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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Energy industry rally vs. green jobs tour

The often raucous health-care reform town halls may have grabbed a lot of attention, but both sides of the debate over climate-change legislation pending in Washington are ramping up their own PR machines.

On Thursday, a group called Energy Citizens will hold a rally for jobs and affordable energy in Chester. It is one of 19 stops for this dog and pony show, which started in Houston Aug. 18.

Organizers say the goal is to give “voice to Americans’ concerns” about the impact that cap-and-trade legislation, passed by the House of Representatives in June, would have on jobs and businesses.

So now you know how the energy-industrial complex spent its summer.

The “energy” in the group’s name comes from many of the organizations behind the PR campaign: the American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the Mid Atlantic Petroleum Distributors’ Association.

But all sorts of business lobbying groups are involved, including the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry, the Pennsylvania Coal Association, even the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

Together, they’re expending a lot of energy and money to counter a 22-state “Made in America” jobs tour organized by the Alliance for Climate Protection, the climate-change group started by Al Gore, and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between labor unions and environmental groups. They’re on tour now and expected to stop in Philadelphia later this month.

And you thought it wasn’t an election year.

Next chapter

The Reader’s Digest version of the iconic magazine’s current financial state is that its parent company is in bankruptcy.

There’s a lot of that going around in the publishing world.

But Peggy Northrop, editor-in-chief of Reader’s Digest, said she’s confident that the prepackaged bankruptcy filing will enable the Pleasantville, N.Y., publisher of 94 magazines to emerge quickly with a lot less leverage on its back.

Raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of Washington, Pa., Northrop comes from a publishing family that has owned and run the Observer-Reporter newspaper for generations.

Having piled up the accolades for her revamping of More magazine, aimed at women over 40, Northrop was hired in November 2007 to shake up Reader’s Digest.

It worked. Reader’s Digest won the top award for magazines over 2 million in circulation in April - its first win in the 44 years the American Society of Magazine Editors has been issuing the awards.

Since then, there has been less to celebrate. The magazine cut its circulation guarantee to advertisers to 5.5 million from 8 million. Once monthly, Reader’s Digest’s frequency was cut to 10 issues a year.

Yesterday, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that Reader’s Digest lost 3.4 percent of its circulation for the first half of 2009. Its circulation is still above 8 million.

The Internet is a disruptive technology that’s changing so many business models, including publishing. But Northrop contends that at its start in the 1920s, Reader’s Digest gained its own reputation as a disruptive force, aggregating and condensing books and articles.

It’s a point of pride with her the phrase “Reader’s Digest version” retains its power in the era of Wikipedia, which offers online Reader’s Digest versions of so many topics. “We need to own that phrase again,” she said.

And no, “Bellylaughs from Bankruptcy Court” will not be added to “Humor in Uniform” as regular feature.
 
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 5:45 AM  Permalink | File Under: Energy, Utilities | | Politics, Taxes | 1 comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
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