2008 Weblog Awards

Please take a moment to vote for McClatchy Watch in the 2008 Weblog Awards. Kevin Gregory, who runs that blog is a good friend of Herald Watch.

Knight Foundation announces freezes

From Editor & Publisher:

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, one of the leading grant providers for journalism, is freezing salaries and leaving open positions vacant to save money, according to Foundation President Alberto Ibarguen.

In an address posted to the organization’s Web site, Ibarguen, former publisher of The Miami Herald, also stressed that, despite tough economic times, the philanthropic group remains economically sound.

Herald's land sale postponed

According to Editor & Publisher:

The McClatchy Co. said on Tuesday that it is extending the closing date of the sale of its Miami property.

The deal, which is expected to bring in $190 million, was originally expected to close at the end of this year. Because the buyers of the 10 acres of land adjacent to The Miami Herald are having trouble securing financing, McClatchy has postponed the date until June 30, 2009.

Citisquare Group paid McClatchy $10 million in a nonrefundable deposit.

Related.

Race to zero nearing completion

I've mentioned several times that the Herald's parent company's (McClatchy) share price was in a race to zero. Today a reader notified me that the price was at 75 cents. In March of 2005 the price was 100 times that amount ($74.80). Of course that was before McClatchy acquired the Miami Herald and other troubled newspapers from Knight-Ridder. The company's stock will soon be worthless. Hopefully historians will correctly document this as a lesson on how NOT to run a company, namely by alienating, insulting and underestimating the company's customers. When the Herald goes out of business I suppose Herald Watch will go out of business. That's OK with me. I don't have much time for it these days anyway.

H/T: Big Bob

Herald on the block

Via McClatchy Watch we learn that the New York Times is reporting that the Miami Herald may be for sale.

McClatchy's fortunes have been terrible since the company acquired Knight Ridder, the company that was once Herald's parent.

Herald Ombudsman continues defense of censorship

My colleague Robert from Babalu Blog has the story.

Odds and Ends

McClatchy stock could be worthless.

It's pretty close already. This stock traded in the mid $70s three years ago.

Herald Execs hold retreat at the Biltmore.

This guy should be really, really pissed.

Herald Ombudsman considers censorship (for Cuban-American journalists only).

Odds and Ends

Herald Circulation is down 11.8% to 210,884 and Sunday circ is down 9% to 279,484. Ouch.

Herald parent McClatchy's shares closed at $2.22 cents on Monday. In April of 2005 MNI shares traded for $74.50. Double ouch.

Herald Watch has learned that Oscar Corral, the author of the Marti Moonlighters article that resulted in the resignation of the Herald's then publisher Jesus Diaz and the disgrace of the paper's then executive editor Tom Fiedler has accepted a buyout from the Herald and will be among the additional staff cuts made by the company.

Corral secured ignominy when he was busted soliciting a teen-aged prostitute in Miami. No word on to whom he will be providing content in the near future.

Schizophrenic Herald Endorsements

The Miami Herald today gave Mario Diaz-Balart its endorsement, praising him for his effectiveness as a legislator:

We recommend Mr. Diaz-Balart in this race, however, not for his position on a single issue, but for his overall record of engagement on policy issues and for delivering resources and jobs to the district. Mr. Diaz-Balart, 47, secured $100 million in funding for the Metrorail Miami Intermodal Center and helped Florida get billions more to improve highways and infrastructure. He helped to pass the Everglades Restoration bill and got $370 million more for a special water-delivery component of that project.

Mr. Diaz-Balart has been a dependable supporter of Israel, Latin American trade, Plan Colombia, the Mérida Initiative and protective rights for Haitians, Hondurans and Nicaraguans. He championed the Strive Act, the American Dream Act, Pell Grants and other education funding.

Then they turn around and endorse Raul Martinez instead of Lincoln Diaz-Balart:

Mr. Martinez is firmly grounded in reality. He has a broad agenda and a robust, hands-on style of leadership. His penchant for devising practical solutions to political problems would be an asset to the district.

These are some of the reasons that our recommendation is for Mr. Martinez. Under his leadership, Hialeah was transformed into a modern, more-livable community thanks in no small part to his energy and effectiveness. He has a popular touch and a record of delivering services to constituents.

Mr. Martinez won reelection in 1993 even though he was appealing a conviction on charges involving allegations of extorting money from developers in return for zoning favors. The conviction was reversed and two later trials ended in hung juries.

Mr. Martinez's candidacy represents an opportunity for voters to reflect the changing nature of South Florida, where the Hispanic community no longer is identified as a solid bloc always favoring the same political party.

I'm scratching my head here. I'd love to see how Lincoln Diaz-Balart's voting record stacks up to his brother Mario's. I'm sure that there weren't a lot of cases where they voted differently. So how can one get the endorsement and the other not?

And then there's that little thing about Martinez being extremely corrupt. The Herald itself investigated, reported on and denounced Martinez for his dirty dealings over the years. So now, because he beat the rap (never acquitted), we're supposed to forget all those articles, editorials and columns the Herald wrote about this scumbucket?

Yes, Raul was an effective mayor for Hialeah. But he also spit on people, bullied them, beat them up all while he lined his pockets and violated the public trust. If Raul is such a good mayor why doesn't he run for county mayor or mayor of Anders Gyllenhaal's municipality? I don't think Martinez' Luca Brasi act will go over very well in Washington.

Herald fires another 119

As I speculated earlier the McClatchy job cuts announced today do include the Miami Herald, where 119 positions will be eliminated (about 10% of the total employee base). This is addition to the 250 that were fired a couple of months back. 23 of those to be fired are from the newsroom staff.

The Scott Andron article at Herald.com says the journalism staff will be down to 275. Reading between the lines, that means about only about 1/4 of the Heralds staff are journalists. Obviously there's important non-journalist positions at a paper (sales, accounts payable/receivable, printing, production, etc.) but I think as the Herald evolves into the internet age (if it doesn't die first) the proportion of journos to non-journos is going to have to increase.

More layoffs at McClatchy

McClatchy Watch informs us of this report that McClatchy is reducing its quarterly dividend. Hard to fathom why they would give any dividend at all the way the company is bleeding cash.

McClatchy is also slashing another 10% from its workforce.

We can surely expect that the Heralds will be affected. I guess they offended the Orishas.

Additionally ad revenues were down 17.8% in August compared to August of last year. A lot of people scoffed when it was suggested that newspapers need to sell more ads for less money (e.g. reduce the ad/editorial ratio to about 50/50). With declining circulations I don't see another way for the traditional fishwraps to survive. Show me an advertiser that wants to pay more to reach less people.

McClatchy shares closed up, at $3.40, after trading at a 52-week low of $2.57 during the day.

Shuffling duties at 1 Herald Plaza

Manny Garcia, formerly the Herald's Metro Editor, has been kicked upstairs and is now "News Executive in Charge of Special Projects" under Executive Editor, Anders Gyllenhaal.

Jay Ducassi, who was previously the State Editor is the new Metro Editor, filling the vacancy that Garcia leaves behind.