Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Record number of GateHouse newspapers receive company's Inner Circle Award

GateHouse Media has awarded nine Southern Illinois newspapers with the company's prestigious Inner Circle Awards for Q2:
  • Benton Evening News
  • Carmi Times
  • Olney Daily Mail
  • Du Quoin Evening Call
  • Daily Republican (Marion)
  • Murphysboro American
  • Randolph County Herald Tribune
  • The Daily American (West Frankfort)
  • The Daily Register (Harrisburg)
Inner Circle evaluations focus on prints initiatives such as reader involvement, print and online promotions and alternative story formats; and online initiatives, such as Facebook, website updates, galleries, video and community blogging. This is the most S.I. newspapers that have received this award in a quarter. 

Congrats to all the winning newsrooms.   


Monday, September 24, 2012

Follow Southern Illinois sports coverage on Twitter

Journalists at GateHouse Media newspapers in Southern Illinois are making it easier to follow local sports action on Twitter. A hashtag - #SILscores - is now commonly used to identify tweets related to our coverage of high school, college and recreational sports. In some instances game coverage is in real time.

The hashtag symbol followed by a word or phrase (uninterrupted by spaces) makes it easier to follow a topic in Twitter search.

Readers of our print and digital products are also encouraged to use #SILscores to report developments in area contests they attend as well.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Setting the record straight on Benton, Marion, West Frankfort sports coverage

Our three newspapers in Williamson and Franklin counties - the Daily American (West Frankfort), the Daily Republican (Marion) and the Benton Evening News - made a small change in how we went to press in early August that has been the subject of concern by a few people in one of those communities.

Here is what we did, why we did it and why those community newspapers (and their readers) are now much better off for the change.

We combined just the "B" section of all three papers on Aug. 6; it now has primarily a sports and classified focus. (See related story.) The perception from some observers has been that in order to do so, we must have cut back on sports coverage from their community as a result. That is simply not the reality:
  • We freed journalist time to spend more time writing. Previously each sports editor at each paper spent roughly 35-50% of their week "paginating" the sports section. This is the process where the pages are composed using a computer design program and then transmitted to a printer. So in any given week we lost up to a collective 50 hours or more of time between the three newspapers to a production process that could be spent reporting. Under the new system, we moved pagination of the sports section to another individual in the newsroom, freeing all three journalists to write more. 
  • We devoted more space to sports journalism. In the past, some days we published as few as two pages of sports coverage; we now have up to four or even five pages. That is a larger sports section that at some newspapers 10 times the circulation of ours. 
  • We increased the audience for our classified advertisers. Now every advertiser in that section has a larger audience. As a result, we have seen the number of participants in our business services directory grow.
  • Our expanded coverage increased the value of the sports section for some of our readers. Many readers have nieces, nephews, grandchildren and children of friends playing sports at neighboring schools. Some are alumni of those schools. They have told us they appreciate the ability to follow those athletes from nearby towns in our newspapers. Others have told us that following the coverage of schools who their local teams may play is helpful in familiarizing themselves with the competition. 
  • And we saved some money to plow elsewhere in our operation. There were cost savings because our printer only had to create press plates for one section instead of three. The annual savings equates to the salary equivalent of an entry level staff member. 
Is the coverage everything we want it to be? No. The change was hampered by a staff resignation; there was a brief period of time we were not at full staff. The Southern Illinois Miners - fortunately - made it to the championship round of the playoffs for the first time, which took a little bit away from the coverage of scholastic sports. So we haven't hit our stride yet and the best is yet to come. 

To summarize: 
  • We still have the same size sports staff in place. 
  • At a minimum we are still covering the same athletic teams we have in the past. 
  • Some days our coverage of your favorite teams is greater than before. 
  • And we've layered in some additional coverage into your edition - stories that would have been still been written and published in a different newspaper if this combined sports section did not exist - that inform local student athletes and their fans about near-by competitors and engage readers who grew up in and / or know individuals in those communities. 
If you have sports story ideas in these communities you feel deserve coverage, please contact a local sports editor:
  • Allen Parker, Benton Evening News, sports@bentoneveningnews.com 
  • Ryan Stieg, Daily American, sports@dailyamericannews.com
  • Justin Walker, Daily Republican, jwalker@dailyrepublicannews.com


Monday, August 13, 2012

Take our brief newspaper survey

This is a link to a brief 5-question survey to register Southern Illinois newspaper readers' interests. Tell us your opinions: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SILLINOISNEWSPAPERS

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Sales leader opening at GateHouse Southern Illinois


We're recruiting a sales leader for SI Trader, a shopper circulating in five states in the Midwest, as well as to lead a automotive sales team for a group of dailies, weeklies and shoppers. The successful candidate will manage a mix of inside and outside salespeople and have revenue responsibility for a highly successful paid circulation shopper product, as well as a multi-media automotive sales team selling across more than a dozen traditional print and multi-media products.
We seek a leader who can define strategic direction while actively engaging all members of the sales team in achieving goals across retail, classified, digital and niche product offerings.
Our successful candidate will have a stellar track record in identifying and executing innovative sales ideas, effectively managing performance, mentoring and motivating employees and understanding and meeting customers' needs. This is a hands-on role, that will require commitment to regularly participating in sales calls, evaluating / mentoring account executives and overseeing development of sales proposals within the team.
This position is Southern Illinois-based within GateHouse Media; this is a high profile position with considerable opportunity for advancement for a successful individual.
We offer an attractive compensation package and full benefits.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of sales management for a minimum of three years in media, preferable in shopper and / or automobile advertising sales. Requirements include a history of driving sales results, recruiting and nurturing talent, and building and engaging a highly productive and motivated team. Strong customer orientation, exceptional written/verbal communication & presentation skills, persuasiveness, teamwork, problem solving skills, analytical ability, and interpersonal skills also essential. Digital sales mgt. experience highly preferred. A background in consumer marketing of paid shopper products would also be very helpful.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send a cover letter and resume to recruitingsalesprofessionals@gmail.com


Monday, August 6, 2012

Changes coming to classified section of Marion, West Frankfort and Benton newspapers

Beginning today, readers of the Benton Evening News, The Daily American (West Frankfort) and The Daily Republican (Marion) will note the classified section has moved to the front of the second section of the newspaper. This is one of a number of improvements coming this summer / fall to this section.


Also effective today, any ad called into any of those three newspapers will appear in all three, as well as the Web sites affiliated with each newspaper. The contents will also appear in two weeklies - The Progress (Christopher) and Free Press (West Frankfort) - and will be expanded to the weekly This Week (Marion) by year-end.


The goal is to offer classified advertisers a greater reach of local adults. Advertisers can also purchase additional reach into other regional newspapers such as Harrisburg.


In conjunction with this change, readers should notice a higher local story count in the sports section. The goal is to provide readers more coverage from Williamson and Franklin counties. In the past, sports articles that appeared in one of the three newspapers often wouldn't make it into one or both of the other two. Now local sports originating from those two counties will appear in all three editions.


More changes to the classified section will be announced in the coming weeks.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Daily Republican brings Taste of Home Cooking Show to Marion on Oct. 9


If you read it here today, you read it first. The official announcement is later this week but the Daily Republican is bringing back the ever-popular Taste of Home Cooking Show to the Marion Cultural and Civic Center on Tuesday, Oct. 9.

The Taste of Home Cooking School is America's leading cooking school program, inspiring more than 300,000 passionate consumers each year at 300 events across the country.

At the show, you'll experience a 2-hour demonstration of exciting recipes. A culinary specialist will show step-by-step instructions on how to create satisfying and flavorful dishes. Additionally, everyone will receive a gift bag and a Taste of Home cookbook. You'll also have the opportunity to register for door prizes, including the recipes created on stage that night!

Look for advertisements (such as the shown at the right) and press releases in local newspapers with further details about the show. Tickets are $10 and available at the offices of the Daily Republican (Marion), Daily Register (Harrisburg), Daily American (West Frankfort), Benton Evening News, Murphysboro American and Du Quoin Evening Call during normal business hours. 








Six Southern Illinois newsrooms win GateHouse Inner Circle Awards

GateHouse Media has award six of its Southern Illinois newspapers with the company's prestigious Inner Circle Awards for Q2:
  • Daily American (West Frankfort)
  • Du Quoin Evening Call

  • Murphysboro American

  • The Carmi Times

  • The Daily Register (Harrisburg)

  • The Olney Daily Mail

Inner Circle evaluations focus on prints initiatives such as reader involvement, print and online promotions and alternative story formats; and online initiatives, such as Facebook, website updates, galleries, video and community blogging. This is the most S.I. newspapers that have received this award in a quarter. 

Congrats to all the winning newsrooms.   

Benton Evening News undergoes some design changes

The print edition of the Benton Evening News underwent design changes late last week. (At right is in an image of the new design.) The layout is similar to sister GateHouse Southern Illinois papers in Marion and West Frankfort. 

There are a number of reasons for the change. Having similarly designed newspapers:


           Allows us to more easily brand our newspapers in the region.  
           Makes it easier to share stories and projects when there is a common
interest in the subject at one or more Southern Illinois newspapers.
           Makes it easier to create fixed ad locations that can be delivered for advertisers across multiple newspapers.  
           Makes it easier to share ancillary products such as news and advertising special sections. 

This is one of a number of changes coming in the next few months as we improve the quality and quantity of coverage in GateHouse Southern Illinois newspapers. 

Monday, April 30, 2012

Marion's Daily Republican earns top honors in newspaper contest

Congratulations to the staff of The Daily Republican in Marion, which brought home seven awards from the Southern Illinois Editorial Association's Best Newspaper Contest awards banquet last Friday.


The newspaper received first place in both Advertising Design and Advertising Excellence categories, and third place in the General Excellence category. A second place for Best Use of Photography and honorable mentions for Best Local News Coverage, Best Editorial Page and Best Local Sports Coverage were also awarded to the DR staff.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Three Southern Illinois GateHouse papers receive recognition

Congrats to three Southern Illinois newspapers that have received "Inner Circle" recognition from our parent company, GateHouse Media: 

  • The Daily Register (Harrisburg)
  • Murphysboro American
  • Randolph County Herald Tribune (Chester)

After a week of evaluating GateHouse newspapers and websites, 178 newsrooms were certified into the company's "Inner Circle" for the first quarter; the announcement was made today. The quarterly program measures newsrooms in several print and online categories, including updates, photo galleries, and Facebook, as well as categories such as specific alternative story formats in print. This year, categories such as video and community blogs are new to the process.

Friday, April 13, 2012

SIU student - a Marion HS grad - earns more recognition from GateHouse Media

I recently blogged about Southern Illinois University sophomore and Marion High School graduate Riley Swinford, who designs killer front pages for the Daily Republican in Marion, has received recognition from GateHouse Media for his work. Here is some more news of recognition received yesterday ... one of his page designs was named best in all of GateHouse for March.

Congrats Riley and keep it up!

We're looking for a few great nurses ....

Do you know a Southern Illinois nurse who is caring, dedicated and hard working?
Nominate them to be honored in our special section,"Salute to Nurses." Visit http://www.dailyrepublicannews.com/salutetonurses by Monday, April 16th so they will receive the recognition they so deserve.

The survey is also available through our sister GateHouse Web sites from West Frankfort, Harrisburg, Benton and elsewhere.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Marion native, Southern Illinois University student Riley Swinford earns paycheck and national recognition at the Daily Republican

At a stage in his academic career when most journalism students are seeing their first byline printed in a collegiate newspaper, Marion's Riley Swinford (shown at right) not only has quite a portfolio of professional work to show future prospective employers, but his talents have been recognized repeatedly by a major media company.

The 20 year-old graduate of Marion High School and current full-time Southern Illinois University at Carbondale sophomore moonlights 30 hours a week with the Daily Republican in Marion. A journalism major with a minor in graphic design and history, Riley began writing freelance articles for the daily newspaper's niche publications such as This Week, Healthy Living and the Mine Report four years ago while still in high school. He became an employee in July 2011 and current averages working about 30 hours a week.

Riley might have received a bit of a jump start to his career due to nepotism - his dad is the Daily Republican editor Bill Swinford - but he has also demonstrated that his dad knows talent when he sees it. The DR's parent company, GateHouse Media, has recognized Riley's design work an astounding 10 times in the last four months through the company intranet.


Riley, knowing the value of branding one's self to future employers through the Internet, agreed to be interviewed this week about his work.


What are your duties at the Daily Republican?


I work 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. most nights for (a total of) 30 hours of work a week, while also attending school 15 credit hours a week. With this time schedule, I can't cover breaking news and meetings, so I focus my writing on features pieces about community members, around two to three stories a week. I paginate approximately three pages of the daily paper each night, including the front.

I also manage the Daily Republican's Facebook page which has grown by 300 "likes" since I began, occasionally update the web, typeset and I also cover an occasional sporting event if I was going to attend anyway.

We'll get to your dad's influence on your career in a minute. Tell me about your mom.

My mom is Kim Swinford. She is a dental hygienist. I would say that I get my creativeness from my mom and my news sense and writing skills from my dad. My mom was an art student in high school. She also used to write a column for the DR and has also published a book. I designed the cover for the book. I am the oldest of four.

How long has your dad been at the DR?

He's worked at the Daily Republican for 12 years. He also studied at SIU and began his career for a (now extinct) GateHouse paper in Herrin in the late '80s. He also worked as a city reporter in West Frankfort for a few years when I was (age) 6 to 8. He began in composition at the DR and moved up to his current position.

So ... your work. It has gotten a little attention lately from GateHouse. Let's quantify that ...

My front pages have received front page of the day by GateHouse six times (five of these are shown at right) and they've also received special recognition for specific aspects of the page four other times. I'd also like to note that a portfolio of my work helped me earn a scholarship for next school year.

Page design is a component of what the Society of News Design calls "visual journalism". Is that how you see yourself … as a visual journalist? Or are you a garden-variety reporter who designs pages because you were assigned the task

I think I am slowly evolving actually. I joined the newspaper class in high school because it was interesting to me because of my dad. I was a strong English student and liked to write. So at first, I did all writing. I began to play around with design software, though, and slowly changed my focus. My teacher recognized this and made the head editor at the end of my sophomore year when that job was normally reserved for seniors. I then had to focus strictly on design in that role. That was my first real taste of it. I won numerous awards at the local Southern Illinois School Press Association conference for my design, so that only encouraged me.

However, after high school, I went a long time without doing any pages. I did stringing for the paper because it was an easy way to get clippings and practice my skills. Then, once a DR reporter left to go back to school, my dad approached me about working part-time. At first, I spend about 60 percent of my time doing the everyday pages such as opinion and the weather, just plugging holes essentially. I learned the basis of the (design) programs this way and once I got self-sufficient, my dad started to assign me more and more pages to do and less writing. This freed him up to devote more hours to writing and covering events. Plus, it just made sense with how my schedule works out. I began doing the front page every so often and after GateHouse began to take notice, it became my job everyday.

Some of the smartest marketing people – think Apple's Steve jobs or entrepreneur / author Tom Peters – espouse the importance of good design to any and every product. Why do you feel it is important taking the time to make a good newspaper front page look great?

I think it's very important in today's world to have a good looking newspaper front page. The world has became so visual with the rise of the internet and I think nice looking front pages are one of the things that can get people to buy a paper. I think it's not only important to have an interesting subject, but to present it in a nice way.

I also like giving local people in this small town the feel that they are receiving "big-time" treatment in the media. For instance, if a Marion golfer wins a tournament, I like to present that in a way similar to Sports Illustrated. Also, one of the best feelings in the world for me as a designer and journalist is when I see that someone has saved a paper for their scrapbook.

Does a lot of planning go into your building front pages or is it more making the best of the art and copy you've been given?

This actually varies from day-to-day. On a day when there's a lot of hard news such as an election, important meeting or a death, there's only so many different ways you can display this. The design has to meet the tone. But on days when there's not much going on and we are going to do a feature, I sometimes talk to Tom Kane (our photographer/reporter) about a picture or graphic I'd like to use with it. One example of this was earlier this year when we did a story about budget cuts in Marion schools. I told Tom to take a picture of a meat cleaver slicing a piece of paper. This won Front Page of the Day.

What do you feel the elements of a strong front page are?
I think the best front pages include lots of faces. Moms are going to buy a paper if they see their kid on the front. People still like to see themselves in the paper.

I think the quality of the art really drives the front page. We also like to do skyboxes that show what's inside the paper. I think those are important to have so that people looking at a paper while it's in a newsstand can know if there's topics that interest them inside.

Lastly, I also think that it's key to include the most relevant stories. With the time that our paper actually comes out and hits newsstands, the important national stories have already been read online or in the morning editions from other papers. I think it's key to make a front page that fits the readership and region and isn't strictly based on national trends. I think this is important for all small town papers to realize going forward.

Actor Alan Ladd is credited with saying, "Not every father gets a chance to start his son off in his own footsteps." At what point did you become attracted to your dad's career and why? Did he try to steer you toward or away from the profession?

Honestly, this really happened by accident. Growing up, I spend a lot of evenings with my dad at events or the office. He wasn't necessarily trying to show me the ropes, he just had to babysit. While I would hang with him, I would play around on the computers at the office and I would even sometimes make my own little newspaper. Like I said, I signed up for journalism in high school because it was something I thought would be an easy class and that was when I realized that I was pretty good at it. A hobby turned into a college major and a job.

Also, since my dad worked at newspapers, we always had a couple different copies laying around and I would read them. He never tried to steer me towards or away from it. He just wanted to see me do what I like — no matter the profession.

One other thing I'd like to note: I think the success of the DR's front pages is largely due to the unique situation my dad and I have. It's not often that a guy gets to live with his boss. This allows us to talk work at any time of the day. If I have a question, he's there. We can critique the newspaper during supper. We can brainstorm story ideas during the evening. Plus, we both think alike and understand each other very well. If one of us has the idea, it's not hard for the other to grasp it.


From your peers' perspectives: Is learning the trade of a page designer and print journalist akin to be an carriage-maker apprentice at the turn of the 20th century? What do your classmates think of the future of print and how does compare with your outlook?

From my peers' perspective, design is still very important. The biggest sign to me is that over 100 people are in my graphic communications course. This course still teaches designing for print. However, it does focus more on designing for print publications such as magazines and brochures and billboards, not just newspaper. I think all of us basically agree that there will always be a need for print design in some shape or form.

Any experience in or interest in building web sites?

Sort of. I have toyed with the idea of blogs and have had a couple. All of them were based off of web templates where I plugged in my type, though. I don't have any training in building web sites from scratch.

The only design I have done for the web include different images to upload to the DR site and our Facebook (the profile picture and cover photos). I also used to have a YouTube page and I played around with video graphics for a bit. I am extremely interested in social media and that's why I have made it a priority to update the DR Facebook so often. I think that is an important tool.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, I'll be couple years removed from college. I have considered pursuing a masters degree, but I am undecided as of now. I could see myself getting involved in marketing and designing materials for businesses and doing PR type work. I could also see myself being a freelancer where I do freelance writing and contract for design work such as logo design and merchandising.

Can we make print more relevant to your generation?

I think we can. I think it all starts with not being afraid to try new things. So many newspapers strive for the traditional look because that's how people - older folks mainly - think newspapers are supposed to look. These publications are very bland and people my age are likely to get bored looking at them. If print is going to remain relevant, newspapers should embrace today's technology that's available. In a way, they should almost try to copy the type of design that's trending in mobile devices and social media.

I also think the topics covered should also not alienate potential young readership. Most papers gear the news at their biggest demographic - the older crowd. I think for every social security and health care story, there should be news aimed at my generation.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Tornado victims recover photos thanks to GateHouse editor and others; Daily Republican staffer takes on Harlem Wizards (with help)

A few updates from this week:
  • I recently blogged how 11 volunteers led by Daily Republican photographer Tom Kane searched for lost photos in the aftermath of the Feb. 29 tornado in Harrisburg. The Daily Republican reported Tuesday that roughly one-third of the 120 photos and other memorabilia were recovered by their owners when they were on display Monday at a local library; see a related WSIL-TV story.
  • Daily Republican staff writer (and former Marion High School basketball player) Riley Swinford took to the court of his alma mater Friday night to play for The White Nights in a benefit game at the Harlem Wizards. The effort was to raise funds for The Night's Shield Children's Shelter in West Frankfort. Look in Monday's paper for story and photos; game photos can also be seen now on the newspaper's Facebook page.
  • I thoroughly enjoyed meeting many of Saline County business leaders and entrepreneurs at the annual chamber show on Thursday in Harrisburg. See a Daily Register story on the show. I'm headed to another chamber function this Thursday in Harrisburg, the group's quarterly luncheon featuring Harrisburg Medical Center and Southern Illinois Healthcare CEOs as guest speakers.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Harrisburg and Eldorado daily newspapers name DeNeal as managing editor

We announced this week that long-time Daily Register staff writer Brian DeNeal has been named managing editor of that Harrisburg daily and the Eldorado Daily Journal.

DeNeal has been with the paper since July 1999. He replaces Terry Geese, who was recently named regional editor of GateHouse's Southern Illinois group.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Galatia's Money Stretcher weekly shopper pub loses lease; temporary and permanent locations announced

The Money Stretcher has lost its lease at its current location on North Main Cross Street in Galatia and will temporarily relocate, effective Monday. The staff will move to a permanent location in Galatia in early May.

“We received notice several weeks ago we had to vacate,” said Stephanie Witt, general manager (shown at right). “It was unexpected. Our last day in our current location is Sunday, March 18.

"We wanted to stay in the Galatia area and there were limited options in terms of available commercial real estate. We finalized a deal last week that will keep our sales, composing and business staff in Galatia, but requires us to move the inserting operation to our sister newspaper in Harrisburg.”

As of Monday, several staff members will be temporarily located at 402B E. Main St. in Galatia, home of Alecci Construction. Office staff will then move in early May next door to the permanent location at 400 E. Main Street, after New Directions Hair Design leaves that location.

Throughout the transition and in the new location, t
he Money Stretcher’s office hours (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m Mon.-Thurs. and 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Friday), phone number (618-268-6291), and mailing address (P.O. Box 99, Galatia, IL 62935) will all remain the same.

“The move will not impact our customers in any way,” according to Witt. “It is still the same great publication valued by our readers and advertisers. We still have the same strong distribution. We are still conveniently located in Galatia. It is still the same company that has been publishing the Money Stretcher for years.”

The Money Stretcher’s roots date back to 1977 when the publication was incorporated by James and Jeanette Bond. They sold it 10 years later to American Publishing; it is owned today by GateHouse Media, which operates 431 community publications and more than 405 related websites, as well as six yellow page directories. The Money Stretcher is mail delivered; currently 27,486 are distributed each week.

The Bonds announced their retirement from publishing in January and Witt was named general manager in February. Witt has nearly 20 years of sales and management experience, much of it in media sales including shopper publications and independent telephone directories.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Native Tammy Knox joins The Carmi Times as g.m.


Carmi native Tamyra "Tammy" Knox (shown at right) of Anderson, IN, was named general manager / content of The Carmi Times, White County Shopper and The Weekly Times, effective yesterday. Group publisher George Wilson made the announcement.

Knox has been employed at the Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Anderson in a number of positions since March 1995, most recently as director of Race Marketing Affairs. She previously was a program director at race tracks in Illinois and Ohio, and has freelance sports writing experience at The Herald Bulletin in Anderson.

The daughter of Harold and Rose Poore, Knox is a graduate of Carmi Community High School and Murray State University. She has been active in a number of trade and community organizations including serving as president of the Anderson / Madison County Visitors and Convention Bureau and as a YMCA board member.


Also, read what one newspaper columnist had to say recently about Knox leaving her current post at Hoosier Park.

Welcome aboard Tammy.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Harrisburg tornado-related photo effort yields two boxes of recovered memories

I blogged last week about a photo recovery effort led by The Daily Republican's Tom Kane. Tom led a small group of volunteers last week to search for and reclaim photos strewn about the Harrisburg area as a result of a recent tornado that damaged and destroyed a number of local homes.

The group recovered two boxes of memorabilia including over a 100 photos - everything from grade school to holiday pictures - as well as complete photo albums and a ledger from 1942. They will be displayed at a to-be-determined site in Harrisburg for owners to reclaim.


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Marion journalist leads photo recovery effort

Daily Republican journalist Tom Keane is leading an effort this morning to recover photos for families whose homes wee damaged or destroyed in last week's tornado in Southern Illinois.

The Southern, a Lee Enterprises newspaper in Carbondale, featured the effort by the GateHouse Media reporter this morning on pg. 1 of its newspaper and on its Web site.

The "Photo Rescue' project is well-timed; rain is expected after midnight tonight. More on the outcome of the rescue on this blog.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Harrisburg to publish a special tornado recovery edition Sunday

Harrisburg residents can look for a special newsstand edition of The Daily Register tomorrow (Sunday) devoted entirely to the tornado recovery effort.

Normally, the Register is a Monday-Friday publication but staff felt it was important not to go the whole weekend without reporting on the recovery effort from the storm. The special effort was organized by Southern Illinois group advertising manager Doris Wilson and regional senior editor Terry Geese.

Unfortunately, we were unable to make arrangements to home deliver the newspaper on Sunday; home delivery customers can pick up a copy of the newsstand edition free at the newspaper's offices this week.

The newspaper received attention for its considerable coverage of the storm this week from the Web site for the American Copy Editors Society. Visual journalist Charles Apple analyzed the newspaper's coverage at length and called it "pretty amazing work. Especially for a newspaper this size."

Sister newspaper The Daily Republican in Marion received corporate recognition for its tornado-themed coverage on Friday for the company's "Front Page of the Day" from parent company GateHouse Media. Editor Bill Swinford and team have received the honor numerous times in the last 90 days.


Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Craigslist founder funds study showing that newspapers are most trusted news source

Isn't it ironic: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark funded a study to determine the news sources Americans trust most and newspapers ranked number one. Craigslist - more than any other single site on the Internet - has upturned the financial fortunes of newspapers in the digital age through its cannibalization of local classifieds ... putting at peril the future of these trusted news sources.

CNN interviews GateHouse regional editor on Harrisburg tornado

GateHouse Southern Illinois regional editor Terry Geese's interview on CNN today about the tornado in Harrisburg was mentioned in some quarters on the Internet including this post.

GateHouse Southern Illinois tornado coverage this weekend

Look for 8-page special Southern Illinois tornado coverage special sections both Thursday and Friday on newsstands in the Daily Register (Harrisburg), Daily Republican (Marion), Daily American (West Frankfort), Benton Evening News and El Dorado Daily Journal.

And check often for regular updates at dailyregister.com throughout the next week.




Monday, February 27, 2012

GateHouse Southern Illinois seeks digital sales leader

GateHouse Southern Illinois is conducting a search for a digital sales leader to drive sales strategy and execution for its numerous daily, weekly and shopper sites. If you know someone who has sales, digital and leadership skills and is interested in working in the greater Marion-Carbondale-Harrisburg area, please direct them to http://tinyurl.com/7xmr28w


Friday, February 17, 2012

When ambiguity is high, adaptability is required: Lessons for those of us in media

An article in the February 2012 issue of Fast Company magazine by Robert Safian on "Generation Flux" offers a lot of terrific insight into business life today in almost every industry. "Generation flux" doesn't attempt to define a demographic group such as Generation X, but rather a "psychographic" one: "What defines GenFlux is a mind-set that embraces instability, that tolerates - even enjoys - recalibrating careers, business models, and assumptions."

While the article focuses on the implications of GenFlux on careers ... my take-aways for those of us in the newspaper industry go beyond our own career paths. Thought leaders in media aren't going to learn anything new from the list by the way ... yet every day it is clear that too few have truly understood / embraced these lessons:
  • Chaotic disruption is rampant. Technology is revolutionizing every industry. "You're going to have businesses rise and fall faster than ever."
  • Newspaper companies "are not built for flux". Change in a legacy institution such as newspapers is "rough".
  • Career newspaper professionals - journalists, salespeople, circulation leaders, etc. - by-and-large are not adept at the most important skill required of this era ... "the ability to acquire new skills". This is compounded by the fact that many newspaper companies have simply cut back on training at a time when it is needed more than ever.
  • Those kept awake at night by the disruption and need to change are never going to feel like we are moving fast enough.
  • "We need to systematize change."
  • "There is a need to be less hierarchal and to rely more on teams." If we don't change the structure of how we take our products to market, we get "less relevant" by the day.
  • It is important to be "clear about your business mission". Without clear focus managing the disruption could result in unintended consequences - ie. venturing too far outside core competencies, resulting in failure.
  • On an individual level, we can't change how old we are or how much "tenure" we have in a legacy institution, but among the things we can and must change is our "technological age". That requires a lot of off-the-clock dedication and hard work.
And on a personal level - addressing the article's focus on careers - I felt a little less of any old-timer when I read the comments of one 34-year-old woman in the information technology field: "I'm skill hoarding ... You keep throwing things into your backpack, and eventually you'll have everything in your tool kit." This isn't new wisdom; this is counsel that author / consultant Tom Peters has been spouting for decades (and one I have tried to follow). As one interviewee in the GenFlux article illuminates: A "flexibility of skills leads to flexibility of options."

And yet, the more things change around us, the more one might feel they haven't hoarded enough skills. So back to my comment about disruption keeping some of us up at night.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Doris Wilson is GateHouse Southern Illinois new group advertising manager

Announcement late this week: Doris Wilson was named Group Advertising Manager, GateHouse Media Southern Illinois. Doris will lead our sales teams in following offices: Harrisburg, Galatia, Benton, West Frankfort, DuQuoin, Marion and Carmi.

She has served as advertising manager at the Daily Register in Harrisburg for 12 years. Prior to that, she worked at the Du Quoin Evening Call.

Congrats Doris!

This is the latest in a a series of promotions. Several other leadership changes in GateHouse Southern Illinois announced last month prior to my launch of this blog:

- George Wilson will supervise operations at The (Harrisburg) Daily Register, Eldorado Daily Journal, The Carmi Times, The Weekly Times, White County Shopper News, The Gallatin Democrat, Ridgway News and the Money Stretcher.

- Ray McGrew is group publisher of the Olney Daily Mail, CCAP Special, Jasper County News Eagle, Newton Press Mentor, Teutopolis Press and the Richland County Shopper.

- Tom Tiernan is group publisher of the Murphysboro American, Steeleville Ledger and Randolph County Herald News. Sabrina Franklin remains general manager of the Steeleville and Randolph County newspapers.

- Terry Geese, former managing editor in Harrisburg and Eldorado, has been promoted to senior editor of the Southern Illinois group.

- Robert Wall, former publisher of the Daily Republican in Marion, has been promoted to regional advertising director for the southern Illinois group.

GateHouse Media, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, N.Y., is one of the largest publishers of locally based media in the United States, as measured by its 97 daily publications. It currently serves local audiences of more than 10 million per week across 21 states through hundreds of community publications and websites. GateHouse Media is traded in the over-the-counter market under the symbol "GHSE."

There are eight daily newspapers and 20 weekly and shopper publications in the southern Illinois division of GateHouse, as well as affiliated websites and several niche publications.


Memorial Day roots in upstate New York and Illinois

When I attended the 2012 West Frankfort Chamber of Commerce dinner recently, a speaker mentioned John Logan College's namesake, a Civil War general and Illinois Congressman and Senator, was "founder of Memorial Day". This contradicts legend in the Finger Lakes' region of upstate New York, where village signs welcome travelers to Waterloo to "the birthplace of Memorial Day".

So I researched the subject online and found several variations of the same story: Waterloo held a Memorial Day celebration on May 5, 1866 with flags draped at half mast, and General Logan issued an executive order declaring "Decoration Day" exactly two years to the day later; the celebration that year was May 30.

Waterloo - located in a market I used to work as a director of advertising & market development (Auburn, N.Y.'s The Citizen) - is home to a Memorial Day Museum. It was officially recognized as the birthplace of the federal holiday in 1966.

A post on a Memorial Day Web site addresses the who-was-first controversy: "While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen. Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868."

Monday, February 6, 2012

Off-the-cuff career advice for the college journalism major

My son Trevor recently asked me for career advice to pass along to a friend who is a journalism major at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). She was wondering "how she gets recognized in the newspaper biz".

So here it is ....

There is a quotation by Thomas Jefferson that is often cited by people such as me who pretend to be career strategists for others, but it is sage advice worth repeating: "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

I found that to be true in both my career and in the careers of others inside and outside of journalism. What Trevor's friend needs to do between now and graduation - and beyond - is to work diligently to cast as wide a net of meaningful contacts and relevant professional experiences as possible. It just may put her in position to enjoy some luck in landing a gig in a very competitive job environment. If I were a college journalism student with a year or two or more of school left, here would be my strategy:

• First and foremost, I would decide what my "personal brand" was going to be. What is the "elevator pitch" that is going to separate me from all of the other journalism candidates out there? (Tom Peters does a great job of coaching on this topic; see Fast Company for a sample of his philosophy.) While having the ability to be a generalist serves some people very well, there are a lot of niches within journalism and if you can, say, combine some expertise in medicine or business with your storytelling skills, you may rise to the top of the resume pile for news organizations with very specific needs.

• Next, I would create a strategy for broadcasting my personal brand across as many social platforms as possible - especially LinkedIn, Twitter and a blog. I would make sure that my insights go both deep and broad on professional topics of interest and I would link, link, link to the writings of others.

• I would also start polishing my production skills for organizations looking for someone who can be part journalist, part technician. I would want to be able to demonstrate knowledge of Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro, InDesign, digital photography and digital videography to ensure I am on solid footing against other job candidates. I would "demonstrate" these skills by putting together an attractive portfolio of compelling journalism using these multi-media tools.

• I would expand my list of mentors outside of academia. This isn't an easy thing for many college students to do. But if I was serious about begin a journalist I would follow up with visiting lectors on their LinkedIn sites and find a reason to connect. I would look for local and state press association meetings and conventions I might attend (usually fees are reduced or waived for students) and then I would work the room, collecting business cards and making good first impressions. I would apply for fellowships to student training by journalism institutions such as the Poynter Institute of Media Studies and do the same there if admitted. I would ask my college's carer office for names of alumni working in the field and might insist they make an introduction.

• I would want to build a body of professional clips by approaching my hometown newspaper or one near the school, i.e. the North Adams Transcript and The Record in Troy are two of many possibilities within 45 minutes of MCLA. Not every newspaper needs or wants student stringers or interns (more on that later) but prod them to converse about coverage areas with which they are struggling. For instance, many papers are under corporate mandates to publish more videos and / or develop more blogs and sometimes smaller newspapers fall short fulfilling the print + digital requirements of each news cycle with fewer resources than they had a few years ago. If you can find a need you may find your foot in the door. Don't be discouraged if the first thing they offer you resembles clerical duties; do them well and more responsibility will come.

• Expand your horizons academically online as well. The Poynter Institute has some wonderful Webinars and self-directed courses at newsu.org - including some specifically designed for college students - as do many other journalism organizations. Again, also look to local and state press clubs for student opportunities such as contests and seminars. These experiences will round out your resume nicely and demonstrate you have an insatiable appetite to learn your vocation.

I mentioned briefly internships. Understand that many news organizations have dropped unpaid internships based on how their corporate legal teams have interpreted state and federal labor laws. And some have also reduce or eliminated paid internships due to financial constraints. In many instances you may have to find ways to work around these obstacles to develop the clips - and professional coaching - you need to land your first job. As I also stated, freelance and unpaid blogs can be relativity easy entrées into many small and mid-size newspapers. (Newspaper attorneys seem o.k. with unpaid blogs as long as you sign legal forms releasing them from liability for anything you might say or want to get paid for later.)

There is much more you can do such as comb professional message boards and ask the question Trevor passed along to me of every journalist you meet. The harder you work, the sooner luck will find you. And with that, I wish you the best of "luck".