Illinois statehouse reporter laid off

Mike Riopell, Lee's statehouse reporter in Springfield, Ill., was laid off Sept. 27. On Nov. 2, Illinois voters will fill President Barack Obama's vacant Congressional seat.

(Via e-mail. Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

Times-News publisher to retire

Brad Hurd, editor and publisher of The Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, will retire at the end of the year. Hurd was appointed publisher in 2004. Lee Enterprises vice president for publishing Mike Gulledge said a replacement will be selected soon.

Read Lee's press release on Hurd's retirement.

What's a director worth?

Last week, Lee Enterprises added an 11th member to its board of directors, Brent Magid. Only two board members also work for Lee full-time:

• Mary Junck, Lee's president and chief executive officer is chairman of the board
• Gregory P. Schermer is one of Lee's 12 vice presidents

In 2009, the average compensation for the other nine directors was $69,167.78. In 2009, Lee laid off more than 500 employees. (Lee has made several layoffs in 2010, although I do not have numbers for several papers.)

Basic information on each director:

RICHARD R. COLE
Full-time job: Journalism professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill
Director since: 2006
2009 director compensation: $67,470
2008 director compensation: $71,065
2007 director compensation: $100,385

NANCY S. DONOVAN
Full-time job: Founding partner of private equity firms Circle Financial Group LLC and Oakmont Partners LLC
Director since: 2003
2009 director compensation: $70,470
2008 director compensation: $79,065
2007 director compensation: $108,385

LEONARD J. ELMORE
Full-time job: Attorney
Director since: 2008
2009 director compensation: $66,470
2008 director compensation: $46,065

MARY E. JUNCK
Full-time job: President and chief executive officer of Lee Enterprises
Director since: 1999
2009 compensation: $1,323,098
2008 compensation: $2.5 million
2007 compensation: $3.7 million

WILLIAM E. MAYER
Full-time job: Founding parter of private equity firm Park Avenue Equity Partners L.P.; director of a management investment company and another that develops and markets software and hardware for people with speech and learning disabilities
Director since: 1998
2009 director compensation (Lee only): $95,470
2008 director compensation (Lee only): $97,065
2007 director compensation (Lee only): $124,385

HERBERT W. MOLONEY
Full-time job: President and chief operating officer of Western Colorprint Inc.
Director since: 2001
2009 director compensation: $79,220
2008 director compensation: $86,815
2007 director compensation: $114,885

ANDREW E. NEWMAN
Full-time job: Private investor
Director since: 1991
2009 director compensation: $93,470
2008 director compensation: $99,065
2007 director compensation: $126,385

GORDON D. PRICHETT
Full-time job: Founder of private investment group Cairnwood Cooperative in Boston, and math professor at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass.
Director since: 1998
2009 director compensation: $71,470
2008 director compensation: $79,065
2007 director compensation: $107,385

GREGORY P. SCHERMER
Full-time job: Vice president of interactive media at Lee Enterprises
Director since: 1999
2009 compensation: Not found
2008 compensation: Not found
2007 compensation: $576,029

MARK B. VITTERT
Full-time job: Private investor
Director since: 1986
2009 director compensation: $78,470
2008 director compensation: $88,065
2007 director compensation: $114,385

Salary information from Forbes.com

Lee Enterprises adds board member

Brent Magid has been elected to Lee Enterprises' board of directors. Magid is the president and chief executive officer of a consulting firm, Frank N. Magid Associates Inc.

"We welcome Brent's extensive media experience and digital expertise," Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck said in a press release; she did not offer details on what that experience has been.

According to its website, the company works with newspapers and other publications "to help them evolve their businesses in ways that lead to growing revenues." It's "newspaper of the future" project uses "a highly customized process to explore consumer attitudes and behaviors toward print and online media consumption, which then informs strategies to recapture important consumer and advertiser positions that have been assumed by other media."

Lee's board of directors now has 11 members.

Editor & Publisher's story

Layoffs for staff; perks for managers?

An update on this week's layoffs at The Times in Munster, Ind., from a reader:

The Times of Northwest Indiana laid off seven people today. From the editorial department and from satellite offices. And the managers got to go to another Cubs game.

Is this kind of reward-the-managers activity taking place at other Lee papers? Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.

Muscatine Journal names new publisher

Steven Jameson will replace Muscatine Journal publisher Bob Blackman on Oct. 1. Blackman is retiring from the Muscatine, Iowa, paper.

Jameson is now the classified advertising director at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa.

Earlier this month, Dave Bundy was named publisher of the Suburban Journals of St. Louis. Bundy moved up from editorial director at the Journals, a position he had held for three years.

Times cuts 13 jobs

Seven employees were laid off Tuesday at the Times in Munster, Ind., according to Paper Cuts. Six more positions were cut through attrition.

The end of the fiscal year is quickly approaching, which has signaled a round of layoffs in previous years. Know of layoffs? Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.

Missoulian, Ravalli Republic newsrooms merge

The Missoulian, in Missoula, Mont., and the Ravalli Republic, in Hamilton, Mont., merged their newsrooms on Aug. 30. Missoulian editor Sherry Devlin took over as editor of both papers; Repulic editor Perry Backus was bumped down to a reporter.

Read the Missoulian's story about the merger.

(Via e-mail. Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

Post-Dispatch: Saturday edition for subscribers only

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch will no longer sell single-copies of its Saturday paper starting Oct. 2. The paper will be delivered to subscribers.

The memo sent to employees, which also was published in the paper:

We're making a few changes to the Saturday and Sunday Post-Dispatch beginning the weekend of Oct. 2-3.

The biggest is a new section debuting Oct. 3 in the Sunday Post-Dispatch called "Home & Away." It will combine your favorite features from Saturday's Lifestyle and Sunday's Explore sections -- giving you even more to read in what is already the biggest paper of the week.

The content from Lifestyle -- tips and features on parenting, entertaining at home, gardening, fashion, decorating, etc. -- will be available to more readers by shifting to Sunday. That's the "Home" part of the new section. The "Away" part consists of the travel tips, stories and features that now appear in Explore. Lifestyle will no longer be part of the Saturday paper.

The three-star early edition of the Sunday Post-Dispatch that's sold at newsstands and retail outlets on Saturdays will be available at least one hour earlier on Saturday mornings. It will contain the latest news and sports and prep reports from Friday night, as well as the enterprise reporting and features you expect in the Sunday paper.

You'll still be able to get later five-star editions of the Sunday Post-Dispatch every Sunday, through home delivery or at newsstands and retail outlets.

Because the already popular Sunday Post-Dispatch is becoming even heftier and will be available even earlier on Saturday mornings, the Saturday Post-Dispatch will no longer be sold on a single-copy basis in the Metro area. The Saturday Post-Dispatch will still be delivered to readers with home delivery subscriptions -- at a rate lower than single copy. A special weekend subscription offer is currently available. Please call 314-340-8888 to subscribe today.

(Via e-mail. Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

How do you say goodbye?

When Missoulian digital editor Tim Akimoff resigned at the end of August, he posted a farewell on Facebook, which includes this paragraph:

"I believe in the process of news and the responsibility of a local newspaper to provide news to the citizens. Unfortunately, newspapers are helmed by old, decrepit captains who cannot see past their bifocals way down their noses reading about yesterday with all the relevance of the Hindenberg blimp disaster."

Read the rest of Akimoff's farewell note on Poynter.

(Via e-mail. Send tips, links and memos to lee.ent.watch@gmail.com.)

Pantagraph lays off all imaging employees

Paper Cuts reports that The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., laid off all of its imaging employees. The blog does not say how many imaging employees the paper had.