Tierney says 10% cuts necessary at Philly dailies
Brian Tierney, one of the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, called a meeting with the heads of the union to discuss the impact of the current economy concluding the papers have to shave costs by 10% in order to meet debt repayments.

Company executives intend to meet one-on-one with each union to discuss ways in which savings might be achieved.

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Contest seeking pet 'superstars' helps Valley Independent NIE program
Pet lovers now have the opportunity to show off their furry friends and help The (Monessen) Valley Independent's Newspapers in Education program by participating in the "2008 Pet Superstar" contest.

Each week, 11,000 students from the Valley benefit from the NIE program. Those who support the NIE program provide newspapers for students in the Belle Vernon Area, California Area, Charleroi Area, Elizabeth-Forward, Frazier, Monessen and Ringgold school districts.

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Philly papers to raise newsstand prices
Philadelphia's major newspapers are raising their prices in February.

Monday through Saturday, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News will cost 75 cents a copy starting Feb. 4. The Inquirer now sells for 50 cents and the Daily News for 60 cents. The Sunday Inquirer will cost $1.75, up from $1.50 now.

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Advance Internet selects Caspio Bridge database platform for news sites newspapers
On Jan. 22 Caspio, Inc., provider of the leading on-demand platform for Web applications, announced a customer relationship with Advance Internet. Advance Internet owns and operates 10 regional Web sites, including PennLive.

Following highly-successful rollouts on cleveland.com, OregonLive.com and MLive.com, Advance Internet is adopting Caspio Bridge as its standard Web database and application building platform for its news sites.

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PhillyBurbs.com, two other Calkins sites join Real Cities Network
The Real Cities Network further deepened its penetration in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets with the addition of three Calkins Media sites, announced on Jan. 22. A corporate partnership between the two companies brings PhillyBurbs.com, TimesOnline.com and HeraldStandard.com into the network.

The Real Cities Network consists of approximately 1,600 local news Web sites, reaching more than 38 million monthly unique visitors (Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, December 2007) and offering advertisers an easy outlet for one-stop national buys in lucrative local markets across the country.

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PASSOPENRECORDS.ORG: Blog for open records!

Beaver County Times: Debate continues over open records

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For more open records editorials, visit: passopenrecords.org

From the Legal Hotline:
The county commissioners have sent termination letters informing several county employees their jobs will be eliminated or they will be terminated. Nothing was mentioned at the last public meeting and the commissioners deny having held an executive session. Can they do this?

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Use this link to visit the PNA Legal Department's archive of "From the Legal Hotline" columns.  

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Government Affairs Conference
Jan. 30-31
The Hilton Harrisburg & Towers, Harrisburg
Steve Crawford, Secretary of Legislative Affairs, is scheduled to speak about Gov. Rendell’s energy and health care plans at the opening luncheon on Jan. 31. With the Governor saying he’ll fight re-election of Republicans who oppose his health care plan, this promises to be a lively discussion.

Take advantage of this and other opportunities throughout the conference including panel discussions with the House and Senate leaders. Invite your legislators to join you at a reception and talk one-on-one in a relaxing setting. Full-time registration is an economical $149 with part-time options available, also, starting at just $39.

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America East Newspaper Operations and Technology Conference
March 10-12
The Hershey Lodge and Convention Center
Hershey, Pa.
Are you considering implementing an e-solution? Concerned about advertiser reaction? Wonder how to integrate into a current working system and change customer habits?

Join us on March 11 for "Improving Advertising Customer Service with the Internet: Utilizing E-Proofing and E-Tearsheets." Learn firsthand how newspapers have implemented e-proofing and e-tearsheets, including customer reactions good and bad, issues overcome and current success stories. Panelists from the Erie Times-News and The (Allentown) Morning Call will share their experiences from the ad production and systems analyst sides. An advertiser has been invited to comment also.

This and many other valuable sessions are being offered at America East. Visit more than 120 exhibitors for as little as $29. Various registration options are available to meet your needs.

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PNA Foundation launches 'Pay It Forward' campaign

The PNA Foundation recently hosted three well-attended focus groups across Pennsylvania to launch the Pennsylvania Newspapers Pay It Forward campaign. Representatives from more than 50 newspapers had the chance to learn about the details of the program and ask questions. One lucky attendee from each focus group won $250 in seed money from the PNA Foundation to kick-start their Pay It Forward initiative.

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Networking reception: Create new partnerships, seize new opportunities
Please join us for a mixer to bring together Pennsylvania newspaper professionals and journalism students and advisers for an evening of networking hosted by the PNA Foundation and selected Pennsylvania college newspapers. Here are four networking opportunities:

Thursday, Feb. 28
PNA headquarters, Harrisburg
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Tuesday, April 1
Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia
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Wednesday, April 9
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana
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Thursday, April 10
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, Mansfield
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March 27: Online Streetfighter Workshop
Hey, ad reps! Learn how to maximize your online ad revenue from Mike Blinder, a worldwide online sales guru.

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April 10: PSNE Weekly Renewal Workshop
Weeklies aren't dailies, so why report the same way? Celebrate the differences and make your weekly shine.

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Appeals court applies 'single publication rule' to Internet
The "single publication rule," which holds that the statute of limitations for libel begins when a defamatory statement is first published, applies to publications on the Internet, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Dallas (5th Cir.) ruled last month.

According to the judges, newspaper Web sites should be treated like the print version for publication date purposes.

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2007 sets a new record for online readership
More people read newspapers online in 2007 than in the previous year, setting a record, according to the latest data from the Newspaper Association of America. The organization reported that 60 million people visited an online newspaper last year, compared with 56.4 million in 2006 -- a 6.3% increase in unique audience.

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Building Web traffic through 'search engine optimization'
As newspapers continue along in 2008, only one major aspect of the industry will surely show true growth this year: online ad revenue. Topping publishers' New Year's resolutions was wringing as much money as possible out of the Web. This, of course, largely hinges on traffic.

There are many ways to goose the numbers, including the addition of video, podcasts, and blogs, not to mention breaking stories and providing intelligent commentary. But publishers are also quietly tweaking content -- under the hood, that is -- to make stories place higher in search-engine results. This strategy entails crafting headlines and ledes in certain ways to ensure that search-engine crawlers lock onto certain words, for better search-engine results.

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