Romenesko

Radar Online
Retired New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse recalls the 1989 NOW march brouhaha:

Len Downie, over at the Washington Post -- who of course believes that you shouldn't even vote -- Len learned that some of his reporters had also been at the march and he started railing against this. Some of my friends at the Post said, 'well, what's the big deal? Over at the Times, Linda marched, and it was completely in the open and nobody said anything about it.' At that point Eleanor Randolph, who had the press beat at the Washington Post, called Max Frankel to say, 'Well, what about this?' Because here at the Post, our executive editor takes a dim view of this. Well, Max was not going to be "out-ethiced" by Len Downie. And so he said, 'Well, this is terrible, this violates all kinds of rules.' Which, actually, it didn't. So he came down on me. He made Howell [Raines] call me in and read me some kind of riot act.

PLUS: More Greenhouse memories.

Associated Press
The 25 cent increase could affect USA Today more than the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which raised prices over the summer, because USA Today gets a greater share of its circulation through single-copy sales, says AP's Anick Jesdanun

Lee Enterprises release
Steve Pokin, who uncovered a MySpace hoax that led to a 12-year-old girl's suicide, is one of five Lee Enterprises Excellence in News winners. The others are: the Arizona Daily Star (social promotion in schools), North County Times (wildfires coverage), St. Louis Post-Dispatch ("Free to Flee"), and the Provo Daily Herald ("Brady, the Greatest Gift.") || PLUS: More winners.

PBS MediaShift
"Everything is thought of for immediacy and getting it out the door," says Gannett digital content veep Jennifer Carroll. She answers Mark Glaser's questions about the chain's two-year-old Informative Centers initiative.

Star Tribune | MinnPost.com
TV networks and the Associated Press have sued Minnesota to stop enforcement of an election day anti-loitering law, saying it would make exit poll interviews virtually impossible. A federal judge on Thursday told lawyers for the state and news orgs to come up with a compromise by Friday or he'll make a ruling. || Also in Minnesota: Sen. Norm Coleman won't let two left-leaning news orgs cover his press conference.

Politico.com
"We've reported the Ayers relationship before, and we had it on our 'to do' list for a while to take a more comprehensive look," Times editor Bill Keller tells Michael Calderone. "When the McCain campaign began to make it a major focal point of ads and stump speeches, we decided the time was right."

Columbia Journalism Review
That comes from a former Palin administration official, who adds: "I think if you look at all the national stories, and compare it to her governor's race or when she was governor, it's been impossible not to notice. We didn't hear about the librarian. We didn't hear about the rape kits. We didn’t hear about the Wasilla earmarks." Ex-Alaska politico Andrew Halcro notes that "in the last four weeks, the state has gotten to know more about Sarah Palin then in the last twelve years. It's almost become an embarrassment."

Portfolio.com
The December issue will be the last. Jeff Bercovici notes Cosmogirl is the second Hearst title to fold this year; Quick & Simple went over the summer.

> ProJo union names staffers who are losing their jobs
> Akron Beacon Journal cartoonist Bok takes buyout
> Varadarajan explains why he left WSJ for Forbes.com
> MediaNews' Alameda Journal drops its Tuesday edition
> In Emirates, newspapers are still a growth industry
> Sarasota Herald-Tribune cuts another 20 positions
> Mary Mitchell: Limbaugh is "the epitome of white privilege"
> Overby accepts Al Neuharth Journalism Award

Romenesko Misc.
AP says it's in good shape, "thanks to modest revenue growth and responsible expense management over the past few years, which have resulted in a positive cash flow." But, a memo to staff adds, "as the economy falters, it is imperative that we keep spending in line with revenue." A hiring freeze was instituted this week.

Publishing2.com
It's hard to do with the old go-it-alone model of journalism, says Scott Karp. "But they can compete through COLLABORATION. Digg has proven that collaborative human editorial effort can cover a massive amount of territory on the web. Imagine if journalists and news orgs brought together their combined editorial intelligence, their combined news judgment."

Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News' cease-and-desist letter to Tina Brown demands that she stop using her logo for The Daily Beast, which is "virtually identical in shape, color, font and style to our own Daily News logo."

New York Post
Keith J. Kelly reports there were 409 volunteers for the Star-Ledger's buyout package; the paper said it would accept up to 230. || Editor & Publisher: Indianapolis Star union says the paper should have asked for volunteers before laying off staffers.

New York Times
Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, are on their way back to Jordan. The couple, who had been detained for crossing into Syria "illegally, with the help of a smuggler," work for the Jordan Times.

Women's Wear Daily
Food & Wine's November issue includes "A Thrifty Cook's Guide to (Almost) Free Ingredients," while in an upcoming Bon Appetit story on stylish dinner parties, "instead of calling for osetra caviar, which costs $400 for less than 2 oz., we start out with American spoonfish caviar at $49 for 2 oz.," says editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild.

TampaBay.com | Nick Bergus | Tampa Tribune
The "new" Tribune debuted just Monday. Executive editor Janet Coats tells her staff: "The multiple section habit is deeply engrained. It's clear that trying to change that habit through a single news section is not something readers are going to accept. || Coats tells readers: "We've listened carefully to what you've told us, and we're responding."

Online Journalism Review
Former Spokesman-Review editor Steven A. Smith, 58, responds to David Westphal's question: Are veteran editors the best people to lead newsrooms to a digital future? "My colleagues at the recent Knight Digital Media Center conference are innovators and leaders," he writes in the OJR comments section. "They know what must be done and their years of experience and craft knowledge actually enhance their ability to drive change."

MinnPost.com
Sen. Norm Coleman declined to respond to a Pioneer Press reporter's question about Ken Silverstein's Harpers.org post ("Sen. Coleman Gets by with a Little Help From His Friends"), saying that "there are very awful things that are said about people on blogs. And the idea to make it a legitimate story is something … I just don't respond to it." David Brauer notes that after three days, "the Coleman camp has knocked down precisely zero of Silverstein's assertions."

LAObserved.com
With the redesign, the Times is considering doing away with the Times staff writer byline and datelines, to be replaced by a credit line that reads "Reporting from Baghdad" or wherever. "That's kind of amusing," writes Kevin Roderick, "because Tribune innovations czar Lee Abrams got panned for admitting that he didn't understand how datelines work and, incredibly, well into his tenure did not realize that his papers had live reporters in danger's way in Iraq."

Boston Phoenix
Adam Reilly raises the question and writes: "The fact is, the press still ignores or minimizes potential conflicts of interest far more often than it should -- especially those involving high-stakes stories and high-profile journalists. Take, for example, the ongoing awkwardness involving NBC's Andrea Mitchell," who is married to Alan Greenspan. || CJR: NYT "absolutely unloads" on Greenspan. || Radar: An "extraordinary takedown of Greenspan."

> Tharp promoted to executive editor at Merced Sun-Star
> WSJ plays a leading role in biz leaders' economic summit
> Anchorage Daily News praised for Troopergate coverage
> American City Business Journals to merge two CA papers
> Can a mid-size or major daily paper exist without AP?
> SI Advance gets 1,500 complaints about dropped TV book

Editor & Publisher | Huffington Post | Slate
Sarah Palin "represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party" and she is "absolutely not" ready to be president or vice president, Times columnist David Brooks said at an Atlantic-mag sponsored event. (Watch the video.) Greg Mitchell points out that Brooks has yet to share those views with his Times readers. || Chris Wilson: Palin has been the most blogged-about of the four candidates.

Reflections of a Newsosaur
Alan Mutter got a call from a pal at a large metro daily who asked if killing the Monday paper would be a good idea. "How about trying something less drastic, more creative and potentially far more profitable?" Mutter responded. Focus on sports, for example. One of his ideas: "Turning the Monday paper from an ordinary broadsheet into a free-distribution tabloid, featuring not only the newspaper’s best staff-written sports coverage but also the cream of the user-generated content from the website."

Atlanta Creative Loafing
Ken Edelstein criticizes Journal-Constitution restaurant critic Meredith Ford Goldman for using Atlanta-area chefs at her wedding reception. He writes: "The situation brings up so many conflict-of-interest issues that it's hard to imagine how they could have been overlooked by Goldman or, just as importantly, by her editors." Goldman points out that she disclosed everything in a story about her wedding feast, and notes that Creative Loafing's dining critic is married to a chef.

Boston Globe
"Don't have a cow, man," writes former Boston Globe TV and theater critic Ed Siegel. "Although it's easy to dismiss the Fox News Channel as the broadcast wing of the Republican Party, critics continually turn a blind eye to a basic virtue of FNC: It's really pretty entertaining."

Wall Street Journal
The Hearst paper cut 90 positions -- 25 from the newsroom -- which is about 5% of its staff. || FishbowlDC: Those laid off include White House correspondent Julie Mason and national political correspondent Bennett Roth.
> Houston Chronicle editorial writer gives money to candidate

Washington City Paper
That's the headline on City Paper's release about its decision "to file voluntary petitions for content reorganization, citing diminished staff and the flagging confidence of its readers." The joke -- er...release continues: "During this time, Washington City Paper will continue to publish under court protection from its readers, who have wielded an unreasonable degree of power over the publication’s future." || Here's the "court filing" and bankruptcy FAQ.

San Diego Union-Tribune
They are Tribune, MediaNews, Black Press, Stephens Media, Yucaipa Cos., Platinum Equity, and KUSI owner Michael D. McKinnon. The Copley Press paper was put up for sale in July.

Columbian
The Columbian plans to relocate its operations to former offices in downtown Vancouver, Washington so it can generate more revenue from a new building constructed by publisher Scott Campbell and his wife. Campbell says the company is trying to negotiate a new loan with its lender or will seek temporary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors.
> Press-Register donates $50,000 in property

New York Times
Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, arrived in Lebanon from Jordan on Sept. 29 -- they've been working at the Jordan Times -- and haven't been heard from since Oct. 1. They were expected back at the newspaper on Saturday. || UPDATE: Syria says it's holding the journalists for illegally crossing the border from Lebanon.

Nieman Watchdog
John Walcott said as he accepted the first I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence: "Tony Ridder and Gary Pruitt have come in for a lot of criticism in recent years, but let me say this as plainly as I can: First Tony and now Gary have never been anything but supportive of the journalism that we've tried to do in the Knight Ridder and McClatchy Washington Bureaus. Not once -- not one time -- has either of them second-guessed our editorial decisions or our stories, even when bigger and better known news organizations were reporting the opposite."

> Graham goes from ME to editor at Spokesman-Review
> "Marketplace" still keeps its wry tone in tough times
> Film critic Fine plants his flag on the Internet
> Rather wants suit to note he lost millions because of CBS
> Jarvis: "The fall of journalism is journalists' fault
> Bowden leaves the Atlantic, signs with Vanity Fair
> Union wants Providence Journal to report its 30 layoffs
> Joe Sexton is called the Jim Cramer of NYT Metro section

New York Post | AdAge.com
The judges who awarded it Cover of the Year at the American Magazine Conference liked the "directness, humor and simplicity" and noted that "the cover required no headlines. The image succeeds all by itself." New York's Eliot Spitzer cover was also cited for best news cover and best coverline. || More from AMC: Google CEO Eric Schmidt complains that the Internet is fast becoming a "cesspool" where false information thrives.

Daily Kansan
Thor Nystrom used his medical records, police records, personal diary, interviews with family and his own recollections to write an account of what he calls his descent into the "depths of hell." (How about buying this Brainerd, Minn. native a cup of coffee the next time you're in the Midwest, David Carr?) Nystrom, a 2008 University of Kansas grad, wins $2,500 in Rolling Stone's contest.

Voice of San Diego
They are, according to Randy Dotinga, the New York Times Co., MediaNews Group, Tribune Co. and Black Press, Ltd. Also, some San Diego businesspeople are said to have their eyes on the Union-Tribune, he reports.

New York Times
Some wonder if there's a need for a network evening newscast, while NYT reader Roni Stein asks if there will ever be a one-hour network news report. Unlikely, says Times reporter Jacques Steinberg. He turns to ex-TV news exec Richard Wald, who points out that "cable news stations provide all the news the news junkies need." || PLUS: NYTer Bill Carter's ten favorite TV shows.

Online Journalism Review
They're handicapped by their investment in a fast-disappearing past and are sometimes slow to see how quickly the information revolution is occurring, says David Westphal, who recently left McClatchy's Washington bureau to join USC Annenberg. "Will young journalists with no investment in the past (for good and ill) be better choices?"

Forbes.com | Content Bridges
NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller insists that shuttering the International Herald Tribune site is about growth, not cost savings. She hopes tying NYTimes.com and IHT.com together will increase the Times' traffic and give it more content against which to sell ads. || Ken Doctor: The move makes a lot of sense.

Valleywag
It may be, but Adrian Holovaty says he hasn't struck a deal with the search giant. "If Holovaty does land at Google, expect him to transform Google News into a site that's more of a database of information than a news archive," writes Owen Thomas. "He's long been critical of the newspaper industry's focus on stories, rather than information."

New York Times
Nick Denton wonders how many others will regularly visit Tina Brown's new website. "The design is lively," says Gawker's founder, but "it has to be simpler to work." Brown tells David Carr: "We have heard from a lot of people who love what we came up with, but we are tweaking and refining even as we speak."
> Russo: TDB is a thematic relative of Brown's defunct Talk

Newark Star-Ledger
Star-Ledger truck drivers ratified a new labor agreement Tuesday night, ensuring the paper will not be sold or closed. "I'm thrilled The Star-Ledger will remain part of our family," says Donald Newhouse, president of Advance Publications, which has owned the paper since 1935. || Wall Street Journal: Star-Ledger and LAT slice costs further.
> Read Star-Ledger publisher George Arwady's memo to staff

New York Times
The New York Sun, which folded last week, was the fifth paper to leave the New York Capitol press room in less than two years, reports Jeremy W. Peters. The Staten Island Advance, Syracuse Post-Standard, Schenectady Daily Gazette and Middletown Times Herald-Record have all removed their statehouse correspondents from the Capitol since the beginning of 2007.
> Star-Ledger Statehouse bureau loses big in buyouts

New York Observer
Michael Lewis has told Vanity Fair that he'll drop his New York Times Magazine and Portfolio contracts and sign exclusively with them, reports John Koblin. He writes: "It's an incredible get for [VF editor Graydon] Carter: Vanity Fair gets perhaps the most important financial journalist in the country to move from Conde Nast's only financial title."