E&P on JRC Ben Franklin Project

8/9/2019 E&P on JRC Ben Franklin Project

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ULY 2010 WWW.EDITORANDPUBLISHER.COM $8.95

NEW TOOLSInside Journal Register Co.sBen Franklin Project

THE STATE OF THE

SYNDICATESContent sells, but whos buying?


2/6

PhiladelphiaNewspapers

www.edi to randpubl i sher.com J U L Y 2 0 1 0 EDITOR& PUBLISHER 3

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E & P O N L I N Ewww.editorandpublisher.com

FEATURESTHE STATE OF THE SYNDICATESWith newsrooms shrinking and

newspapers still looking to provide

content, one might think the

providers of syndicated content

would be doing a booming business.

But are they? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

A DIGITAL RETOOLING In keepingwith its new CEOs digital-first

philosophy, Journal Register Co. tries

an experiment in which its papers are

asked to swap out its legacy systems

for free Web tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

THE A SECTIONQ&A: Greg Osberg

Philadelphia Newspapers new

publisher/CEO talks about the

challenges ahead in ushering the City

of Brotherly Loves two major papers

forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Diving In A video journalist for

The Associated Press slips into the

oily waters of the Gulf of Mexico to

deliver a firsthand account . . . . . . . 6

Sharing alike Publish2 looks

to target the middleman role of

The Associated Press by fostering

content sharing among various

publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Franchising the news

A former publisher of community

newspapers is back in business with

a plan to launch thousands of

community news sites . . . . . . . . . . 12

Photo of the Month . . . . . 14

DEPARTMENTS

EDITORIALWhen the Federal TradeCommission is proposing government

subsidies for newspapers, its best to

stay skeptical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

THE DATA PAGE Check out the top 25gainers in combined print and online

readership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

INSIDE

AMERICAS EXTRA Aid from theHaiti News Project begins arriving

to help revive damaged

newspapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

SYNDICATES Reuben Award winnerDan Piraro ofBizarro fame discussescartooning and reveals his favorite

part of the job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

OPERATIONS New YorksDailyNews plays the long game in

realizing the potential of its

upgraded plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

MARKETPLACE Highlights of recentproduct and service introductions,

upgrades, sales and installations 26

SYNDICATES DIRECTORYE&Ps annual guide to everything

you need to know about providers of

syndicated content . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

NEWSOSAURAlan D. Mutter on howThe San Diego Union-Tribune added

an extra $100K a week to its gross

advertising revenues . . . . . . . . . .92

Classified begins on page 95

@30 Media President/CEOSherman Frederick fights back

against those who would steal whats

rightfully his . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

ON THE COVER: Clockwise from top left:

King Features Syndicate; United Feature

Syndicate; Creators Syndicate; King

Features Syndicate; United Feature

Syndicate; Universal Press Syndicate.

6


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34 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JULY 20 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com

To jump-start its digital-first strategy,

dailies drop legacy systems for free Web tools

By Mark Fitzgerald

JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S

DIGITAL RETOOLING


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www.edi to randpubl i sher.com JULY 20 1 0 EDITOR& PUBLISHER 35

Its a process: News-Herald staffers used free Internetsoftware to complete an entire edition from start to

finish. Clockwise from top left: Story assignments

were created and shared using Google Docs; an

imposition was made in OpenOffice.org; GIMP,a photo editing program, was one of several used

for toning; layouts were completed using Scribus

Newspapers are process-driven,

Paton says. And in many cases the

processes are broken because the

companies themselves havent

invested in the proper IT, and our

thinking gets heavily invested in

this broken process.

And if any newspaper company

was broken, it was JournalJOURNAL REGISTER CO.S BEN FRANKLIN

Project might strike some as a stunt. But to

CEO John Paton, the reason to make the

chains 18 dailies produce a newspaper

using only digital tools available for free on

the Internet is to force a change in thinking.


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36 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JANUARY 2 0 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com

continued on page 90

Register. Though it has some of the most storied

properties in the nation, such as theNew Haven

(Conn.)Register, it suffered for the better part of three

decades under a succession of ownerships seemingly

determined to test the very limits of cost-cutting. JRC

has terrible IT, Paton says flatly. Not terrible IT peo-

ple, but terrible systems because there has not been a

lot of money invested in the technology.

Paton is one of the newspaper industrys chief evan-gelists for a digital-first, print-last strategy, and Journal

Register Version 1.0 might seem like an unlikely place

to practice that philosophy.

Instead, it spurred him to thinking that, as he notes,

would not seem radical in any other information

industry except newspapers. If you take the crappy

systems and add the need for culture change, why

dont we try crowd-source journalism, open-source

journalism and populate the results of that on Web

and print using only free Web-based tools? he asks.

As editor ofThe News-Heraldin Willoughby, Ohio,

Tricia Ambrose was, in effect, the first front-line guinea

pig in the Ben Franklin Project, along with another

News-Herald, JRCs weekly in Perkasie, Pa. The twopapers volunteered to figure out how to produce an

entire paper using Web tools. Once they successfully

completed their editions in May, Paton promptly

announced that all 18 JRC dailies would do the same

thing on July 4.

It really forced us to accelerate or move in the

first place to digital-first, especially some of the

more veteran journalists who hadnt quite been into

Twitter and other social media, Ambrose says.

It wasnt always a smooth process. TheNews-Heraldfound

that a lot of the digital tools simply werent up to the task.

If youre at your house putting together a newsletter,

theyre fabulous, Ambrose says, but if youre sharing with35 people, its slow going.

Sports Editor John Kuehn, getting his section ready for

the July 4 deadline at The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich.,

found himself struggling to get productivity out of the

painfully slow free page-composition tool Scribus. Theres

a reason its free, he says with a laugh.

Yet in many ways, sharing that learning curve energized

the newsrooms, editors say. Younger journalists were

suddenly the ones mentoring veterans on Web apps.

It was nice to work on a project where everybody is fired

Ben Franklins Tool Shed

Crowd-sourcing

Survey Monkey surveymonkey.com

Polldaddy polldaddy.com

YouTube youtube.com

Vimeo vimeo.com

CoverItLive coveritlive.com

Newsroom

Google Docs docs.google.com

OpenOffice.org openoffice.org

Flickr flickr.com

ShareThis sharethis.com

Composition

GIMP gimp.org

ClipMarks clipmarks.com

Photoshop Online Editor photoshop.com

Picture2Life picture2life.com

DrPic drpic.com

Scribus scribus.net

Aviary aviary.com

JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S DIGITAL RETOOLING

The News-Heraldbefore (upper left) and after (lower

right) its Ben Franklin Project transformation.

up and it didnt involve a tragedy, Ambrose says, referring

to the local and national catastrophes it typically takes to get

an all-hands-on-deck effort going in newsrooms.

The community engagement that resulted from crowd-

sourcing was eye-opening, editors say.

Some of the Web-based digital tools Journal Register Co. used in its Ben Franklin Project:


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90 EDITOR& PUBLISHER JULY 20 1 0 www.edi to randpubl i sher.com

Classification of Syndicated Features

orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise....... ............................ ........................... .KFS

Human Behavior/Popular Psychology 1tw -600-800 -mail/ctc -

Adler, Jane.. ........................... ........................... ............................ ...WF

Inspiring Insights For Your Soul & Spirit! 2tm -150-600 -eml -

Thomas-Anderson, Gloria. ........................... ............................ ..........HT

Life Styles 1tw -var -ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee...............................NNB

LifeBeat 1tw -3200 -igp/Wire/eml/line ......................................NYT

Living 1tw -800 -igp/Wire/eml/line -Martha Stewart Living

Magazine ........................................................................................NYT

Love & Relationships 1tw -DF/eml/ctc/line -Staff.......... ........MCT

MCT Weekly Feature Graphics 1tw -line -Various.....................TMS

* Making Family Life More Fun 1tw -var -id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff .......................... ....NAPS

Martha Stewart Weddings qt -Wire/eml/line...............................NYT

MaryJane's Everyday Organic 1tw -500-600 -

orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Butters, MaryJane....................... .........UFS

Miss Manners 3tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc -Martin, Judith......UFS

Mary Mitchell 1tw -600 -orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -

Mitchell, Mary.................................................................................UFS

* Model Pictorials 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -Aquino,

Andres............................................................................................FSP

Modern Living an -sup (10 features) -id/igp/eml/line -Staff...CRE

Moms 1tw..................................................................................MCT

NextSteps 1tw -700 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Collins, Jan K./Warner,

Jan L. .............................................................................................UFS

* Party Pointers 1tw -var -id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -

Staff.............................................................................................NAPS

Prime Time With Kids 1tw -350 -igp/orp/DF/mail/ctc -Erickson,

Donna ............................................................................................KFS

Real Simple Solutions 1tw -500-700 -igp -Real Simple Magazine

Editors............................................................................................UFS

Beauty 1tw -var -Wire/eml/fax/ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee..............NNB

* Beauty Trends 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -

Aquino,Andres.................................... ........................... .................FSP

Best Looks 1tw -600-800 -id/mail/ctc -Abrams, Diane.............. .WF

Bottom Line, The 1tw -600 -mail/line -Basco,Antoinette ............CAT

Bridal -orp/Wire/eml/ctc/line -Staff. ........................... ...............NU

Brides & Bouquets an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line -

Staff ............................ ........................... ............................ ............CRE

Bride's Guide qt -sup -igp/rom/line........................................CTW

* Budget Stretching Ideas 1tw -var -

id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ........................ ......NAPS

Decor Score/Homes 1tw -650 -igp/eml/line -Gilbert, Rose Bennett .....................................................................CRE

* Entertaining Ideas 1tw -var -

id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ........................ ......NAPS

Fall/Winter Fashion and Style an -sup (10 features) -

id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE

* Family Features Editorial Services Inc. 1tw/sea -

ps/hps/qps/pt/hpt/var -disk/eml/mail/line ................. ...............FFES

* Fashion Accessories 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -

Aquino,Andres.................................... ........................... .................FSP

Football Widow Sundays 1tw/sea -qph/900 -eml -

Salfino, Catherine. ........................... ............................ .................MMG

* Paula Royce Graham 1tw/cont -500 -igp/man/mail -

Graham, Paula Royce.....................................................................GNS

Happy Musings 6tw -Huss, Sally ........................... ......................KFS

Heart & Head qt -750 -ctc -Engberg M.D., Karen M............. ......EKM

Hints from Heloise 6tw/S -d-4 1/4"/S-tps/hpt/tpt -

orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise..... ........................... ............................ ...KFS

Hints from Heloise (classified) 1tw -orp/mail/ctc -Heloise......KFS

Hints from Heloise (condensed) 3tw -d-2 1/4"/200-250 -

* Realstyle 1tw -DF/ctc/line -McLaughlin, Patricia... ...............UPS

RoMANtic, The 2tm -2" x 10"/500 -eml/line -Webb, Michael..ROMA

* Runway Fashion-Women 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -

Aquino,Andres............................... ........................... ......................FSP

Sense & Sensitivity 6tw -500 -Wire/DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette UFS

Sense & Sensitivity 6tw -500 -DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette.........NEA

Sew Simple 1tw -550 -id/DF/mail/ctc -Farmer Ellis, Vicki.......KFS

Sex & Relationships -eml -Gibson,Valerie ........................... .....SMC

Shopping Can Be Fun 3tw -500 -aud/fax/mail/ctc/line -Lawson,

Laurie.............................................................................................PITE

Slightly Off! 1tw -500 -man/eml/fax/ctc -Di Sandro, Deb..........SOF

Soap Opera Review 1tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Johnson,

Nancy.............................................................................................UFS

Spring Brides sea -sup -Wire .....................................................SHN

Spring/Summer Fashion an -sup (15 features) -

id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE

* Style Insider 1tw -var -igp/Wire/eml/line -Various ...................NYT

TMS Specialty Products 7tw -sup/var -line .........................TMSSP

Today's Lifestyle 1tw -700 -igp/eml/line -Staff .......................CRE

Variety Pak 1tw -var -id/igp/eml/line -Various.........................CRE

Wedding Bells an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line -

Staff ........................... ............................ ........................... .............CRE

Woman to Woman 1tw -Feldhahn, Shaunti /Glass, Diane...........UPS

* Women and Money S -tps/qps -orp/ctc/line -Orman, Suze .UPS

* Women's News 7tw -var -fax/mail/ctc -Staff............................GIN

You, Your Child and Entertainment 1tw -500 -man/mail -

Nydick, David............ ........................... ........................... ...............DAN

You, Your Child and School 1tw/7tw -500 -man/mail -

Nydick, David............ ........................... ........................... ...............DAN

You, Your Child and Sports 1tw -500 -man/mail -Nydick, David.DAN

Though only a few people came to the community meeting

Kuehn called to discuss what the Oakland Press should

cover in its sports pages, they brought a wealth of ideas that

will be fueling a major series in the paper, he says.

And a far-bigger meeting in Willoughby resulted in weeks

of user-generated content and crowd-source information

about dangerous intersections and blighted properties.

The meeting, videotaped and posted on YouTube, shows

someone making a suggestion about investigating the citys

controversial pay-as-you-throw garbage collection systemthat had many people smuggling their trash into other

municipalities for disposal. The

audience burst into applause.

Whens the last time that

you pitched a story at an

editorial meeting and anyone

applauded? asks JRCs Vice

President of Content Jon Cooper.

As JRC rolled out the Ben Franklin

Project to all of its dailies, the

biggest hurdle was the sheer

number of people who

needed to be trained in

finding and using

digital tools, Cooper

says. In a series of

Webinars, three or

four JRC content

executives managed

to reach about 1,100 employees

from journalists to ad

salespeople to back-office

workers. But just as

important, Cooper says,

was the learning going on

among employees.

That kind of

collaboration has

been lacking at

JRC, he says. But

now people are

finding new prod-

ucts and tools and

saying to one

another, If this

one doesnt work

for you, heres another.JRC created what it calls Ben Franklin in a Box with a

large range of free apps for the project (see sidebar). The free

tools, not surprisingly, make up the first suite of applications

JRC has in common. Like many other chains, some JRC

papers are running multiple versions of Quark, for instance.

We used to have to figure workarounds for outdated

software, Cooper says. By using these tools, we are able to

keep people on a level playing field without having to worry

about somebody saying, I need Photoshop to take print

photographs and size them for online. Well, they dont need

Photoshop. Theres Aviary and GIMP and DrPic. And these

products dont cost anything other than the time it takes to

learn them.

Cooper and CEO Paton give the distinct impression that

they will be hard sells for industry vendors. As much as

anything else, though, the Ben Franklin Project was about

convincing JRC employees that they couldnt wait for a new

box of equipment or software to arrive before changing their

mindset to digital-first. Both note that the great bulk of a

newspapers costs are sunk in infrastructure, with just a third

invested in sales, circulation, advertising, and editorial.

Itd be nice to spend that money on other operations,

Cooper muses.

Paton adds, Its like saying, Everything will be better

when we move into the new building. No newspaper can

wait to make those fixes.wait to make thos

continued from page 36

JOURNAL REGISTER CO.S DIGITAL RETOOLING

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E&P on JRC Ben Franklin Project