Press-Enterprise's owner wants to toss the old newspaper image

The Press-Enterprise Company, which owns and operates the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, La Prensa, and a few other publications and websites, has adopted a new name: Enterprise Media.

The name change has several purposes, not the least of which is to shed the image of a company tied to a tired, "one-dimensional" product: newspapers.

The new name also appears designed to position the company to better capture new revenue sources - Belo, Enterprise Media's parent, is going to experiment with paywalls come spring - and could simplify matters if Enterprise Media chose to partner with other media companies in the region.

From the memo to staff (my emphasis):

This change in our Company name has been planned for some time to ensure our business is seen by our clients as keeping pace with the significant, rapid and dynamic changes that are happening in the media industry. It also is aligned with the long-term vision for our business to reflect the innovation, new directions and forward-thinking multimedia strategy that our Company is actively pursuing. We have expanded from being a newspaper company to become a diversified media company. It’s now time for our customers to know us as more than a newspaper company as well.

The name Enterprise Media describes and defines who we are as a company. It effectively conveys our position as a future-focused media company; a leading and digitally savvy, multi-media news and information content provider. It is a name that will impress and influence our advertising and business-side clients to change their minds and attitudes about who we are.

This change is important because the name ‘Press-Enterprise Company’ does not align with our strategy. It is inextricably tied to our daily newspaper, ‘The Press-Enterprise,’ and it does not communicate to our customers the size, scale and capabilities of our multi-media product portfolio. ...

[T]he name ‘Press-Enterprise Company’ is tied to their past experiences with a newspaper company and it evokes attitudes and perceptions that are:

· One-dimensional. It causes our B2B [business-to-business] clients to see us as a one-product company; in their minds, one that has limited, if any, value for their needs. Reality is we are so much more as a business partner.

· Geographically limited. In the minds of our B2B clients our Company’s market and audience reach is limited to the geography of our newspaper circulation area. Reality is that our sphere of influence and audience extends well beyond the geographic area our newspaper serves.

· Institutionally bound. It says “newspaper” which means “inflexible,” “high rates,” and “old media” to advertisers who are looking for new ways to reach their clients using social media, mobile, and more. We want our name to convey that we’re playing in that space too.

The full memo is here.

Belo building walls

The Dallas Morning News plans to put stories written by the staff or about the Dallas Cowboys behind a paywall. Wire service copy and stories less than 150 words would be available for free on the newspaper's website, according to News Tech. From the story:

Seven-day-a-week print subscribers will still be able to see all of dallasnews.com's content free of charge. The Morning News charges new subscribers up to $33.95 per month for home delivery, and $37.95 for mail delivery, among the industry's steepest subscription rates for a general-circulation daily.

The Morning News is owned by Belo, which also owns the Press-Enterprise in Riverside. It would seem logical that if the paywall succeeds in Dallas that something similar would be erected out here.

Hyperlocal hypersports and the nationalization of local news

Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in America, plans to launch 100 "hyperlocal" high school sports sites that will be patched together on the HighSchoolSports.net platform. PaidContent writes:

This current sports effort will begin this month in 38 Gannett media markets, including Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Denver, CO. The full rollout is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

This patchwork approach to coverage (also AOL's model for its Patch sites) is probably the future for newspaper chains and national media companies, as they go smaller, more local and more niche with their coverage but use their vast resources and broad name recognition to create a regional or national networks based on common themes. It's sort of what the fragmentation of the small- and medium-size newspaper was heading for anyway.

Is it hard to imagine MediaNews, Belo and Gannett partnering on a regional high school sports network that pushes scores and updates to mobile devices while feasting on what's left of the auto and mall advertisers in Southern California?

It would make sense under this model for other popular beats - cops, courts, schools, weather - to be strung together and published on similar platforms. Readers might turn to a regional or national Gannett-run network to get their local police blotter, for instance. The model uses fewer journalists, offers a single focus and yet still allows the company to sell ads on a regional or national level.

It's not the greatest news for journalists, given that the coverage is almost certain to lead to fewer jobs, require less skill, offer less interesting experience, and create a box that eschews enterprise or creativity.

Here's how Ken Doctor sees it in his examination of AOL's Patch:

The fact that Patch is getting such recognition, and discussion, is another indicator of how thoroughly journalism has fallen on hard times. The announcement of the hiring of a single journalist in a single community? That was the stuff of internal newsroom memos not too long ago. It’s as if the news industry is struggling to rebuild itself, cell by cell, just as researchers are figuring out how humans themselves can regenerate lost limbs and organs.

At the same time, Doctor points out that the oxymoron of national chains doing hyperlocal is probably the way of the future. Here's why (again, using Patch as the example):

It seems to me that scale is a plus in a couple of ways: 1) national ad sales (witness the Pepsi Refresh campaign running across the current sites) and 2) technology costs, with one centralized production and presentation system, one that should be able to get to market quicker with tech innovations. In two important ways, though, scale will be of a lot less help — and these are core to the site’s promise and success: 1) local content production and 2) local ad sales. Patch, with its organizational structure, will get some efficiency boost through regionalized ad selling and some content sharing (as sites with a common school district may combine coverage, for instance). In the main, though, the hard work of gathering local news and selling local merchants isn’t greatly helped by the national brand.

P-E lays off two

The Riverside Press-Enterprise laid off two newsroom employees yesterday: Southwest area reporter Aaron Burgin and photographer Rodrigo Pena.

Selling the news*,**

The Dallas Morning News has decided to tear down the wall that separates editorial and advertising, having concluded the wall is a barrier to revenue. In a memo to staff, Morning News Editor Bob Mong says editors will now report to sales managers and sales managers, in turn, will have a hand in content. It's all about "business/news integration."

From the memo:

To better align with our clients' needs, we will be organized around eleven business and content segments with similar marketing and consumer profiles including: sports, health/education, entertainment, travel/luxury, automotive, real estate, communications, preprints/grocery, recruitment, retail/finance, and SMB/Interactive.

Each segment will be led by a General Manager (GM), a newly-defined role, each reporting to Cyndy Carr, charged with analyzing and growing the business by developing solutions that meet consumer needs and maximize results for our clients. Their responsibilities will include sales and business development. They will also be working closely with news leadership in product and content development.

The amount of jargon needed to explain the proposal is a first sign of trouble. Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Observer did his best to pin down Mong about what all this means and Wong made an unconvincing effort to brush off concerns. Mong does draw a line between stories and ads, but he sidesteps issues of whether moneymaking pressures will have a direct role in how and what the newsroom covers.

One remaining barrier to prevent unethical behavior, Mong told Wilonsky, is the team of journalists employed at the paper:

Believe me, our journalists aren't shy. If they think this thing isn't working right, they'll be the first to tell you. I talked to a lot of people yesterday, and, yes, there's uneasiness in some areas, and I would have been disappointed if people didn't raise questions.

That's all well and good, but journalists aren't angels. They feel pressure when their jobs are on the line (and will notice that the sales people are in charge). They accommodate higher ups. They aim to please. Moreover, you are what you practice. If you eliminate the wall, eventually people start acting like it's gone. Just take a look at the local television news.

All that said, the integration plan does not appear to include core beats in business or Metro. But it's not clear why they would be kept separate if management, which thinks this new regime is safe and ethical, starts to make money.

A lot of newspapers, including ones in the Los Angeles area, have danced around the separation barrier by creating hybrid general manager/executive editor/publisher slots that give the business side a say in content creation. Most of the time, the influence is limited to special sections and advertorial pieces. The Dallas Morning News has gone much further, and it wouldn't surprise me if it emboldened other newspaper chains to follow suit.

*Update: Although the Dallas Observer reports that the memo went out to all Belo papers, I'm told no one at the Riverside Press-Enterprise received it. It appears this only involves the Dallas Morning News - for now.

**Update II: Dallas Morning News publisher Jim Moroney tells the Dallas Observer that the "business/news integration" plan is about developing niches to attract customers (i.e., making more money). He says the concerns about breaching journalistic standards is "much ado about nothing":

We are trying to understand the local consumer -- what kind of relevant, important news and information does the consumer want in a particular category -- and try to build audience loyalty and more engagement by trying to find the content people most want and that's most relevant and most important. And if we do that, it attracts an audience.

-snip-

No one will tell Lisa they have to put this picture of this restaurant in the Guide because they're an advertiser. No one will tell Leslie Brenner which restaurant to review.

This is much ado about nothing, and I guess at the end of the day the only way I'll convince people is to tell them to check back in 90 days, 180 days, 365 days and see if anything has changed.

Away from Google

The Associated Press provides more details about a proposal by at least three newspaper companies - News Corp., MediaNews Group and A.H. Belo - to pull some of their content from Google's search engine in favor of an exclusive partnership with Microsoft's Bing.

From AP:

In theory, getting news organizations to block Google from including links to their content might give Microsoft a slight edge over its nemesis. Bing would have a trove of material that its rival didn't, giving people more reason to search somewhere besides Google. Google handles more than six times as many Web searches as Bing, a lead that Google has translated into billions of dollars in annual revenue from ads that the company sells alongside search results.

But even if it were willing to pay for exclusive indexing rights to some newspapers, Microsoft then would have to spend heavily to make sure Web surfers knew Bing had stuff that Google didn't — and even that might not be enough to get people to break their Google habit, said Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk.

Dan Kennedy at Media Nation offers his take on the plan:

...there isn’t really any underlying principle as to who ought to pay for what online. Rather, the debate is driven by who’s making money, who’s losing money and — here’s where we get back to Microsoft — the business model of any particular Internet company.

What is Microsoft’s business interest with respect to Bing? Simply this: to build market share, establishing Bing as a serious search alternative to Google. Bing has a long way to go, with 10 percent of the market to Google’s 65 percent. That said, Bing has received good reviews since its debut earlier this year. And it’s really the only search engine to emerge as any kind of rival to Google pretty much since Google slipped into view in the late 1990s.

MediaNews, Belo want to block Google, too

MediaNews Group owner Dean Singleton said he will follow the lead of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and block Google News from linking to stories that are put behind pay walls, Bloomberg reported today. MediaNews plans to start charging for some content at papers in Chico, California and York, Pennsylvania, and Singleton said that content would be off limits.

From Bloomberg:

“The things that go behind pay walls, we will not let Google search to, but the things that are outside the pay wall we probably will, because we want the traffic,” Singleton said.

Belo, which owns the Riverside Press-Enterprise, also announced tentative plans to charge for some online content and said it would likewise block Google from indexing those stories.

Layoffs at the Press-Enterprise, updated

At least nine newsroom employees were laid off today at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, and I'm told the number could be higher. Here are the names I have so far:

David Keck, night city editor
Julia Glick, county reporter
Matt Schoenmann, web producer
Sonja Bjellend, cops reporter
Melissa Eiselein, city reporter
Erica Shen, news assistant/city reporter
Peter Erikson, copy desk
Sheryl Manalang, copy desk
Katie Jones, copy desk
Ed Crisostomo, photographer
Marlene Toscano, news assistant
Andre Vergara, sports copy desk
Brian Johnson, news designer

(Note: This list will be updated when I can confirm additional names. Four names added 10/15.)

Layoffs at the Press-Enterprise

I've heard from a couple sources that the Press-Enterprise in Riverside has undertaken another round of newsroom layoffs. I'll update when I get more information.

Four in the morning

1. Out of work? The San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group (Pasadena Star-News, SGV Tribune, Whittier Daily News) wants your story for a new feature called "faces of the recession." - "Our goal is try to help you get back on your feet again in the midst of a tough recession." Star-News

2. The New York Times reports on National Public Radio's efforts to add more news content to its website, which has NPR affiliates - of which KCRW is one - worried that listeners and resources will be drawn away from local stations. NYT

3. Ron Kaye at OurLA.org has obtained pension records for the Los Angeles police and fire departments and listed the 286 highest earners - all pulling in over $100,000 a year. OurLA.org

4. Newspaper company A.H. Belo, whose publications include the Press-Enterprise in Riverside and Dallas Morning News, posted a $7.1 million loss in the second quarter of the year. Stock prices are up slightly, however. Dallas Morning News

Press-Enterprise pullout

As part of the continuing cutbacks at the paper, the Riverside Press-Enterprise has announced it will stop delivering to several cities in San Bernardino County. The paper has eliminated a sizable chunk of its SB County reporting and editing staff already.

From the memo:

In January of this year, we were faced with the choice of leaving San Bernardino County or implementing a very aggressive price increase to allow us to cover our costs of publishing and continue delivering in San Bernardino County. Unfortunately, a significant number of subscribers in parts of S.B. County refused to accept the increase in price and cancelled their subscriptions.

Consequently, after further review, we have made the decision to discontinue home delivery in certain parts of the San Bernardino market due to low penetration levels. We will continue delivery in those areas where subscriber acceptance remains high, but unfortunately we will eliminate home delivery service in Chino Hills, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana and Rialto on Monday, July 13, 2009. The final print edition of The Press-Enterprise will be delivered to subscribers’ homes on Sunday, July 12, 2009.

Read the complete memo here.

In addition, rumors abound that the PE wants to sell its new headquarters, which the paper moved into two years ago, and move back to the old digs next door.

P-E update

It appears that 14 people got laid off from the Press-Enterprise newsroom in the latest round of cuts, most of them from the copy desk, which is now down below 20 people. In addition, another two long-time journalists, City Hall reporter Doug Haberman and Director of Photography Gary Miller, announced plans to resign.

*This post has been edited

Layoffs at the PE*

Word came last night that the Riverside Press-Enterprise planned more layoffs today. I don't have a full count, but here's the list of those who I've been told have lost their jobs:

Julie Farren, reporter
John Berry, reporter
Hilary Cable, copy editor
Doug Seino, Web producer

Debbie Zucco, editorial

Merrill McCarty, editor

Tony Luu, copy desk

Tammy McCoy, reporter

Brian Melling, sports

Mo Holler, copy editor

Mike Rodriguez, copy editor
Dennis Brosterhous, copy editor
Ed Prather, copy editor
Carolyn Badger, part-time copy editor

*Updated with additional names.

Belo to cut salaries, freeze pensions

AH Belo, the parent company of the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Dallas Morning News, announced today that starting May 1 it will cut the salaries of all workers making over $25,000 and eliminate annual pension contributions for 2009.

According to the memo from CEO Richard Decherd, salary cuts will made on a sliding scale:

$25,000 and under 0 %
$25,001 - $74,999 2.5 %
$75,000 - $102,499 5.0 %
$102,500 - $149,999 7.5 %
$150,000 - $225,000 10 %
Over $225,000 15 %

As the New York Times did when it announced pay cuts last week, Belo will "give" employees days off in exchange for the smaller paycheck. But the company calls the unpaid a "cushion" rather than a furlough:

Our hope is to restore most or all of these cuts for impacted employees at some time in the future, as business conditions permit. To cushion the impact of the wage cuts, all impacted employees will receive three additional personal days per calendar year, effective at the time of the salary reductions.

Belo expects to save $16 million annually between the pension freeze and the salary cuts. Read the full memo from Decherd here.

Cutting to begin at the Press-Enterprise

Ron Redfern, publisher of the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, sent employees a memo on Tuesday to let them know that another round of layoffs is about to begin. Redfern said the company has yet to determine how many people will lose their jobs, but he hopes to be finished with the process by the end of April.

The cuts were anticipated. Parent company A.H. Belo announced in January that it was planning to cut as many as 500 people total at its various newspapers.

Read the full Redfern memo here.

'Unfortunate coincidence'

A.H. Belo hands out executive bonuses on the day it announces sweeping layoffs at its newspapers. (via Romenesko)

Another round of layoffs at Belo

The A.H. Belo chain, which counts the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Dallas Morning News among its newspapers, announced a new round of layoffs today in a memo from CEO Robert Decherd.

Decherd buries the lede a bit, waiting til the sixth graf to say that 500 jobs could be on the chopping block:

The most significant cost initiative will be a further reduction in force across the Company. The revenue trends we continue to experience simply do not support or require the same number of people as we have previously employed. This reduction in force will impact all of the operating companies and corporate, and will probably be in the range of 500 jobs. Specifics about the reduction in force plan will be communicated as soon as possible, but no later than mid-February.

Additionally, Belo will suspend company matches to 401k accounts and limit reimbursements for work-related expenses. Employees will also have the pleasure of paying to come to work:

Similarly, it is no longer reasonable for the Company to provide free parking in downtown Dallas. A monthly charge of $40 will take effect May 1, 2009 for all downtown Dallas surface lots owned by the Company. Parking for A. H. Belo employees in the garage of The Belo Building will be increased from $40 per month to $70 per month. Bus and rail passes in Dallas will have charges ranging from $18.75-$30 per month beginning May 1. Combined, these fees will generate approximately $520,000 per year. We are looking at the possibility of similar transportation-related charges in Riverside and Providence.

(Decherd memo comes via Romenesko)

Belo the belt

After taking a voluntary pay cut and overseeing 500 layoffs and buyouts, the chairman of A.H. Belo, which owns the Riverside Press-Enterprise, will receive a salary increase. The Dallas Morning News reports:

Robert W. Decherd, A.H. Belo's chairman, president and chief executive, will receive a salary of $600,000 in 2009, compared with $250,000 this year, the company said.

Salary freeze

AH Belo Corp announced today a company-wide salary freeze effective Nov. 1. Belo owns the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

In addition to salary freezes, Belo has begun laying off employees as part of a plan to cut the workforce by 13% - Belo initially offered buyouts in hopes of reaching the goal. Pink slips have already hit the PE and employees at the ProJo and DMN expect them to drop as early as today.