greylocknews

SVC convenes May 5 strategy session on regional media center

BENNINGTON, Vt. -- Southern Vermont College is convening a day-long seminar on Saturday, May 5, to consider how the school might foster establishing a "center for community media," according to David Scribner, a spokesman and journalism teacher for the small private college. Scribner discusses the event with Media Giraffe Project Editor Bill Densmore in a 29-minute broadcast inteview aired on WBTN, 1370 AM, the college's community radio station.

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For details, go to: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/bennington/invitation.pdf . . . the event is by-invitation-only because of space limitations. To seek an invitation, email Scribner at dscribner@svc.edu .

Public invited to film, photo, web, 3D tech session at MGRHS

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The representative of a new initiative at Boston University is making a presentation on Monday April 2 at Mount Greylock Regional High School on advances in the use of digital-media in filmmaking, photography, animation, game design, graphics and studio recording. The presentation by Bill Chenaille, of BU's Center for Digital Imaging Arts will give a multimedia presentation from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. that is free and open to the public.

The presentation was scheduled by Michael J. Powers, M.Ed., the instructional-technology specialist at the regional high school as part of an effort to update the community on career options in digital media. Powres can be reached at 413-458-9592 ext. 142, or home: 802-447-1754 or Michael_J_Powers@comcast.net.

WFCR, Five College Radio, activates additional transmitter at 96.3 in Williamstown

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Five College Radio, the NPR-affiliated FM station operated by the University of Massachusetts, said today it has activated a "translator" from a location in Williamstown which will improve its signal strength in northern Berkshire County and nearby Vermont. The translator is broadcasting at 96.3 FM. Details: http://greylocknews.blogspot.com/2007/02/statement-wfcr-now-on-air-in.html

Greylock Citizens Media Collaborative meeting draws 21 people to Williamstown library

Citizen-run radio stations in the Berkshires and southwestern Vermont may soon begin trading audio files over the Internet to enhance their programming, and Southern Vermont College is considering filing a grant application to establish a regional community media center, a group was told on Wednesday night.  A total of 21 people gathered for a meeting of the fledgling Greylock Citizens Media Collaborative (GCMC) at the Williamstown Public library.    /  EARLIER STORY / GREYLOCK CITIZEN MEDIA COLLABORATIVE HOME PAGE

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MediaNews papers try blogging for Massachusetts primaries

UPDATE: Christopher Marcisz' first post of the night is up at 6:20 p.m.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The MediaNews Group Inc. newspapers in Berkshire County -- The Berkshire Eagle, North Adams Transcript and Advocate weekly -- have joined the blogging world. Eagle Managing Editor Kevin Moran has posted at this URL: http://blogtheberkshires.com/abovethefold/
. . .  inviting readers to bookmark the location for primary-night coverage updated at least every 30 minutes.

Citizen media collaborative targets comprehensive calendar

WILLIAMSTOWN -- In what was billed as a brainstorming session, citizens seeking to improve local news coverage and community information exchange targetted creation of an online database-driven events calendar as their first project and explored ideas about group collaboration and funding.  The 75-minute meeting held Wed., Aug. 2, at the Williamstown Public Library, drew 17 "citizen journalists" and was organized by a group of conveners that included a former chamber of commerce adminstrator, local newspaper reporter and onetime co-publisher of The [Williamstown] Advocate regional newsweekly, Bill Densmore. Densmore, who now heads the Media Giraffe Project at UMass Amherst, described the group as the Greylock Citizen/Media Collaborative (GCMC).

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Parent of Eagle, Transcript, Banner, Advocate reports loss in SEC posting

Denver Post parent posts loss
Denver Business Journal, CO - 4 hours ago

MediaNews Group Inc. reported a net loss of $3.6 million for the quarter ending March 31 -- down from a net income of $2.3 million for the same time last year, according to the Denver Business Journal. Media News is in the process of acquiring three California papers and the St. Paul [Minn.] Pioneer Press as part of the breakup of Knight Ridder Corp.  MediaNews Group is the parent of New England Newspapers Inc., which owns The Berkshire Eagle, The Bennington Banner, the North Adams Transcript and The Advocate newsweekly. 

The disclosure is contained in a Form 10-Q filing made by MediaNews on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although MediaNews is not a "public" company in the sense of having stock floating in public markets, it is required to file its results publicly because of other aspects of its complicated debt and ownership structure.  If it completes the Knight Ridder purchases, it will become the nation's fourth-largest newspaper chain in terms of daily circulation.  The company disclosed that it had $877 million in long-term debt as of March 31, as against $1.4 billion in assets, and $41 million in shareholders equity.  The operating loss for the nine months ended March 31 was $16.4 million, compared with an operating gain of $16.7 million for the same nine months a year earlier.

The 10-Q makes interesting reading if you like the intellectual exercise of trying to understand multifaceted financing. MediaNews for several years has been in partnerships to own papers with Gannett Co. Inc., the nation's No. 1 newspaper publisher. At one time its Denver Post was part owned by another newspaper chain, and in its deal to purchase Knight Ridder assets, the 10-Q discloses, The Hearst Corp. is going to take an equity stake in MediaNews. Hearst publishes newspapers and magazines. In the San Francisco Bay area, some media watchers, including Bruce Brugman, publisher of the weekly Bay Guardian, are seeking antitrust scrutiny of the deal because Hearst owns the San Francisco Chronicle -- the only big Bay Area daily that would NOT be owned by Media News.  Hearst also owns the Albany Times Union, so the T-U  would now have an indirect ownership relationship with The Eagle et al.

Pittsfield Gazette weekly launches website for the Berkshires largest city

The Pittsfield Gazette, a decade-old weekly newspaper for Berkshire County's largest city, has launched a website. Local owner Jonathan Levine says the site -- which is blog-like and includes photos -- will gradually add features.  The URL is:   www.pittsfieldgazette.com.  Levine's website adds to the mix of resources available in Berkshire County on the web, including www.iberkshires.com and the blog of former Berkshire Eagle Editor David Scribner -- www.scribbyworld.com

Berkshire Eagle reported circulation dropped more than 15% in two years

Reported circulation of The Berkshire Eagle dropped more than 15% in a little over two years. An article on the website of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Sunday the circulation of The Berkshire Eagle as of March 31, 2005 as 27,187 daily copies. In early 2003, the figure cited was over 32,000.

When politicians exchange email and post to blogs do they violate open-meeting laws?

A North Adams, Mass., law firm has provided an advisory letter to the city councilor in the community of 14,000 residents, essentially say they do not violate the Massachusetts Open Meeting Act when they exchange posts on weblogs. Attorney John B. DeRosa writes in a Feb. 24, 2006 letter that so long as the the exchanges are not deliberative and are not executed with the intent of circumventing the law, they are probably lawful.  The letter is significant because open-meeting laws in most states were written before popular use of the Internet and there has been little case law on the subject. The North Adams Transcript covered the letter and issue.

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