Northern California ACES

Have at least five people your paper wants to send to SND's Design Quick Course on Sept. 15 in Fresno? Then SND will give you its member rate of $95 per person instead of the non-member rate of $150, even if you are not an SND member. That's a minimum savings of $275.

The Design Quick Course will feature courses on:

Communication: Collaboration is at the core of excellent storytelling. But it can be fun and games, too. We tell you how.

Covering the big story: Share in the lessons the San Jose Mercury News learned from Bill Walsh and Barry Bonds.

Getting creative: How to do more with less by thinking outside the box.

Saving time: Why modular page designs are a practical time-saving solution now more than ever before.

Additional talking points:
Which should come first, the illustration or the headline?
A 90-inch story? No problem, just chop it into multiple bite sizes.
Clip art: Your old and new best friend.
Are thumbnails becoming endangered?
Making meetings count.

Speakers also will have one-on-one time to talk individually at the end of the day.

Need more information? Check out www.SND.org or e-mail Susan Santoro at snd@snd.

Posted by Kris Eldred at 12:30 PM | Permalink

Speakers from several large and small papers have been announced for the SND Design Quick Course being offered next month in Fresno.

Presenting and overseeing discussions on newspaper design -- or putting more pop into your presentation -- for large and small papers will be:

Continue reading "Design quick course speakers announced" »

Posted by Kris Eldred at 2:24 PM | Permalink

The Fresno Bee will host two SND events next month: A two-day New Media Quick Course (Innovative Storytelling) and a one-day Design Quick Course featuring top page designers and artists from large and small papers. Or you can get a little of both for a third option!

The New Media Quick Course ($300 for SND members; $400 for non-members) is Sept. 14-15 at Fresno State.

The Design Quick Course ($95 for members; $150 for non-members) is Sept. 15 at The Fresno Bee.

Or, as mentioned, you can spend one day at each. The cost to attend the Sept. 14 new media course and the Sept. 15 design course is $245 for members and $350 for non-members.

More details and registration forms are available at snd.org.

Posted by Kris Eldred at 8:10 PM | Permalink

The Press Democrat announced it will eliminate 35 jobs, or 8 percent of its work force, in an effort bring its costs in line with falling revenue.

In a series of meetings with employees, Publisher Bruce Kyse said he hopes the newspaper's staff-reduction goals can be met through voluntary buyout offers. If they cannot, however, layoffs in several departments -- including the newsroom -- will follow.

In June, the staff was told by the paper's parent company, the New York Times, that vacant positions would go unfilled and that some employees would be moved to other departments. One copy editor moved from the editorial page to the universal desk July 1 and last week the paper's pop culture reporter was moved to the Web department.

Continue reading "Buyouts at The Press Democrat" »

Posted by Daniel Hunt at 4:15 PM | Permalink

According to the East Bay Express and the Peninsula Press Club, the number of newsroom employees accepting buyouts at the San Francisco Chronicle has "fallen short so far of the company’s goals, which could prompt layoffs."

The Hearst-run paper's management had said that it wanted to cut the paper’s newsroom staff by 100 employees -- 20 from management and 80 from the union. But so far, only about 50 union workers have accepted the company’s buyout offer, local Guild chief Michael Cabanatuan told the EBX's Robert Gammon. The local president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild said that under the union contract, if layoffs were to occur, employees with the least seniority would be the first to go -- except for a provision shielding a quarter of each department's staff, regardless of seniority, as determined by the management.

"Job reductions of the magnitude being carried out in the Chronicle newsroom are incredibly dispiriting not only for many of those who leave but for those who stay," Cabanatuan said in a comment to EBX's 92510 blog. "The buyout process has been traumatic for many people but layoffs would devastate morale as well as the careers and lives of many fine journalists."

To date, about twenty union employees have voluntarily accepted the buyout offer, which is two weeks of pay for every one year of service, topping out at one year of pay, Cabanatuan told EBX. In addition, Chron management has been handpicking people for the buyouts. Gammon said management has been choosing senior staffers to rid the company of their higher salaries, and Cabanatuan estimated that the number of people handpicked by the company was in the “high 50s.”

Management has reportedly told the guild that not enough employees had accepted the buyouts and asked the union for suggestions. “We said ‘Do more buyouts,” Cabanatuan said. The company, he said, agreed to keep offering buyouts, but if not enough employees accept offers, layoffs are possible.

Continue reading "Layoffs loom at the Chron" »

Posted by Daniel Hunt at 5:11 PM | Permalink