Gannett latest newspaper publisher trying to show how serious they are about their digital strategy, names Chief Digital Officer and Prexy

BY SDH "DIGITAL" If you are a media company and this word isn't in the vocabulary of your most senior execs, then you're not on the bandwagon which could be a bad thing especially in the eyes of investors. Gannett attempting to show their dedication to becoming digitally literate has hired Chris Saridakis as their Chief Digital Officer. But that's not all, the Gannett has also named a Jack Williams, President of Gannett Digital Ventures. The company said it made these moves in an effort to transform itself into a company more dependent on the Internet. Just don't forget the older folks who love to lick their inky fingers to flip through pages.

Gannett headed to court

The Chicago intellectual property law firm Cook Alex, Ltd. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Gannett Co., Inc. and the Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc., publishers of USA Today, on behalf of client Electronic Imaging Systems of America, Inc. (eISA). The suit involves a patent eISA holds on technology that helps newspapers and other sellers of advertising generate invoices that link electronic copies of client ads that have run. The complaint also names Shoom, Inc., an invoicing services provider, as a defendant. Publishers typically include so-called “tear sheets” – copies of ads as published taken directly from the publication – as part of their invoices to advertising clients. Traditionally, this meant using tear sheets taken from hard copy back issues. The process is labor intensive, expensive and often results in bulky invoices. MORE... In an effort to assist the publishing industry, eISA developed a new billing system that allows publishers to provide links from line items in their bills to electronic copies of the tear sheets. EISA secured a U.S. patent on this technology (7,099,837). The term of the patent was effective August 29, 2006. eISA offers this patented technology in its AD/STAT System, which some publishers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post use for some of their advertisement billing. On November 27, 2006, Shoom issued a press release announcing that it had contracted with Gannett to provide advertising invoicing services, including its eTearSheets and eInvoices products. The lawsuit in Chicago charges that Gannett and Shoom are jointly infringing the ‘837 patent in the process of using Shoom’s eTearSheets and eInvoices. “Since neither Shoom nor Gannett holds a license to use our client’s technology, we have filed suit to protect eISA’s investment in and rights to this revolutionary invention,” said Edward D. Manzo, a shareholder with Cook Alex and lead trial counsel to eISA. “eISA is prepared to serve the publishing industry with this technology, that not only dramatically shortens what used to be a labor-intensive process of scavenging printed pages for tear sheets but also greatly speeds up cash flow to publishers, through its own AD/STAT System and has not granted licenses to competitors or to publishers. We will continue to vigorously defend our client’s right to the exclusive use of the technology it invented.” The current eISA suit against Gannett and Shoom follows an unsuccessful attempt by Shoom to have a separate eISA patent for electronic tear sheet technology invalidated. That suit was dismissed last year by a federal court in California . The suit described above involves a different but related patent.

Gannett counting on citizens to make them happy again

Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper chain, plans to create stories with information from bloggers, people who post in Internet discussion groups and other non-journalists in hopes of winning readers from the Internet, television and other news sources, officials with the company said. Gannett, which operates 90 newspapers, including the nation's largest, USA Today, is hoping "citizen journalism" will reverse the company's part of an industrywide trend of declining circulation and advertising revenues, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Circ must be in serious trouble for a newspaper publisher to lean on bloggers for stuff to print in their newspapers. Gannett enlists citizen journalists [AP]

Morning Wire: Bloomberg kinda likes his tower better

And now the morning's worthy media news: Mayor Bloomberg attended the opening of the new Hearst Tower but spent some time yapping about his own tower on Lexington "The Bloomberg Building" even though he's still the majority owner of the multibillion dollar media empire - he didn't want anyone thinking he still was running the show. Well at least we know what he will be doing once he is out of office. [P6] When you've had as much sex, with as many women as Hugh Hefner, who wouldn't get bored at some point right? Right? [P6] Weak ads brings weak Q3 for Gannett but life goes on [NYP] Investors would probably rather bet $500 Million on the web than on an overpriced publisher of magazines for the rich [NYT] Oh Shelby, Oh Shelby. CNET cans CEO Shelby Bonnie for some stock stuff [Reuters]

From web to print. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

In a time when print publications are switching to a 100% web based format, travel websites are doing the opposite. Sherman's Travel is being spun off from ShermansTravel.com, which aggregates online travel offers and also publishes a newsletter distributed free to its more than 3.5 million subscribers.Established in 2003 by James H. Sherman, a new-media consultant and former executive at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, ShermansTravel.com had 1.5 million unique visitors in July, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Gannett, publisher of USA Today, is a minority investor. Mr. Sherman said the new magazine was aimed at the 25 percent most affluent subscribers to his newsletter, who he said wanted a publication that focused on what he called luxury value. I believe most travelers are like me, they want 80 percent of the amenities you can get at a Four Seasons or Mandarin Oriental hotel, but are seeking a better value,” Mr. Sherman said. The first issue of the quarterly magazine has articles on Romania and Maui, and a map and guide to the autumn foliage season in New England, plus a list of luxury values in Mexico, Asia and elsewhere. In a Twist, a Travel Web Site Plans to Spin Off a Magazine [NYT]

Morning Wire: Getting to know William Dean Singleton

The New York Times has an interesting piece on MediaNews chieftain William Dean Singleton. The man seems to be the Richard Branson of the newspaper industry. He is the man who is buying Gannett and spent $1 Billion on four of Knight Ridder's dailies. Mr. Singleton, 54, a bantam figure with flinty blue eyes, is indeed thought of as something of a magician in the newspaper world having transformed himself from the son of a ranch hand in a tiny town in Texas to a media baron who now controls a newspaper empire that sprawls from coast to coast. He has, in a manner of speaking, sawed many of his competitors in half, only to have them hop off the table and become his partners. His company, the privately held MediaNews based in Denver, owns 55 dailies including The Denver Post, The Detroit News, The Daily News of Los Angeles and The Berkshire Eagle, plus more than 100 nondailies. With the addition of the Knight Ridder papers The San Jose Mercury News, The Contra Costa Times and The Monterey County Herald, all in California, and The St. Paul Pioneer Press MediaNews has become the nation's fourth-biggest newspaper company, up from seventh. read....

Gannett searches and finds Planet Discovery

Newspaper publisher Gannett, has jumped into the search engine sector (kinda!) with its snatching of local search software provider Planet Discovery. The Gannett side weighs in: "Gannett truly understands the importance of local information, which is why Planet Discover is such a perfect fit for us. With this new relationship, we will move more emphatically into deep, robust local search for our 100-plus Web sites," said Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital. "This fits well with our mission: to be the go-to provider of must-have local news and information across all media." The Planet Discovery side weighs in: "Gannett is exactly the kind of partner we need going forward. There are huge opportunities in local search, and Planet Discover is superbly positioned to take advantage of them," said Terry Millard, president and CEO of Planet Discover. "We are very pleased to become part of a company with such expansive reach and local roots." The usual yip yap after a take over read....

Media News gets even more news for $1 Billion

We didn't know newspapers can go for this much but $1 Billion in cash is what the McClatchy Company will get for four papers. This is just part of McClatchy's we bought it but we don't want it move to raise quick cash. These papers are like foster children. They will pass through many hands before they land at a permanent home. In one deal, McClatchy announced that it would sell The San Jose Mercury News and The Contra Costa Times, both in California, to Media News and a partnership that includes the Gannett Company, the country's largest newspaper chain, and the Stephens Group, based in Arkansas. McClatchy said it would also sell The Pioneer Press in St. Paul and The Herald in Monterey County in California, to Hearst. This story only get more complicated. More....

Ooooooooooooohh we desire!

In the next day or two, the world will get a glimpse of how desirable, or not, newspapers are, when preliminary bidding begins for Knight Ridder. The fate of the company, the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States in terms of circulation, behind Gannett, is being closely watched as a signpost for the future of other newspapers at a time of great transformation, anxiety and uncertainty within the industry. The newspaper industry is on the defensive, with circulation stagnant, advertising dollars migrating to the Internet and newsrooms reducing their work forces to save costs.Given all that, it may be hard to believe that newspapers are actually profitable, but they are. And Knight Ridder is among the most profitable. Wow!So newspapers do make money after all! --->NYT