Iran's Brutal Crackdown on Journalists Continuing

Reporters sans frontières reported today that six months after Iran’s disputed June 12 presidential election, the news and information are still being sensored by authorities, and journalists are being persecuted at a frightening rate.

More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the election and about 50 have fled into exile. A dozen newspapers have been closed by the authorities and access to thousands of Internet pages has been blocked, the advocacy agency said.

Within hours of the announcement of President Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad’s election “victory,” journalists were being arrested by the intelligence ministry, Revolutionary Guards and other security services. Most were taken to Tehran’s Evin prison. At least 100 journalists and bloggers have been arrested since 12 June and 27 are still being held. Iran is one of the world’s five biggest prisons for journalists.

Like Chile’s national stadium in Santiago after the 1973 military coup, Evin prison has been turned into a massive holding centre for political detainees, most of whom are mistreated and subject to considerable psychological harassment.

Some journalists have been freed in exchange for the payment of exorbitant sums in bail, after being given prison sentences ranging from five to nine years. Others have been released pending trial.

Meanwhile, journalists continue to be harassed in the major provincial cities such as Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz and Tabriz, where they are often summoned, interrogated and threatened.

Give the report a read. Our biggest problem in the United States is keeping our jobs. Journalists in Iran are fighting for their lives.

Newsday Web Traffic Down 21 Percent Since Paywall Was Built

In other Newsday news ..

Its web traffic dropped 21 percent in November, the first full month since it erected a paywall on its site.

Nielsen data shows that Newsday.com drew 1.7 million unique visitors in November, well below the 2.1 million total for October. Page views were down to 18.6 million in November, which is a 34 percent drop from the previous month.

The year-to-year comparison showed a 43 percent decline in unique visitors in November.

Newsday is the first major newspaper in the United States to construct such a pay wall charging $5 a week for unlimited access to its site. The charge equals a weekly subscription for the paper. Newsday print subscribers and Optimum customers have total free access to the website.

In October I questioned whether outside readers would accept that structure. While I enjoyed keeping up with my former colleagues' work, I'm not going to pay $260 a year to do so in a tough economy. Visitors from outside Long Island will get their news elsewhere. And those visitors could represent a sizeable number of people who came to the site (maybe 21 percent?)

A reduction in pape views and unique visitors will result in loss revenues from advertising, and that's bad news for any newspaper.

The first month was rough for the website, and management can only make decisions on the paywall with more data. It will be interesting to see what now editor Debby Krenek will do with it if the ratings continue to fall.

Mancini Quits as Editor of Newsday; Krenek Takes Top Post

John Mancini had stepped down after five years as Newsday's editor, and Debby Krenek had taken his place.

Krenek also becomes executive vice president of digital media with oversight of Newsday.com. She was managing editor and senior vice president of digital media.
Krenek started with Newsday in 2001 as associate editor for special projects after serving as editor of the Daily News.

Here is the memo from Publisher Terry Jimenez:

Dear fellow Newsday employees,

After five years as our editor and 20 years with our company, John Mancini has informed us of his decision to leave Newsday. John's tenure here has been marked by many distinguished achievements, as he has skillfully guided our newsroom through one of the most challenging times in the history of the newspaper industry. He will be missed.

John has been responsible for leading a team that has delivered outstanding news products. With both our print and interactive media, his innovations in design and presentation, his courage and insight with regard to special coverage, and his overall leadership of our news team, day in and day out, have been exceptional. He has kept Newsday focused on what matters most to Long Islanders with coverage of issues such as the wasteful abuses of the state pension system and special taxing districts; the impact of Alzheimer's on Long Island families and the Long Island Railroad gap, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

In addition to overseeing some of Newsday's best journalism, John also helped us to adapt to a swiftly changing media landscape. The paper’s home delivery circulation growth and strong readership penetration are testaments not only to his abilities as an editor, but also as a thoughtful, skilled executive. John has agreed to stay on as a consultant to assist me with a number of special projects.

Debby joined Newsday in 2001 as associate editor for special projects, following a successful career at New York Daily News, which included a 3-year run as editor in chief. During the past eight years, she has worked her way through Newsday’s ranks and was most recently responsible for leading the development and launch of newsday.com’s pioneering Web model.

I know each of you will join me in thanking John for his many contributions, and in applauding Debby on her exciting new role.

A letter from John to his staff and a press release announcing Debby’s appointment are attached.

Sincerely,

Terry

Here's Mancini's note to staff:

TO: Newsroom staff

FROM: John Mancini

It has been an honor and a privilege to work with you over the past five years as editor.

Now, I have decided to leave Newsday to pursue new opportunities.

Please accept my deepest thanks for your dedication, support and friendship over the many years I have been lucky enough to work at the paper.

One of the editorial staff's great strengths is resilience. The challenges are daily, your goals are ambitious and the product of your labor is vital to our readers. You have yet to fail them.

I ask that you continue to aim high and do all you can to help the newsroom's leaders in the coming weeks and months.

I leave Newsday with hope for the future but also much sadness.

It is no exaggeration to say you have meant the world to each of us who had the great good fortune to occupy the editor's chair.

Greg Mitchell Speaks to CJR About Editor & Publisher's Demise

Greg Mitchell spoke with Columbia Journalism Review assistant editor Greg Marx about the quick death of Editor & Publisher.

CJR: Did you guys see this coming? It certainly came as a surprise to us, hearing about it.

Greg Mitchell: It was kind of a shock to us, only tempered by the fact that for the past month there had been online reports that there was some sort of deal that Nielsen was about to sell a bunch of magazines. And according to the reports, we were part of that deal; in other reports, we weren’t.

So it wasn’t a shock in the sense that we knew something was boiling, and that quite likely there would be some kind of sale. But we thought either we would be part of the deal, or we would be left behind and that would be OK, too. But not that we would fold this quickly, and with no online [presence]. It’s just sort of totally ceased publication.

CJR: So the Web site is going to disappear entirely?

GM: Unless there’s an outpouring of support and outrage, and people step forward, which could certainly happen. As of now, we’re here until the end of the year. We can come into the office until the end of the year; we’ll be at our phones and our desks, staying together. But there’s absolutely no plans for Nielsen to print the magazine or keep the Web site going.

CJR: What’s the general mood like there?

GM: Again, I think people are shocked. It’s a weird situation here—Nielsen owns forty-some magazines broken into three different units, and we were part of the unit with the magazines that have been sold, Brandweek and Adweek and Hollywood Reporter and so forth. And this all happened at the same time, so you have dozens of people on the same floor here being taken into meetings about their new owner, and trying to figure out what’s ahead for them. And at the same time, we’re hearing that we’re ceasing. So it’s kind of a strange day.

Editor & Publisher to Cease Operations

The journalism trade journal of choice since 1901, Editor & Publisher, is closing its doors.

The Nielsen Co., made the announcement this morning. Staffers were told both forms of E&P, online and print, were to cease operations. Staffers will remain until the end of the year.

The magazine's owner, Nielsen Business Media agreed with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, which was formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, Shawn Moynihan wrote on E&P's website. The sale includes E&P sister magazines Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. E&P was not included in this transaction.

Editor & Publisher was launched in 1901 when it merged with The Journalist, which was created in 1884. It has long been considered the absolute bible of the newspaper trade with its reporting on all phases of the business from advertising and editorial to production and circulation.

Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media, released this memo:

Dear Colleagues,

Today, we announced that Nielsen Business Media has reached an agreement with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a new company formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, including Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media Holdings has also agreed to acquire our Film Expo business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows.

In addition, we've made the decision to cease operations for Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews.

This move will allow us to strengthen investment in our core businesses – those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth – and ensure our long-term success. We remain committed to building our trade show group and affiliated brands. These assets continue to be a key part of The Nielsen Company's overall portfolio and we strongly believe they are positioned to grow as the economy recovers. In addition, we'll continue to assess the strategic fit of our remaining portfolio of publications.

As a result of these decisions, many of our friends and colleagues within these businesses will be leaving the company or will begin to transition to the new ownership immediately. These venerable brands have long been an important part of our Business Media family, and we are pleased that e5 will continue to capitalize on the brands' potential. The transition is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Pluribus Capital was founded in 2009 by James Finkelstein, George Green and Matthew Doull to focus on acquiring and managing industry leading media properties with high growth potential, particularly those with strong brand recognition across multiple platforms including digital, print and events. Guggenheim Partners is a privately held, diversified financial services firm. Both Pluribus and Guggenheim have strong track records of successfully managing investments in a variety of companies.

I want to take this opportunity to offer heartfelt thanks to our colleagues who will be leaving the company for their dedication and commitment to Nielsen over the years. Please join me in wishing them well in their future endeavors.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Lays Off 39 Employees

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel laid off 39 business-side employees today, publisher Betsy Brenner wrote in an email to employees. The layoffs came from the advertising, circulation and other business departments.

It's the third round of job cuts this year for the newspaper.

Parent company Journal Sentinel Inc., said it represented 3 percent of its workforce.

These job reductions primarily affect the Journal Sentinel’s circulation field operations and other business departments, a press release said. No newsroom employees were affected.

The 39 employees are expected to leave before the end of the year, the company said. The company will record a pre-tax workforce reduction charge of $600,000 in the fourth quarter. Journal Sentinel Inc. is a Journal Communications, Inc. (NYSE:JRN) company.

“This difficult decision was necessary as the advertising environment continues to be challenging,” said Journal Sentinel President and Publisher Betsy Brenner. “We thank our colleagues for their exceptional service to the company and to our customers. We remain committed to our role as the leading news gathering organization in southeastern Wisconsin.”

On Aug. 4, the newspaper announced that it would reduce its workforce by 92 employees, or 6.2 percent, in a layoff that includes 37 voluntary buyout offers that were accepted by newsroom staffers.

The Journal Sentinel on April 6 laid off 26 full time and five part-time employees to reduce expenses. The Journal Sentinel previously provided buyouts to newsroom staff in summer 2008 and fall 2007, leading to job cuts of 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively.