Tribune Co. Slashing Workforce by 6 Percent

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The Los Angeles Times today reported that its parent, Chicago-based Tribune Co., is pink-slipping 6 percent of its workforce, 700 jobs, over the next year to offset plunging advertising revenues among its eight-newspapers.

As part of the cost-savings, the Times article said functions, such as advertising and circulation, will be centralized and consolidated, rather than managed at each individual newspaper. The Tribune Co. has been shopping its newspaper holdings, which include the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun and flagship Chicago Tribune, as it shifts its emphasis to its broadcasting stable(see "TUOL" posts 9/27/13 & 7/10/13).

The Times article said most of the layoffs will involve non-editorial positions. The planned reductions are a response to print revenues that dropped almost $200 million over the past two years and are down $62 million over the first three-quarters of 2013, according to the Times article.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Pares Staff; Will Be Printed by Dallas Morning News

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McClatchy Co.-owned Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is slashing its workforce by 275 and will be printed by The Dallas Morning News beginning in the First Quarter of 2014, the Dallas Business Journal reported today.

Seventy-five full-time and 200 part-time staffers are being trimmed by the Star-Telegram, and will be eligible for benefits and severance pay. The Morning News may hire a dozen workers to handle the extra printing load, the Business Journal reported.

The two Texas dailies have shared editorial content in recent years.

Slamming the Gate[House] on Times Herald-Record; Photo Dept. Axed

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When private equity manager Fortress Investment Group, LLC, the majority owner of GateHouse Media, Inc., wrested the Dow Jones Local Media Group ("DJLMG") passel of newspapers from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (see "TUOL" post 9/4/13), it generated uneasiness about job reductions chainwide, particularly in light of GateHouse itself being in the throes of a structured bankruptcy (see "TUOL" post 3/27/13).

Well, as Romanesko.com reports today, the shoe has dropped, or more aptly, the camera has hit the floor and smashed.  The Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record, the flagship daily among the 33 papers in the DJLMG, has pink-slipped its four-member photography department--collectively, almost 100 years of photojournalism experience--and will rely on freelancers, according to Romanesko.

The Herald-Record also axed three newsroom managers, including an editor whose tenure at the daily exceeded 40 years. The Middletown daily wasn't the only newspaper feeling the pain as journalism professor Dan Kennedy's Media Nation blog reported that seven full-time and ten part-time staffers in GateHouse's Cape Cod Media Group were also let go. Publisher Peter Meyer's letter to staffers did not identify which employees were terminated.

The SouthCoast Media Group, also part of the unhappy GateHouse family, axed four full-time and four part-time staffers. The New Bedford (Mass.) Standard Times is the best-known publication in that group. (No)Thanksgiving came early this year.

Citizen Journalism Takes a Hit in Denver After Post Layoffs

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About a third of the staff of YourHub, the citizen journalism oasis of The Denver Post, has been laid off, Editor Greg Moore confirmed.

As reported initially by the Blogs.westward.com blog, the Post is pink-slipping a digital photo editor and five YourHub community managers in a cost-savings move. The Rocky Mountain News launched YourHub in 2005 and shepherded it until 2009.

YourHub will continue on in a more streamlined fashion after the 29 percent reduction in staff, the Post confirmed.

Westchester Daily Cuts 11% of Staff; Gannett Paper Trimming Approaching 300 Jobs

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Gannett Co.-owned The (Westchester) Journal News has laid off 11 percent of its staff, eliminating 26 jobs, as Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division's blood-letting nears 300 workers pink-slipped, the Gannett Blog (Gannettblog.blogspot.com) reported today.

Seventeen of the Journal News employees terminated worked in the newsroom, reducing the daily's total workforce to 206. Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, has been tight-lipped about the latest round of staff reductions, but the Gannett Blog tally is roughly 280 jobs lost across 45 sites. Even the Gannett Government Media division was not spared, as the Army Times drummed 17 staffers off the premises last month.

The U.S. Community Publishing division employs about 18,000. The latest round of layoffs is the company's most severe since June 2011.

Plain Dealer Dealing Less to Clevelanders; Massive Layoffs & Reduced Home Delivery

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Cleveland, Ohio's second largest city and the nation's 45th largest city, deserves better.

New York-based Advance Publications yesterday pink-slipped 50 newsroom employees at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, one-third of its editorial workforce, as the daily prepares next week to reduce home delivery to four days a week, according to reports by the Associated Press and Crain's Cleveland Business.

Last year, the Plain Dealer slashed its newsroom personnel by a third, from 168 to 110 employees (see "TUOL" post 12/7/12). Business Editor Randy Roguski was among the Newspaper Guild member photogs, page designers and reporters who received a fateful phone call yesterday cutting them loose. The paper plans to publish a six-page supplement this Sunday outlining proposed changes, according to Crain's.

Among those changes will be home delivery of the paper only on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some of the staffers laid off may re-apply for jobs with the Northeast Ohio Media Group, a new digital-emphasizing entity responsible for providing content for Cleveland.com and for handling the Plain Dealer's marketing and ad sales.

The AP article reports the Plain Dealer's weekday circulation is roughly 286,000.

SouthComm Pulls the Plug on Nashville's The City Paper

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A 13-year-old free Nashville news weekly will disappear after its Aug. 9 edition because of sagging advertising revenues, the publication's owner told staffers today.

SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell said some staffers of The City Paper would be laid off, while others would be absorbed by the  chain's other papers, Nashville Scene and Nashville Post. The City Paper began as a weekday daily in 2000 and was acquired by SouthComm in 2008.

Canada Dry: Sun Media Corp. Shuttering 11 Newspapers; Axing 360 Jobs

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Earlier this month, Quebecor, Inc.-owned Sun Media Corp. announced 360 staffers would be pink-slipped as the media conglomerate decided to close 11 newspapers as the industry continues its hopeful march to digital salvation in the wake of declining print advertising and eroding circulation.

Bloomberg News reported that eight newspapers in Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario will fall by the wayside, along with editions of the free city paper, 24 Hours, in Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa. The company hopes to realize a savings of 53 million dollars Canadian ($55 million) by the move, which Sun Media COO Julie Tremblay insists was necessary to remain competitive.

Less than a year ago, Sun Media slashed 500 jobs and turned off the lights at two Ontario production facilities, according to Bloomberg News.

Star-Ledger Gives a N.J. 'Or Else' Ultimatum to Unions

Unless it exacts more than $9 million in concessions from unions, Advance Publications-owned The (Newark) Star-Ledger, the Garden State's largest newspaper and the nation's 16th largest daily, will cease publication by the end of 2013, Publisher Richard Vezza warned staffers in a letter this week.

Vezza said the Star-Ledger expects at least to match last year's $19.8 million in losses in 2013. His letter sets a Sept. 27 deadline to reach a settlement with unions that would involve their giving up the roughly $9 million the daily claims it could bank through outsourcing. Blaming sagging ad revenues and declining circulation that have plagued newspapers industry-wide, as well as the unique devastation wreaked on the N.J. economy by Hurricane Sandy, the Star-Ledger earlier this year shrank its newsroom workforce by 10 percent by slashing 34 jobs (see "TUOL" post 1/18/13).

Advance Publications is privately held by the Newhouse family and is not required to disclose publicly its earnings figures. The Star-Ledger (the household paper with which the devoted staff of "TUOL" grew up) has a daily circulation of more than 340,000, 160,000 of whom are digital subscribers, and a Sunday readership of more than 432,000, 140,000 of those being online viewers.

Management previously employed The Sopranos-like "or else" negotiating tactics in 2008 to win buyouts and concessions from drivers and mailers unions in 2008. Editorial staffers in the Star-Ledger newsroom are not unionized.

Oregonian Reportedly Slashes Quarter of Its Staff; Reduces Home Delivery

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Ninety-five employees, including 45 newsroom staffers, are being pink-slipped at the Advance Publications, Inc.-owned The Oregonian, according to a report by Willamette Week. The layoffs amount to nearly 25 percent of the newsroom's 175 employees.

Among those who lost their jobs are environmental reporter Scott Learn, home & gardens writer Bridget Otto and editorial columnist David Sarasohn, according to the Willamette Week article. The Oregonian is shifting its emphasis to its digital edition, paring back home delivery of its paper version to four days a week--Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Reportedly, Oregonian Publisher N. Christian Anderson informed staffers in a letter that as of October 1, the company will launch Oregonian Media Group ("OMG") to handle print and digital content, along with marketing, while another entity, Advance Central Services Oregon, will oversee human resources, IT, production, distribution and finance for OMG.

Cower of London: Times Slashes 20 Editorial Positions

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Shrinking circulation and vanishing ad revenues apparently are a problem across the pond, too, as the News Corp.-owned Times of London announced 20 editorial staffers are being pink-slipped, according to a story in The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk).

Citing the scheduled end-of-the-month break-up by News Corp. of its newspaper, book publishing, television and film entities into two separate companies, acting Times Editor John Witherow warned that News International, publisher of the Times and Sunday Times, no longer can rely on receiving subsidies from better-performing media outlets, such as the tabloid Sun with its daily page 3 pinup of topless young women, according to The Guardian article. 

The layoffs will reduce the Times editorial staff by just under 10 percent. Witherow dismissed talk of any merger of the editorial staffs of the Times and Sunday Times. Times' newspapers sustained total losses of 28.7 million pounds ($44,760,993) for the fiscal year ending July 1, 2012, compared to a year earlier, when red ink added up to 11.8 million pounds ($18,408,120).

Roughly a hundred editorial positions were eliminated in 2011 by the Times and Sunday Times combined.

An Insult to the Memory of 'The Front Page'

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The tabloid Chicago Sun-Times has eliminated its entire photography department staff and will rely on freelancers and reporters with smartphones to provide images and video content, rival Chicago Tribune reported today.

Between 20 and 30 Sun-Times staffers will be pink-slipped. The economic bottom-line decision to shut down the photography department is a slap in the face to former Pulitzer Prize-winning Sun-Times photographers such as John J. Kim, John H. White and countless others.

Since 2012, the Sun-Times editorial page editors decided not to endorse political candidates, the paper shuttered its suburban bureaus and is being printed by the Tribune. At some point, you have to decide if you still want to be a newspaper and an important voice in the community or just a revenue-generating advertiser.

The former Chicago-dwelling staff of "TUOL" recalls a Sun-Times that featured Mike Royko, Roger Simon, Roger Ebert and lesser-known, but highly skilled reporters and photographers, and is deeply saddened to see what the tabloid has become.

NY Tabloid Doles Out Dozen-Plus Pink Slips

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Although the New York Daily News would not confirm the story, capitalnewyork.com reported today that as many as 15 staffers were laid off by the tabloid, including long-time gossip columnist Joanna Molloy.

The Daily News, the nation's fifth most widely read newspaper with a combined  average digital and print daily circulation of 516,165, reportedly told the terminated editorial staffers that the move was part of the paper's "restructuring" that will emphasize digital news, according to the capitalnewyork.com article.

Molloy teamed with husband George Rush to write the tabloid's popular Rush & Molloy gossip column for 15 years before Rush accepted a voluntary buyout from the daily in 2010. Others reportedly pink-slipped include columnist Albor Ruiz, reporters Robert Gearty and Christina Boyle and editorial writers Stephen McFarland and Alexander Nazaryan, who also worte the News' blog about books.

Advance Publications Still in Retreat

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After slashing 20 jobs last January, the Advance Publications-owned (Easton, Pa.) Express-Times has eliminated another dozen full-time slots, the Associated Press reports.

The daily's Publisher and President, Lou Stancampiano, relayed the discouraging news comes as the paper eliminates its production department, shifting the printing duties to the Staten Island Advance, which will truck the daily to the Express-Times facility. The paper will continue to publish daily for now, Stancampiano confirmed.

The Newhouse family-owned Advance Publications newspapers, including the (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, went through a round of massive layoffs in January in the face of withering circulation and shrinking ad revenues (see "TUOL" post 1/18/13).

Atlantic City Concessions: Daily Slashes 15 Percent of Workforce

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The daily Press of Atlantic City pink-slipped 26 staffers this week and will not fill 13 vacant slots, the paper announced.

The daily is reducing its workforce by 15 percent as it trolls for a buyer. Current owner Abarta, Inc. of Pittsburgh, The Press' owner for 60 years, plans to unload The Press Media Group. Publisher James W. Hopson said the terminated employees will receive severance, outplacement assistance and counseling.

The paper, New Jersey's fourth-largest daily, has a daily circulation of roughly 70,000.

Sporting News Flirts with U.K. Digital Rights Co. While Paring Staff

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The American City Business Journals Inc. ("ACBJ")-owned Sporting News is teaming up with U.K. digital rights company, Perform, on a near-$6 million venture based in New York, Reuters wire service reported today.

Meanwhile, The Sporting News, a 127-year-old brand that in its print magazine incarnation was known as the "Bible of Baseball" before it expanded its coverage to other sports in the 1960s, is slashing its budget, reportedly trimming a dozen editorial slots, according to Thebiglead.com Web site.  Among the prominent sports journalists axed were former New York Times reporter Clifton Brown, soccer writer Brian Straus and one-time Boston Globe sportswriter Lisa Olson.

According to Reuters, Perform is kicking in $1.4 million to ACBJ's $4.6 million initial investment in their joint venture. Perform Sporting News Limited ("PSNL") will own 65 percent of PSNL, and ACBJ will have a  35 percent stake in the venture, which Perform may acquire for $65 million up to 2017, Reuters reported.

Perform acquires online rights to sporting events and distributes video clips and live content for a price to newspaper Web sites and other groups, including bookmakers. 

Layoffs Rock Washington Examiner; Weekly Magazine & Website in the Offing

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The free, right-wing daily Washington Examiner newspaper will morph into a weekly magazine and a Website in June, but will do so with 87 fewer employees, the paper's owner, Denver-based Clarity Media Group, Inc. ("CMG") announced this week.

According to accounts in the Baltimore Business Journal and Washington City Paper, the Examiner, which is published in Springfield, Virginia, and circulated throughout the greater Washington, D.C. area, will shift its focus to political news and drop local news coverage.  The pink-slipped staffers from the editorial, advertising and business departments, will continue to work at the Examiner through its last print edition on June 14, a few days before the weekly magazine and daily Web site versions debut.

Management, including editor Stephen G. Smith, executive editor Mark Tapscott and digital managing editor Jennifer Peebles will stay on after the transformation, according to the Baltimore Business Journal article. The target audience for the revamped Examiner includes government employees and professionals from academia, politics and public affairs.

The nine-year-old CMG is owned by Philip Anschutz, and includes the Neo-Conservative "Bible" Weekly Standard magazine in its stable. Another of its publications, The Baltimore Examiner, shut down four years ago after a two-year run.

Michigan Dailies Bracing for Massive Layoffs in April

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Unless new owner 21st CMH Acquisition Co. retains them, more than 840 Journal Register Co. workers, including 131 editorial staffers, could lose their jobs in April, the Michigan Live (www.Mlive.com) blog reports.

Four dailies, including the (Royal Oak) Daily Tribune, The Macomb Daily, The Oakland Press and The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, along with numerous weeklies statewide, are part of the beleaguered Journal Register Co. ("JRC") stable.  For the second time in four years, the media conglomerate last September filed for bankruptcy court protection.

The Yardley, Penn.-based JRC, which is owned by New York-headquartered Digital First Media, reportedly was acquired for more than $122 million by 21st CMH Acquisition Co., an Alden Global Capital LLC affiliate. Michigan Live reported that JRC outlined in a letter to Michigan's Workforce Development Agency its plan to terminate its personnel sometime in mid-April when 21st CMH is expected to complete its acquisition.

Reportedly, JRC is urging the new owner to rehire the staff it is cutting loose, but the final decision regarding how many of the 840-plus workers are retained rests with CMH Acquisition Co.

(Hard) Financial Times: Biz News Buyouts Help to Enlarge Digital Footprint

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In an email this week to staffers, Lionel Barber, Editor of the Pearson PLC-owned Financial Times ("FT"), outlined plans to bolster FT's digital presence while expressing hope that offered buyouts might negate the need for layoffs.

According to a report on the paidcontent.org site, FT hopes 35 staffers will accept buyouts to enable the business news giant to save 1.6 million pounds ($2,534,732) so that layoffs could be avoided.  Barber said the organization plans to increase its digital side workforce by 10. FT's mobile now accounts purportedly constitute a quarter of FT's digital traffic.

Part of  FT's plan to emphasize its digital platform over its print version, the paidcontent.org post said, involves streamlining its international presence.

Fading Star-Ledger

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Thirty-four newsroom jobs evaporated at The (Newark) Star-Ledger yesterday, as the Advance Publications-owned daily shed 10 percent of its workforce, according to accounts by the Star-Ledger and Associated Press.

The ravages of Superstorm Sandy joined declining circulation and plunging ad revenues on the usual laundry list of reasons for the massive job reduction. Although the pink slips were distributed among the IT,  circulation and advertising departments, the shockwaves were strongest in the newsroom, where 18 employees were ousted, including copy editors, photographers, news and photo editors.

The Star-Ledger, the nation's 16th largest daily with a combined digital and print readership of 311,904, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, has seen its newsroom shrink to 175 from 195. "TUOL" has chronicled the ongoing financial hardship of the Star-Ledger (see "TUOL" post 7/13/12), which included a massive buyout in 2008 in which 304 workers, including 151 newsroom staffers, took the money and ran.

Star-Ledger publisher Richard Vezza, in an understatement, called yesterday a "difficult day," while Editor Kevin Whitmer acknowledged the daily was unable to continue to support certain positions on the paper.
Terminated staffers were given a week-and-a-half severance pay for each year of service to a maximum 26 weeks and provided health care and job counseling during that period.

The Newhouse family-owned Advance Publications wielded the job axe at other chain publications yesterday, including The Express-Times in Easton, Pennsylvania, which trimmed 12 jobs from its 234-member staff, and the South Jersey Times, which employed 150 before 11 workers were sent packing.

According to the AP account, the Star-Ledger is the largest content provider to the free NJ.com Web site, which draws from Advance-owned dailies and weeklies. The Star-Ledger is a non-union shop.

The layoffs resonated among the devoted New Jersey-born staff of "TUOL," which turned to the Star-Ledger after the afternoon daily Newark Evening News folded, and read the paper throughout middle school and high school.