http://www.mediaworkers.org Representing media employees in California Copyright 2009 California Media Workers Guild en-us Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:01:53 -0500 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:01:53 -0500 http://www.sjguild.org/rss/jpg/Norcal.jpg http://www.mediaworkers.org 140 55 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065960 Tampa Tribune parent Media General Inc. (MEG) announced the pricing of its offering of $300 million of senior secured notes that will help spread out the maturities of its approximately $730 million in debt. The notes will carry an interest rate of 11.75%. With its price set at a discount to face value, the notes yield maturity is 12.25%. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065960 http://www.mediaworkers.org/index.php?ID=7231 During a joint appearance at the UC Berkeley journalism school on Jan. 26, Bay Area News Project CEO Lisa Frazier and Editor Jonathan Weber said they anticipate hiring 15 journalists by late spring. Earlier comments had those jobs being filled more slowly, perhaps by year’s end. Also, both Weber and Frazier said they foresee collaborations with KQED, despite recent news that organization’s official involvement had ended. http://www.mediaworkers.org/index.php?ID=7231 http://www.mediaworkers.org/index.php?ID=7229 Alan Mutter’s Reflections of A Newsosaur blog unleashed quite a response — the biggest he’s had — when he called for an end to the exploitation of journalists the other day. Guild organizers welcomed the fresh reinforcements in a battle we’ve been waging for years. Here are comments from Freelance Unit Chair Rebecca Rosen Lum and Local Representative Carl T. Hall. http://www.mediaworkers.org/index.php?ID=7229 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065522 McClatchy Co. shares tumbled Friday along with the broader market after the newspaper publisher agreed to pay steep interest rates to push back its deadline for repaying debt. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065522 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065601 Some 50 top executives of The New York Times, including Publisher and Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. met earlier this week in a New York restaurant with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who demonstrated the iPad and talked it up as "the future of media," according to a report by Daniel Maurer on New York magazine’s Web site. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065601 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100205/ap_on_bi_ge/us_newsroom_turmoil_2 An arbitrator has rejected the Santa Barbara News-Press’ $25 million claim against its former editor and ordered the newspaper’s owner to pay more than $900,000 in fees stemming from their dispute. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100205/ap_on_bi_ge/us_newsroom_turmoil_2 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065468 The Seattle Times Co. has renegotiated its debt, giving the publisher increased ability to continue publishing "high quality, independent journalism," as the company indicated in a letter updating its readers on its financial status. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065468 http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2010/02/journos-arent-helpless-against-market.html Without question, there never has been a bigger response to this blog than the one that greeted the piece the other day encouraging journalists to demand to be paid decently for their work. http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2010/02/journos-arent-helpless-against-market.html http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/02/google-news-to-publishers-lets-make-love-not-war035.html In the view of some traditional media execs, Google is a digital vampire or a parasite or tech tapeworm using someone else’s content to profit. As that rhetoric heated up in the past year, Google has responded not with equal amounts of invective but with entreaties to help publishers. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/02/google-news-to-publishers-lets-make-love-not-war035.html http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065180 Monster Worldwide’s agreed acquisition of Yahoo’s recruitment platform HotJobs means as many as 200 papers will be shut out of of the Yahoo newspaper consortium (NPC). http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004065180