'Bare-bones' guy ready for meat?

The Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), meeting in Baltimore, must have been spewing up their cups of joe when William Dean Singleton addressed their gathering, telling them that "newsroom cutbacks have gone far enough in this industry. Maybe too far." Here's a guy who bought up 50-plus newspapers over the past couple decades, kicking out staffers or snuffing out operations completely, and now he's talking about beefing up content during a recession?

E&P Online's Joe Strupp downplayed that eye-opener about cutbacks, focusing instead on Singleton's other new religion: the Internet. "The promise of media convergence is real," Singleton told the gathering. "It will change everything we do. We will be able to reach readers' needs on all angles." The media mogul says he was skeptical of the Net at first but is now "a believer." This is all well and good, and nicely fits in an AP story that naturally runs on the Salt Lake Tribune's Web site (owned by Singleton's MediaNews Group) -- though of course this article emphasizes his push for a local angle on content.

Because I come from the "Show-Me State" of Missouri, I'll save my kudos until I see something concrete in action. No MediaNews-owned Web sites were winners or finalists in the recent Online Journalism Awards, or APME's Convergence Awards. Jim Romenesko's Media News (no relation) includes a letter from a former Singleton employee, who describes the news hole at his paper as "infinitesmal" and says the New York Times was too kind in its recent re-examination of Singleton as born-again journalist. In that story, the Times called him "a leading practitioner of bare-bones journalism" and "having a reputation as the industry's leading skinflint" but noted a new fervor for good journalism after being diagnosed with muscular sclerosis.

So I'm willing to give the new Singleton a chance to prove that he really can produce great, or even good, journalism on the Web, with a local flavor, for a diverse audience, and wish him well on that sacred path. Just wake me when the dream comes true.

One postscript on newspapers believing in the Web. The Baltimore Sun's Andrew Ratner, perhaps tweaking those same AP editors in town, runs a story about small newspapers finally caving in and doing Web sites. "You mean we're not the last ones?" one publisher asks, thinking his new site would have to be the last one launched of all the newspaper-affiliated sites. The story is a nice view of the latest wave of newspaper sites, and Ratner notes that these tech laggards "have benefited from the trial and error of the pioneers" and won't be spending millions and hiring hundreds of staff (that would be cut later).

Do these little guys really have the business model down now? Not exactly, but at least they're not betting the farm on it.

Urinating in fireplaces

The media would be remiss if it didn't continue to dissect The New York Times' recent hostile buyout of the International Herald Tribune from The Washington Post. The Media Guardian (UK) notes that the Tribune was founded by an American who was expelled to Paris by New York society for urinating in a fireplace in the 1880s. The Guardian says the paper has been known for its gentility until now, when "figuratively speaking, it was back to urinating in fireplaces" with the New York Times' overthrow.

The Washington Post's ombudsman and former IHT executive editor Michael Getler groused that the paper will "soon speak with one voice instead of two." Is this an ombudsman or company cheerleader? But outside of the nostalgic worries of most media critics (who expect the Times to shutter the IHT) , the L.A. Times' Tim Rutten saw the sale as a "print coup" over the online world. He says the sale shows two important things about the future of journalism: "One is that the Internet has yet to catch on as a way of distributing journalism, even on the international level, where its quick acceptance once was all but assumed. The other is that the globalization of information, like that of capital, is taking place in English."

Rutten says the Times wants global domination but could not achieve it electronically -- thus the push for the print IHT. However, the AP's Jamey Keaten filed a more harsh view of the IHT deal as a victory for dead-tree media: The paper's been losing money for three years, reduced its news staff by 20 percent and has competition from 24-hour cable, other international versions of U.S. papers, and of course the Web. But the paper has hit highs in circulation and could provide a nice global package for advertisers of the Times and IHT. Throw in ads running on both Web sites, and the deal starts to make even more sense.

The Times, in the end, might not burn down the old Trib's good name, obviating the need to relieve itself in the fireplace -- figuratively speaking, of course.

Quotable

"[The Microsoft deal is] a ding at RealNetworks, which with NHL.com would have all sports' seasons wrapped up in one subscription service. Microsoft has been going for the technology side but now is putting more focus on content."

-- Ryan Jones, analyst at the Yankee Group, talking to CNET News.com about Microsoft's exclusive deal to offer NHL hockey highlights online. Now this is a whole new way for Microsoft to get into content -- but can it break up Real's juggernaut RealOne pass?

Mark Glaser currently writes technology features for The New York Times, travel stories for the San Jose Mercury News, and a bi-weekly e-mail newsletter for the Online Publishers Association, whose membership includes most major media companies online. That won't stop him from taking cheap potshots at these outlets, when necessary. You can contact him with any juicy tidbits about online journalism at glaze@sprintmail.com.