Archive for April, 2009
April 15th, 2009
Our Remember When series won Multimedia Project of the Year in the Best of GateHouse 2008 contest. We’ve published historical pictures and newspaper front pages on people like Janet Lynn and Lynn Martin and events like the snow storm of 1979 and the 1945 polio epidemic.
The Register Star also had two individual finalists: Emily Tropp for Sports Writer of the Year and Billy Kulpa for Designer of the Year.
Billy Kulpa and Emily Tropp
This week, GateHouse will release the champions, runners-up and finalists for Newspaper of the Year and the best newspaper sections of the year.
April 12th, 2009
Putting together the front page of a newspaper could be considered an art form, with new puzzle pieces every day.
But The Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky surprised readers this morning with an artist’s rendition of the front page. On the front page. The regular page appeared on page 3.
Courier-Journal publisher Arnold Garson said the project intrigued him because it can generate discussion, and because it points out how art is a valuable part of everyday life.
“It is about starting the thought process, which is what art is about,” Garson said. “It makes you stop and think.
“We are in the business of communication. This is just another way of doing that,” he added. “I hope it’s exciting, surprising to our readers.”
April 11th, 2009
Todd Franko, who worked at the Register Star as the Local&State editor a few years ago, has gotten national attention for his “letter to Oprah.”
He’s now the editor of a newspaper in Ohio and upset about allowing Suze Orman to say on O’s show that people should cancel their newspaper subscriptions to save a few bucks. Below is an excerpt.
Let me remind you of your audience: They do what you say.
I know. I have a wife, a mother and at least one sister-in-law who all follow your every move. My mom has a bookshelf in her house that should be labeled ”Oprah’s Bookshelf.” You wave it; she reads it.
After the Dow and Wal-Mart, you are the No. 3 economic force in America.
You so influence the lives of these women that I’ve been dying for an episode entitled “Mrs. Franko, it’s time for you to go back into the workforce” because my chats with my wife are certainly not working.
What will you do if your fans go out today and cancel their newspaper?
Here’s an irony: Had this show aired in October, and your audience listened to you, you might not have had a Chicago Sun-Times in November to wave on TV to proclaim “the best paper in the world.”
April 10th, 2009
I came across this blog post earlier this week thanks to a Facebook journalist friend who shared the link.
Jeff Jarvis wanted to give a “blunt message” to the Newspaper Association of America, which met in San Francisco this week. (Jarvis is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. His blog is called BuzzMachine.)
Google CEO Eric Schmidt addressed NAA members while they were in San Francisco. Here’s the speech they heard.
Jarvis’ speech took a different tone.In it, he tells newspaper people that they blew it by not understanding the “the changes in the media economy and the new behaviors of the next generation of — as you call them, Mr. Murdoch — net natives. You’ve had all that time to reinvent your products, services, and organizations for this new world, to take advantage of new opportunities and efficiencies, to retrain not only your staff but your readers and advertisers, to use the power of your megaphones while you still had it to build what would come next. But you didn’t.You blew it.”
It’s a harsh message. One that many in our business probably could have stood to hear, well, years ago.
April 9th, 2009
Judge Janet Holmgren, the 2009 Rockford Woman of the Year, has been chosen to narrate Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” at the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra’s final concert of the 2008/09 season.
The event will be at 7:30 p.m. April 24 at the Coronado Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students and are available through the RSO Box Office at 815-965-0049 and the Coronado PAC Box Office at 815-968-0595.
FYI, the RSYO Spring Concert honors the senior members of the orchestra. This year’s seniors include: Louis Boeke and Max Gauthier -Winnebago High School; Ellie Dorsey - Freeport High School;Ashley Gray, Sauman Rajabi, and Zac Schmidt - Boylan High School; Michael Jiang and Siva Sundaram - Auburn High School; Ellen Larson - home school; Kendall McCabe and Amy Reithmeier - Lutheran High School; Josh Daniels - Harlem High School; Colleen Herman - Oregon High School; Juhee Han - Christian Life High School; Ava Norberg and Eric Ross - Guilford High School; and Paige Windgassen - Hononegah High School.
April 8th, 2009
This weekend, the Register Star kicked off garage sale season. Even though it’s a little chilly yet, I saw at least 11 listings so far.
Check out this promotion:
For as little as $23.91, you can get….
– A five-line classified ad that runs for three days in the newspaper and online.
– Three yellow garage sale signs, a tip sheet, a sales record form and a checklist.
– One ticket to the Rockford Speedway, good for any Saturday.
– The option to participate in our assurance program. For just $10 more, you get a classified ad that runs for three more days to sell the rest of your stuff.
Call 815-962-2400 or go online.
April 7th, 2009
Dozens of people have entered the Go Green giveaway this week for natural air freshening products by Fresh Wave. Give it a shot yourself.
One reader says it works on cigar smoke!
April 7th, 2009
This made me laugh … out loud. Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report” interviews the Newspaper Association of America’s John Sturm about the future of newspapers. A tip for anyone lucky enough to be interviewed by Colbert: Don’t, don’t, don’t try to be serious. Seriously.
Editor & Publisher, an industry pub, had this: Video | Story
April 6th, 2009
Register Star multimedia artist Billy Kulpa is responsible for a new blog on rrstar.com. Register Star Podcast is a blog of, well, podcasts featuring, well, Register Star staffers.
We really don’t think our workplace is that different than any other. We have conversations every day about local news, national news, sports, entertainment … you name it. Billy wanted to record some of these conversations and share with you.
To start, he’s hit on tomorrow’s election and baseball season.
Enjoy.
Billy Kulpa
April 6th, 2009
Well, I don’t know about the teams, but it could be you!
Enter our RockfordWheels.com contest, and you could win two tickets to four Major League Baseball regular games, plus hotel stays, oil changes and a $250 gas card for your road trippin’. See the details here.
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