McClatchy Co. today said it will shift production of The ( Boise ) Idaho Statesman and the Bellingham ( Wash. ) Herald to another publisher in a bid to cut costs.

The (Nampa) Idaho Press Tribune will begin printing The Statesman in 2009 after the newspaper upgrades its plant while the Skagit Valley Herald in Mount Vernon, Wash., will begin producing the Bellingham newspaper, also next year.

Both the Press Tribune and Valley Herald are owned by Pioneer Newspapers Inc. The move will eliminate more than 25 production jobs. Statesman Production Director Roger Stowell will join the Press Tribune as production director to oversee expanded operations, McClatchy said.

The Statesman’s existing press will continue to be used to produce niche publications, McClatchy said. The shift in production comes as McClatchy announced it would cut 10 percent of its workforce.


 

Cedar Rapids paper keeps publishing

The Gazette in Cedar Rapids , Iowa , has been able to maintain its publishing schedule despite the floods that ravaged the city.

Peg Schmitz, vice president of print operations at Color Web Printers, said in an e-mail distributed to ING board members earlier today that the downtown plant had water up to the sidewalk at the peak of the flooding. The facility also experienced some storm sewer backup, but that the publisher was able to pump that water out as it came in without damaging any structures.

All of the newspaper’s offices are now running on backup generators, she said, and The Gazette has also begun printing editions of the Waterloo ( Iowa ) Courier, whose production facilities were damaged by the flood.

“Staff is responding awesomely to our production needs,” she said in the e-mail. “The production facility was spared flooding issues but access routes are limited and many of our employees lost everything in the flood but are all showing up to work when they can.”
 

Ogden taps CTP Alliance 
for 12-paper rollout

Ogden Newspapers Inc. said it will deploy violet computer-to-plate hardware and software from Southern Lithoplate's CTP Alliance across 12 of its newspapers.

NAA: Q1 ad sales plummet

Newspaper ad sales continued their free fall during the first quarter of 2008, declining 14 percent, according to statistics released by the Newspaper Association of America.

The NAA said papers posted about $8.43 billion in ad sales in the first three months. Classified ad revenues were particularly hard hit, with recruitment and real estate ad revenues falling by 35 percent.

The decline in ad sales is the biggest since NAA began collecting quarterly statistics in 1971.

Online ad sales for the three-month period rose 7.2 percent, to $804 million, but that is the smallest gain reported by the group since it began monitoring online sales in 2004.
 

Tampa Trib outsourcing ad jobs

The Tampa ( Fla. ) Tribune is outsourcing a portion of its ad production to Express KCS LLC, according to a story published last week by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Express KCS operates a production facility in Gurgaon , India . It already provides outsourcing services to a number of U.S. newspapers, including those owned by MediaNews Group Inc. and McClatchy Co.
 

Triblocal rolls out new print edition

The Chicago Tribune’s community journalism portal Triblocal launched its fifth weekly print edition last week in Naperville , Ill.

The newspaper, which is included in copies of the Chicago Tribune distributed in the area, provides hyperlocal news primarily provided by residents in the surrounding communities.

Triblocal also added three more Chicago suburbs to its Web site: Bolingbrook, Romeoville and Plainfield . The Tribune said it soon will launch a combined print edition for those communities.

Triblocal was introduced in April 2007 and reaches 29 Chicago suburbs in print and online.
 

Boston.com taps MetaCarta

Boston.com, Web site for The Boston Globe, is adding geographic search and referencing technology from MetaCarta Inc. to provide users with highly localized content.

MetaCarta will geographically tag all Boston.com content as well as information from other Web sites that are included within Boston.com local search, the newspaper said.

“Our agreement with MetaCarta will help us bring our readers more relevant news and information by being able to zero in on locations that matter to them,” said Bob Kempf, vice president of product at Boston.com.

The content can then be searched geographically and used to develop new localized services for Boston.com's users.
 

Media General to begin Zillow roll-out

The Richmond ( Va. ) Times-Dispatch next week will begin meshing its real estate listings with those offered on real estate Web site Zillow.com.

The Media General Inc. newspaper is the first of 24 group papers to roll out the service, the Times-Dispatch said. All of the publisher’s papers will offer the capabilities within the next four months, the paper said.

Media General last year said it would become part of an 11-newspaper initiative to partner with Zillow.com, which contains information about more than 2 million homes for sale across the country.
 

MediaSpan integrating with AP Web platform

MediaSpan Group Inc. said it would integrate its editorial software with The Associated Press’ recently updated AP WebFeeds app.

“The integration with AP WebFeeds exemplifies MediaSpan’s focus on providing the best cutting-edge content management tools to our newspaper customers,” said Frank Campagnoni, MediaSpan’s chief executive officer.

The integration includes MediaSpan’s Jazbox and iQue/NewsEdit content management apps.

AP retooled WebFeeds earlier this year, beefing up the app with robust management and the ability to funnel more feature-rich material to members.
 

Morning News to launch quick-read edition

The Dallas Morning News said it will launch a free, home-delivered newspaper aimed non-subscribers later this summer.

The Morning News will publish 200,000 copies of the paper, named Briefing, Wednesday through Saturday. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Briefing will include a package of coupons and special marketing offers.

The newspaper also said it will triple the current distribution of its Spanish-language newspaper, Al Dia, to 120,000 copies, beginning in July.

Finally, The Morning News selected American Circulation Innovations as the exclusive distributor of Briefing and the Al Dia expansion.
 

Spokesman-Review adds video client

The Spokesman-Review of Spokane , Wash. , added Merlin Video to its Merlin One asset management app. The technology will enable Spokesman-Review editors to find digital video files containing specific words or phrases.

Search results are automatically cued to the spot where the search term is spoken, saving time that would have been used locating, mounting, viewing or jogging video clips, Merlin said.

Merlin’s video client also gives editors the ability to monitor the status of the video through production stages as well as tag in and out points that get transferred to popular non-linear-editors. Merlin functions like a video picture desk, making most-recent versions available for editing in video programs.  
 

NYT launches self-service 
for online ads

The New York Times launched a self-service banner advertising feature using software from AdReady Inc.

The software will also enable users to create and manage their online ad campaigns, according to Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The New York Times Media Group.

Advertisers using the service have access to AdReady's library of ad themes, real-time ad customization tools, an intuitive Web-based interface and detailed reporting on their campaigns’ performance.
 

PCF adds 4 papers

Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. added four Connecticut newspapers owned by Journal Register Co. to its client list. The four are the Bristol Press, the Middletown Press, the New Britain Herald and the Sunday Herald Press.

“Based upon the success of our sister newspaper, the New Haven Register, we believe that PCF has demonstrated the operational strength and ability to better serve our readers,” said Mike Murray, senior vice president of circulation.
 

4 McClatchy papers to install Saxotech app

McClatchy Co. is installing Saxotech Inc.’s Mediaware Center content management and production system at four of its newspapers including the Bradenton ( Fla. ) Herald, the Telegraph in Macon , Ga. , Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus , Ga. , and the Sun-Herald in Gulfport , Miss.

“We are very excited about the opportunity that the Mediaware Center system will provide us to share resources and assets within these newspapers,” said Terry Geiger, director of corporate IT for McClatchy.

Mediaware Center will allow the four newspapers to share content and also integrate with the papers’ Adobe InDesign and InCopy editorial management software.

Saxotech will install the app at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, which is serving as a data center linking many of McClatchy’s papers (see Newspapers & Technology, February 2008).

Installation will be completed late this year, Saxotech said.
 

In Brief

The New York Times named Nick D’Andrea executive director of production, succeeding Tom Lombardo, the paper’s former vice president of production, who retired.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch named Mary Zweifel director of prepress and creative ad services. She previously served as prepress manager at The ( Nashville ) Tennessean.

Tribune Co. said Scott Smith will retire from his post as publisher of the Chicago Tribune and president of Tribune Publishing. He’s held the posts since 2005.

The Daily Press of Newport News, Va., appointed Robert C. Weber as its vice president of advertising.

Quipp named Wally Weber as northeast sales manager.

The McClatchy Co. named Stephen Bernard corporate vice president for advertising.

Classified Concepts named Jeremy Bradfield eastern U.S. territory sales manager.

Specialty Equipment Services said it’s offering replacement parts, on-site repair service and fluids for Domino JetArray inkjet printers. Additionally, SES provides inks and make-up solutions for Domino’s Videojet, Linx and Imaje printers.

www.227parts.com
 

Transcontinental Inc. acquired Quebec bi-weekly newspaper L’Express le journal d’ici.

www.transcontinental.ca
 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said it would cease publication of its MKE young-adult-oriented publication July 10. The paper launched the weekly publication in 2004.

Integration X said Norwegian newspaper publisher A-Press Lokale Medier will roll out its workflow app across 52 titles throughout the country. The deployment will be completed later this year.

www.integration-x.com
 

Cox Newspapers Inc. launched 19 mobile Web sites using software from Quattro Wireless.

www.quattrowireless.com