Paper Cuts

Detroit dailies may stop 7-day home delivery

2008-12-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News may soon stop home delivery for some days of the week making them the first major daily newspapers in the country to do so.

The move could save a considerable amount of money, but it is also expected to drive readers to the papers' Web sites.

According to a report that quoted anonymous sources, papers could be delivered on Sunday and either Thursday or Friday or both. Those days are considered the most profitable and on the other days, a slimmed single-copy edition would be put on newsstands.

"There will be an announcement of a new business model made on Tuesday," said a spokesman for Detroit Media Partnership, which runs both papers. "We do expect to print newspapers every single day."

A few papers have stopped running their presses entirely, including The Christian Science Monitor and Kentucky Post. Others have stopped printing on days with weak advertising.

Read more about the changes to these Detroit newspapers here.

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NY Times launches alternative home page

Washingtonpost.com adopts Apture content-compilation technology

Boston.com launches first hyper-local Web site

Illinois Gov. threatened Tribune's editorial writers

2008-12-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich threatened to get members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board fired after they criticized the governor who today was arrested on corruption charges stemming from an an allegation that he tried to sell an Illinois U.S. Senate seat.

The Tribune, though, took no action when pressed by Blagojevich and didn't fire any writers even though Blagojevich threatened to withhold the state's help in a business deal to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, a move the recently-bankrupted Tribune Company badly needs and has been trying to finalize for the past year.

The threats Blagojevich made were uncovered in wiretapped converstations in which he called for the Tribune to fire its editorial board after it called for his impeachment. In the tapes, Blagojevich warned members of the Tribune that the Wrigely Field deal "could get derailed by your own editorial page."

Said Blagojevich: "Our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."

But there was no instance when the paper's editorial department was contacted, said Tribune editor Gerould Kern. Said Tribune Editorial Page Editor Bruce Dold: "This whole thing comes as a complete surprise to me today. (Tribune Co. owner) Sam Zell said when he took over the company (last June) that he didn't want to interfere with editorial decisions. He has been absolutely good to that."

Read stories about the Illinois Gov. threatening the Tribune here, here, and here.

EXTRA: The Chicago Tribune reportedly delayed publication of stories about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stating that he was being taped by the FBI. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was the one who made the request and said "the Tribune was very gracious." Fitzgerald had been investigating Blagojevich for six weeks and said the story could have compromised the investigation.

Read more about the Tribune withholding a story on Blagojevich here.

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Downie wins editor of the year award

Seattle Times introduces new changes

LA Times op-ed: They're eyewitnesses, not iReporters

Tribune Co. files bankruptcy

2008-12-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

The Tribune Company, the largest-owned media company in America, filed for bankruptcy today in a move that underscores the struggles of the media industry at a time when the country is in a recession and advertising revenue is at record lows.

Tribune had accumulated nearly $13 billion in debt, largely accrued when real estate mogal Sam Zell bought the company last year. The filing is an effort to restructure it sizable debt interest payments.

“Over the last year, we have made significant progress internally on transitioning Tribune into an entrepreneurial company that pursues innovation and stronger ways of serving our customers,” said Zell, chairman and CEO of Tribune. “Unfortunately, at the same time, factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm – a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt."

The company owns two of the eight largest newspapers in the country by circulation: The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. It also owns 23 TV stations and 10 other newspapers. Tribune Co. also owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which it has been trying to sell since last season but for several reasons, a sale didn't take place.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is believed to be the highest bidder for the Cubs, but his recent federal allegations of insider trading may hinder that deal.

Read the official press release of the Tribune Co.'s Chapter 11 filing here.

Read Sam Zell's letter to Tribune employees here.

Read a Chicago Tribune blog posting about the filing here.

Read about the filing here.

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No applications yet for the U. of Florida student newspaper editor position

NY Times to borrow against its building

Downie to teach at ASU's j-school

Gannetts downsizing campaign nears 2,000

2008-12-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

The Gannett Co.'s company-wide downsizing effort reached 1,770 newspaper jobs Thursday, according to blog operated by a former longtime Gazette editor.

The cuts come following the release of Gannett's recent profit margins for several of its newspapers, which, contrary to popular belief, show the company seems to be doing quite well. Several of the papers are making more than 35 cents on the dollar, including the Green Bay Press-Gazette's 42.5 percent profit margin.

Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain, announced it would cut 10 percent of its workforce, or about 3,000 jobs, in late Oct. About 1,000 Gannett jobs were already eliminated in August. In this recent round of cuts, the newsroom to be hit hardest so far is the Salinas Californian, which lost 31 percent of its workforce or 130 jobs.

"As difficult as this is, it does provide us with an opportunity to take a look at everything we do," said General Manager Terry Feinberg told his newsroom.

Other notable papers that have lost a considerable amount of employees include the Des Moines Register, which has elimiated 41 jobs, and the Tennessean, which has cut 92.

Read more about the layoffs here and here.

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Chicago Tribune to cut more than a dozen from newsroom

Wall St. Journal runs first ever spadia ad

NY Times to launch alternative version of home page

NBC blog visitors want NBC to explain controversy

2008-12-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Many NBC News blog visitors posted Monday that NBC and particularly anchor Brian Williams should address a New York Times article that states the network was using a military analyst that used the position primarily to promote military contractors.

Williams made no mention of the article in his post, referring only to the traffic for Black Friday and the overall economy.

The Times article stated retired Army general Barry R. McCaffrey, who worked for NBC News as a military analyst, had ties to military contractors and, whether intentionally or otherwise, would often advise the governement to buy more military equipment, particularly from companies that employed him.

"I'd like to hear an explanation from you rather than the NBC [public relations] department speaking to this weekend's revelations in the New York Times that Barry McAffrey has been promoting his private defense industry interests in the guise of "expert commentary" on NBC News," wrote one. "This is corruption at its most insidious, influence peddling masquerading as objective commentary. I would expect better from NBC News."

Of the 15 posted comments on the blog, eight asked for an explanation from Williams. Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine posted an online media blog entry titled "Why NBC News Should've Known Better." In it, Jeff Bercovici, the blog's author, states "NBC News should end its relationship with [McCaffrey] or face the loss of its credibility. NBC News president Steve Capus released a statement following the article's publication that stated "McCaffrey was a man of honor and achievement who would never let business obligations color his analysis."

Read the NBC News blog posts demanding an explanation to the Times article here.

Read Portfolio.com's Mixed Media blog reponse to the article here.

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Online page views released, NY Times leads; second-place USA Today is 600 million behind

ProJo declines to run departing columnist's criticism of newspapers

WSJ staffers worry about their stories appearing in NY Post

Post Ombudsman offers newspaper survival tips

2008-12-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

More and more newspapers are experimenting with different business and newsgathering strategies in the hopes of reviving their business as the media industry struggles.

But many are straying from journalistic principles in order to do so.

Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for The Washington Post, offered advice for newspapers during these hard times; much of it was common in newspaper circles -- be local, have in-depth and wise commentary, be a watchdog, and so on. But there was one tip that may prove useful to many publishers and editors.

"When newsprint is at a premium -- the two biggest expenses are people and paper -- reporters should learn to engage readers quickly and tell a story faster," Howell wrote. "If long leads or long stories don't hold a reader through every paragraph, editors should make them shorter."

Many papers are cutting stories from their pages, but the trend of forcing reporters to get to the point rather than expound through lengthy anecdotal leads has yet to take hold. To combat high newsprint costs, many newspapers have also shrunk the physical size of their paper as well as folded sections into one another.

Read Howell's top 10 newspaper tips here.

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KC Star publisher: We're still "soundly profitable"

CNN pitches news service to newspapers

Boston Globe, union drivers agree on wage, holiday cuts

Huffington Post raises $15 million

2008-11-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Huffington Post, a popular liberal blog, has raised $15 million from Oak Investment Partners, an investment firm that has interested in several media entities.

The Times of London is reporting that the money will be used for more local news and investigative journalism as founder Adrianna Huffington hopes to spread the site's influence.

Huffington Post was launched in 2005 on $2 million of seed capital and Adrianna Huffington, the site's founder, has been able to raise a combined $10 million in 2006 an 2007 from investors. The latest donation should bring it up to a reported $100 million in raised capital. Most of the money has been used to increase the site's staff.

There is concern, though, about whether the site can sustain its traffic now that the election of Barack Obama is over, an election that made the site one of the most highly-trafficked online.

Visit the Huffington Post here.

Read more about its recent fundraising efforts here and here.

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Newspapers' economic decline trickles to college publications

Interactive advertising grows 11 percent in Q3

NY Times' White House team announced

Sulzberger's son to leave Oregonian, join NYT

2008-11-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the son of the New York Times publisher Arther Ochs Sulzberger Jr., will leave his reporting job at The Oregonian to join the Times.

It is believed that Sulzberger's move to the Times marks an effort to keep the landmark paper under family control. It has been reported recently in New York Magazine and Vanity Fair articles that there are concerns about who would succeed Sulzberger Jr.

Sulzberger, 25, spent two years at The Oregonian after working as an investigative reporter at the Providence Journal following his graduation from Brown University.

There was no official announcement of Sulzberger's move to the Times. The news came from a source in the Multnomah County government in Oregon, which Sulzberger covered while at the Oregonian. It is unknown what role Sulzberger will take at the Times.

But according to a 2006 Boston Phoenix article about Sulzberger while he was at the ProJo, Alex Jones, the director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of government, the younger Sulzberger was always in line for the job.

“I think that the prospects of a member of the family being the chairman and publisher after Arthur Jr. are very great,” Jones said. “I think that is the tradition of the family. I think the family believes that it is in a position of stewardship that needs to be in family hands. At the same time, that is premised on the idea that there is someone worthy."

Read more about the Sulzberger move here.

Read about the Sulzberger family here, here and here.

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Arizona State dedicates new $71 million journalism building

LA Times makes near $700,000 from Obama merchandise sales

Cambridge officials search for Harvard Square news stand replacement

API 'crisis' summit asks media to re-invent itself

2008-11-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

For major media organizations to escape their current economic crisis, senior leadership at said organizations must examine "strategic initiatives for re-invention" rather than trying to fix their current business model, turnaround specialists urged 50 media executives at the American Press Institutes's newspaper "crisis summit" on Nov. 13.

The executives met at a one-day, closed-door event in Reston, Va., to discuss the future of the journalism industry, an industry stricken with plummeting circulation and advertising revenue and ever-growing competition from various Web sites and others.

James Shein, Ph.d., turnaround specialist and professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Steve Miller, also a turnaround specialist and executive chairman of auto-parts maker Delphi Corp, addressed the executives. Shein urged them to understand the phase of crisis: first there is being blinded to the situation; then inaction; then a faulty action or mistake; then crisis; and then dissolution about what happened. Failure to take action at one point, Shein said, moves the crisis further along.

Miller said simply cost-cutting wouldn't work.

"Cutting staffs will reduce costs, but it won't happen fast enough, and will erode the product," Miller said, according to the report posted by API. "You have to reinvent your business model."

Several of the executives made points -- that the problem isn't audience but revenue; that the problem is historically cyclical and companies must cut costs until a recovery; that newsrooms should hire specialists like scientists and lawyers to "highlight expertise."

But one older executive made the most optimistic note of the convention.

"The Internet is the best thing that's ever happened to us," he said. "We have immediacy, and we have unlimited space. The problem is that we have been very slow to react to this technology. But it's an opportunity.

Read API's report of the conference here.

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AP, Post-Dispatch, KC Star collaborate for e-mail analysis

Sun-Times puts Nov. 5 fronts on eBay

Former NBC News correspondent starts media consulting firm

Tribune editor: Consolidated D.C. Bureau works

2008-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

The Tribune Co.'s consolidated Washington D.C. bureau is a "great example of the way we must approach business today," said Gerould W. Kern, the editor of the Chicago Tribune

Kern's opinion opposes what many in the news industry disagree with strongly -- the liquidating of major newspaper's D.C. bureau's like the Los Angeles Times and the Tribune

The bureau, which will house about 30 reporters to cover Washington for all Tribune newspapers, is the first of its kind and came after Tribune Co.'s chairman Sam Zell called the former structure "economically unjustifiable."

Kern said it was vital to "make the most of our talent and resources to create maximum value in order to thrive in these challenging times."

Tribune Co. reported earlier this week a third-quarter net loss of $121.6 million. The company is currently in roughly $13 billion in debt, much of which occurred after Zell took the company private following his purchase of the company in 2007.

Read more about the Tribune Co.'s D.C. bureau here.

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Business Week proposes satirical newspaper bailout plan

St. Pete Times restructures newsroom

Express-News offers more buyouts

Boston.com set to launch hyper-local sites

2008-11-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

Boston.com, which is the Boston Globe's online component, plans to launch a set of "hyper-local" sites for various parts of Boston with the first site launching Friday.

This is a move to sell advertising on a local basis, which is a new strategy for media organizations since large-scale advertisers are trying to target specific audiences. Some major metro newspaper Web sites like the Washington Post have created similar local sites.

Boston.com's sites are expected to act as an "aggregate of news information from online sources around the city," which include local newspapers. There will be a main site with an editor that will update it two times a day; a wiki for locals to post information about groups and locations; a calendar for local events in each town; and a forum.

But some are unhappy with the move because it may draw advertisers away from the local newspapers and eventually drive them out of business.

"This is just the latest move from the 800-pound gorilla in the market, which is currently weighing in at 200 pounds," Gatehouse Media New England President and Publisher Kirk Davis told The Boston Daily. Davis's company runs several of the local papers like the Cambridge Chronicle and the Allston-Brighton TAB.

Davis's main complaint was the the proposed business model by Boston.com and the Globe would make money off journalism it didn't produce.

Read more about Boston.com's move for local sites here and here.

Take a look at one of the new local sites here.

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Media, tech moguls hold secret meeting in NYC

Wa. Post profile's Obama's press secretary

NYTimes.com vice pres leaves for NPR

Rather: Newspapers will survive Internet

2008-11-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

In a National Press Club Centennial Forum at New York University, Dan Rather, the former anchor of CBS Evening News, defended the future of newspapers against the rising tide of new media.

His defense came in response to a question regarding the Internet's replacement of newspapers, which has become a common idea, especially since some newspapers have stopped running their presses, a move that is due in part to the high cost of newsprint and historically low advertising revenue.

Rather's reasoning was that newspapers had been faced with new media before in radio and television, and still it survived when people seemed assured of its death. Today, he said that the "pronouncements of (newspaper's) near death are premature."

"When I say the center of new media has shifted to new media, to online, that doesn't mean that anywhere in the new future we're going to be without newspapers, magazines, radio newscasts and TV newscasts provided they don't completely succumb to the temptation to become 'viewscasts,'" Rather said, adding that "viewscasts" are when "you get four or five people in the room to shout their views at one another...and that's what passes as news."

Panelists on the forum, which was held Oct. 16, 2008, included Rather; Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press; Jill Abramson, managing editor of The New York Times; and Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor and press critic.

Watch the video of the forum here (click the Flash video on the left side of the page).

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Time Inc. looks for employees to take buyout

Media General to lay off 21 at Tampa Tribune, WFLA-Ch.8

NY Times Co. takes hefty charge on New England properties

API to host 'crisis summit' for newspapers

2008-11-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

The American Press Institute will host a summit Nov. 13 for 50 newspaper executives to discuss the future of the industry.

But what is discussed at the summit will not be known until the API releases its report as the event is closed to the press.

The one-day conference -- one of the recent large scale efforts to help what is a struggling industry -- will be held in the API's Reston, Va., headquarters and it will be "a facilitated discussion of concrete steps the industry can take to reverse its declines in revenue, profit and shareholder value," according to a release.

"The critical role of journalism can only be preserved if the newspaper industry can come through its current crisis," said API CEO James B. Shein, who will lead the discussion.

Shein said they hope to alert newspaper executives of the "urgency of their situation, and lay out steps they will need to take to begin the renewal process."

Read more about the summit here and here.

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Top Story: FBI kept tabs on former NY Times reporter Halberstam

DMN and Star-Telegram to consider combining newsrooms

E.W. Scripps to cut 400 jobs

Texas publisher withheld Obama election story

NYC looks to help media industry with initiative

2008-11-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

In an effort to help a economically decaying media industry, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his administration will launch a media initiative to both try to understand the changing industry and help it recover.

The initiative is one of the first large-scale efforts made by an organization outside of the media to try to understand how the media can recover from plummeting revenue numbers. But it is not the first time New York City has done such a study. The city has also launched efforts to better understand its financial and film industries

That Bloomberg's administration wants to help his city's media industry shouldn't be a surprise, though. Considered the media world capital, the city houses several of the country's largest newspapers, magazines and most highly-trafficked Web sites; and it accounts for roughly 160,000 jobs and $15 billion in annual wages.

“This is aiming at media broadly defined, but we’re interested primarily in the transition from traditional media outlets into the electronic age,” said Steven Strauss, the vice president of the city's Economic Development Corporation, which will be leading the effort. "The initiative comes as old-media firms in the city and region are bleeding."

There is optimism, though, that any worldwide innovative changes to the media will originate in New York City because it is the city is also home to the worlds' largest advertising industry as well as the world's financial center.

Read about the initiative here.

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New Yorker launches digital edition

Gannett CEO takes 17% pay cut

Washington Post, NY Times print extra election editions

Also, for a look at today's political cartoons proclaiming Barack Obama's presidential victory, go here.

TV journalism suffers more than newspapers

2008-11-03T21:27:00.000-08:00

"If anybody's getting killed in the 21st-century media market, it's TV news, not newspapers," the publisher for the Tacoma News-Tribune wrote in a column published in Saturday's editions.

The column attacks the belief that newspapers are dying, which was a remark NBC news anchor Brian Williams made Oct. 28 during "NBC Nightly News." The particular remark came in regards to the news that the 100-year-old Christian Science Monitor had stopped publishing.

David Zeeck, the News-Tribune's publisher, went on to say that the Internet has bolstered newspapers and that falling circulation, a product of readers going online, is not an accurate depiction of a newspaper's success. Moreover, the ratings for network news has nearly shrunk twice as fast as circulation of newspapers.

"While I watched Brian on Tuesday, it was on TiVo, where I never have to see a TV ad," Zeeck wrote. "I’m not alone. Research suggests digital video recorders will be in 50 percent of homes by 2010, and will be “near ubiquitous” in a few years. That means nobody will have to see TV ads in the near future."

There is a floating belief that cable news stations, many of which have lost considerable news credibility since clogging their airwaves with countless pundits, could try to partner with some major metro newspapers to share advertising revenue, stories and, most importantly, give the stations more credibility as a legitimate news organization.

Read Zeeck's column here.

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Seattle Times Co. to cut 130 to 150

St. Pete Times, Miami Herald form combined state bureau

Newspapers in dire need of new business model

Fortune editor: newspapers aren't dying, just changing

2008-10-31T17:14:00.000-07:00

Though newspapers have made considerable cutbacks and laid off thousands, the industry isn't dying as it appears; just changing, according to an article in Fortune Magazine published today.

But the answer for newspaper companies to attract advertisers they so badly need, the article states, is to change the product into two categories: niche products aimed at small audiences and cheaply-produced commodities aimed at large audiences.

The article, which was written by Richard Silkos, an editor at Fortune, refutes what seems to be common opinion that newspapers are dying because newspapers' once gold-mine of classified advertising is gone to the Internet, and so too is the steady stream of revenue that funded papers for decades.

"Is the sky falling or is this just a necessary correction in an industry that is, after all, supposed to be a mirror on society? My bet is that it's not the end of print, but it might just be the end of print as we ink-stained hacks have known it," Silkos writes.

Silkos ended his article with an anecdote about Bib Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney, whom Silkos met at a social occasion. Silkos asked Iger about the future of newspapers and Iger said it would be hard to recreate a product that "delivers the world to your doorstep every morning in a smartly-produced package."

But, Silkos continued, "he then noted, with some relief, that Disney briefly owned newspapers but unloaded them more than a decade ago..."

Read the article here.

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College papers endorse Obama 63-1; Alt-Weeklies 57-0

Three major Florida dailies trim staffs heavily

NY Times adds three to investigative unit

Time Inc., Gannett to make massive layoffs

2008-10-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

A pair of massive media organizations announced sizable layoffs Tuesday.

Time Inc., the world's largest magazine publisher, announced it will lay off about 600 employees and Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain, said it would cut 10 percent of its workforce, or nearly 3,000.

The layoffs continue a trend that doesn't seem to be ending or even slowing as media companies struggle to turn profits with high costs of newsprint and the shift of advertising from print to online formats. The result is layoffs across the board, consolidating publications, shrinking sections, and efforts to refocus on local coverage.

Time Inc.'s layoffs begin in about two weeks, but none of Time Inc.'s 24 magazines will close. Instead, all publications will be organized into three divisions: news, lifestyle titles, and style and entertainment. It was also reported that Time Inc. would refocus on putting its larger magazines -- Sports Illustrated, People, Time and Fortune -- in alternate platforms.

"We'll have a more centralized management structure that will group together titles that share similar audiences, advertisers and the talents and skills of their staffs," said Dawn Bridges, a spokeswoman for Time Inc. in a New York Times article.

Gannett's layoffs follow McClatchy Co's announcements of two 10 percent workforce cuts since June. It also follows the more than 1,000 employees that were laid off in Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division since August. None of Gannett's newspapers are expected to close.

Read more about the changes at Time Inc. here.

Read more about Gannett's layoffs here.

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CNN to offer wire service

CS Monitor drops print publication, focuses on Web only

Keller using "investment fund" to increase NY Times' business coverage

Column: Newspaper's decline threatens democracy

2008-10-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

An op-ed column in Sunday's Hartford Courant states "America is a society built upon newspapers," and the decline of newspapers during their historic decline in advertising revenue threatens that same democracy.

The column, which was authored by the editor of the University of Connecticut student newspaper, the head of the university's journalism department and the university president, argue that the Internet has created "talking heads" that are the go-to sources for information instead of credible journalism organzations.

Furthermore, the column states, newsroom cutbacks are costing readers vital information about Washington and other areas of the world.

"In an age where talking heads have replaced journalists, where opinion passes as journalism and where newspapers are driven by profit to reduce and compromise their reporting, Americans are more at risk than ever," the column states.

It concludes with a powerful message that for America's democracy to continue, there must be a strive for good, responsible journalism.

Read the column here.

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LA Times to cut 75 more

NY Times editor: No further cuts at paper

Study: Major papers continue circulation decline

USC Director: Journalism business model distorted social mission

2008-10-22T14:08:00.000-07:00

The collapse of journalism's conventional economic model is due in part to large profit margins that turned the industry from its social mission to a vast business, said a director at the University of Southern California's business school.

But newspapers can create a new model that is mission-driven and is still profitable, said Adlai Wertman, a director at USC's Marshall School of Business.

Wertman's comments appeared in a Knight Digital Media Center column by Geneva Overholser, the director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. Wertman strongly stated that he believed the country's politics and social issues relfect journalism, and told the journalism school at one point that "I think it's all your fault."

"Take the mission away from journalism and think more about journalism as a tool: We care about poverty, and how could we use journalism as a tool to make a difference," said Wertman.

Saving journalism in its current state, Overholser said, is the wrong idea.

"You persuade your donors (and consumers) that a full, fair balenced and propotional picture of the issue is the best way to get people insterested and informed, and thus to bring about action," she wrote.

Read the rest of her column here.

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Mercury News considers move to new offices

Study: Media has been overly negative on McCain

No hazards from suspicious powder in letter sent to NY Times

LA Times launches redesign

2008-10-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Times launched its redesign Tuesday, becoming the last major Tribune Co. newspaper to do so.

The redesign isn't nearly as dramatic as what many other newspapers, including its sister paper the Chicago Tribune, have undergone. The changes are subtle, like removing datelines and altering the bylines to show where the story was reported from. Overall, the paper has gotten fairly good reviews, the Times Web site reported Tuesday. But there have also been several complaints.

The 126-year-old newspaper, which is the fourth-largest newspaper in the country with a reported 2007 circulation of 773,884, joins other major papers like the Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel who have all launched redesigns in the last few months.

"How do we find that sweet spot that honors our tradition but makes it feel like a modern newspaper," said Times Assistant Managing Editor Michael Whitley in a Times video about the redesign. "I'd say the way to do that is we made content and information a first priority.

"It just feels a little fresher,:" Whitley said. "It's a little bolder. We're proud of who we are and we think it's okay to say it a little bigger than we have maybe in the past."

The Sunday edition is also supposed to be quite different with the section front flags basked in full colors that reflect the Southern California environment.

Look at the redesign here.

Read comments from Tribune Co. chief innovation officer Lee Abrams about the LA Times redesign here.

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Several papers who endorsed Bush have gone Obama in '08

New Hampshire students emphasize journalism fundamentals

Christian Science Montior editor: I don't know where print goes in the long run

To cut costs, newspapers are cutting AP service

2008-10-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

In an effort to save money, several newspapers are cutting ties with The Associated Press, the worldwide news wire service that began in 1846.

The move marks a serious shift in the newspaper industry because for many newspapers the only national and international news they carry is from the AP. The conflict between newspapers and the AP has come in two forms: high fees by the AP and worries of online competition from newspapers.

Last week, the Tribune Company, which owns The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, and the Columbia Dispatch each told the AP it would be end its contract in coming years. E.W. Scripps, which owns 17 newspapers, is also reportedly considering dropping the AP.

“I don’t think any of us can ignore the economic circumstances newspapers are in now,” Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of The A.P., told The New York Times. “Being the editor of a newspaper in the United States right now is really hard.”

According to the Times story, the A.P. is considering cutting prices and adding new services to help newspapers in their current economic struggle.

Read more about the A.P. and its dwindling relationship with newspapers here.

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LA Times gets "overwhelming" response to Obama endorsement

Former NYT reporter Miller joins Fox News

Lobbyist speaks out on NYT's McCain affair story

Breaking tradition, LA Times and Tribune make presidential endorsements

2008-10-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

A pair of the largest newspapers in America broke tradition and endorsed Barack Obama today.

The Los Angeles Times, the fourth-largest newspaper in the country with a reported 2007 circulation of 773,884, broke a long-standing policy of not endorsing candidates by choosing Obama. The Chicago Tribune, the eighth-largest paper in the country with a reported 2007 circulation of 541,663, also endorsed Obama today

Both papers are owned by the traditionally conservative Tribune Co. The Times, which has a well-known Republican slant since its founding by the conservative Chandler family, made the Illinois Senator its first choice for endorsement since choosing Richard Nixon. The Times had run a series of editorials leading up to today that suggested it would endorse Obama.

The Chicago Tribune, which Obama noted in Wednesday's presidential debate as a "Republican-leading newspaper," broke its tradition of endorsing Republican candidates by choosing Obama.

"This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president," the editorial stated.

The Times' and Tribune's endorsements of Obama coincide with recent endorsements from The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The San Francisco Chronicle. As of today, Obama leads McCain in newspaper endorsements 51 to 16, according to editorandpublisher.com

Read the Times' endorsement here.

Read the Tribune's endorsement here.

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Post editorial page editor explains Obama endorsement

Tribune Co. to drop AP

Columbia Dispatch to drop AP

Future of journalism may be in niche products

2008-10-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Niche products supported by corporate sponsorships instead of advertising may be the future of journalism, a group of Georgia journalists said at a national press convention in Atlanta on Oct. 14.

Many news organizations -- both print and broadcast -- are struggling during this all-time-low advertising drought to remain profitable, but public broadcasting networks thrive because a community invests in them, thus removing the need for advertising.

"A large part of what is now commercial journalism will hae to be supproted by foundations or organized more along the lines of public broadcasting," said Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I don't see any reason why newspapers can't adopt a corporate sponsorship model much like public broadcasting."

Cutting overall advertising may compromise objectivity of a media outlet as the outlet would no longer be self-sufficient and reliant upon its own advertising revenue.

But Ken Middleton, head of the University of Georgia's journalism department, said such a move may be the best thing for newspapers since classified advertising revenue has plummeted and since newspapers are in considerable debt because of over expansion in the last 20 years.

Read more about the topics discussed at the National Press Club Centennial Forum in Atlanta here.

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LA Times to overturn longstanding policy and endorse candidate

Post's Downie: Costly investigative journalism should soon evolve from beat reporting

Tribune's Adams scoffs at government bailout idea of newspapers

Newspapers' online advertising revenue stalls

2008-10-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

Online advertising for newspaper Web sites, hailed as the fix for a failing industry, fell this past quarter after 17 months of growth.

The second-quarter total of $777 million, a 2.4-percent decline compared to this time last year, is only year-over-year drop for online revenue drop since 2003, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Many newspapers had begun expanding their Web sites to include multimedia and more localized pages in hopes of expanding advertisers. The news of slowing online advertising revenue comes as bad news to many of these companies, especially with many papers struggling to stay financially afloat as more readers turn to the Internet for news, which has caused print advertising revenue to plummet.

“It’s still a situation where if advertisers even perceive they can reach your audience, they might be inclined to go with a network, and that’s a concern I have with networks,” said Steve Stup, vice president for sales at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive.

It's not all bad news, though. Overall online advertising grew 7.6 percent in the second quarter, according to the TNS Media Intelligence, and The New York Times Company's online revenue grew 13 percent in the same period.

Read more about trends in newspaper online revenue here.

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NY Times columnist wins Nobel Prize

Only five newspapers travel with presidential candidates

Newspapers mired in debt before economic crisis

Controversy over Oklahoman cartoonist's "retirement"

2008-10-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

After 58 years as The Oklahoman's editorial cartoonist, Jim Lange, 82, penned his last cartoon for Sunday's edition.

But the paper insinuated Lange's retirement was voluntary while Lange's wife reports that it was part of the recent round of voluntary buyouts. She reportedly told dailycartoonist.com "He liked what he did, and didn't really want to retire."

No distinction was made in both the Oklahoman's front-page story about Lange nor in editorial dedicated to the cartoonist.

This last round of Oklahoman layoffs was announced Sept. 4. According to that article, David Thompson, the paper's publisher, met with 102 employees at least 55 and older and with at least 15 years at the paper on Sept. 3 to discuss early retirement.

It is unknown whether the Oklahoman will hire another cartoonist. No mention was made in any story. It was reported earlier this year that the number of cartoonists at newspapers has shrunk from about 350 to 78.

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Total of war reporters dramatically smaller in '08

USA Today to increase price of newspaper

Hearst folds Cosmogirl magazine

Spokesman-Review names new editor

2008-10-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Gary Graham will be the new editor of The Spokesman-Review, the newspaper announced Wednesday. Graham was promoted from managing editor.

Graham replaces Steven A. Smith who resigned last week. Smith's resignation coincided with announcements that the paper would cut 27 staffers from its editorial department. Smith later told Knight Digital Media Center's Michele McLellan on Oct. 2. that he stepped down because he wasn't able to practice the kind of journalism that "is important to me."

Graham has been a managing editor for 11 years in Binghamton, N.Y., and now in Spokeane, and he shares similar journalism philosophies as Smith.

“In many ways, Steve and I share the same values,” said Graham, who worked with Smith in Wichita, Kan. “He and I didn’t really differ philosophically.”

The task is perhaps more difficult for Graham as he will overtake a newsroom that is about to lose one third of its staff, which is coupled with a soon-to-be-launched redesign of S-R's Web site and the upcoming presidential election.

Read more about Graham's hire here.

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CUNY professor rebukes claim that newspapers' decline isn't journalists' fault

NY Times closes International Herold Tribune's Web site

Rather asks to expand suit, add claims against CBS

New York magazine releases piece on NY Times' Sulzbergers

2008-10-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. struggles with wanting to maintain the prestige of the national newspaper while battling plummeting revenue, poor investment decisions and who will succeed him at the paper, according to a 5,000-word article published in New York magazine today.

The article, which doesn't contain any interviews with Sulzberger, focused largely on the legacy on the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which has controlled the Times since Adolph Simon Ochs bought the Times in 1896, and which of the current family members, if any, will succeed Sulzberger.

Sulzberger has been the publisher since 1992 and, according to the article, has made several costly business decisions, including using the paper's excess money in the '90s to buy back its own stock, which has dropped from $45 to $15 since 2000. Sulzberger called it the "stupidest thing" he has done, but associates said passing on a pre-public financing opportunity of Google was the worst decision.

But by and large, the family remains devoted to the paper despite its losses.

“The quality of the paper,” said a friend of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, “is the one reason for the family to put up with the financial part.”

No apparent heir is in line to replace Sulzberger, the article states, but some Times employees said they thought David Perpich, Sulzerberg's nephew and Harvard M.B.A., is the best possible choice while others like Sulzberger's son, Arthur Gregg, who is a one of the top reporters at the Oregonian.

Read the article here.

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LA Times to lose 75 more in the newsroom

Sante Fe New Mexican to print The New York Times

Tribune columnist receives 'vicious and threatening' messages after writing negative Palin piece

Former Spokesman-Review editor explains departure

2008-10-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Former Spokesman-Review editor Steven A. Smith said one of the main reasons he left his post was because "the journalism that's important to me is no longer possible," Smith told Knight Digital Media Center's Michele McLellan on Oct. 2.

With thousands of employees on the editorial side of newspapers being laid off or bought out in recent months, Smith -- the Spokesman-Review's editor since July 2002 -- becomes yet another high-ranking newspaperman to step down. Various editors and publishers across the country have relinquished their positions for various reasons, but many stem from the diminishing product, which can largely be attributed to the high price of newsprint and an advertising drought.

Smith's resignation was effective Oct. 3. Smith, who was in journalism for 36 years, told McLellan two of the main reasons he stepped down was because of the effects layoffs and cutbacks had on the quality of journalism and because he didn't feel able to speak out about these problems.

"I simply wasn't willing to stand up and tell people things would be better or even OK," Smith told McLellan. "And our publisher needs someone who can do that.

"It is time to stop standing behind our salaries, our bonuses and our pensions and stand up and say what needs to be said," Smith continued, referring to cutbacks and stop-gap measures to keep the newspaper in the black, which he said are "dooming our organizations to irrelevance and causing irreparable harm to our systems and society without consideration of the larger loss."

Spokesman-Review publisher W. Stacey Cowles said in a statement released to the newsroom Oct. 1 that the newspaper's workforce will be down to 470 in 2009; 60 down from its current level in 2008. No successor was named, according to the statement.

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LA Mayor: If Dodgers lose, Zell must sell LA Times

Star business reporter jumps from PiPress to Strib

LA Times reports its September Web traffic up 84 percent from last year

Oklahoman launches redesigned Web site

2008-10-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Oklahoman launched its redesigned Web site today, newsok.com, which coincides with the newspaper's redesign that debuted Monday.

The site changed from its front page, which previously had a centerpiece-rotating picture that viewers could click on for stories. Photos, stories and headlines are now listed on the left side of the page with top stories and multimedia in the center.

Many had complained about both the Oklahoman's print and online presentation, noting the newspaper's bland design and the difficulty in navigating the Web site. Both have been dramatically changed. The newspaper shrunk to a 44-inch web and has many more graphics and photos; and the site has much more "white space" on the pages and is much easier to browse.

"I think most people are really going to like it," said Rob Wescott, vice president of audience development for the The Oklahoma Publishing Co. "It has a very clean look. It really is more than a redesign. We’ve rebuilt NewsOK.com from the ground up."

Chris Reen, OPUBCO executive vice president of OPUBCO, said the company expects Internet traffic on newsok.com to grow by 50 percent by early next year because of the redesign.

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Star-Ledger: 200 have signed up for buyouts

Palin: Journalism ethics have changed since I received my degree

Washington Post editor says newspapers warned of economic problems long ago

New York Sun publishes final paper

2008-09-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

The New York Sun published its final edition this morning, ending the 6 1/2-year-old newspaper's tenure.

The daily paper never posted a profit during it's short life.

Like many other newspapers, the Sun had been losing a considerable amount of money each month with the high price of newsprint and plummeting advertising revenue. The paper was known, according to a New York Post article, for its "conservative, pro-Israel editorial slant."

Editor Seth Lipsky wrote that he and vice president and managing editor Ira Stoll did everything they could to save the paper.

"We have spoken with every individual who seemed to be a prospective partner, and everywhere we were received with courtesy and respect. I tend to be an optimist and held out hope for a favorable outcome as late as mid-afternoon [Sunday]. But among other problems that we faced was the fact that this month, not to mention this week, has been one of the worst in a century in which to be trying to raise capital, and in the end we were out not only of money but time."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was sad to see the paper go.

"In a City saturated with news coverage and commentary, The Sun shone brightly, though too briefly. Whether you agreed or disagreed with the Sun’s writers, they were smart, thoughtful, provocative – and sometimes even courageous. What other paper in America urged Dick Cheney to run for President? The Sun launched the careers of many talented and dedicated journalists, whose stories often raised the bar for their competitors. I am sorry to see the Sun halt its presses and send my best wishes to all labored so hard to make it a success, especially Seth Lipsky and Ira Stoll."

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, in his first comments since resigning from office, said "The Sun has been a spectacular addition to the city's political discourse and is one of the finest papers in terms of editing, writing, and analysis that one can find anywhere."

Read Lipsky's statement to the newspaper staff here.

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It's a good time to be a business reporter, says Columbia Journalism Review

Washington Post Co. buys foreign policy magazine

Mizzou's famed journalism alums and professors ponder newspaper's future

Wichita Eagle, Miami Herald, Tacoma News Tribune all lose key staffers

2008-09-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

A longtime cartoonist, a county hall reporter, and 18 more employees have departed from some of the biggest newspaper's in America this week, each leaving in a fashion befitting the industry's current free-fall state.

The Wichita Eagle lost Richard Crowson, who had been the paper's cartoonist since 1987. There were once 350 editorial cartoonists in the country, the Wichita Business Journal reports, but that number has been whittled to just 75.

The Miami Herald's Matthew Pinzur, a country hall reporter, left the newspaper to take a six-figure job as a "special assistant to Miami-Dade County Manager Geroge Burgess," the Miami New Times reports.

Both people in the newsroom and that work for Miami-Dade County are concerned about the move, with one Herald reporter saying he felt "jilted" and a county official saying the move "makes me very suspect."

And the Tacoma News Tribune is cutting 18 more employees, the newspaper's publisher told his staff Sept. 24. Just one of the 18 employees will be laid off; 17 will be offered buyouts. The newspaper cut 82 staffers in July. During this round of layoffs, just six of the 18 come from the editorial staff and just four are reporters.

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Longtime Red Sox beat reporter leaves Providence Journal

Post-Dispatch to reduce Washington Bureau to one after election

Twenty seven Ombudsmen cut in the past year

Providence Journal to cut entire part-time staff

2008-09-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

All of the Providence Journal's part-time staff members will be cut along with five-full time staffers, the Providence Newspaper Guild announced Sept. 24. No employees from the advertising department will be cut.

The Journal's company A.H. Belo, which also own the Dallas Morning News, has offered severance packages of 1.25 weeks of pay for every year of employment, with up to 30 years. Staffers who have worked beyond 30 years can earn double.

Belo hopes the cuts at the Journal, the News and also The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., will save the company nearly $30 million this year. The company had announced Sept. 5 that 413 employees companywide had taken voluntary buyouts. Of that amount, 23 were accepted at the Journal before the 30 were cut Sept. 24.

Belo is one of many newpaper companies that have had to undergo massive layoffs. Most recently the McClatchy Co. laid off 20 percent of its workforce in order to help ease its nearly $4 billion debt. It was also announced this month that another 1,150 McClatchy employees would be laid off.

The Journal is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island and has won four Pulitzer Prizes.

Read the Providence Newspaper Guild's announcement here for more details on the cuts.

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New York Sun editor mum on paper's future

SF Chronicle book editor take buyout

Press threatens to boycott covering Palin because of access issues

Tribune to reveal redesign

2008-09-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Chicago Tribune will debut its new redesign next week, a slickly-designed magazine-style layout that offers readers fewer stories and bigger graphics.

The new redesign will also reduce the paper to three sections. The front section will have all local, national, foreign and business news. Reports have said the paper will have a 50-50 ratio of ads to newsprint, but with larger graphics and photos, there will be less stories.

There were prototypes of the proposed redesign that had surfaced on the Internet with the word "Trib" taking up nearly a third of the front page. The redesign that surfaced in recent days is less dramatic.

The redesign comes after plummeting ad revenue and high costs of newsprint that many newspaper companies, especially Tribune Co. which owns its namesake Chicago daily newspaper, have resorted to redesigns along with buyouts and layoffs to save money.

Other Tribune Co. newspapers that have undergone redesigns include the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Baltimore Sun.

See the new redesign here.

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Chicago Tribune names new publisher

Oregonian reports sharp drop in advertising revenue

McCain aide bashes New York Times, says paper is a "pro-Obama advocacy organization"

Milwaukee journalist: Print journalism may die

2008-09-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Print newspapers in their current form may soon expire, which is not certainly news itself, but Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter William Glauber expounded on this topic during a presentation Sept. 15.

The presentation titled "The Past, Present and Future of Journalism" focused on the decline of print journalism and how the primary factor that newspapers are competiting with is not each other, but people's time.

"William brought up a good point: Americans today won’t walk to the end of the curb to get their news, but would prefer to look online," said Elisabethtown College sophomore Dillon Gaul. "He confirmed my understanding that print media is heading down the tubes because of the Internet."

Glauber said future generations will shape the new form of print journalism, whatever it may be.

“You ultimately will decide the fate of American journalism,” he said, “by your reading habits, buying habits and by your interest or lack of interest in the civic life of your community, your country.”

Read more about Glauber's speech here.

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ABC News lays off "handful" of staffers

Charlotte weekly becomes online-only product

Deluth News Tribune lays off eight

Daily News loses 25 to buyouts

2008-09-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

The New York Daily News, a tabloid in New York City with a circulation of nearly 800,000 in 2006 making it one of the top ten largest in the country, has lost 25 of its employees to buyouts, the New York Post reported Sept. 19.

The names of those who accepted the buyout were not released, but since the goal of 25 employees was met, there will be no layoffs.

Expected to depart, though, are a few top staffers including award-winning photographer Michael Appleton, drama critic Howard Kissel, Tamer El-Ghobashy who covered Hurricane Katrina for the News, and editorial writer Karen Zautyk, according to a media column in the New York Post.

The Daily News competes with two other large tabloid dailies in New York City: Newsday and the New York Post. Newsday was bought by Cablevision in May of 2008 while the Post remains in the control of Rupert Murdoch, who also bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007.

The Boston Globe also reported that the News is going to get rid of its religion column by former New York Times writer Ari Goldman.

Read more about the layoffs at the Daily News here.

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New York Times stock improves because of online advertising revenue growth

Former LA Times environmental reporter becomes editor of Environmental Health News

Boston Herald reaches deal with teamsters to print paper off site

LA Times reporters sue owner

2008-09-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

Six former and current reporters for the LA Times filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 16 against Sam Zell, the real estate mogul and owner of the Tribune Company, stating he has damaged the reputation of the Times as well as his company.

Zell, who took over the Tribune Company last December, has been vilified by members of the Times for his handling of the Times. More than 1,000 jobs have been eliminated since he took control of the newspaper, which is the fourth largest newspaper in the USA with a 2006 circulation of 1,231,318.

Read the complaint on behalf of the reporters here.

The Tribune Company released this statement Wednesday: "The lawsuit filed yesterday is filled with frivolous and unfounded allegations…The media industry is in crisis, the advertising environment is extremely difficult and the economy is in turmoil. The overwhelming majority of our employees have taken up the challenge — they are working hard [and] leading by example…"

The company is the largest employee-owned media company in America but it is currently $12.5 billion in debt.

Read more about the lawsuit here.

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Former Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist will not join Tribune

Famous comic strip creator fears for newspapers' future

Seattle PI loses pair of top technology reporters

Wichita Eagle cuts 22

2008-09-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

The Wichita Eagle, one of the largest papers in the Midwest with a daily readership of more than 200,000, announced Sept. 17 that 16 of its employees have taken voluntary buyouts, which, along with the six to be laid off, brings the total cuts to 22.

"When our customers are feeling the economic slowdown, so are we," said Eagle president and publisher Pam Siddall.

The Eagle's parent company McClatchy Co. recently reduced company-wide workforce by 10 percent (1,150 employees), which is expects will save nearly $100 million through the next four quarters.

The cut, which is the third one this year, is a 6 percent drop in the Eagle's total staff of 356. The previous cuts eliminated eight positions in April and 12 in June.

The Eagle serves the largest city in Kansas, Wichita, which is 199 miles from Kansas City and 364 miles from Dallas.

Read more about the Eagle cuts here.

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Kansas City Star to lay off 30

Miami Herald Media to eliminate 250 positions

Study: Major newspaper Web sites extremely valuable

McClatchy buyouts continue, now at Washington state papers

2008-09-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Olympian, The News Tribune of Tacoma and the Tri-City Herald in Kinnewick, Wash., are all offering buyouts in an effort to combat declining revenue.

The three papers are owned by the McClatchy newspaper chain, which stated it would like to eliminate 1,400 of its total employees.

The Olympian, which has a staff of 45 full- and part-time employees, is offering 38 buyouts; The News Tribune has offered 189 to its staff of 350 full-time staffers; and the Tri-City Herald has offered 60 to its staff of more than 200.

Depending on who or how many employees take the buyouts, the papers could layoff several staff members.

"We're just not immune to what is happening on the national stage," said Tri-City Herald Publisher Rufus Friday.

Read more about the layoffs at the three Washington papers here.

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Google plans to expand search to old newspapers

New England to get its first Spanish-language daily newspaper

Web site claims it can spot media bias

Two Virginia newspapers to combine into one

2008-09-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Two newspapers that belong to the Richmond-based Media General Inc. announced Sept. 6 they will combine to form one newspaper effective Oct. 13.

The two newspapers are the Potomac News and the Manassas Journal Messenger and share a consolidated staff. The staff will be reorganized, though, to help focus on more "community-orientated coverage," according to a story on insidenova.com, the newspaper's Web site.

Other changes include the time the staff comes in to work as well as the overall coverage of the Web site.

"This change will allow our newsroom to refocus its efforts on gathering additional news and feature stories and photographs from the rapidly growing area that we serve," said Bruce Potter, publisher of the newspapers, on the Web site."

Media General's other media properties are not expected to be affected by this move.

Read more about the combination of the two newspapers here.

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Column: Can e-newspapers save industry?

US newspapers plan to outsource publishing, graphic design to India

Sudanese editor to defy publishing ban, have paper printed outside country

DMN to cut 50 after buyouts

2008-09-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

After offering 413 employees buyouts, A.H. Belo Corporation, the newspaper company that owns The Dallas Morning News, The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif, and the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, announced Sept. 4 its plans to cut more than 80 employees.

The largest amount of employees to be laid off will be at the Morning News (50) then the Press-Enterprise (30) and an unknown number at the Journal.

Belo said in July it would cut 14 percent of the company (roughly 500 employees) because of declining revenue. The target goal is to reduce annual expenses by about $50 million.

The Journal had been considered to be one of the few publications to be doing OK in these dismal times for daily newspapers. While several papers in New England like the Hartford Current, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette had undergone staff cuts and buyouts while the Journal seemed to be doing fine.

If anything, this may show that intensely focused community newspapers, even mid-size daily metro dailies, fall victim to being owned by larger companies that are struggling.

Read more about the buyouts and staff cuts at Belo here.

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New York Times to combine sections to save costs

Redesigned Chicago Tribune reduced to three total sections

Newspaper ad revenuedrops to lowest level in dozen years

Oklahoman layoffs, buyouts to affect 150 jobs

2008-09-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma, announced Sept. 4 that the "downsizing" its staff of about 1,100 should be complete by the end of next month.

As with many other newspapers and media outlets, The Oklahoman is offering retirement packages and is also reducing the size of its staff by other means. All told, 150 positions are expected to be eliminated by the end of October, according to David Thompson, the newspaper's publisher.

One hundred two veteran employees who have worked at the paper for 15 years or longer are expected to be offered the retirement packages. They have until Sept. 24 to decide whether to take the packages. Positions in The Oklahoman Publishing Co.'s media division (OPUBCO Communications Group) are also expected to be laid off.

The news comes as many newspaper industries are struggling to maintain print advertising revenue as more advertisers look at Web sites as lucrative mediums to reach larger audiences.

An interesting point is that though The Oklahoman has little competition as far as other Oklahoma City metro daily newspapers, it faces the same pressures as major metropolitan newspapers because of advertising woes, the rise in fuel costs of fuel and newsprint and also the shift from traditional print readers to online readers.

Read more about the specifics the staff reductions here.

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New England's Worcester Telegram & Gazette to cut about 36 jobs, scale back to one edition

Syracuse student newspaper cancels Friday edition of paper because of "financial setbacks"

Raleigh's News & Observer offering voluntary buyouts to 320 employees