Editor and Publisher Reports

In 1913, Victoriano Manteiga came to the United States from Cuba and went to work as a “lector,” reading the news of the day to the immigrant workers of the Morgan Cigar Factory in Ybor City, a National Historic Landmark District in Tampa. In 1922 he founded a newspaper for those workers that is now celebrating 100-years of service. Today Victoriano’s grandson Patrick Manteiga is “at the helm" of La Gaceta, the nation’s only trilingual newspaper still informing, influencing, and thriving as it publishes weekly in English, Spanish and Italian. In this 138th episode of “E&P Reports,” meet Patrick Manteiga, the editor, publisher and owner of the 100-year-old, Tampa Bay based La Gaceta, the nation’s only trilingual newspaper, as he speaks about heritage, history politics and more. Also appearing is Assistant Editor Gene Siudut.

Today, two of the premier industry associations representing news and magazine publishers join forces. It’s official: the News Media Alliance (NMA) will merge today with the Association of Magazine Media, still fondly known by its former acronym, “MPA,” or the Magazine Publishers Association. News businesses and magazine publishers have largely traveled similar but parallel paths since the advent of the internet. They’ve been challenged to build digital products and attract new audiences to them. They’ve both endured a revolution in the print space, with former analog print processes replaced by digital workflow and computer-to-plate (CTP) imaging. Both have been through consolidation, paper price hikes, changes to postal regulations, the disruption of their advertising and revenue models and more than a few lean years when austerity seemed the only path to sustainability. Though news businesses and magazines across the genre spectrum also had their unique challenges along the way, they share a lot in common

The Baltimore Banner website proudly displays a mission: to be the leading provider of news and lifestyle content in the Baltimore metro area,  which Nielsen ranks as the 26th largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the United States. Currently, the city has 11 newspapers, four broadcast TV news operations and a full-time news/talk radio outlet. But when the well-known CEO of Choice Hotels International and philanthropist Stewart Bainum’s battle with Alden Capitol to acquire the Baltimore Sun from Tribune media failed, he turned to an already strategized "Plan B." He pledged $50 million of his own money to enter the market as a standalone, digital-only, nonprofit news platform: The Baltimore Banner. E&P’s May 2022 cover story features an extensive piece from Contributing Editor Gretchen A. Peck, focusing on the formation of The Banner’s team that has assembled in their new waterfront offices downtown, the newsroom structure and the entire culture of the people behind this new news start-up.  But in this 1

You may already be familiar with "deep fakes" — the colloquial term for manipulating video, warping its reality with a particular rhetorical objective in mind. But how pervasive, easy to use and convincing have deep fakes gotten in recent years? On this 135th episode of E&P Reports, Host and E&P Publisher Mike Blinder; guest Sam Gregory, program director at WITNESS.org; and E&P contributor Gretchen Peck discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI) in video and audio and how computer-generated graphics (CGI) technologies have gotten exponentially more sophisticated and accessible in recent years. Hear how AI will be used to take this very vodcast recording and translate the host's voice into Spanish — as though Blinder himself was speaking the language. It's allowing E&P Reports to reach much wider Spanish-speaking audiences here in the U.S. and worldwide. The group also discussed the infamous Tom Cruise deep fake that circulated on TikTok and how a Russian propaganda deep-fake appeared to show Ukraine

The latest Borrell Benchmarking report from Borrell Associates was just released, showing that local digital advertising will grow 9% to over $92 billion, which will amount to almost two-thirds of all available local advertising dollars, rising to nearly three-quarters by 2025. The major shift in purchase behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic seems to center on how local businesses moved a good deal of their budgets from Google paid search to targeted banners served programmatically. The report also revealed that almost 20% of media companies stated that video streaming (OTT) has become their number one digital product purchased by local advertisers, with spending projected to surpass paid search within three years. Other data within the 66-page report showed that for the 1st time, TV stations have surpassed newspapers in terms of average digital dollars, with 50% stating that OTT is their No. 1 source of digital revenue, with no newspapers making that claim. In this 134th episode of "E&P Reports," Borr

Liz White, Publisher & Executive Vice President of Record-Journal Publishing Company (R-J Media), states during this “E&P Reports” interview, "I got the idea from reading my own newspaper." White explains how she learned that their city of Meriden, Connecticut was receiving $36 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to help the community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. White said upon learning that the funds would be allocated by a local American Rescue Plan Steering Committee, she reached out to the Meriden Economic Development Director to see if they could put together a program that would allow local businesses to tap some of the funds to drive business through local advertising. Soon, the local chamber of commerce came on board, and the “Meriden Business Boost” program was presented and subsequently approved by the committee. “Meriden Business Boost” is a simple program that allows any local business or non-profit organization, regardless of size, if they need to market to the loca

On September 1, 2021, E&P reported that The Chief-Leader, the 100+-year-old, family-owned NYC weekly, whose nearly 30,000 subscribers are almost entirely New York City municipal workers, was sold to Ben August. August has no roots in journalism or media, having sold a lucrative human resource services company he built. And since then, devoting himself to his Napa Valley vineyard and a nonprofit group that investigates who really wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare. But his passion for supporting the “worker” compelled him to enter our industry to steward The Chief, whose masthead proclaims it “A Voice for Workers,” bulleting: “Good Pay, Safety, Opportunity and Equity” as the publications’ key missions to its readers. Now with a new editorial team, design and website, August said his mission is to expand this century-old brand (whose name stems from its 1897 founding as the independent newspaper for NYC firefighters) to be the voice of workers beyond the borders of New York City. In this 132nd episo

In the March issue of Editor & Publisher, the  Cordova Times was featured as an “honorable mention” in “10 That Do it Right,” E&P’s yearly salute to top news media companies. The small weekly in remote South-Central Alaska (only accessible by boat or plane) was awarded “Best Comprehensive Coverage of the COVID Pandemic” across all media, broadcast and print, and “Alaska’s Best Weekly” for two years in a row by the Alaska Press Club. The Cordova Times covers local news, city government, community features, commercial fisheries, environmental news, the Alaska legislature, Alaska Native news, arts, science, history and Alaskan culture. Unfortunately, The Cordova Times is struggling to remain in business since its current owners, The Native Village of Eyak (NVE), has recently announced that if a suitable owner does not come forward, the tribe will simply stop the newspaper. And the price? Free! Tribal Council Chair Mark Hoover is quoted as saying: “We are open to any proposals and will work with any grou

Appalachian news veterans exit the daily newspaper to start a growing non-profit — The Cardinal News. On February 27th, the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan published a story entitled, “This rural news start-up has two reporters and an editor with no broadband. Already, it’s made an impact,” and suddenly, the entire world is made aware of the story of an Appalachian digital-only news site called The Cardinal News. Founded in July of 2021 and going live a few months later, this online-only, non-profit news operation owes its start to a grant of $100,000 and now survives on donations from individuals, corporations and foundations. And with this initial seed money, some local key editorial veterans were able to elect to exit the largest daily newspaper in the area, Lee Enterprises' Roanoke (VA) Times, to build this news start-up. As funding grows, so does the influence of their reporting. The Cardinal News' November of 2021 story on a major flood that ravaged the small community of Hurley, VA, helped amplify

As E&P reported earlier this week (Florida legislators put news publishers — in the state and beyond — on notice), the news publishing industry was stunned to learn that the Florida State Senate voted in favor of a bill that changed the requirement for government entities to place public notices in local newspapers. The amendment that changed the existing bill, which just went into effect a few weeks earlier, will now allow local governments and private parties to provide notice about government meetings, zoning changes, and legal proceedings to appear on obscure government websites rather than being placed first on the floridapublicnotices.com website run by the Florida Press Association. There may be many reasons on why this sudden reversal took place, including that this quick change of course could actually be a vendetta that starts as high as Governor Ron DeSantis and State Senate President Wilton Simpson against the Florida newspaper industry because of critical reporting — one reporter, in particul

On Thursday, March 10, 2022, the Florida State Senate voted in favor of a bill (FL HB 7049) that changed state government entities' requirements to place public notices in local newspapers. The amendment that passed changed some language from the existing bill, which was just approved in 2021, allowing public notices to remain in the public domain through newspapers, their websites, and online at www.floridapublicnotices.com. The floridapublicnotices site is a free and independent site operated by the Florida Press Association and provided to Florida and several other states by  Column, a public benefit corporation founded by its CEO Jake Seaton. In short, just approved Florida Senate House Bill 7049, which now heads to Governor DeSantis' desk, will eliminate the requirement for local governments to publish public notices in a newspaper. Instead, governments would be allowed to post them on a county website. Critics of this latest change argue that, under the new bill, the state's legal notices could be strew

The Chicago Tribune states proudly, "Rex Huppke is considered (by himself) to be America's most-beloved columnist, though there is no empirical evidence of that.” And recently, after almost 20 years at the “Trib,” this famous satirical humorist announced that he would be “jumping ship” to pen his thoughts for a larger international audience at USA TODAY.  Rex’s first column for Gannett did not disappoint, as he took a comedic swipe at the far-right anti-COVID-mandate truckers by suggesting that he was working with them to help “overturn” the results of the New York Times “totally rigged” Wordle. The exact words he wrote in the debut piece included, "My Wordle victory was stolen from me, and the American people will not stand idly by and let this crime of the century go unnoticed. To paraphrase former President Donald Trump on the day he definitely didn’t incite a crowd of angry supporters to violently disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, ‘If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a Wordle any

Meet Russell Midori, a New York City freelance news photographer, documentary filmmaker and co-founder and president of the Military Veterans in Journalism (MVJ), a relatively new professional association that builds community for vets, supports their career growth and advocates for diversifying newsrooms through hiring and promoting more vets. Midori served as a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps from 2008 to 2012, working as a video producer for Marine Forces Europe and Africa and the NCOIC of the Parris Island Public Affairs Office. During his enlistment, he held the rank of sergeant and was twice named an honor graduate of courses at the Defense Information School. According to  U.S. Census data, even though military veterans make up 7% of the population, approximately 2% percent of those who work in U.S. media are post-9/11 veterans. Why is this important? A recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) sponsored study conducted by the RAND Corporation and Syracuse University's Institute for

Check Out DFW proudly states on the site that it is: “The first-of-its-kind real estate and local recommendations product that helps locals live more enjoyable lives.” Launched in the fall of 2021 in a very media crowded Dallas/ Ft. Worth metroplex market, Jed Williams, who spent one year as Chief Revenue Officer at Ken Doctor's experimental start-up Lookout Local and close to four years managing strategy and innovation for the Local Media Association, teamed up with well-known industry veteran David Arkin (who led content initiatives for Gatehouse, Local Media Association, Community Impact Newspapers and others) to go all-in with sponsored content in this new venture. Arkin is Check Out DFW’s chief content officer, and Williams is chief revenue officer.     Right now, the platform focuses on the area’s most affluent and growing communities offering content "verticals" for each area defined as Schools, Subdivisions, Resources, Guides, Things to do, Profiles, New to town, New to Texas and more. Plus, there is

In a recent post from the American Press Institute, they cited: "Concentrated efforts to highlight diversity are necessary for reaching new audiences and staying relevant to younger changing audiences. Readers pay attention to the content that speaks to or serves their identity. Diversity is a journalism imperative.” The API goes on to add that more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the news publishing industry is imperative because: "Without accounting for the range of lived experiences, we fail to serve parts of our communities. Journalism, in its truest form, should be produced for the benefit of all, not only those who wield a particular power, class or authority.” In a recent press release, Editor & Publisher (E&P) announced a new partnership with The Diversity Pledge Institute (DPI), a nonprofit organization addressing newsroom diversity by working with employers to improve hiring and retention of journalists of color and by identifying skilled journalists of color and preparing them

On Nov. 18, 2020, the Del Rio News-Herald printed its final edition leaving this border town of 35,000+ without a local news outlet. But just one month later, a weekly free tabloid entitled The 830 Times (named after the local area code) appeared throughout the town and surrounding Val Verde County. The new newspaper grew out of a then 5-month-old entertainment-based local website started by 56-year-old air force veteran Joel Langton. Langton relocated to the area 16 years before when he was assigned as a public affairs officer at nearby Laughlin Air Force Base. Joel states in his LinkedIn profile: “I've got 30 years with the Air Force in Public Affairs where I've been involved in media, internal communications and many consider my strength to be community engagement. However, I've got plenty of experience in all of it, and I'm a big proponent of causes bigger than myself.” Today the Times publishes more than 40 pages a week, with a 50%+ ad count. The newspaper gained national attention uncovering how a prop

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) hopes to bring big tech to the bargaining table with U.S. news publishers. On this 122nd episode of E&P Reports, Danielle Coffey, executive vice president and general counsel for the News Media Alliance (NMA), and economist Dr. Hal Singer, managing director, Econ One discuss why this legislation is urgently needed and offer advance insight into this week’s  Congressional hearing before the Senate's Antitrust Committee, where the JCPA will be debated and Dr. Singer will be testifying.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median number of years an employee works for a company is four years and one month. The "exception to that rule" might be Kurt Jackson, who has worked atSoftware Consulting Services (SCS), according to his Linkedin profile: "28 years and ten months." Kurt started his career in news publishing in 1989 as a circulation executive for the Journal Register Company. As new digital technology was evolving, Kurt's passion for helping innovate compelled him to work in the vendor space. He first traveled to hundreds of newspapers as an installation specialist of advertising systems and eventually found a home as VP of operations at SCS, then owned by Martha and Richard Cichellii. He has been there since. In September of 2021, the  Cichelli’s sold the company to him, stating, "We are so happy to be able to turn the company over to Kurt who knows the industry so well..” In this 121st episode of "E&P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder chats with industry technology v

In this 120th episode of “E&P Reports” American Journalism Project (AJP) CEO Sarabeth Berman and AJP’s Co-Founder and Vice President for Portfolio Success Anna Nirmala talk about several AJP grants they recently awarded including $1.6 million given to Block Club Chicago and their contribution to the 20 million in seed being given to a new, nonprofit, Houston based local news outlet. Joining in on the discussion is Block Club Chicago’s Publisher and Co-Founder Shamus Toomey and Co-Executive Editor and Co-Founder Stephanie Lulay.  

Borrell Associates' latest study: 2022 Local Automotive Advertising Outlook, released on Monday, Jan 7, 2022, predicts significant changes in this highly lucrative media advertising category for the next few years. Within the 30-page report, 18 charts and graphs reveal that local dealers spent an estimated $8.7 billion on advertising in 2021, a 15% increase over 2020. In 2022, the forecast is for an 8.8% increase in ad spend. However, due to a "steep decline" in available inventory to sell, the dealers will be using these dollars to "rebrand themselves, educate consumers on what their stores have to offer and drive buyers to their websites to interact. The report states that “the new advertising environment is shifting from excitement around new cars on the lot and manufacturer’s rebates – both of which are in short supply – to other things. That opened up new opportunities to advertise.” Some of these new reasons that dealers will be advertising will include: Buying back consumer vehicles, meeting online bu