Whit Shaw: If industry has pneumonia, ACBJ has a cold

Props to Talking biz news, which offers a lengthy, exclusive interview with Whitney Shaw, now the CEO of American City Business Journals. Shaw offers an analysis of the chain and how it’s faring in the current industry environment. Bottom line, he says ACBJ is doing better than most and he expects the industry situation to improve, eventually. Whether you’re a believer or not, the interview offers insight into the fact that some individual ACBJ papers are doing better than others.

Read the full story.

And boy does it hurt …

Leave it to the New York Post on Oct. 10 to fill us in on what the Condé Nast empire struggle is personally costing S.I. Newhouse Jr. and the family trust. Props to the clever headline writer.

In “Cut down to Si(ze): Newhouse, clan dig deep to fill Condé money pit” reporter KEITH J. KELLY informs us that the Newhouse family is digging deep into its own pockets to stem the company’s financial losses.

Excerpt:

For the first time in nearly two decades, the Newhouse family is personally having to underwrite the losses at Condé Nast, a source told The Post.

It’s one of the reasons for the intense cost-cutting at the glitzy — and historically profligate — magazine publisher run by billionaire Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr.

“It’s not just Si now,” said the source, who is close to Condé Nast. “It’s the family trust.

There’s a hole in S.I. Newhouse Jr.’s pocket

An Oct. 8, 2009 Newsweek online exclusive story asks “Just How Much Did Condé Nast Lose?” The story by reporter Johnnie L. Roberts cites evidence indicating “ad revenue at the high-end magazine company may drop by $1 billion by year’s end.”

That’s gotta hurt.

The story notes that Conde Nast magazine mogul S. I. Newhouse’s wealth has plunged to a mere $4.5 billion from $8 billion since the economy cratered. Donald Newhouse, who heads Advance Publications — which owns ACBJ — has seen his wealth “slip” by a half billion to a paltry $8 billion, according to the story.

E&P: Buyouts, cutbacks didn’t push Willse retirement

Editor & Publisher weighs in with its report on the retirement of New Jersey’s 65-year-old Star-Ledger Editor Jim Willse. In the report, Willse says he wasn’t pushed out:

“Willse added that the newspaper’s past year of cutbacks and buyouts did not push him to retire any sooner than he would have. But he did want to make sure the paper was on an “even keel” before he left.”

The Sept. 29 story by E&P reporter Joe Strupp says Willse will retire in about a month.

Willse Had Successor Chosen, Firm Plan to Leave
By Joe Strupp
NEW YORK &38212; When Editor Jim Willse of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., told the paper’s owners he planned to retire, he offered a plan that included his replacement, Managing Editor Kevin Whitmer, and a firm decision that he would not stay, according to Steve Newhouse, one of the top executives at Advance Publications.

“We tried to talk him out of it,” Newhouse, chairman of Advance.Net, said about Willse’s initial notice of retirement. “But he had his plan and someone in mind and when he decided to make a change for himself, he had everything laid out. He came to us with his decision and his plan.”

New Jersey’s Star-Ledger Editor Jim Willse to retire

Another one bites the dust, this time in New Jersey with 65-year-old Star-Ledger Editor Jim Willse who we’re told by the paper announced his retirement after 15 years.

The report by The Star-Ledger’s Amanda Brown says the paper won two Pulitzer Prizes under Willse’s leadership. The story doesn’t say when the retirement is effective.

NEWARK — Jim Willse will retire next month as editor of The Star-Ledger, and Kevin Whitmer, the paper’s managing editor, will succeed him, it was announced today.

Willse was The Star-Ledger editor for the past 15 years, during which time the newspaper won a host of national journalism awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. It is considered one of the best regional papers in the country.

More retirements announced at Advance papers

mcwflint.blogspot.com: Two more publishers leaving Newhouse papers. Full story.

The Oregonian: Fred A. Stickel retiring after 35 years as The Oregonian’s publisher. Full story.

The Birmingham News: Birmingham News Publisher Retires. Full story.

WHNT 19 TV News: Birmingham News publisher Victor Hanson III to retire. Full Story.

Editor & Publisher: ‘Birmingham News’ Publisher Retires After 32 Years at Paper. Full story.

JUICY SUITS: The O Gets Dragged to Court over Buyout Deal

There’s a lot of blog coverage on this story about an employee lawsuit against The Oregonian, owned by Advance Publications. The story was dug up by James Pitkin at Wilamette Week Online, wweek.com, according to another blog that’s also following the story.

Pitkin’s coverage includes a great photo of the paper’s office building, as well as links to all the good stuff, like a pdf of the lawsuit and an email from employee Bixler to his boss. Nice blog James. Bixler says in the email that his family had three generations of service dating to the 1930s with the company:

Here’s an excerpt:

By James Pitkin
Wilamette Week Online
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before The Oregonian got sued over which employees were allowed to take last year’s buyout offers.

It was generous of the paper’s New Jersey-based owners to offer two years’ salary and benefits to most employees who had worked at the paper more than 10 years and agreed to walk away. Employees who had between five and 10 years’ tenure were offered one year’s salary and bennies.

But given the increasingly desperate state of the newspaper business, the sheer number of workers involved, and the paper’s decision to extend the buyout to some employees but not to others, it comes as little surprise that some workers would feel burned watching colleagues floating away in a comfy raft while they were left behind on the ship.

AP: Ex-Press-Register publisher Bronson sues newspaper, Advance

Apparently a suggested retirement at the Press-Register in Mobile left an unhappy camper. An article from the Associated Press notes the former publisher is suing for what he reportedly claims was “breach of contract.” See the report aired on WHNT 19 TV News:

By Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Former Press-Register Publisher Howard Bronson has filed a civil suit against the Mobile newspaper and its owners, claiming breach of contract and other wrongful acts when he was asked to retire.

Bronson’s suit, filed Friday in Mobile, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against defendants including Advance Publications, which owns the Press-Register, and Mark Newhouse, a member of the Newhouse family that bought the paper in 1966. Full story.

Additional coverage at this site:

Extensive story with details from the suit at:  lagniappemobile.com

ACBJ publisher debuts in office “bloopers” video?

Can someone explain this? This should probably be filed under “Strange but true” and we post it without comment, other than to say information on the video says it was uploaded Aug. 26 and — as of this writing — it’s drawn 381 views (but no comments).

The text on youtube accompanying the video says:  ”Just another day in the Dallas Business Journal newsroom. For best results, turn your volume up!”

Click over to youtube to watch it. Prepare for some ear-piercing screaming.

D Empire bragging: DBJ’s (huge) loss is D Empire’s gain

D CEO editor Glenn Hunter — former editor of the Dallas Business Journal — couldn’t help bragging on D Magazine’s popular Frontburner blog that the D Empire has picked up a new sales executive: Rhett Taylor, most recently the No. 1 advertising salesman for the Dallas Business Journal. Ouch! That had to hurt …

When your business makes great hires, you can’t help shouting it from the rooftops. So, here goes: Rhett Taylor, the No. 1 account executive by far last year for the Dallas Business Journal, has joined our company to focus on business categories, with a special emphasis on D CEO magazine. Nobody knows the DFW business environment better than Rhett.

Read the full post.