Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Many U.S. hotel chains like to offer USA Today, The Wall Street Journal or their local newspaper as a courtesy to guests. Marriott International Inc will offer a different courtesy: no paper at all. Marriott said on Monday that it will stop dropping daily papers automatically at its guests' doors. Now, it will offer them a choice of papers or, if they want, no paper at all. Based on preliminary data, Marriott projects that this will reduce newspaper distribution by about 50,000 copies daily, or 18 million annually. Beginning June 1, guests at the company's full-service...

Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA Today, said he plans to retire April 17 after more than 23 years at Gannett Co. (GCI). No replacement has been named. Moon also supervises USA Weekend, the Detroit Media Partnership, Gannett Offset and the Military Times operation. Gannett owns 85 U.S. newspapers, more than 850 magazines and nondailies, and 23 television stations. USA Today, started in 1982, is the nation's largest circulation daily. Like other media companies, Gannett has been suffering from sharp drops in advertising and readers moving to the Internet for ads, news and entertainment. At a recent conference with...

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees in this country. Also on Wednesday, USA Today notified its staff of a one-year pay...

The news that the Gannett Company--the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, flagship USA Today--is forcing thousands of its employees to take unpaid leave is the latest, shocking, evidence of the ill health of the old media. But for present purposes, let's focus on this odd nugget: Gannett has informed its employees that pursuant to federal and state law, they [emphasis added]: must not work while on an unpaid leave. That includes reading or responding to e-mails, calling or responding to calls from colleagues and being on site at your location at any time during your furlough days. Can't you just imagine...

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across the United States including its flagship USA Today, said it could not say exactly how many people would be required to take time off, or how much money the company would save. But it said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees. “Most of our U.S. employees — including myself and all other top executives — will...

Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, will make workers take a week off without pay because of what it called some of the most difficult economic conditions it has ever experienced. "This means that most of our U.S. employees -- including myself and all other top executives -- will be furloughed for the equivalent of one week in the first quarter," Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday. Gannett, which publishes USA Today, the largest U.S. newspaper by circulation, is instituting the furlough after cutting thousands of employees from its payroll to...

USA Today, which recently raised its newsstand price from 75 cents to $1, will print a special Obama edition it will sell on newsstands for nearly five times that. The newspaper says it has published a special issue titled “Obama: The Historic Journey” which will be available on newsstands Jan. 8 and will cost $4.95. It includes biographies of both Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden, excerpts from several key Obama speeches, inaugural stage and parade maps and features on everything from presidential children to First Lady dresses. The $4.95 paper will also contain advertisements, but USA...

USA Today has a new feature called "The Oval". Apparently, The One has need of his own little shrine on the USA Today website of the US Department of Press Editorials (DOPE) The "journalists" involved are Mark Memmott, USA TODAY reporter and editor who will be head cheerleader at The Oval, USA TODAY White House lackeys Mimi Hall, David Jackson, Rich Wolf, and uber-propagandist Washington bureau chief Susan Page will be fluffing. ========================== In other news, I've discovered an interesting "other" website:Governing Magazine It appears to be devoted to news on how to keep us unruly peasants in line, and...

Gannett Co Inc, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, reflecting anemic print advertising sales across the industry. Shares fell as much as 9 percent shortly after trading began on the New York Stock Exchange, a move reflected by major indices including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which dropped near 400 points after U.S. markets opened. The results cap more than a week of stomach-churning ad declines at U.S. publishers Media General Inc, McClatchy Co and New York Times Co. The worsening world financial crisis is aggravating the already weakened state of U.S. newspapers, which have...

The NRA endorsed McCain/Palin today (no kidding), and in honor of the event, ran a full page ad in USA Today. They beat Obama over the head with a copy of a Hillary mailer questioning Obama's position on guns. She won the votes of those white, blue-collar bitter-clingers in rural areas, and the NRA thinks it can pull them over to McCain's side with this ad.

Mark Lewinsky Varmint running cover for Hussein in regards to the "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians" quote. Link only, due to copyright blather http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-06-adwatch_N.htm

Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy urged the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington on Thursday not to throw out her case seeking a reporter’s privilege to keep her sources confidential. Locy became embroiled in the legal battle after reporting about Steven Hatfill, the former Army scientist who was investigated in the 2001 anthrax attacks but whose name has since been cleared. When Locy refused to give up her confidential sources in Hatfill's ensuing Privacy Act suit against the government, the U.S. District Court in D.C. held her in contempt. She appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.

Battle for Congress Suddenly Looks Competitive PRINCETON, NJ -- A potential shift in fortunes for the Republicans in Congress is seen in the latest USA Today/Gallup survey, with the Democrats now leading the Republicans by just 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%, in voters' "generic ballot" preferences for Congress. This is down from consistent double-digit Democratic leads seen on this measure over the past year. In the afterglow of the Republican National Convention, a new USA Today/Gallup poll finds the Democrats with just a 3 percentage-point edge over the Republicans in registered voters’ preferences for Congress, 48% to 45%. This...

Updated at 11:44 a.m. ET on Aug. 14: The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., is among the first newspapers reporting layoffs on Thursday. Earlier: A Maryland publisher told employees late Wednesday afternoon that Gannett is eliminating 1,000 newspaper jobs, or about 3% of the troubled newspaper division's workforce -- and that about 600 employees are being laid off, a Gannett Blog reader says. The reader provided a copy of a memo that Daily Times Publisher Rick Jensen e-mailed about 4 p.m. today at the paper in Salisbury. "Across Gannett’s Community Publishing division, about 1,000 positions will be eliminated -- about 3%...

<p>I can't imagine the Obama campaign is psyched that this USA Today photo of an anti-death penalty judge in Ohio shows two posters in his office — one of Che and one of Barack.</p>

The Father of Capitalism, Adam Smith, is probably turning over in his grave as we speak. The day after the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), perverted the definition of free market to advocate his global warming platform, along comes left-wing billionaire George Soros suggesting traditional free-market theory is flawed in the May 13 USA Today. The profile by David J. Lynch touted Soros' “theory of reflexivity,” which asserts classic free market theory is flawed because it assumes everyone acts rationally “to maximize their individual welfare or profits." "Of course, real life never matches up exactly with the...

It is unfortunate when major media discuss constitutional issues yet exhibit zero understanding of why we have a Constitution and what it means. The latest example is the cover story in USA Today on 12 May, 2008, entitled “Reagan's influence lives on in U.S. courts.” The general premise of the article is absolutely true. The influence of judges appointed by any President extends far beyond his term and often beyond his lifetime. However, the article gets lost in discussing why that’s so, and what it means. In 1,572 words about the interpretation of the Constitution, the article never even uses...

A federal judge held a former USA Today reporter in contempt of court Friday and ordered her to pay up to $5,000 a day if she refuses to identify her sources for stories about a former Army scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Toni Locy must pay fines out of her own pocket as long as she continues to defy his order that she cooperate in scientist Steven J. Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. Hatfill accuses the Justice Department of violating his privacy by discussing the investigation with reporters. Locy had...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge says he will hold a former USA Today reporter in contempt if she continues refusing to identify sources for stories about a former Army scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said that reporter Toni Locy (LOW-see) must cooperate with Steven J. Hatfill in his lawsuit against the government. Hatfill is suing the Justice Department, saying the agency violated the federal Privacy Act by giving the media information about the FBI's investigation of him. In addition to Locy, the judge is considering whether...

Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI - News) posted a 31 percent decline in quarterly profit on Friday due to lower broadcast and print ad sales and an impairment charge. Gannett said it faced a "softer" economic environment, echoing the comments of other U.S. newspaper publishers this week. The USA Today publisher said fourth-quarter net income fell to $245.3 million, or $1.06 per share, from $353.5 million, or $1.51 per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 12 percent to $1.9 billion, below the average Wall Street forecast of $1.99 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Excluding an impairment charge...