Big announcements from The Macomb Daily's parent company

The Macomb Daily's parent company, Digital First Media, made two big announcements this morning.

First, a merger of the two media groups under the DFM umbrella is now final, making The Macomb Daily (along with The Oakland Press and the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun) part of the second-largest newspaper company in America.

Second, DFM, based in New York City, has named Don Wyatt, a Swartz Creek native and a Michigan State University Journalism School grad, as the new Vice President of News for the Michigan Group, which includes the three daily papers mentioned above and numerous smaller papers across the state such as those in the News-Herald chain, which covers the Downriver area and Washtenaw County.

Wyatt

Wyatt, 54, who started his newspaper career at the Lansing State Journal and The Detroit News, will succeed Glenn Gilbert, who is retiring in January.

Here are the press releases that officially unveiled the two announcements: 

MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media Transaction Has Been Finalized

Newly Combined Company To Be Branded as Digital First Media

New York, N.Y. – Digital First Media today announced the MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media combination has been finalized and that the two Companies will operate under the Digital First Media name.

The transaction, first announced on December 17, brings together the two companies jointly managed by Digital First Media under one name.

The newly combined company has approximately $1.3 billion in annual revenues with more than 800 multi-platform products and a monthly audience of more than 67 million Americans. As the nation’s second largest newspaper company, Digital First Media is among the largest providers of digital news and information in the United States.

"This is an important moment for our Company and positions us to accelerate our growth under a single and innovative brand," said John Paton, Chief Executive Officer of Digital First Media.

Digital First Media Names

Don Wyatt Vice President

of News for Michigan Group

New York, N.Y. – Digital First Media today named Don Wyatt Vice President of News for the Company’s Michigan group – including the Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, the Morning Sun, and affiliated weekly publications. Mr. Wyatt succeeds Glenn Gilbert, who is retiring in January.

“I am thrilled Don Wyatt will be joining us to continue the digital transformation of Digital First Media’s Michigan newsroom that Glenn Gilbert led so masterfully in recent years,” said Jim Brady, Digital First Media’s Editor-in-Chief. “Coverage of our local communities remains Job No. 1 for us, but we must continue to expand our efforts to serve local readers in print, on the web, on mobile and on whatever new platforms develop in coming years. We feel confident that Don is the right person to handle that significant challenge.”

Mr. Wyatt, who recently served as Senior Regional Editor for Patch.com in Michigan and several states in the Midwest, was raised in Detroit and Swartz Creek, Michigan. He graduated with a degree in Journalism from Michigan State University and started his career at the Lansing State Journal before joining The Detroit News.

“I have led news teams covering communities in southeastern Michigan so I’m familiar with the area’s cities and counties. I understand the issues, what is important, and already have relationships with area residents and officials,” said Mr. Wyatt. “I am eager to get to know Michigan’s Digital First Media team, our readers and our business partners. This is an exciting time in journalism and an exciting time in Michigan. I can’t wait to get started.”

Mr. Wyatt has led daily newsrooms in Springfield, Mo. And Duluth, Minn. and was a senior editor at the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn. He also previously worked at USA Today and The Boston Globe. In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Mr. Wyatt is a graduate of the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“I am excited that we have someone of Don’s caliber joining our leadership team. He brings a wealth of digital experience that will help grow our audience,” said Jim O’Rourke, Digital First Media’s Michigan Group Publisher. “With the retirement of Glenn Gilbert – one of the best partners I’ve had in my career – we are confident Don will continue to build on the work we have started.”

Mr. Wyatt lives in Hadley with his wife, Roxanne, who is a speech and language pathologist in the Lapeer Community Schools. Mr. Wyatt and his wife have two sons: Dylan, 20, is a medical student at the University of Missouri Kansas City, and Sawyer, 17, is a senior at St. Paul Lutheran High School in Concordia, Mo.

Got a Facebook friend request from Grandma? Don't be surprised

Kids started groaning years ago when they found that their parents -- OMG! -- had invaded their Facebook space. 
Now it's worse: Grandma is out there in FB cyberspace.

Here's a portion of a story from The Washington Post about the big uptick in seniors using Facebook:

 

By Hayley Tsukayama

The Washington Post

This is not your father’s Facebook. It’s your grandfather’s.

New data from the Pew Center for Internet and American Life released Monday show that Facebook’s strongest growth over the past year has come from users over the age of 65, as more older users sign onto the site to keep in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren.
The survey found that 45 percent of American seniors who use the Internet are on Facebook, up from 35 percent the previous year.

Use among teens, however, has stagnated at 84 percent. That’s in keeping with growing concern that Facebook is seeing lower engagement with the younger users that drove its early popularity, something that the company has acknowledged itself in an earnings call this year.
Facebook may be a victim of its own success after nearly ten years as the country’s leading social network, said Pew senior researcher Aaron Smith.
“It’s hard to get more than 85 percent of anyone doing anything,” he said. “A lot of the easy converts in the younger group, or even in the older and middle-aged group, are already on the site. The senior group is the only area that has any substantial area for growth.”

Facebook is seeing an uptick in teen use on Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, indicating that it’s far from being down for the count.
Still, a stagnating teen audience — the percentage of those in the 18-29 age group that use the site fell two percentage points compared with last year — fits in with a recent study from researchers at University College London, which found some British teens at are leaving Facebook because of the influx of older users.
An ethnographic study of 16-18 year olds north of London found teens are opting to use private messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat to communicate with their friends. In many cases, the study said, teens stay on Facebook at the behest of their parents, who have made it a tool for keeping track of their children.

Top news photos of 2013

These are some of the top news photos of the year, as chosen by the Associated Press and Time magazine.

This may be the most haunting photo of the year.

 In late April, activist and photographer Taslima Akhter captured this image of the fire and building collapse that killed more than 1,000 in a Bangladeshi garment factory. Notice the tear-shaped drop of blood coming from the man's left eye.  Although she has spent months trying to learn the names of the victims shown in this unsettling, moving picture, Akhter has been unable to identify them (TIME/photo).

Typhoon Haiyan killed 6,111 people in the Philippines and left 1,779 others missing on November 8,  making the storm, which also left 4.4 million people homeless, one of the deadliest natural disasters in Philippine history. Photographer Philippe Lopez described his photo, above, this way: Clouds gathered in front of the setting sun while along the road residents lit fires to burn the debris left by the typhoon. Momentarily, the devastated landscape took on a strange beauty, and it was just then that this group of women and children appeared on the road. I think people gravitate towards this picture not only because it is visually strong and emotional, but also because, in a way, it draws on some viewers' own faith.  (Philippe Lopez--TIME—AFP/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama looks to see if it is still raining as a Marine holds an umbrella for him during his joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not pictured, Thursday, May 16, 2013, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Two grief-stricken men in Cairo, Egypt, carry a dead young man who was shot in the head on July 27, 2013, as supporters of President Morsi clashed with military forces. Photographer Mosa'ab Elshamy described for TIME the scene: I rushed to Rabaa Adaweya square shortly after midnight on July 27th after hearing that security forces were attacking Morsi supporters who had been camped there for two months. Throughout the night I would alternate between the front-line, the makeshift hospital and a room where dead were kept, documenting a level of brute violence and horror I hadn't witnessed until that night. There was a constant stream of ambulances and motorbikes in the camp. The sound of 

sirens and panicked shouts mixed with that of live ammunition, and the 

air was filled with tear gas and black smoke.
(Mosa'ab Elshamy—Anadolu Agency--TIME)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, applauds as the members of the ‘Malala Day’ Youth Assembly wish Malala Yousafzai, center, a happy birthday, Friday, July 12, 2013 at United Nations headquarters. Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting education for girls, celebrated her 16th birthday by addressing the United Nations. The U.N. has declared July 12 "Malala Day," to honor the teen who returned to school in March after extensive medical treatment in Britain for injuries suffered in the October attack. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

An Egyptian soccer fan of Al-Ahly club displays scales of justice to fans celebrating a court verdict that returned 21 death penalties in last years soccer violence. The photo was taken inside the club premises in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, after at least 8 people died in the Mediterranean city. A judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Ahmed Ramadan)

 

First lady Michelle Obama pretends to dance to music as she arrives to speak in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, at a workshop for high school students from Washington, New York and Boston about careers in film. Film and musical theater composer and pianist Alan Menken performed a medley of his music before the start of the event. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Thania Sayne of Effingham, Ill., leans on the headstone at the grave of her husband, Army Sgt. Timothy D. Sayne, during the playing of taps at a nearby burial service at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day before what would have been their third wedding anniversary. Sayne, was 4 months pregnant with their second son, Douglas, when her husband was killed on Sept. 18, 2011, in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In January, the damage from Superstorm Sandy was still evident on the New Jersey shoreline. Parking meters stand out from sand dunes at the Seaside Heights, N.J., amusement park and boardwalk which was devastated by the October 2012 storm.
(Marko Georgiev—The Record of Bergen County/AP)

LaTisha Garcia carries her 8-year-old daughter, Jazmin Rodriguez, near Plaza Towers Elementary School after a massive tornado carved its way through Moore, Okla., May 20, 2013, leaving little of the school and neighborhood. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Firefighters walk along Highway 120 after a burnout operation as firefighters continue to battle the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

 

Michael Kiefer, of DeFuniak Springs, Fla., checks out a display of rifles at the Rock River Arms booth during the 35th annual SHOT Show, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, in Las Vegas. As Congress debates new gun-sale restrictions, purchases of firearms skyrocketed.  (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Former President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with his son, former President George W. Bush during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Dallas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)


 

A Syrian man mourning over a dead body after a monstrous poison gas attack fired by regime forces in Douma town, Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 20, 2013. The Bashar 

Assad regime used outlawed toxins to kill nearly 1,500 civilians,

 including at least 426 children. (AP photo)

Smoke rises from railway cars that were carrying crude oil after derailing in downtown Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada, Saturday, July 6, 2013. A large swath of Lac Megantic was destroyed after a train carrying crude oil derailed, sparking several explosions and forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)

Vladimr Franz, Czech artist and composer and candidate for the Czech presidency, attends a public pre-election debate in Prague, Czech Republic, on Jan. 4, 2013.

(Filip Singer—EPA--TIME)

People pause for a picture while digging out their cars in Boston, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left the New York-to-Boston corridor shrouded in 1 to 3 feet of snow, stranding motorists on highways overnight and piling up drifts so high that some homeowners couldn't get their doors open. More than 650,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the difficulties plaguing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. As Sebelius was peppered with questions from lawmakers, the Obama Administration claimed the botched rollout was the result of contractors failing to live up to expectations – not bad management at HHS. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

 The sun rises in Seaside Heights, N.J., on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, behind the Jet Star Roller Coaster which was sitting in the ocean after part of the Funtown Pier was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy. The private owners of the amusement pier that collapsed in Seaside Heights were working with insurers to devise a plan to dismantle the ride and get it out of the ocean. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

A Free Syrian Army fighter feeds a cat bread in the old city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. The revolution against Syrian President Bashar Assad that began in March 2011, started with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations estimate. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)

        An emergency responder and volunteers, including Carlos Arredondo in the cowboy hat, push Jeff Bauman in a wheel chair after he was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

       Herring worth billions are seen floating dead Tuesday Feb. 5, 2013, in a small fjord in western Iceland, for the second time in two months. Between 25,000 and 30,000 tons of herring died in December 2012 and more in February, due to lack of oxygen in the fjord thought to have been caused by a a nearby landfill. (AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti)

An anti-government protester reaches through the barbed wire and gives a rose to a Thai soldier at the Defense Ministry during a rally in Bangkok Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. Thailand's embattled prime minister begged protesters who have staged the most sustained street rallies in Bangkok in years to call off their demonstrations and negotiate an end to the nation's latest crisis. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A displaced Pakistani girl, Amina Bibi, attends class at a school rebuilt by the Pakistani army, in Tank, a border town in South Waziristan, the Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, March 28, 2013. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

A field of parked cars and trucks sits partially submerged near Greeley, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, as debris-filled rivers flooded into towns and farms miles from the Rockies. Hundreds of roads, farms and businesses in the area were damaged 

or destroyed by the floodwaters. (AP Photo/John Wark)