and procurement.
Atex said Latin American reseller Suita Sistemas will market and support its CMS and digital asset management software in the southern states of Brazil.
www.atex.com
MediaOne, which publishes The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News, hired Strategic Marketing Enterprises to handle its circulation customer service. SME said service will be provided by Caribbean-based KM Solutions.
www.strategicme.com
The New York Times relaunched its real estate portal, offering users more comprehensive search.
The site is based on software from Gabriels Technology Solutions. Gabriels said it used Endeca’s Information Access Platform software to beef up the site’s search capabilities.
www.gabriels.net
The Washington Times last week launched a radio newscast in partnership with local CBS affiliate WHFS 1580 AM. The two-minute “top of the hour” segments showcase exclusive Times content and original, investigative reporting from the paper’s newsroom.
www.washingtontimes.com
The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., rolled out social networking features anchored by Social Market 2.0 software from ThePort Network Inc. New features include support for blogging, posting comments and “friending” other users.
www.theportnetwork.com
Sun Chemical launched a new corporate Web site that offers improved navigation and provides additional information about the vendor’s products and services.
www.sunchemical.com
Goss International Corp. said it completed a web-width reduction project on four presses operated by El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico. END publishes two daily newspapers with a combined circulation in excess of 350,000 copies.
www.gossinternational.com
Representatives of World Association of Newspapers and PPF Group launched the International Multimedia News Lab in Prague. The training and educational center, combined, with the editorial house, is called FUTUROOM – newsroom of the future.
The project focuses on addressing the financial and competitive challenges facing the newspaper industry, the organizations said.
www.wan-press.org
Barbara Rosenberger, production director at The Reporter in Fond du Lac, Wis., and Bill Taylor, operations director at the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, were awarded President’s Rings by Gannett Co. Inc. for outstanding performance in 2008.
Goss International Corp. said Ian Buckley, operations director for its Preston, England, facility, will now have overall responsibility for the vendor’s Lifetime Support program in the United Kingdom. Service managers Peter Banks and David Tootle will oversee commercial and newspaper customers, respectively, and Goss said it has combined the installation and service departments. Finally, David Russell was named to manage parts supply and procurement.
Atex said Latin American reseller Suita Sistemas will market and support its CMS and digital asset management software in the southern states of Brazil.
www.atex.com
MediaOne, which publishes The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News, hired Strategic Marketing Enterprises to handle its circulation customer service. SME said service will be provided by Caribbean-based KM Solutions.
www.strategicme.com
The New York Times relaunched its real estate portal, offering users more comprehensive search.
The site is based on software from Gabriels Technology Solutions. Gabriels said it used Endeca’s Information Access Platform software to beef up the site’s search capabilities.
www.gabriels.net
The Washington Times last week launched a radio newscast in partnership with local CBS affiliate WHFS 1580 AM. The two-minute “top of the hour” segments showcase exclusive Times content and original, investigative reporting from the paper’s newsroom.
www.washingtontimes.com
The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., rolled out social networking features anchored by Social Market 2.0 software from ThePort Network Inc. New features include support for blogging, posting comments and “friending” other users.
www.theportnetwork.com
Sun Chemical launched a new corporate Web site that offers improved navigation and provides additional information about the vendor’s products and services.
www.sunchemical.com
Goss International Corp. said it completed a web-width reduction project on four presses operated by El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico. END publishes two daily newspapers with a combined circulation in excess of 350,000 copies.
www.gossinternational.com
Representatives of World Association of Newspapers and PPF Group launched the International Multimedia News Lab in Prague. The training and educational center, combined, with the editorial house, is called FUTUROOM – newsroom of the future.
The project focuses on addressing the financial and competitive challenges facing the newspaper industry, the organizations said.
www.wan-press.org
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009 — Ann Arbor News to close July 23; Tucson shuttered
The Ann Arbor (Mich.) News will publish its last issue Thursday, July 23.
Advance Publications Inc. in March said it would fold the 174-year-old daily in favor of a new Web-centric news operation, dubbed AnnArborNews.com. The organization will continue to print a newspaper two days a week, with the first published edition scheduled for Sunday, July 26, according to Publisher Laurel Champion.
Advance will continue to operate the production plant, which will print the new organization’s paper. The facility, anchored by a Goss International Corp. Magnum press, also produces a regional edition of The New York Times, the Jackson (Mich.) Patriot-Citizen and other products.
Meantime, Gannett Co. Inc. closed the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen May 16, four months after it announced it would shutter the paper if it couldn’t find a buyer. Gannett said it would continue to operate the Citizen’s Web site as an opinion and community discussion page.
The shutdown came as a federal judge this morning held a hearing to stop the paper’s closing. A California newspaper publisher who said he wanted to continue publishing the Citizen asked the Arizona’s attorney general to stop the closure.
At press time, no decision had been reached.
Advance Publications Inc. in March said it would fold the 174-year-old daily in favor of a new Web-centric news operation, dubbed AnnArborNews.com. The organization will continue to print a newspaper two days a week, with the first published edition scheduled for Sunday, July 26, according to Publisher Laurel Champion.
Advance will continue to operate the production plant, which will print the new organization’s paper. The facility, anchored by a Goss International Corp. Magnum press, also produces a regional edition of The New York Times, the Jackson (Mich.) Patriot-Citizen and other products.
Meantime, Gannett Co. Inc. closed the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen May 16, four months after it announced it would shutter the paper if it couldn’t find a buyer. Gannett said it would continue to operate the Citizen’s Web site as an opinion and community discussion page.
The shutdown came as a federal judge this morning held a hearing to stop the paper’s closing. A California newspaper publisher who said he wanted to continue publishing the Citizen asked the Arizona’s attorney general to stop the closure.
At press time, no decision had been reached.
Britton gets Youngstown, FPS nods
The Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio, tapped Britton Services Inc. to complete the installation of a reconditioned Goss International Corp. Metroliner press.
BSI will provide engineering services as well as alignment, mechanical, electrical and piping services.
The newspaper two years ago launched the project, which involved replacing its decades’-old letterpress with press units and folders formerly used by the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif., and an overseas publisher.
The Vindicator also converted the presses from shafted to unit-level shaftless drives and trimmed the web width of the units to 48 inches. Currently, The Vindicator is produced on a 55-inch web, with a 23.5-inch cutoff.
The retooled press is configured as one line and will give The Vindicator a 96-page capacity, with 40 pages of color.
The project will be completed later this year, BSI said.
Meantime, BSI will also provide mechanical contractor services associated with the installation of the first Goss International Corp. Flexible Printing System press in the United States.
The Free-Lance Star in Fredericksburg, Va., is equipping the triple-wide FPS press with a commercial gas-fed dryer, allowing the paper to produce both coldset and heatset products.
BSI said the installation will be completed this fall.
BSI will provide engineering services as well as alignment, mechanical, electrical and piping services.
The newspaper two years ago launched the project, which involved replacing its decades’-old letterpress with press units and folders formerly used by the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif., and an overseas publisher.
The Vindicator also converted the presses from shafted to unit-level shaftless drives and trimmed the web width of the units to 48 inches. Currently, The Vindicator is produced on a 55-inch web, with a 23.5-inch cutoff.
The retooled press is configured as one line and will give The Vindicator a 96-page capacity, with 40 pages of color.
The project will be completed later this year, BSI said.
Meantime, BSI will also provide mechanical contractor services associated with the installation of the first Goss International Corp. Flexible Printing System press in the United States.
The Free-Lance Star in Fredericksburg, Va., is equipping the triple-wide FPS press with a commercial gas-fed dryer, allowing the paper to produce both coldset and heatset products.
BSI said the installation will be completed this fall.
MediaNews Group floats plan to charge for content
MediaNews Group said it wants to begin charging readers for some of its online content.
In a memo issued last week, MNG Chief Executive Officer William Dean Singleton and President Jody Lodovic said, “We cannot continue to give all our content away for free.”
Instead, the memo said, MNG will begin to develop new offerings aimed at applying “real value to our print content.”
“If you want access to all online content, you are going to have to register and/or pay. If a non-subscriber they will be directed to some sort of registration or pay vehicle,” the memo said.
Print subscribers would continue to have full access to articles.
The memo didn’t say when MNG would launch the initiative, but The Denver Post, MNG’s flagship publication, said test marketing could begin before the end of the year.
MNG publishes 54 newspapers in 11 states.
In a memo issued last week, MNG Chief Executive Officer William Dean Singleton and President Jody Lodovic said, “We cannot continue to give all our content away for free.”
Instead, the memo said, MNG will begin to develop new offerings aimed at applying “real value to our print content.”
“If you want access to all online content, you are going to have to register and/or pay. If a non-subscriber they will be directed to some sort of registration or pay vehicle,” the memo said.
Print subscribers would continue to have full access to articles.
The memo didn’t say when MNG would launch the initiative, but The Denver Post, MNG’s flagship publication, said test marketing could begin before the end of the year.
MNG publishes 54 newspapers in 11 states.
Houston Chronicle scores after digital upgrade
The Houston Chronicle said it reduced ink waste by 61 percent after upgrading its Goss International Corp. Metro presslines with digital inking.
The ink savings are part of a broader process improvement project The Chronicle launched in 2005. The paper established formal baselines for newsprint and ink waste, productivity averages, press starts and stops and other variables and began tracking them more intensely, according to General Manager Matt Oliver.
Ink waste totals at the newspaper, which averaged more than 12,000 pounds per week, dropped to an average of 4,250 pounds (1,927 kilograms) per week following the conversion to digital inking. Waste reduction rates ranged from 68 percent for black ink to 46 percent for magenta. Press downtime at the paper also decreased by 16 percent as a result of the inking conversion, and the number of paper rolls per web break increased by 23 percent.
The ink savings are part of a broader process improvement project The Chronicle launched in 2005. The paper established formal baselines for newsprint and ink waste, productivity averages, press starts and stops and other variables and began tracking them more intensely, according to General Manager Matt Oliver.
Ink waste totals at the newspaper, which averaged more than 12,000 pounds per week, dropped to an average of 4,250 pounds (1,927 kilograms) per week following the conversion to digital inking. Waste reduction rates ranged from 68 percent for black ink to 46 percent for magenta. Press downtime at the paper also decreased by 16 percent as a result of the inking conversion, and the number of paper rolls per web break increased by 23 percent.
Denver Post parent picks up new print contract
The Denver Newspaper Agency will begin printing 13 Denver-area weekly newspapers, for a total of 120,000 copies, under terms of an outsourcing agreement it signed with Colorado Community Newspapers.
Files will be sent from CCN’s editorial offices to DNA’s North Denver plant. DNA will then truck the completed copies to a CCN facility in Castle Rock, Colo.
In addition to The Denver Post, DNA prints the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., regional editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today, and the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Files will be sent from CCN’s editorial offices to DNA’s North Denver plant. DNA will then truck the completed copies to a CCN facility in Castle Rock, Colo.
In addition to The Denver Post, DNA prints the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., regional editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today, and the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
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