Newspapers

To all those people out there who read their horoscopes religiously every day, scrutinizing every aspect of their lives under the microscope of those five or six lines of type, astrologer Sally Brompton has this word of advice. Darlings . . . you really must get over it. "You can take quite a lot of it seriously, actually, but you can't go mad with it or you would never get out of bed in the morning," said the London- born astrologer with a laugh. "It's not really intended to be a predictive thing, it is really a framework for the future, like a weather map. It provides a series of potentials, it is up to you to make the most of the situation as it exists.

Eight months ago, I retired from a 37-year newspaper career. Since then, I've watched silently at what has transpired in my old business, and my amazement has turned to horror. On a dreary morning in January, I got together with three industry colleagues who are continuing the fight for their publications. Their passion and enthusiasm contrasted with the cold, damp weather, as well as with the bleak forecasts for newspapers. Their voices have not been heard much, but they should be. If nobody reads newspapers anymore, I wonder, why did the governor of Illinois try to silence the Chicago Tribune's editorial writers?

THE Daily News and the Inquirer are the print town criers of the past, present and the future. We the people must step up and continue to give these two informative and thought-inspiring newspapers our support. We must purchase them, and place our ads in them - and continue to place our input in them by answering various editorials with our letters. The newspaper gives us all a chance to read and think. Their words can bring us to every part of the world, they give insight to those who seek public office, and the reader gains the knowledge.

DISCUSSIONS about the grim future of newspapers can sound self-serving when journalists do the talking. But I don't make my living from newspapers - I want them to survive because I'm a reader not a writer. The first problem: Content is old before the ink is dry. Radio, TV and especially the Internet have accelerated that aging process and expose newspapers - both the product and the institution - to competition from more nimble content providers. Second problem: The Internet has also increased the competition among newspapers themselves.

It's a marvelous night for a womb dance . . . Two British tabs have published evidence that they say proves that singer Van Morrison fathered a child out of wedlock with one of his U.S. tour promoters. Morrison flatly denied a relationship with the Texas mother, GiGi Lee , when his own website (which his people claim had been hacked into) published an announcement on Dec. 29, 2009, of the birth of "little Van. " Big Van, 65, instructed his Irish publicist to say that he didn't even know the purported mother, identified incorrectly as "his wife GiGi.

I teach at a high school where the kids are bright, well-informed and politically astute. Most of them, however, think that a newspaper is something you use to clean up after a dog or put beneath an opened can of paint. They get most of their news from the Internet or from cable shows like Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, two forums that hardly existed 10 years ago. This is not altogether a bad thing. For example, this fall I will write college recommendations for about 10 seniors.

Newspaper delivery drivers, clerks, dispatchers, security guards, and building services personnel represented by Teamsters Local 628 voted Sunday to authorize a strike against Interstate General Media, the company that owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Approximately 300 union members are working under the terms of their contract that expired Oct. 8. Talks are expected to continue this week, said the union president, John Laigaie.   - Jane M. Von Bergen  

THE "PUBLIC trust" aspect of newspapers is a bloated, facile and ultimately incoherent basis for running a newspaper. And the new ownership of the Daily News and Inky give us a chance to abandon the idea. In February, I offered some advice to imaginary investors in our papers. The gist: Let the papers compete with each other, prioritize the day's events for readers and dominate the local market. We now have new owners - and they turn out to be people who make that advice sounder than ever.

I love dictionaries. Looking up one word leads the eye to the words before and following, the next, and the next, and before you know it, you have read the meanings of intent. Reading the newspaper has the same effect. Each page offers myriad articles to read and I find myself reading about topics in which I thought I had no interest, from a Mickey Mouse collector to what the Eagles might offer Michael Vick. Would my eye be so captured on a website? Would I continue to expand my understanding of the world if I read only the articles I choose on my iPad?

High school newspapers should be to journalism what Little League is to pro ball - a place and time when young people can feel the purity of expression and the responsibility of teamwork before adult rules and standards take over. But not if adults insist on umpiring from the grandstand. Little Leaguers may dream of one day swinging a bat in the big leagues, but most of them never will. And while every kid working on a high school newspaper harbors a Woodward-and-Bernstein aspiration or two, most of them won't go pro, either.

  Show us your face. That's my solution to the online issue of incivility to which Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie recently fell victim at Philly.com. Vitriolic postings about his recent marriage illustrate the need for media-sponsored websites to implement the same rules that apply to a speaker sounding off in the town's square: Say what you want, but the public gets to see who you are. John Featherman, a Philly.com columnist, reported that as soon as word of Lurie's nuptials to a woman of Vietnamese heritage was published, a blogosphere barrage began.

JACK McBRIDE'S DOOR was always open. Friends, friends of friends, his sons' friends - all were welcome to drop in anytime, check out the refrigerator, have a meal, sleep over if they wanted to. A happy, congenial Irishman, Jack was the kind of guy who always gave of himself, whether it was to his five sons, his cherished grandkids or his many friends. Jack was there with an open door and an open heart. And his grandkids could wrap him around their fingers. They were spoiled rotten by Grandad.

Eight charged in fatal club fire SAO PAULO - Prosecutors have filed charges against eight people in connection with a deadly nightclub fire in southern Brazil that killed 241 people earlier this year. The Jan. 27 fire roared through the crowded, windowless Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria, filling the air with flames and thick, toxic smoke. Police have said the band performing at the club lit a flare, which ignited flammable soundproofing foam on the ceiling, releasing a deadly combination of gases.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican lashed out Saturday at the media for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election. Italian newspapers have been rife with unsourced reports in recent days about the contents of a secret dossier prepared for the pope by three cardinals who investigated the origins of the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents. The reports have suggested the revelations in the dossier, given to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign.

The union representing journalists and other workers at The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com voted Thursday night to approve a two-year contract that cuts wages by 2.5 percent. The vote, at a Center City hotel, was 200-35, according to union officials. It was the culmination of a months-long effort by Interstate General Media L.L.C. to lower its operating costs by wringing concessions out of the 11 unions who represent workers in all departments of the two daily newspapers and the website.

The union representing paper handlers at The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News ratified a new two-year contract Monday after having rejected a tentative agreement Friday. Brian Reice, president of Teamsters Local 169, which represents 23 warehouse employees of Interstate General Media L.L.C., said the initial agreement was rejected based on the wording. After union leaders met with company officials over the weekend, members voted Monday, with 98 percent supporting the agreement, he said.

The union representing mailers at The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News overwhelmingly approved a new two-year labor contract with Interstate General Media L.L.C. Sunday, a company official said. The union representing paper handlers, however, rejected a tentative agreement on Friday. The handlers are scheduled for another vote Monday. Interstate General Media, parent company of The Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com, reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Thursday with the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, largest of its 11 unions, a key step in the company's efforts to return to profitability.

The parent company of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the last and largest of its 11 unions Thursday, a key step in the company's efforts to return to profitability. The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia said it had tentatively agreed to a two-year contract for its 550 members that includes a one-time 2.5 percent across-the-board wage cut but also commits the company to maintaining its current printing schedule for its two daily newspapers in 2013 and 2014.

The Teamsters local at The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News overwhelmingly approved a new two-year labor contract with Interstate General Media that allows for continued publication of the two newspapers, the head of the union, John Laigaie, said Sunday night. Without giving an exact count, Laigaie estimated 98 percent of the members who voted Sunday approved the contract. Local 628, based in Montgomery County, represents about 300 truck drivers, security officers, building service employees, and others.