Sun newsroom says 'no' to union

I'm told newsroom employees at the San Bernardino Sun have rejected an effort to form a union at the MediaNews Group-owned newspaper. The vote was 12 to 2 against.

When the union election was set, 17 people were eligible to cast ballots. I'm told two people have since left and one ballot was challenged - an action that won't change the outcome.

Layoffs in Riverside*

I'm told at least three newsroom staffers got laid off today at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside. More than two dozen employees were laid off company wide. I'll update when I get more information.

*Update: Three newsroom employees - a city reporter and two web position - were cut as part of a 24-person downsizing. 

Do "news" and "analysis" need couple's therapy?

Are news and analysis a boring couple who would do much better if they went their separate ways? Jonathan Glick makes the argument in today's Business Insider. I agree with the premise that analysis will remain valuable - and possibly gain value - as more breaking news consumption is done in bite-size, mobile chunks. And I agree with the premise that breaking news will increasingly be consumed in bite-size, mobile chunks.

But Glick's argument relies on a theory that news and analysis are distinct entities that can exist separately, even happily so. They can't. News and analysis are different expressions of the same newsroom-consumer relationship. Breaking news is the flirtation and analysis is commitment. Newsrooms need to do both well if they want to keep the fire burning.

The new business of Editor & Publisher is business

The return of Editor & Publisher without its two most recognizable writers and editors, Greg Mitchell and Joe Strupp, raised a few red flags that the trade publication would be more about trade and less about news. That and the fact that its was bought by a company that publishes magazines about boats.

In an interview with the New York Times, the new owners confirms that he'll indeed shift the focus away from the news side:

Mr. McIntosh said in an interview that he wanted to shift Editor & Publisher’s focus toward the business and technology of the industry, with less emphasis on what happens in newsrooms.

(h/t E&P in Exile)

The business end of journalism

As newsrooms shrink to keep pace with shrinking profits, the business side of journalism has become increasingly dominant over the editorial side. Which probably explains the itchy trigger finger firing of Brian Nutting at Congressional Quarterly.

After he wrote an email that demanded the company explain why 44 newsroom staffers were laid off after the company merged with Roll Call, Nutting was told he could either resign or be fired. He was fired.

From the Washington Post:

Nutting said he wrote the e-mail in some haste, after walking out of a mandatory meeting called to discuss the layoff announcement. He said he did not expect his missive to go beyond his newsroom ("I'm a Luddite; I never thought about it"). But he took some issue with the notion that he was insubordinate: "I don't know what the definition of insubordination is," he said. "I guess it's whatever the employer says it is. I just asked some inconvenient questions."

At the moment, he said, has no job prospects and doubts he'll be able to continue in journalism, given the economy, his age and the declining state of the news business.

Nutting said he volunteered to be laid off last week if it meant sparing the jobs of two of his reporters, who had been laid off from other jobs. Both of the reporters were let go anyway, Nutting said.