Lee papers don't report company's revenue loss

At its shareholder meeting earlier this week, Lee announced its revenue in January fell 9.2 percent from the previous year.

If you already knew that, it probably wasn't from reading a Lee newspaper.

It looks like the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, wrote the official story on the shareholder meeting, which never mentions the loss in revenue. Reading the story, one would think Lee's revenue has increased.

Read it for yourself. Here it is in the:
Quad-City Times
The Chippewa Herald
The Pantagraph
Sioux City Journal
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Times of Northwest Indiana

Have you seen the same story (or a slightly edited version) on other Lee websites? Post a link in the comments, or send me an e-mail and I'll add it to the list.

3 papers upgrade press-control systems

Press-control and management systems are being updated at the Times of Northwest Indiana, Quad-City Times and North County Times.

Harland Simon is replacing out-of-date computer hardware to make systems more efficient and improve performance. Work at the Times of Northwest Indiana and Quad-City Times has finished; work at the North County Times should be finished within a few weeks.

VP: More Kindle users would save money

Greg Schermer, Lee's vice president of interactive media, said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has 562 Kindle subscribers without promoting the service.

The Quad-City Times also is available on Kindle. The Post-Dispatch charges $7 a month; the Times is $6.

The two papers send their papers to India each night where they are converted into Kindle's format then sent to subscribers. Schermer said converting more subscribers to the Kindle or similar products would save money in newsprint and production. "That's a big expense for a company like ours," he told The Pantagraph.

Schermer did not say how much Lee spends to send the paper to India each night to convert it to the electronic format.

2 Lee papers available on Kindle

The Quad-City Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch are both available for Amazon's Kindle.

The Quad-City Times is $5.99 per month. It is No. 9 (out of nine) on the midwest best-seller list. The Post-Dispatch is $6.99 per month. It is No. 6 on the same best-seller list.

The Chicago Tribune at $9.99 a month is the most popular.

Quad-City Times columnist shares battle with cancer

Quad-City Times columnist Bill Wundram tells his readers he is about to undergo treatment for a "very aggressive type of cancer."

Wundram says he plans to keep writing. Find his columns here.

New editor at Quad-City Times

The Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, has promoted Jan Touney from managing editor to executive editor. The Times story gives no indication of what happened to editor Steve Thomas.

Touney has been managing editor since 2003, and has worked for Lee for 29 years.

Quad-City Times lays off 10

From the comments:

I was told the Quad-City Times laid off 10 people in January but don't have details. I do know that a 70-or-80+ year old woman features writer was let go

I think that brings this quarter's layoffs up to 231.

Ex-Quad-City Times employee jailed on fraud charges

A former Quad-City Times employee and his ex-wife have been jailed for conspiring to defraud the Davenport paper.

Earl Beasley, a former Times building and maintenance manager, was sentenced to 12 years 6 months in prison. Julie Beasley was sentenced to 8 years in jail. Both already had been convicted of dozens of counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

Quad-City Times getting new press equipment

Two DGM 430 units will be added to the paper's press.