BusinessWeek lays off all design, graphics and photo staffers

March 12th, 2010

BusinessWeek has laid off 30 staffers, including all design, graphics and photo staffers, reports Keith Kelley of the New York Post.

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Kelley reports:

All art, graphics and photo staffers — and all of their administrative assistants — were handed their walking papers.

David Carthas, formerly with defunct music magazine Blender, is the new photo director, replacing photo editor Ronnie Weil and her deputy, Scott Mlyn.

Richard Turley, who was imported from London daily The Guardian, will be the new design director. For the past few months, he has been secretly working on the magazine’s sweeping re design, which is expected to give the weekly a more global business focus.

Andrew Horton, who was the art director, had been let go last year but stayed on under a freelance contract until two weeks ago.

Read the entire report here.

What was that on the front of Thursday’s Wall Street Journal?

March 12th, 2010

That’s it, folks. I’ve officially seen everything now.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Wall Street Journal was all black-and-white. Even the mug shots were stipple.

And then Thursday, we saw a color photo of a woman and her parrot:

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The headline on that photo though, was most amusing

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It was a reference to a famous old bit from the 1970s cult comedy show Monty Python:

Slate’s James Ledbetter writes:

Even allowing for the cleverness of the treatment, you have to wonder whether there is anyone left at the Journal who thinks that this kind of pure tabloid treatment demeans the journalistic mission of the paper—or whether that mission has passed on. Is no more. Has ceased to be. (See how quickly the cleverness wears off?)

I dunno. I thought it was pretty funny. Especially given the fact that the Journal almost never cracks a smile — especially on page one.

Birthday for Thursday, March 11

March 11th, 2010

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Octavio Diaz, a senior artist for the News-Journal of Daytona Beach, Fla.

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After studying at Miami-Dade Community College, Octavio spent seven years as an artist for the Miami Herald. In 1985, he moved to Florida Today of Melbourne, where he stayed for nearly 22 years as an artist and page designer. In 2007, he moved to Daytona Beach. View his portfolio here and here. Find Octavio’s illustration blog here.

Octavio shares a birthday with actors Anton Yelchin and Thora Birch; musicians Benji and Joel Madden (of Good Charlotte), Robert “Bobby” McFerrin and Lawrence Welk; Civil Rights leader Ralph Abernathy; British Prime Minister Harold Wilson; Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia; writer Douglas Adams; TV journalist Sam Donaldson and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

Plus, today is Johnny Appleseed Day and Worship of Tools Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Octavio! Have a great birthday!

Birthdays for Wednesday, March 10

March 10th, 2010

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to two wonderful visual journalists…

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Jaco Grobbelaar is a graphic artist for die Burger, a daily newspaper in Cape Town, South Africa. Jaco turns 32 today.

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Jesse Scaccia is a student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and editor of “hyperlocal” news site altdaily.com. A 2004 graduate of the University of Connecticut, Jesse also earned a degree from New York University in 2005. He hopes to graduate from ODU next year. Find his blog here. Jesse turns 31 today.

Jesse and Jaco share a birthday with actors Sharon Stone, Chuck Norris, Jon Hamm, Jasmine Guy and Emily Osment; musicians Carrie Underwood, Timothy Zachery “Timbaland” Mosley; sports greats Shannon Miller (gymnastics) and Jim Valvano (basketball coach); England’s Prince Edward; writer Bob Greene and bad guys James Earl Ray and Osama bin Laden.

Plus, today is Festival of Life in the Cracks Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Jaco and Jesse! Have the best birthday ever!

The other shoe drops for Tribune’s Newport News, Va., paper

March 9th, 2010

Last year, the Chicago Tribune company made changes at its regional papers — referred to in-house as the “T6 papers” — to have certain pages and parts of pages — called “modules” — produced in Chicago. As you can imagine, this was a huge labor-saving device for the Tribune. Many designers, copy editors and other journalists lost their jobs as a result.

The papers affected: the Orlando Sentinel, the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call and the Daily Press of Newport News, Va.

Monday, the Tribune took the next step toward further consolidation, Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal reports:

Since last spring, the Chicago Tribune has been sending edited, formatted and headlined nonlocal stories to smaller Tribune Co. newspapers, which could then drop them onto their pages. This new plan, set to begin Tuesday, involves editing, formatting and producing whole pages for the Daily Press, including, in some cases, editing and inserting local content…

“Instead of sending out individual building blocks that are assembled at the local site, we’re essentially going to build the framework into which they will fit local modules,” said Chicago Tribune Editor Gerould Kern, who has led the centralization efforts. The Daily Press, Kern said, asked for the latest “iteration on this model” to maintain local reporting yet lower costs.

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Tuesday’s Daily Press front page.

“This is a model that, particularly in smaller markets, although I can see it in larger markets as well, can change the economics of the newspaper business the same way Clear Channel changed the economics of … the radio business,” Digby Solomon, president and chief executive of the Daily Press, said by phone.

The comparison to Clear Channel isn’t surprising, given the background of Tribune managers. But the downside should be obvious, as well. The kind of homogenization brought forth by Clear Channel and its ilk is one reason I bought an iPod adapter for my car.

Make no mistake about it. This is not good news for journalism, print newspapers or for readers.

Find the story here.

Find my story about the Tribune’s module system here.


UPDATE

My old friend Phil Walzer of the Virginian-Pilot reports today:

The Daily Press in Newport News will eliminate most of its positions for copy editors and designers and move their functions to The Chicago Tribune, the newspaper’s publisher, Digby Solomon, said today.

Read the story here.