Journalism is under assault, from evolving technology that challenges how news is distributed to media corporations whose only response to economic downturns is to slash and burn.

Journalists and our brothers and sisters in advertising see this as a time to strengthen our newspaper and improve our value to readers; Lee Enterprises and its corporate cousins see this convergence of technology and economy as a perfect storm, a convenient opportunity to cut staff far beyond what is required and to assault the foundations upon which our union is built.

These corporate suits and dollar-strangling publishers also are beginning to breach what for generations has been a solid wall between advertising and editorial. They see the newsroom as a potential arm of advertising, with tailor-made “niche” publications (”Style,” “Summer Fun”) and stories made to order.  Merging advertising and features, for example, would destroy our readers trust: Which stories are honest? Which were written in return for ads? Which were bought and paid for?

It is time to think about an ethics policy for the Post-Dispatch, one generated by the journalists and advertising professionals who work here. Let’s start a discussion right here. To kick things off, here are links to two ethics documents:

Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics

Newspaper Guild-CWA principles of Professionalism and Honesty in the News Media

Speak up! This is our union; this is our profession. It’s up to us to protect them.

That, according to Advertising Age, is for the 12 months ended Sept. 28, 2008. Not too shabby.

Would have been nice to know this before the furlough vote last week.

AdAge says, under the hedline

It’s Not Newspapers in Peril; It’s Their Owners

For all the apocalyptic news about newspapers, there’s a distinction worth making: Newspaper owners are far more endangered than the medium itself.

Even as they take blow after blow from recession and digital media, newspapers themselves still earn decent profits. They do even better outside big cities, which tend to get all the attention.

Read the rest of the story here.

David Swensen and Michael Schmidt, writing in a New York Times op-ed piece, suggest:

Although the problems that the newspaper industry faces are well known, no one has offered a satisfactory solution. But there is an option that might not only save newspapers but also make them stronger: Turn them into nonprofit, endowed institutions — like colleges and universities. Endowments would enhance newspapers’ autonomy while shielding them from the economic forces that are now tearing them down.

Read the entire column here.

The following is from a post by Philip M. Stone at followthemedia.org:

With companies like Gannett and McClatchy, the two largest US newspaper publishers, slashing away at just about anything that moves these days there are plenty of signs that their boardrooms are convinced there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and there can be no question that Wall Street’s problems are also the problems for newspapers, too.

That’s really a double whammy that Wall Street has dealt newspapers – first it downgraded newspaper shares so much (how much short selling was in there?) that newspapers valuations on the market are ludicrously low, and now that Wall Street is getting its comeuppance, newspapers suffer again because if advertisers can’t gain access to credit, lines of credit and all the rest, then they’re going to pull in on what they spend, and that means less advertising spending, especially for traditional media. It’s as simple and cruel as that.

This post also includes a reference to last Friday’s layoffs at the Post-Dispatch. (For some reason, Stone thinks Mr. Shannon is actually Ms. Shannon!!) Read the full post here.

Friday’s layoffs gave many of us cause for panic, but Saturday’s meeting showed that it also has galvanized our members.

The  meeting  was standing-room-only, including a number of members who were laid off Friday. I talked to one member who said she was doing okay, and the amount of severance she got certainly helps. However, some of those laid off got much less, and a member suggested that we begin a collection to help  members who may not be so fortunate. What a wonderful idea!

I only hope  that in the coming weeks, our membership will continue to show their unity as we face a crisis in the industry. We must show the company that we are a force to be recognized and bargained with as the situation plays out. If you haven’t let the guild know your home e-mail  or cell phone  number, please do so. You can contact Mary Casey at mcasey@stlouisguild.org.

A limited number of issues will be brought the negotiating table by Shannon and our team when the Post-Dispatch unit begins early and expedited bargaining with Lee.

Via surveys and other communications, members have identified health care as issue No. 2 facing the PD.

What does that mean to you? How do you feel about the cost of health care: Would you be willing to pay a bigger share? What’s a fair share? How do the plans work now?

Weigh in below in the comments section.

Author Ted Rall, writing in an alternative weekly in Hawaii, has three suggestions for newspapers interested in turning around the slow, painful slide:

… All three of my suggestions are predicated on the simplest principle of capitalism: scarcity increases demand. Newspapers have made news free and plentiful, which is why they’re going broke.

First: newspapers should go offline. If the last decade has proven anything, it’s that you can’t charge for a product–in this case, news–that you give away. So stop! All the members of the Newspaper Association of America should shut down their websites. At the very least, papers ought to charge online readers twice as much as for print subscriptions–searchability must be worth something. Want news? Buy a “dead tree” newspaper.

To find out more, click here.

The “reorganization” of the newsroom is typical Post-Dispatch and, at the same time, a fitting metaphor for the Lee Way.

Forget, for a moment, the practical problems created in some departments — some copy editors, for example, will need to file for monthly mileage expenses to communicate with their designers. Forget, too, how the “reorganization” was first billed as a system in which the continuous news desk would be encircled by rings of designers, then copy editors, then reporters etc, all feeding back to the center and a modern, 21st-century, print/online production team. Now, all of the traditional fiefdoms have been preserved.

Instead, take the coat locker/file drawer/bookcase units. No please, take them. Away. That must be what management heard after they asked us, “What furniture would you like to keep?” And we told them, knowing full well that 1) they didn’t care to really know, and 2) they had already made up their minds. But like Charlie Brown, we placed our trust, however shaky, in Lucy one more time … and then the football was snatched away.

What reason did you hear for the removal of the lockers? Here are three: 1) They’re ugly. 2) There’s not enough room. 3) The bosses can’t see us hiding behind them (obviously, this our favorite). But the answer depended on who you asked. Oh, and who made the decision? That kept changing, too. It’s Chinatown, Jake. What reason were you given?

The truth is that it’s not about the coat lockers; sadly, it’s about us. We are the furniture.

And furniture doesn’t need to be consulted, listened to or respected. It just needs to be moved, or tossed out. Our brothers and sisters in advertising and circulation know this all too well. Now our Post-Dispatch security guards know it, too, and unfortunately they didn’t have the protection of a union contract.

They will be out on the street, treated like furniture tossed to the curb for bulk-item pickup day. They were told they could apply for jobs with Whelan Security — for half of what they make now. And oh, by the way, that 5 weeks vacation time they haven’t used? Well, here’s the thing: It’s not Lee policy to pay unused vacation time.

Furniture.

A colleague who took the buyout six months ago recently discovered that she has no dental coverage. When she called Delta, she was told she had “opted out” when she signed her early retirement papers in September.

“No, I didn’t,” she said.

“Yes, you did, we have a paper with your signature on it.”

“Well, I don’t remember signing it and, besides, I don’t have a copy of it,” she said. “Can you send me a copy?”

Delta said no, they can’t. So our colleague called HR in Davenport and was told the same thing; no copy. No COBRA dental coverage. No recourse except to get your own insurance because, anyway, six months have gone by and it’s too late.

“Is this the way you treat retirees?” our friend asked.

“Well,” the HR lady in Davenport answered, “you Post-Dispatch people are the only retirees we’ve ever had to deal with.” (Presumably because nobody in a nonunion Lee paper felt it was worth sticking around long enough to have a career and retire. But we digress.)

“You Post-Dispatch people.”

You furniture.

The way Lee Enterprises handled these layoffs clearly shows its contempt for the union and the contract. Now, Lee is laying off the guards. The company will cut jobs to save money but give Mary Junck $3.7 million in salary, etc., as the stock hits the toilet and revenue declines.

Speaking of declining revenue, why would Lee lay off people in circulation and advertising, when the company says it wants to grow those two areas? Either management is clueless or Lee is going to outsource the jobs.

In my 30 years in the newsroom at the Post, I’ve encountered some bosses — fortunately, not many — who didn’t care about the contract or their employees. But, largely, employees in the newsroom who work hard are valued. This doesn’t seem to be the case anywhere else in the building (please, Guild members in other departments, correct me if I’m wrong.)

Please everyone stand united in our efforts to ensure that Lee honors the contract. If Lee gets away with this, management here will ignore the rest of the contract, too.

What do you think of Lee’s latest attack on our contract? Sound off in comments!

From Think Progress

A new Harris Interactive poll finds that over half of Americans — 54 percent — say they tend not to trust the press, “with only 30 percent tending to trust the press.” More Americans (41 percent) trust “Internet news and information sites” than they do the mainstream media. Radio tends to do best among Americans as 44 percent say they tend to trust it.

Read the full story here