The sudden screeching halt to the latest and most courageous Detroit enterprise has a lot of people talking this weekend, and a lot of that talk is just crap. The entire debacle has local media up in arms - although some of them have bared their arms, much to the public's loss.
Let's call them what they are: behemoth bullies. OK?
I'm talking about the unexpected suspension of the newest area daily newspaper, the Detroit Daily Press. First brainstormed last spring in response to the gutting of local media coverage by the only big games in town, The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, its debut was just this past Monday, November 23rd. By Thursday, the cessation of its printing had both newcomers and veterans buzzing - not to mention the public, who have been yelling for a daily newspaper for months.
A nebulous entry on DDP's Facebook page had even the employees wondering what happened, especially those out chasing stories in the field who weren't in the newsroom for yesterday's noon announcement from publishers, Mark and Gary Stern. It cited problems with distribution, late press runs, lack of advertising and sales, which were "beyond our control."
Apparently what would have provided better control was DDP's own cache of gorillas who could strong-arm the competition, like the competition has been strong-arming them. Can you say "Media Mafia?"
An irrefutable source confirms that the other Detroit print behemoths actually threatened to pull their own papers from retailers such as CVS, if they kept good on their original promise to carry and sell the Detroit Daily Press.
HUH?
Likewise, the same bullies pressured printers to not do business with the Royal Oak-based newspaper, and continually changed any previous agreement to print the DDP. Requirements such as cash up front for that day's work, among other out-there demands were meant to break any original agreement as well as management's back.
"Press runs ran late once, and then two of the other five days, the presses broke down," said the source.
Yeah, well, they ran late one day because THE LIONS WON AT THE VERY LAST SECOND OF SUNDAY'S GAME and everything for the paper's premier copy had to be scrapped and re-arranged. That's the newspaper biz for you.
On the other occasions, DDP's drivers, who have been criticized by the behemoths' bullies for not being union members, didn't wait for the papers.
What does that mean for the public?
No distributors + an aura of threats = no choice for potential readers who really WANT a daily paper.
Meanwhile, for two weeks, some media couldn't wait to talk crap about the DDP, faulting everything from its dedication to covering what they deem as old news (nice, considering that most of the behemoths' writers never even leave the comfort of their desk chairs to chase down stories), to picking apart the new layout and snarking about how employees wouldn't be paid.
Grow UP.
Detroit Daily Press employees expected that type of barrage of sludge from the comp, but overall they thought it would disappear in time, as they earned their chops.
So, here's a question for the morons: If the Detroit Daily Press was so uselessly silly and didn't pose a threat to the Media Mafia - who has had everything tied up for years in an incestuous excuse for news coverage in one of the country's major cities - then why are you working so hard to destroy it, even before it gets on its feet?
Well, guess what, bullies? Detroit Daily Press employees were promptly paid today, and they are waiting on the callback to work in January.
Assuming, of course, that Tony Soprano and his crew can be hired out of retirement to guarantee the safety of someone else with an opinion who can practice freedom of speech in the Motor City.
Detroit's "other" media should be ashamed of itself. You are not harbingers of free speech, but suppressors and oppressors.
And, that's the new news.
Update 1/11/10: According to the DFP, a press release issued by owners on Saturday states that the DDP is on permanent suspension. This undoubtedly thrills the naysayers, but I am sorry for the public as well as the dedicated DDP staff who tried so hard to make it the success it should've been. Numerous employees put all of their eggs in the DDP basket -- some uprooting any previous stability -- in a terrible economy to help it debut. That type of effort deserves respect.
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Comments
We'll be back, little girls. And when we return, it's going to be a donnybrook if I have any say about it. Wear your cups.
Readers can see their favorite Detroit Daily Press writers, including new material from columnist George Cantor, in the next editions of the Oakland Observer, Macomb Observer and Metro Observer. Consider these papers a temporary venue for DP people until the Detroit Daily Press comes back with a vengeance in January.
If the Detroit Daily Press couldn't secure any advertising for the biggest shopping week of the year, what makes you think they will obtain any in January? The paper has already went through delays, maybe the "founders" thought they could get the project off of the ground without actually putting any of their own money into it.
Don't delude yourself. The DP won't be back. And that's too bad. I will miss making fun of the amateurish, poorly put together rag that disguised rambling, geriatric opinions as actual news. Clearly, that High School Musical approach extended to delivery as well. That's ironic because the paper never promised to be interesting, insightful or well-written. It only promised to be delivered. The owners are fly-by-night frauds who took advantage of well-intentioned, desperate good people. As for Fracassa, you are a bully and a douche.
The Monday edition was late because the Lions won in the final minute? Please. The game ended early anyway, and the DDP barely covered it.
The worst part about the paper, in fact, was Mr. Fracassa's sports section, which -- on the day after a Lions game -- featured a dreadful and overlong column by him about the retirement of Brendan Shanahan, who doesn't even play in Detroit anymore and had retired more than a week earlier. And inside the section was ANOTHER column about Shanahan.
I wish the DDP luck and a legitimate return ... with a better sports editor.
Here's what I can't figure out: What new market does DPP think they're going to exploit? The fleeting population of people who want a daily newspaper? Even by that account, the paper's lifespan is at best 5-10 years. When you've got The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, The Oakland Press and MLive all covering roughly the same areas, there is little room left for a newcomer that is trying to the same thing, only in dead tree style.
Honestly, I hope you do "come back with a vengeance". It'd be good for the area to have a different perspective. But I really would not get your collective hopes up that you will achieve much success in a very crowded field of established names and far greater resources.
Great, can't wait to read more week old items from you, Hawke about how you don't pay your bills on time and assault editors by tossing their desks.....
P.S....Oh yeah, and wriote more about your dogs....it's sooooooo interesting.
FYI: The announcement to postpone production came Friday around 1 p.m. Several staffers worked Thanksgiving Day to put out the Friday edition. Unless you knew the news a day early ...
I just hope it comes back. There's good potential there.
Great collection of unsourced rumors. Wendy's point about the drivers is particularly vague. Is she saying because the drivers were non-union, that they did not wait for the papers to be printed, but took off?
And how is it that she can criticize the Freep and News, but any criticism of the DDP elicits the response "grow up"?
Interesting revisionist history. A couple questions:
Are the behemoth bullies to blame for the crackerjack DP founders' ignorance of when stores buy Thanksgiving ads? Did the "Media Mafia" tell them to buy unlicensed software that didn't work? Did they instruct their ace sports staff on how to blow deadline on a game that ended at 4:30 p.m.?
Did the big bad meanies at the Freep and News tell the Stern brothers not to pay employees, and READ to them the same announcement they posted on Facebook the day after Thanksgiving?
The careless tossing around of pejoratives, half-reported truths and innuendo overlooks that the Stern brothers and their minions took a half-assed approach to a complicated endeavor. In doing so, they gave a lot of people false hope and helped ruin their lives on a holiday weekend.
Or was that also the work of the evil, unseen hand of the Media Mafia?
``Rumor Mongering'' has it right. And here's what the real newspapers in Detroit are doing for its readers via Pulitzers, Emmy Awards, Editor of the Year......The owners of hte Freep had to shell out more than $500,000 in legal fees to complete the investigation of Kilpatrick's text messages....How much did the Stern brothers really invest? Anyone who knows these guys history knows it on one word: Toxic.
Ok Wendy, Hawke, as far as I can tell, the ONLY legitimate concern this article raises is the quality of the press runs which naturally would delay the distribution and create downstream issues....
So, in the name of ``Truth,'' tell us whose presses ``broke down?'' Which ``behomoth bully'' is to blame for that. Come on, Wendy, restore some credibility to your vague assertations!
The ridiculous assertions by E. Dale Lee (self-named Hawke) show why this was doomed from the start. No one wants to read the bitter ramblings of a crazy old man, which the staffers cringed about from day one. Some poor guy being paid $4 an hour had to try to collect your unpaid bills, Dale, but the former editor was the person who was morally bankrupt? The Sterns should be embarrassed. They couldn't sell at CVS because they didn't know newspapers had to have a bar code. They couldn't hit the stores because they were trying to publish on Windows 2003 and couldn't get them to the Macomb Daily presses within even a semblance of deadline (how long are the drivers supposed to wait? First edition was done at 2:30 a.m.) Hell, they didn't have soap in the bathrooms. They hired laid-off journalists with no benefits and little pay who were just desperate enough to take it -- and just about every one of them feels bad for getting involved.
I would like to thank everyone for their comments, irrespective of validity or truth, or how far down people slid from their ivory towers to leave them. In reading these, however, I think it answers the question why the public has not been served the way THEY would like to be in their local media, and why there IS room for people who can do just that. Yes, reporters like the FP's M.L. Elrick raised the bar and deserve the resulting kudos, and the DDP deserves the right to develop just those type of journalists, too. After all, I think these comments merely prove my point: If we are not a threat to all the Pulitzer Pimps, why, oh why, are they trying so hard to stop us?
Let's see if I follow this argument, Wendy: If anyone questions your un-sourced, myopic and hyperbolic polemic that ignores multiple other reasons the Daily Press failed, that proves the existence of the Media Mafia? That's the sort of loony tunes logic that would make Holocaust deniers proud.
I think what the general public objects to is drivel like your article passing for journalism. No one here disputes that competition is good for journalism.
The Daily Press was never competition. It was a sham dressed up as a newspaper that duped a lot of smart people who needed a job. Many of them now are stained by the association and will have an even harder time getting jobs now, since the Detroit Daily Press has become synonymous with the loud-mouth chest thumpings of your ignoramus lout of a sports editor.
That's the real legacy of this ill-fated enterprise, not some conspiratorial ramblings about the evils of Big Media.
Once again, Rumor MOngering has it right....and here's another lesson you apparently didn't learn in whatver j-school you got your BFA in regarding your comment ``Elrick raised the bar and deserve the resulting kudos, and the DDP deserves the right to develop just those type of journalists, too.'': The developing DDP is/was a business centered around journalism. Neither a business or journalist has a ``right'' to develop. That developmetn is an earned trust of the community, it's advertisers and subscribers as a result of credible craftsmanshipo. It is the owners of the DDP who decided to toss in the towel to try and earn that type of reputation in the world of journalism, no one else. There was no ``Media Mafia,'' just an attempt to start a newspaper that failed.
So Wendy, did the "Pulitzer Pimps" force your co-worker to post that comment just below yours, with all the detail about the Macomb Daily presses and no soap in the bathrooms?
Oh, puh-leez. Did you even talk to any of the Daily Press staffers? I have three friends who worked there and they said the paper didn't even have the phones running right - or software licenses for their computer programs. You REALLY think that the Freep and News, struggling as they are, threatening to yank their papers off the shelves if some young, just-as-crummy upstart threw its hat in the ring? Total and utter B.S. The REAL truth: The paper was poorly conceived by two people who had no idea how newspapering has changed the last 20 years and offered nothing that the other papers did except home delivery - which it didn't even offer at launch.
What really makes this story credible is the fact that the Detroit News and the Free Press are ignoring this story and have not replied to the charges. If it's true, I'm sure they'll keep quiet and hope it goes away. I look forward to the return of the Daily Press in January, maybe then we will have the truth.
I don't wish to be as unprofessional as many of the people making comments. It was obvious from the beginning this paper didn't have a real shot.
I've personally been involved in distribution that sent publications to CVS. I don't think CVS is going to be bullied by two dying Detroit newspapers.
Not only that, as far as the business plan goes - the focus was not to fulfill the need of people walking to CVS to buy a paper. It was to fulfill the need of people desiring home delivery.
The reality is the Macomb Daily and Oakland press have already taken up the daily slack. Up in distribution around 6-7% approx. 7-8 thousand
subscribers-Far cry from the DDP 150k goal.
As someone who has published print and is neck deep in new media, these folks did it all wrong.
I hope for the best for the newspaper and it's people.
Personally, I think they had some excellent writers and one of the best photographers in Detroit-Jeffery Sauger.
1970s thinking and poor managemen
Lions game held up the paper? Ha! It was due to technical difficulties. Computers weren't even set up all the way, and on the 'last day' I bet a lot of people still didn't have their computers, not to mention their phones, set up.
It's a shame because a lot of people had and still have high hopes for the product. Whether it'll come back and have a chance to survive is anyone's guess. There's sure to be a lot of credibility lost with advertisers and potential subscribers, especially when no one could find the paper. I had dozens of people asking, where could they find it. No one had any luck. I do hope the Daily Press comes back with a vengeance and advertises its butt off and does well, because I enjoyed my experience there, but I feel like a fool now, getting sent home with dozens of co-workers after working slightly more than a week.
Hmmm. Wendy's "readers" call me a bitter lout, and a loudmouth bully who is a douche, crazy, old, morally bankrupt ignoramous. I take issue with that. What you say is just plain wrong! I am not "old." I'm also disappointed that the pile-on crew didn't think of "evil bastard" (my personal favorite), "idiot," "jerk," "a-hole," "total ass," "horse's ass," "sonofabitch" and "full of beans." My girlfriend when mad calls me a "dick"; fully enraged, she prefers this compound modifier: "idiotjerk." Another thing: If Rob Parker reads how you are calling me names, he is going to be jealous of all the attention you're heaping on me. As an attention whore, I welcome your personal attacks. They make me feel loved. What is it they say about columnists? It's not whether you agree -- it's whether you read them. Do your lips move when you read words in my column like "ostensibly"? Good for you! The next time you stutter aloud, don't hide behind your mommy's skirt. Have the courage to tell us your name.
In response to "Pulitzer Pete": In my column I was referencing bill collectors for doctors who through their incompetence killed my wife. She died three years ago from medical malpractice. I refuse to pay doctors who in my opinion murdered the mother of my two children. They can rot in hell. And since you're obviously a dog hater -- don't deny it -- you can, too. I'll say that prayer for you before I go to bed tonight. Maybe kismet will give you what you deserve.
In response to Rosh - New media photographer:
It's fortunate for you that you chose to pursue photography, as it appears that you have no editing chops whatsoever. Did you post this after last call?
Anyway, thanks for posting your "professional" opinion-- and your resume. It was a rare treat for us readers-- and my eyes are still bleeding from your disjointed sentence structure.
Yes, I worked for the DDP, and will again after January. My colleagues who whine about out-of-date computer systems and lack of bathroom supplies have obviously not worked for a startup before and so are understandably afraid. It's rough working for an outfit that's a few months old as opposed to a business that has been established for more than a century. Still, soap can be bought. Computer systems patched together. Phones made to work. And, after that, a print publication like the DDP is still necessary in Detroit, where the Freep and News have abdicated their responsibility to cover local community news. Whether the DDP will survive or not, I have no idea. I, for one, am going to continue to try -- for myself, for my family and for journalism in Detroit.
Poorly executed start up. BAD time of year to try to get advertising as most businesses have tapped out their advertising budgets until the new year & won't spend $ on something not PROVEN in the market... They didn't have anyone actively selling the paper until a week or so before the launch, all employees were working for commission only & I can attest, not EVERYONE got paid... As a veteran Newspaper guy, I know that in this economy to have a START UP successful it takes at least a year for the paper to become profitable... They had 3 different printers of this paper and I highly doubt that the Detroit news and Free Press had enough muscle to intimidate the folks over at Macomb or Michigan Web Press (2 of their 3 printers). Macomb Daily presses print many other competitive papers in the area and have a great work ethic as does Mich Web. Sounds like the Sterns are pointing the fingers at the Det News to divert attention from a poorly executed business model. DDP will not be back!
A few more stray thoughts to add to my notes below: A great deal of what is touted as the future of journalism -- "social media" -- are actually tools to promote journalism content, but are not really journalism, itself. That still leaves the problem of who, exactly, is going to create the quality content that all those Twitterers and Facebookers are going to link to.
The Kwame story, while great, did not serve local Detroit-area communities. The Freep decided to devote its resources to hiring reporters who come up with one or two stories a month, while getting rid of its community journalists and community journalism sections.
You know who agrees with the Detroit Daily Press' premise that people want to read news, everyday, relevant to their lives and communities? Google.
And all it takes is one push of a button to put all our hyper-local content online. The point is not a physical paper. The point is to step in where the Freep and The News left off.
DDP Worker, both the News and Freep are metropolitan dailies that went into "community journalism" in order to scrape readers from the suburban weeklies.
That ended, for whatever reason (Gannett/Freep now owns suburban weeklies here). But historically, metropolitan dailies have not been hyperlocal in your suburban neighborhood, they cover the big stories but not every Little League game. Is that what the DDP was aiming to be, competition for the Daily Trib and O&E?
To "yes but": I don't know if that was the strategy or not. I'm not one of the owners or founders, nor do I speak for the DDP. I just work(ed?) there, and that is how I would approach it. As for the strategy of major metropolitan dailies cutting back on coverage that is relevant to local communities, let me ask how that's going for you. Or, you can ask the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Ann Arbor News ...
The Detroit News/Freep JOA which is part owned my Gannett which also operates the Observer Eccentric and the Port Huron News Herald. The Macomb Daily, Oakland Press and Heritage Newspapers are all owned by the same parent company, The Journal Register Company. I have worked for news paper start ups and trust and believe that the Sterns did not execute this launch properly and I refuse to believe the claims that the Detroit News/Free Press strong armed CVS or the print facilities, causing this suspension. They have no power over poor business acumin, unrelated print facilities or the fact you just don't sell advertising in the 4th quarter at a start up publication with no proven track record. The model should have been free distribution for 90 days and work on securing advertisers, then paid subscribership, then build hype. There has been more NEGATIVE press regarding this paper in the last few days than the positive that should have came prior to the launch!
DDP Worker...
We're still in business, 100 years later. How's it going for you?
The Detroit Daily Press was the wrong product, in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were too few people being paid too little money to do the job properly. The design was a mess even by 1972 standards. The sports editor ranted about bill collectors and abusing editors ... and someone allowed it into the paper. And as far as printing goes, all printers demand payment upfront from new clients for this very reason.
When a sweatshop like the Oakland Press seems amply staffed in comparison, you know you're doomed. The only conspiracy here was the one the Sterns perpetrated on some very dedicated people.
The Stern brothers had no idea what they were doing and totally fouled things up from the beginning -- I was there to witness it. Their first mistake was hiring Hawke, who suffers from little man syndrome, a rare disorder that forces men to get off on trying to make others around them feel small. Usually they suffer from this because they're hung like an infant. That being said, the people at my CVS did tell me they didn't carry the DDP because of the Free Press. It was just a perfect storm of stupidity that made the paper fail and I seriously doubt it will be back -- and if it does, I know a lot of people who won't go with it out of both fear and embarrassment.
i was hoping the paper would succeed and have said so publicly on many occasions (see my facebook page).
i must say, however, that this column includes a lot of invective but only one unnamed source with nothing to back up its rather sensational claims. that's not much to go on.
So who is this source that's quoted in the story. Where's the proof that the "media mafia" was out to get the DDP? Otherwise this smacks of yellow journalism.
By the way, I have no clue about whether this whole "media mafia" thing is true or not. If I were editing this piece, it would not have made it into print. But here's this wonderful world of the Web, where you don't need editors and any "citizen journalist" can post anything he or she wants. ... OK. I'm done here. Back to my freelance life.
The Media Mafia thing is most likely something put out there by the DDP to save face. Look at the Stern's track record for opening papers during strikes and then closing up shop. I dare someone to name any publication they were involved in with any relevance or longevity.Unfortunately, they were able to pick up a lot of talent however, it seemed to be OLD SCHOOL New/Free Press folks who also tried to run the paper like this was the 70's. Print is not a dying breed however, the ways in which papers were run in the past is. To make it in the print arena, especially in this difficult economy takes innovation, great advertising programs and an emphasis on consultative sales. This paper offered nothing innovative, fresh or new and for someone to irresponsibly cast blame on other media outlets for the shortcomings of a poorly executed business model is IRRESPONSIBLE journalism at it's worst.
Where to start? I jumped aboard the photo staff loving the opportunity to work w/ the photo editor and to be a daily journalist in the community where I was born. I don't know what's what w/ any of the rumors and venom being spewed here. What I do know from this short experience is that Detroit's journalism club is filled w/ as many anonymous chickenshits as it is w/ honest, ethical and good people. If all of you experts w/ insider info have something other than venom, share it. I'd love to know what happened. If you didn't work there, why are all of your panties in a bunch? You didn't lose anything. Quit hiding behind the cowardly anonymity of your keyboard and put your name to your words. It's easy to criticize and call names when you don't have to worry about being held accountable. For the record, I'm bummed that this didn't work out, but, I'm neither embarrassed nor tainted by my brief association w/ the DDP.
One more thing, my mailman just delivered my DDP check! Like DDP Worker, back to my freelance life.
Anyone in the business knows what it takes to get into CVS these days. You have to be approved by iControl which is a 3rd party company that handles newspapers for the chain.This is protocol for many big chains these days such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, 7-11, Speedway, just to name a few who’s newspaper sales are managed by either iControl or Nexxus. DDP’s original bar code was incorrect. They used what looked like a version of the GS1-128 bar code which is not recommended for grocery products. The other papers in the market use the UPC-A which is tried and true. A win for an afternoon Lions game which was over by 5pm does not hold up the press. Again anyone in the business knows there is no reason to hold for a game that will end prior to 10pm. You will have plenty of time to get the story and make your normal press deadlines. On the day the Lions won they had 5 extra hours to make it happen. Their commercial print partners stood to gain nothing if the DDP went away. Millions of dollars in
How would/will home delivery work? Are the Freep/News delivery people independents that would be tapped to deliver the DDP? How would they be able to gather enough subscribers in an area to make it profitable (or break even?)
new print revenue walked in the door the day these guys came to town. What this boils down to is arrogance on the part of these two so called publishers. The business isn’t what it was in 1960 folks. We have evolved and so have our partners. You can’t just come to town and set up shop expecting everything to fall into place, and that is the mistake these two made. Sounds like a classic case of more money than brains to me.
You are exactly RIGHT Newspaper Guy... 2 guys walked into town like this was the 60's and thought they would set up shop and poorly executed this launch. Again, I believe that this non-sense that the Detroit News and Free Press used Tony Soprano tactics to cock block these guys from succeeding is unfounded and a bit out there. The printers stood to make a lot of money by printing the paper, I highly doubt that the News and Free press strong armed them into asking for cash up front or being late on the delivery due to the content being exported LATE. I also doubt that the Detroit News/Free Press had DDP sales reps out there trying to sell ads in Q4 when the majority of businesses planned their media buys prior to this launch. It was also not the Detroit News/Free Press who set the advertising rates or executed the phone lines and computer systems. There was a point where sales reps were emailing from their personal email addresses to conduct business. Really?
The Daily Press could still make it. But it needs a brand identity. Nobody knows what it is about. It can't be "all the news that's fit to print" -- not with such a small staff. So, what's its real mission? The DP needs to figure that out.
I would say it should concentrate on being THE source for local news and a really active voice in the community -- with solid reporters and thoughtful columnists who have something to say. Everything else could be AP copy.
The DP also needs a Web presence. These days, if Google can't find you, then you don't exist. Period.
Really? The Detroit News and Free Press was at fault for the fact that the cash flow which would be supported by advertising never flew because the rates were too high for a paper which was not proven nor marketed to build awareness of the product prior to launch? There also was no development of the web-site to at the least sell advertising on it to gain additional advertising revenues which supports the journalists everyone is trashtalking?Perhaps a little attention to the web-site and offering on-line advertising could have built some credibility to at the least keep that going while this paper needs to regroup?
CVS is not the only place in town to distribute? How about buying some paper boxes to help market the paper? Were were these?
Bottom line- the blame lies in the execution of the launch. Its not about the editorial staff... They aren't bringing in the revenue.
In fact, like I said before, there was NO awareness of the product prior to launch. Now, the only press this paper has had is the negative that it fell flat on its butt. Thats tough to come back from... especially when trying to sell advertising. Who's going to sign a frequency contract now?
In fact, like I said before, there was NO awareness of the product prior to launch. Now, the only press this paper has had is the negative that it fell flat on its butt. Thats tough to come back from... especially when trying to sell advertising. Who's going to sign a frequency contract now?
Hey, "DDP Worker:" Why would you refer to Ms. Clem as a "citizen journalist?" If you actually worked there, then you know she was a reporter and colleague of yours. I'm guessing she felt the public needed to know this, so she told the story--whether or not you were "aware" of it. Your personal ignorance of the story doesn't mean it isn't true. And, if you were editing any copy, why were there so many typing and other errors in the papers? By the way, Examiner HAS editors. Real ones.
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