Small newspapers adapting to industry changes

While there may be some truth to the common thought that the print newspaper is dying, this statement carries more truth for some news sources than others.

In the age of digital media, newsroom cut-backs, and a general cloud hovering over the journalism industry as a whole, small newspapers claim that they are carrying on almost completely as they had before.

By Ben Conrady

Credibility is an area where small papers can excel

Gary Sawyer, editor of the Decatur Herald and Review in Illinois, knows a major factor in his paper’s customer loyalty is credibility.

While getting news to the customer quickly has always been a major goal of every news source, the digital age has brought forth a new level of delivery speed, which in turn has affected the credibility of news in general.

By Ben Conrady

Robbins says good-bye to Post-Dispatch

Arnie Robbins resigned as editor of the Post-Dispatch last week.
His resignation followed years of hard financial times that included a structured bankruptcy. The most recent circulation figures showed the Post-Dispatch losing circulation both weekday and Sundays. Robbins will be replaced by Gilbert Bailión, the editorial editor. Here are Robbins remarks to the newsroom:

By Arnie Robbins

Universities combine investigative knowledge

The idea was direct and clear: Illinois university and college professors who work with students on investigative reporting would form a network to share ideas and experiences and collaborate on stories.

First proposed by Bill Freivogel, director of the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in spring 2010, the idea has grown into a network of Midwest university professors and students from six states about to complete the first phase of their initial project. The project focuses on the increased pressure on the mental health treatment on campuses and the shortcomings of that treatment.

By Brant Houston

Jewish Light changing with the times

Like most print news publications, the St. Louis Jewish Light, a 64-year-old weekly, has run into the reality of the 21st century: declining readership, declining revenue and online competition. To meet the challenges, the Jewish Light’s board of trustees and staff have made substantial changes to the paper’s content, distribution and revenue sources over the past few years.

The Jewish Light’s content runs the gamut of local, national and international news, op-ed, features, arts coverage, enterprise reporting, obituaries, columns, gossip, a calendar, crossword puzzles and social announcements. There are special sections and the quarterly Oy! magazine, each with a different focus and available in print only.

By Eileen P. Duggan

The Hunger Games offers a cautionary tale of media control

The Hunger Games, a New York Times bestseller written by Suzanne Collins, has drawn hearty reviews from fans and critics alike for its brilliant plot paired with a steady dose of suspense for both the reader and movie-goer.

The first book of the trilogy, whose movie adaptation has been No. 1 at the box office for four weeks, follows Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl living in District 12 of Panem. Panem is a post-apocalyptic country, which now occupies where North America once was. The country is made up of 13 districts and the Capitol, a well-developed metropolis that holds absolute power over the rest of the districts. Prior to where the book begins the narrative, District 13 started an uprising against the Capitol and the Capitol retaliated by leveling the district. District 13 is used as an example to the rest of the districts of what happens when the districts exercise any type of individual thought.

By Ben Conrady and Jennifer Butcher

Arkansas Case Shows Dilemma of Juries and Social Media

The Arkansas Supreme Court has reversed a murder conviction — and death sentence — in a case where one juror tweeted during trial and another fell asleep. Both of these problems, the court said, constituted juror misconduct requiring reversal and a new trial. Erickson Dimas-Martinez v. State, 2011 Ark. 515 (Dec. 8, 2011).

While the court said the dozing juror alone required reversal of the conviction and sentence, the court added that the second juror’s tweets also required a reversal.

By Eric P. Robinson

Latest Blog Posts

Turnout, not advertising may be key to Wisconsin recall

There’s an interesting story coming out of the Wisconsin recall election. The latest polls show Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, in a virtual dead heat with Tom Barrett, his most likely opponent. This comes despite a huge advantage in advertising spending by Walker.

Limbaugh copyright complaint was actually Fair Use

For a time late last month, Rush Limbaugh succeeded in abusing copyright law to get YouTube to take down a Daily Kos video stringing together the insulting remarks he made about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who became a featured player in the contraception controversy a few months back.

The video stitched together short excerpts of Limbaugh calling Fluke a slut and a prostitute who should videotape herself having sex. Limbaugh apologized (sort of) after he began to lose advertisers. But when Daily Kos helpfully put together a greatest hits of Limbaugh’s comments, Limbaugh used copyright law to demand that YouTube take down the video.

Shallow media coverage leads to misperceptions in Southern Illinois

John Jackson, a veteran political scientist at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, recently told a room of newspaper editors that the media are partly to blame for the misperception held by most residents of Southern Illinois that they don’t get their fair share from the government.

Almost eight of ten residents of the 18 southern counties in Illinois told Simon pollsters that they got less than their fair share in state spending. Jackson says that clearly false belief results partly from shallow media coverage.

Web Exclusives

Analysis: Blagojevich’s conviction fits pattern of white-collar retrials

The conviction of former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich on 17 federal criminal counts on Monday is not surprising in light of the high percentage of convictions that federal prosecutors win in retrials of white-collar crimes after they have a chance to streamline complicated cases to appeal to juries.

A jury found Blagojevich guilty of 17 counts of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery, extortion conspiracy and bribery conspiracy. He was acquitted on one bribery charge, and the jury deadlocked on two counts of attempted extortion.

Supreme Court makes First Amendment ruling

Venturing into a new frontier of First Amendment law, the Supreme Court gave constitutional protection to those seeking to use the vast stores of data and information collected by modern information technology.

The court ruled 6-3 that Vermont could not stop pharmaceutical companies from obtaining data on doctors’ prescription-writing practices – data the companies used to market their more expensive, brand-named drugs to the doctors. Vermont had tried to block this data mining of prescription information in order to protect the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship and to keep down health care costs.

Alito talks media with lawyers in St. Louis

Justice Samuel Alito didn’t direct his remarks at the press when he spoke to a ballroom full of lawyers in St. Louis. But it was clearly the press he had in mind when he described the misconceptions that people have about the Supreme Court.

Alito even singled out for criticism the star Supreme Court reporter of the past generation, Linda Greenhouse, who writes a column about the court in her retirement from the New York Times. He noted that Greenhouse had wondered in her column about “topsy-turvy world” Supreme Court where business had not won as high a percentage of cases this term as in the past.

“Maybe the law has something to do with it,” said Alito with some sarcasm. “Maybe the text has something to do with it. I know that is a radical thought.”

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Mr. Murdoch comes home after a hard day at the office