Posted on July 9th, 2010 by postguild
Coffee is On Us!
The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild presents a book signing by Post reporter Nancy Trejos.
Nancy has written a compelling and entertaining book on personal finance:
“Hot (broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink it, Too.”
Nancy’s book signing is the first in a series of Guild sponsored events designed to celebrate the talents of its members.
When: Wed., July 21
Where: Caribou Coffee, 15th & M
Time: 7 p.m.
**We are encouraging all Guild members who wish to have their works – books, paintings, photographs – displayed at a Guild-sponsored event to apply for consideration for this program.
To apply, please contact Freddy Kunkle at kunklef@washpost.com, or Mike Gronowski or at Gronowskim@washpost.com, or other Guild officers.
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Posted on June 18th, 2010 by postguild
Looking to acquire or update your digital skills in the ever-changing media world?
The University of Maryland Philip Merrill School of Journalism has asked the Newspaper Guild to let Washington Post workers know about its new program — Graduate Certificate Studies in Multimedia Journalism.
The University says classes will focus on digital storytelling across media platforms, particularly the Internet and mobile devices.
The University describes it this way:
“Our new Graduate Certificate of Professional Studies in Multimedia Journalism focuses on the skills most in demand today for communication workers in news organizations, nonprofits, and business.
“Multimedia Journalism blends practical training in video, audio, photography, blogging, and interactive Web publishing with the critical application of editorial, ethical and legal principles in digital media contexts.”
To learn more about the program click here.
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Posted on May 26th, 2010 by postguild
Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said it was her idea to have the controversial salons, where lobbyists and association executives would have paid a hefty fee to attend off-the-record dinners with reporters and editors at the Post. The idea was aborted after there was an uproar in the newsroom.
“I would rather not have done it, but I think it was a great lesson for me and for my team,” she said. “And what I said to people, right when it happened, I said, ‘I apologize. I clearly got this wrong.’”
Her comments came in a recent interview with Poynter President Karen Dunlap, which was posted on PoynterOnline.
Weymouth also said during the hour-long interview that she believes in investing in the newsroom, “but at this point, we just, we have to cut back. We have to have a smaller cost structure, which is not fun, and it’s not glamorous, but in order to sustain the kind of quality journalism we all believe in, we have to do that so we can continue to do it and continue to invest in our journalism. And at the same time, experiment on new platforms.”
Some other highlights of the interview included these remarks:
- “We have a bigger audience than we have ever had. Ninety percent of our page views for WashingtonPost.com come from outside the Washington area, and roughly 10-15 percent of those are international.”
- “For me, actually, one of my favorite things to do — and it was Don’s and my grandmother’s — is to go to watch the presses run at night. The world is changing, I don’t know whether we’ll have printed newspapers in 10 years or whatever, but to feel the presses start to hum, and to watch them come off, is just, it’s really amazing.”
- “So, the whole world has changed. People are on Craigslist and eBay and Monster and AutoTrader, and you name it. There are a thousand different companies coming after almost every niche we’re in.”
- “I think I would say we are putting out as good if not better journalism than we ever have. And she would be proud of it and proud of the reporters we have, the editors we have and the business people we have. And we are adapting. This is a world where you have to adapt, you have to try new things and she would identify with you have to make mistakes, too. And that’s OK. We’re gonna throw some spaghetti against the wall. Some of it’s gonna work, some of it’s not. We’ve got to learn from those and keep going.”
Read the complete interview
Reader Comments:
From Dan: She deserves a 0 bonus and a 30% cut in pay for the “fine job” she has done – layoffs, a much smaller paper for a higher price, what a legacy.
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Posted on May 21st, 2010 by postguild
April 19, 2010
Katharine Weymouth
Publisher
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street
Washington, D.C. 20071
Dear Ms. Weymouth,
As employees of the Washington Post and members of the Newspaper Guild, we were disappointed to hear that you accepted a bonus of nearly $500,000 at a time when the sacrifices made by so many people who work here — or used to work here — are still fresh.
It was also surprising to learn that you received a 10-percent raise, and that many other top executives were also handsomely rewarded, despite a year that included further job reductions, the closure of the Post’s national bureaus and, for the first time in memory, staff layoffs. This is to say nothing of the highly publicized missteps that called into question the Post’s reputation for journalistic excellence.
If you were to walk the floor of the advertising department or the newsroom today, you would find vacant desks, darkened computers, and a number of workers who are doing more with less. Their efforts still ensure that Post customers remain satisfied. Their efforts win Pulitzer Prizes. Yet few, if any, of these workers have received a bonus, let alone a raise that has kept up with rising costs of living in the Washington metropolitan area.
We recognize that you work hard for this company and that you cherish the legacy that has been entrusted with you as a member of the family that built the Post into one of America’s finest newspapers. We do not begrudge the fruits of hard work to you or anyone else in the Post’s leadership.
We do hope, however, that in the future you will be generous to all the people who write the stories, shoot the video, sell the ads or deliver the newspaper online or in print to millions of readers.
Yours Truly,
Freddy Kunkle & Darlene Meyer
Co-Chairs
The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
From the Guild Bulletin: Why We Wrote the Letter
“When members of the Guild opened The Washington Post on March 26, they were stunned to read that Katharine Weymouth, the Post’s publisher, had elected to accept a 10-percent raise and a nearly $500,000 bonus while many were still smarting from the downsizing the company has gone through. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that The Washington Post Company had set aside $127.9 million in bonuses to reward its top managers in 2009; it actually awarded $16.2 million to 75 executives, including Weymouth. This is in addition to awards of Post stock and other compensation.
It seemed jarring to many employees that Weymouth and other top executives would be so generously rewarded at a time when hard times have forced the Post to go through four rounds of early-retirement buyouts, close Book World, merge other news sections and shutter its national bureaus. (The same story reported that her uncle, Don Graham, had declined to take a similar reward, a practice he has followed for 19 consecutive years.) Although the Guild negotiated lump sum payments as part of its most recent contract, the last time Guild members received a contractual raise it was $10.50 per week. And that was in May, 2008.
Several reporters and others approached Guild officers to say that they were outraged. On behalf of its members, the Guild has spoken up. In a letter to Weymouth, co-chairs Freddy Kunkle and Darlene Meyer expressed the dismay felt by Guild members over the bonus. The letter, however, also made clear that the Guild was not interested in depriving members of the Post’s family from enjoying the wealth of a legendary enterprise — but were interested in seeing that the company’s leaders also share it.”
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Posted on May 14th, 2010 by postguild
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
New York Times
Taking a step that has tempted and terrified much of the newspaper industry, The New York Times announced on Wednesday that it would charge some frequent readers for access to its Web site — news that drew ample reaction from media analysts and consumers, ranging from enthusiastic to withering.
Starting in January 2011, a visitor to NYTimes.com will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the print newspaper, even those who subscribe only to the Sunday paper, will receive full access to the site without any additional charge.
Executives of The New York Times Company said they wanted to create a system that would have little effect on the millions of occasional visitors to the site, while trying to cash in on the loyalty of more devoted readers. But fundamental features of the plan have not yet been decided, including how much the paper will charge for online subscriptions or how many articles a reader will be allowed to see without paying.
“This announcement allows us to begin the thought process that’s going to answer so many of the questions that we all care about,” Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the Times Company chairman and publisher of the newspaper, said in an interview. “We can’t get this halfway right or three-quarters of the way right. We have to get this really, really right.”
To read more click here.
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Posted on April 30th, 2010 by postguild
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