A paper in Wisconsin puts its focus on the Web, cuts back to two print editions and reaches out to the other paper in town

Jody Calendar is president of Calendar Communications, Inc. in Tinton Falls, N.J. Reach her via e-mail at consultjody@aol.com.

CHANGE SPURS INNOVATION, AND THERE’S a lot of it out there. The Capital Times, a 90-year-old publication in Madison, Wis., took innovation a step further this spring when it stopped publication of its six-day-a-week newspaper.

Instead, the Capital Times now runs a 24/7 online news site and produces two weekly print publications: an 80,000-plus, free edition with a public affairs focus on Wednesdays; and an entertainment and culture publication, 77 Square, that appears Thursdays as an insert in its sister paper, the Wisconsin State Journal.

Editor Paul Fanlund says the experiment is going well. His focus remains basically unchanged, he said, because “the weekly becomes our ‘Sunday’ product in many regards and the Web is our daily newspaper. It is still about getting the best possible content from every journalist."

Both The Capital Times and the State Journal are owned by Lee Enterprises and The Capital Times Co.

Fanlund says the commitment to watchdog journalism is unaffected by the change, although some have more of a wait-and-see attitude.

Despite the naysayers, Fanlund says readers have been supportive, and Web traffic has increased dramatically. He discounts the notion that The Capital Times is one of the first to “kill” the newspaper.

"We have received much attention under headings of ‘killing’ the newspaper, which is not accurate,” Fanlund says. “We still have two much larger circulation weekly print products. The fashionable story has been the ‘death’ of a daily newspaper, a characterization which we reject."

Ellen Foley, editor of the State Journal, agrees and looks forward to working even more closely with The Capital Times.

"As our company, which governs both papers, evolves, I am enjoying more collaboration, more coordinated brainstorming and better teamwork among all journalists and other divisions,” Foley said. “We continue to honor the progressive voice of the Capital Times while moving forward on shared projects.” *

Other recent movements and developments in our industry ...

Marcus Brauchli has resigned as managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, after only 11 months on the job. Robert J. Thomson, who had been publisher, has been named to the managing editor’s post. Thomson also will serve as editor in chief of Dow Jones, acquired by News Corporation in December.

Michael R. Fancher, who served as executive editor of the Seattle Times from 1986 to 2006, has retired as the senior vice president for the Seattle Times Co., effective April 30.

Alfred S. Larkin Jr. , executive vice president of The Boston Globe, also has retired effective June 30.

The Associated Press, the first 24/7 news outlet — is facing challenges. Newspapers certainly made their positions clear to the AP at the ASNE convention about a desire for rate restructuring, and the wire service is rethinking how it assigns and reports news. Michael Oreskes, executive editor of The International Herald Tribune and a veteran of The New York Times, will soon assume the newly created post of managing editor for U.S. News. He will report to Mike Silverman, AP’s senior managing editor, and is one of four managing editors at AP.

In other moves around the country:

Geneva Overholser will replace Michael Parks as director of the journalism school at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California, on July 1. Overholser holds a public affairs reporting chair for the Missouri School of Journalism and is co-editor of the book “The Press as an Institution of Democracy.” Parks, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former editor of the Los Angeles Times, is retiring. Overholser is married to David Westphal, the Washington editor of the McClatchy Washington Bureau and McClatchy Tribune Information Services, who will be named this fall as executive in residence at USC Annenberg.

Kate Marymont, former executive editor and vice president of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., has been promoted to a new role with Gannett, the parent company. Marymont is the vice president of the Information Center content in the company’s U.S. Community Publishing Division. The position was previously held by Jennifer Carroll, an architect of the company’s multimedia Information Center initiative. Carroll has been named vice president of digital content for Gannett Digital.

Pam Fine, a recent ASNE board member, left her post as managing editor of The Indianapolis Star to teach at the University of Kansas. She is a Knight Chair for News, Leadership and Community at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications in Lawrence.

Fred Zipp has been promoted from managing editor to editor of the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman. He succeeds Rich Oppel, 2000-01 ASNE president, who has retired.

Hanke Gratteau, former deputy managing editor of news, has been named managing editor for news at the Chicago Tribune, replacing George de Lama, who resigned. Gratteau was a former assistant to columnist Mike Royko.

And sadly, as in every column, we say farewell to old friends: Robert Brown, former owner and editor of Editor & Publisher; Edward D. Casey, former executive editor of The Capital, Annapolis, Md.; Jack Coffman, a former reporter and editor for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune; George A. Killenberg, retired, longtime editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat; John Prescott, former president of The Washington Post; and, ASNE member Rich Somerville, managing editor, Times-Standard, Eureka, Calif.