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Internet Tool-Building

Frank Daniels III , the former executive editor of the Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer who became a pioneer of online news as head of Nando.net , the N&O's popular online service, decides to step down to concentrate on "the micro-level stuff" of the Internet world. Daniels' great grandfather, Josephus Daniels , bought the N&O at a courthouse auction in 1894, and the Daniels family continued to own and operate the paper until it was sold to McClatchy last August. A 16-year veteran of the N&O, Daniels, 40, helped found Nando.net two years ago but will now leave it behind to become chairman and CEO of Koz Inc., an Internet tool-building company.

Daniels says he won't really be leaving the world of online newspapers, just tackling it from a different angle to build what he describes as "community publishing engines" that online newspaper divisions can use to compete more effectively with cyber-powerhouses such as America Online and Microsoft. "Digital technology provides both the best opportunity and the nastiest threat news-
papers have ever seen," he says. "It all depends how you go about it."

Mergers and Acquisitions

Is San Francisco about to join the roster of one-newspaper cities? That was the word in the San Jose Mercury News , where reporter Miranda Ewell reported that the San Francisco Examiner was on its way to shutting down in order to create a morning paper owned jointly by Hearst, the Examiner's parent, and the San Francisco Chronicle . But James Hale , president and CEO of the joint operating agency that puts out both papers, insists that rumors about a merger have been circulating for more than 20 years, and that the latest versions are just that: rumors. "We're still putting out two papers, and neither owner has told us to change it," Hale says. "Somebody might have played an April Fool's joke on that reporter." Ewell says she stands by her story.... Two papers that are actually merging into a morning paper are Central Newspapers' Muncie, Indiana, Star and Evening Press . The new paper will be called the Star Press and will end Muncie's tradition of being the smallest community in the country to maintain both a morning and afternoon paper owned by the same company... Pulitzer Publishing Co., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Arizona Daily Star , announces that it is buying Scripps League Newspapers, a privately held publisher of 16 dailies.

All's Well That Ends Well

Maria Wilhelm , former deputy editor of Pathfinder, Time Inc.'s Web site, gets deeper into the online world by becoming president of Sausalito, California's The WELL , one of the oldest and best-known digital meeting places (http://www.well.com). Before she found the online path, Wilhelm was once Time magazine's chief of correspondents and also had stints as bureau chief in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Wilhelm says she takes issue with the notion that she is leaving journalism behind, pointing out that The WELL, now in its eleventh year, has long championed the kind of debate, dialogue and discussion that mainstream journalism is supposed to inspire. "In new media, discussion is no longer a one-way street. The journalistic process should have always been a two-way street," Wilhelm says, adding, "If there's one thing that defines a good journalist, it's flexibility and an understanding of what's coming around the curve."

Around Newspapers

The Los Angeles Times names Michael Parks its new managing editor. Formerly the paper's deputy foreign editor, Parks succeeds George Cotliar , who had been the Times' managing editor for 18 years and will serve as the paper's executive editor until his retirement next January... Milton Coleman , assistant managing editor for metropolitan news at the Washington Post for the past decade, is named deputy managing editor. In his new position, Coleman will also head the paper's newsroom personnel group, designed to address diversity issues as well as strengthen recruitment, training and career development... USA Today does the managing editor shuffle, naming Monte Lorell , former managing editor for page one, managing editor for sports and Tara Connell , formerly deputy managing editor for news, to Lorell's previous position.

Peoria's New Player

Copley Press Inc. announces that it is buying Peoria, Illinois' Journal Star , along with its sister publication, Galesburg's Register-Mail , ending a 13-year tradition of employee ownership (see "The Business of Journalism," December 1995). The Journal Star went on the market after some employees decided to cash in on their retirement plans early, prompting fears that other employees would follow suit, thus severely jeopardizing future profits. Scheduled to take effect July 10, the sale will make Copley, one of the few newspaper companies that is still family owned, the largest publisher of Illinois papers outside Chicago. As for what will become of the paper's owner-employees now that they will be only employees, Copley's Harold W. Fuson Jr. , who is directing the integration of the two papers into the company, says the only difference between this acquisition and any other is that "usually when you buy a company the 500 employees don't all start off on day one with substantial independent wealth."

Syndicate News

The New York Times Syndicate names James Robison executive editor. Robison, previously the syndicate's associate editor, will manage the transmission of stories and photos to more than 650 American papers as well as papers in 53 countries. Before joining the Times' syndicate in 1992 he was executive editor of the United Feature Syndicate... The Times syndicate also announces that it will distribute "Impolitic," HotWired 's daily online report from the campaign trail by John Heilemann , a former Washington correspondent for The Economist (see "Cyberspace Journalism," page 26). Heilemann, who has been described as a digital-age Hunter S. Thompson , is noted for his irreverent political observances, such as his references to Bob Dole as "the cadaver." John Brewer , president and editor in chief of the New York Times Syndication Sales Corp., calls the collaboration between the Times and HotWired "a unique partnership, a reversal of the usual collaboration where it's recycled material from print publications that's posted online."

An Icy Reception

Phil Esposito , general manager of Tampa Bay's NHL hockey team, the Lightning, discovers that there is a price to pay for using choice words while talking to a reporter. Esposito was fined $10,000, the maximum allowed under NHL rules, for what the league called "inappropriate, vulgar and sexist" comments directed at Asbury Park Press reporter Kisha Ciabattari during a locker-room interview. Apparently Esposito told Ciabattari that he wouldn't talk with her if she were the last person on earth. Ciabattari responded by saying that made her lucky. Esposito then proceeded to deliver a litany of four-letter words, culminating in what the Press daintily described as "a profane statement about a sex act." Ciabattari laughed off the incident and chose not to write about it, but Press management stepped in on her behalf to request an apology from Esposito.

TV Topics

MSNBC , the much-talked-about 24-hour news cable channel from Microsoft and NBC set to debut in July, announces its prime time lineup. For starters, NBC News heavy-hitters Tom Brokaw , Katie Couric , Bryant Gumbel and Bill Moyers will rotate as hosts for a yet-to-be-named daily news and talk program. As for the network's daytime programming, weekend "Today" coanchor Jodi Applegate and former NBC News Channel correspondent John Gibson will be anchors, and "Dateline NBC" correspondent John Hockenberry will host a weekly newsmagazine. All of the programming is being developed simultaneously for cable and online in order to provide viewers with interactive opportunities by way of the Internet... Terry Irving , a former producer of "Nightline" and "This Week with David Brinkley ," is named senior producer of " Fox News Sunday," the network's effort to join in on Sunday morning public policy programming... Former "Dateline NBC" correspondent Elizabeth Vargas joins ABC News to anchor "Good Morning America."

He's No Imus

Newsweek Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Howard Fineman finds the tables of inside-the-Beltway political humor (an oxymoron?) turned after a paid speech to a group of cardiologists in Evansville, Indiana. Fineman joked that President Clinton 's greatest strength is his insincerity, and that Clinton is now so confident about his reelection prospects that he's started dating again. One person who didn't find the jokes very funny was White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry , who told Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz that, in light of the comments, he assumed Newsweek would not allow Fineman to continue covering the campaign. "It was a slow day on the media beat," says Fineman. "Those few comments taken out of an hour-long speech, and further distilled by Howie Kurtz, makes it look like I was trying to be Don Imus .... I was just attempting to do what I do in the magazine, which is explain and report about American politics." Evan Thomas , Newsweek 's Washington bureau chief, agrees that Fineman was only doing his job. "This is a bogus issue," says Thomas. Fineman "is not a beat reporter for a wire or news service, he's paid by News-week to have opinions and be analytical. He's a skeptic, but he's supposed to be." Fineman says the experience has provided "an insight into the way a couple of sentences can make news," adding, "It's always useful for a reporter to go through that."