Jody Calendar is president of Calendar Communications, LLC., a writing and management consulting firm in Tinton Falls, N.J. She was executive editor, Asbury Park Press; managing editor, Bergen Record; and Deputy Director of the National Credibility Roundtable Project. Reach her via e-mail at consultjody@aol.com.

MARTY KAISER, ASNE'S NEW PRESIDENT and editor of the respected Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, couldn't address his colleagues in Chicago this year, but you can bet he'll get out his message through every possible platform.

Ask anyone in his newsroom: Marty keeps it simple and adapts. Go forward. Do great journalism. Be interactive.

The priorities are clear. We must maintain connections to community and understand that investigative and aggressive reporting of local, national and global news are key to democracy.

The rest is in transition.

Multiplatforms are a plus as long as the content is newsroom driven. Papers are being read on Kindle electronic devices and Hearst has just come up with a plan to broaden and adapt to such devices.

The New York Times has established two pilot citizen journalism Web sites in New Jersey and Brooklyn and is moving more and more toward digital work.

The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.; The Record, Hackensack, N.J.; Daily News, New York; Times Union, Albany, N.Y.; and The Buffalo (N.Y.) News have joined forces to produce a more comprehensive news package, a first for fiercely competitive newspapers.

And, despite the shakeouts, the quality is still there.

Look to Milwaukee's report about plastics, Newsday's government corruption coverage, and McClatchy's series on torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Or look to the Chicago Tribune's report about the city's failed global climate promises and a report that exposed flaws in infant car seats. Don't miss The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call's report that showed how a handful of contractors gave more than $100,000 in campaign contributions to a county official and received more than $3 million in no-bid contracts.

It's heart wrenching to watch our brethren fall. “Goodbye Colorado” were the Rocky Mountain News' final words, accompanied by a stunning 21-minute documentary of its own demise."You've Meant the World to Us” was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's final salute in print.

There will soon be a generation that will never know the inky smell of papers hot off the press.

More newspapers will fall and more will follow the Detroit model of reduced home delivery. Most are shrinking in size.

McClatchy Co. said it may not be able to recover $5.3 million owed by newspapers it had sold to companies that have recently filed for Chapter 11 protection and announced 1,600 in employee cuts to keep the Miami Herald and the Sacramento Bee in business.

The Sun-Times Media Group, parent of the Chicago Sun-Times, filed for bankruptcy protection and said it would try to sell some of its assets, which include 59 newspapers.

Gannett Co. announced it is consolidating copy editing and page production operations for four New Jersey newspapers -Asbury Park Press, Home News Tribune, Courier News of Somerville and Daily Record of Parsippany.

The Winston-Salem Journal, the San Antonio Express-News and the Tampa Tribune all continued to cut jobs while The Denver Post laid off six major newsroom managers. The Gannett Community newspaper group has instituted furloughs, and the Times-Shamrock Communications has offered buyouts to employees at four of its northeastern Pennsylvania newspapers.

Yes, reductions abound and disheartened, angry staffs watch their identity and a cherished profession painfully transform.

Still, journalism will prevail. Like veterans of foreign wars, we have made a difference. And like those veterans, each time you look at a symbol of freedom — the Constitution, the Stars and Stripes — you will see the mark of the free press indelibly cast there.

We will not forget our role and nor should the public. To underscore that point, on March 30, the Newseum rededicated its Journalism Memorial with an additional 77 journalists who were killed while on assignment during the past few years.

We forge on. Nothing else would be fitting. *

Other recent movements and developments in our industry ...

Hanke Gratteau, the Chicago Tribune's former managing editor, was named executive director of the John Howard Association of Illinois, a group advocating prison reform.

James Smith, a Pulitzer juror and a recipient of ASNE's Distinguished Writing Award, has just been named executive editor of The Bristol Press and The Herald in New Britain, Conn. He previously served as editor of the Connecticut Post.

Kate Marymounthas been named vice president/news for Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division. She most recently was vice president of Information Center Content in the publishing division. She succeeds Phil Currie.

Jeffrey Couch, editor of the Belleville News-Democrat, has added vice president to his title.

William E.N. Hawkins has moved from executive editor to publisher of The Post and Courier in Charleston.

Ardith Hillard, editor and vice president of the Morning Call for the last seven years, is leaving to spend more time with her family and is being replaced by David M. Erdman, the managing editor.

Jennifer Carroll has been named vice president and senior editor for Gannett's ContentOne Initiative, a new position to improve the way Gannet gathers and delivers news. *