We Were Print

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You want to read the Michael Jackson’s Obituary that’ll run in tomorrow’s newspaper? Check Wikipedia.

Wikipedia: How Newspaper Obituaries are Written

Since learning of the news of Michael Jackson’s dead (from Laine’s Facebook status), I have been monitoring the Michael Jackson Wikipedia edit log. Based on the edit log, it looks as though Wikipedia had the cardiac arrest before it was reported by the Los Angeles Times. Not bad.

Here’s what I find fascinating… half of what you read in newspaper obituaries was written and fact-checked by Wikipedia contributors. Based on previous obituaries, we’ll see how close to correct I am tomorrow. In the meantime, watch the edit log and see if Jackson’s image is being softened or fixed in stone by his death.

“It Must be True: Twitter is Down.”

While trying to confirm Jackson’s death, these words were uttered, “it must be true… Twitter is down.”.

Welcome to the new world of news. Got your own ‘Jackson is dead’ electronic media stories? Tell them below.

(Bonus: Michael Jackson’s Obit as a Limerick.)

Comments TechCrunch: From Terrible To Terrifying: Newspaper Ad Sales Plummet $2.6 Billion In Q1 2009. Here it is in a nutshell…

Thanks to Grant from the The Guild of Scientific Troubadours for bringing this depressing news to our attention.

A wide variety of organizations in our area are looking for volunteer workers. Many are needed, especially in summer when our snowbirds go home.

It’s a way to learn skills such as computers, phone or organizational programs that you can use on a resume, while actually helping others as you train.

It’s also a way to network, plus it gets you out of the house and into a work environment interacting with those who have paying jobs available.

JUST SOME WHO NEED YOU

Suggestions for programs in our area include something for everyone - kids, libraries, gardens, courts, health and seniors, to name a few. Other counties have similar needs within their county organizations — check around where you live for these volunteer posts. 

Click on the titles below to be taken to the group’s web site and read around to find the info for volunteers.
One near and dear to my heart. I know firsthand it’s extremely rewarding:
Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition.

Meals on Wheels. The Morse Life Jewish Center in West Palm Beach handles a great deal of this service to feed the homebound in our area, and they have other senior services that offer volunteer opportunities as well.

United Way of Palm Beach County - various agencies in need of volunteers.

     Note: They are training disaster relief volunteers June 3.

Florence Fuller Thrift Shop, Boca Raton.

Palm Beach County library system
Palm Beach County Health Dept.

Palm Beach County Court system

Animal Care and Control

Victim Services

State Attorney’s Office

Voices for Children.

Deaf Center Services

Head Start

Mounts Botanical Gardens

Environmental services

Hospice of PBC

American Red Cross. They have numerous volunteer opportunities, including emergency disaster relief that can take you across the country working for the Red Cross in major disaster areas. There also is an international volunteer program with this agency.

One all-around site is volunteermatch.com — it has numerous positions posted. It’s quirky and doesn’t always deliver correct keywords within the area you’re searching.

There are dozens of other organizations that need workers. This year, schools are going to be in dire need of volunteer workers as they have cut back exponentially on paid staff. Hospitals, fire departments, city parks and recreation, church food banks and many, many more use volunteers.

You can help make a difference in the community, and get something in return.

Not even The Shiny Sheet on the ultra wealthy island of Palm Beach is immune to Cox layoffs.

Alex Taylor, The Palm Beach Post Publisher, announced today that 11 full-time employees were losing their jobs. That means there are 32 employees left at the paper. Says Mr. Taylor:

To put this into a little perspective it’s important to point out that last year’s layoffs did not touch the Shiny Sheet because business on the island appeared relatively unaffected during the 2008 downturn. However, things changed on the island after the turn of the year. Business dropped sharply in what many think is the sharpest retail downturn the island has ever seen in modern times. Real Estate, Madoff, plummeting tourism, a Worth Ave. jewelry heist, a general reluctance to spend on luxury goods and numerous other factors have created a storm on the island that has shut down much of its economic activity.

With All That Going On, You’d Think They’d Need Journalists

It has been a great news year for Palm Beach. A $50-billion pyramid scheme in our own back yard, and an old-school jewelry heist are a couple of my favorites.

Thanks to the economic downturn and Bernie Madoff, there have been some amazing turns of fortune on the island to the tune of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. After years of boring society balls and minor social standing drama, something interesting is happening on the island and it is a shame there aren’t going to be as many people left to records the stories.

Have you done it? Are you a blogger? Is it working out for you?

How have you taken your personal print brand and turned it into an online brand?

Has anything specific worked well for you or been a complete failure?

If nothing else, pimp your blog below.

In reading a Washington Post commentary, Are Too Many Newspaper Comic Polls a Sham?, I was shocked by two points:

• Judge Parker is being returned to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• The AJC has a Comics Editor.

Judge Parker? Really? You’re not exactly picking up new readers with that stinker.

With the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cutting more than 50 full-time employees, 100 part-time employees and dropping 22 counties from its circulation, does it really need a Comics Editor?

What wasn’t shocking: comics polls don’t mean much. One of the first newspaper jobs I ever had was collecting ballots, inputting data and tabulating the results of my paper’s comics survey. The people who take the time to fill out a 50-plus question survey aren’t necessarily a representative sample.

Also, they have poor handwriting and can’t cut a straight line to save their life.

A note from my Tribune source…

Anyone who took the buyout and opted not to take the money until 2009 got screwed. As soon as Tribune declared bankruptcy, all of those people were deemed “creditors” and just went on the list of people Tribune can’t pay. It wasn’t a lot of people, but it was some.

The Good News

If you took your Tribune buyout as a lump sum, you get to keep your money.

The Bad News

Folks who decided to take their buyout in payments get to keep what has already been paid but probably won’t get any more checks. As of Tribune’s bankruptcy, folks with deferred payments simply aren’t getting them.

The Worse News

A number of Tribune employees accepted a buyout in 2008 but elected to take the money in 2009 in order to better mitigate the Federal tax bill. Those people are at the bottom of a long list of creditors looking into Tribune’s empty piggy bank. If you see anything, it’ll likely be after folks with secured debt or debt ahead of you has been paid.

One former Tribune employee told me she was expecting a check in excess of $50,000 in 2009 as her buyout, accepted months ago. Instead, she got a notice from the Delaware District of the United States Bankruptcy Court.

As an occasional Tribune consultant, I, too, got a bankruptcy notice from Tribune. Fortunately, they don’t have an outstanding balance. Starting with the notice of their bankruptcy, instead of billing monthly with net 30 day terms, Tribune is going to become a weekly invoice, due on receipt. (If only its employees had that option and the same level of control.)

A Bird in the Hand…

As noted earlier, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Even if you love newspapers, think they will turn around and are bullish on their long-term future, you may want to invest otherwise just in case.

Even a pessimist such as myself would never have imagined that Tribune would leave their bought-out employees high and dry. Prepare for the worst.

Love those priorities — the Cubs make his first graf.

Sam Zell

Dec. 8, 2008

Partners,

We just announced that Tribune is restructuring its debt under Chapter 11 protection. I’m sure you saw the speculative coverage last night and this morning. I would have preferred everyone get the news from me first, but since our debt is publicly traded, we had to keep this decision confidential until we had a formal board decision. The Cubs franchise is not part of the filing.

Most importantly, I want to stress that we will continue to operate our business as usual. That includes meeting payroll and covering benefits (such as healthcare, disability and others), and paying vendors for all goods and services they provide to us going forward.

As is routine with Chapter 11 filings, we have filed “First-Day Motions” to get court approval on these and many other programs that are essential to continuing our businesses without disruption. We expect to get approval on these motions within the next few days.

You are also most likely wondering about the other aspects of your compensation. The 401(k) is unaffected by the filing, and in general, the existing benefits in the pension and cash balance plans are also unaffected by the filing. The ESOP is part of the ownership structure, so its value and role long-term will be determined in the restructuring. We believe the structure is a valuable asset to the company and that there are strong reasons to preserve it.

So, how did we get here? It has been, to say the least, the perfect storm. A precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy have coupled with a credit crisis, making it extremely difficult to support our debt. All of our major advertising categories have been dramatically impacted.

By restructuring our debt, we will reduce the pressure on the company’s operating businesses, enabling us to pursue our vision of creating a sustainable, cutting-edge media company that is valued by our readers, viewers, and advertisers, and that plays a vital role in the communities we serve.

This filing should not impact the way you do your jobs on a day-to-day basis. We will continue to operate responsibly in a challenging environment - aggressively managing costs and maximizing revenue opportunities. These are all things we would do whether or not we were restructuring our debt.

Our challenges are consistent with those facing all media companies, and an increasing number of companies across a variety of industries today. The reality is that we - along with the rest of the country - have very little visibility on where the economy is headed and how our businesses will perform given the recession.

The good news is that we have great brands, and we produce great products every day. It’s up to all of us to continue to focus on what it is we do best.

As your Chairman and CEO, I will continue to be actively engaged in the business and I remain committed to the company, to you and to our lenders. Randy, Gerry and the rest of the management team are equally dedicated to moving this company forward.

I’m sure you have a lot of questions that this email doesn’t cover. I encourage you to visit TribLink where we’ve posted some anticipated Q&A, or call the toll-free number we’ve established - 888-287-7568. We’ll also have information posted on Tribune.com. But, recognize that there is quite a bit we don’t know - or that we cannot confirm - at this point.

I am proud of the work we have done at Tribune in the last year. I’ve seen strong determination to take hold of this company and put it on a new course. As a result, we’ve reduced costs, gained market share, and laid the groundwork for creating a new business model out of traditional media. This restructuring
will give us the time we need to build that model, to secure sustainable and growing cash flow, and to achieve the success the talented partners in this company deserve.

Sam

Tribune, taken private last year by Sam Zell, may be considering bankruptcy according to a New York Times story.

Tribune gave its rank and file employees a fair amount of stock through profit sharing. That was great when the shares were trading at $70. As the stock fell into the $30s, our Tribune stock was just a reminder that layoffs were coming and half our nest egg was gone.

Free advice: Diversify. If you still work for a newspaper — any publicly-traded newspaper — and your 401K is flush with company stock, it may be worth talking to your financial advisor. When Enron went toes-up, a lot of its employees were hit with a double-whammy: not only were they suddenly out of work, their Enron-heavy 401Ks were near worthless.

All major U.S. cities will be hiring for census takers in 2009 (for the 2010 US Census) — so take note - there will be hundreds hired.
Pay is between $10 and $22/hr, depending on city.
 
http://www.census.gov/2010censusjobs

Or check for local listings for these jobs in your own hometown newspaper – if you’ve still got one!