'Chicago Tribune to Cut 28 Editorial Positions, Create '24-hour' News Desk

Editor & Publisher ^ | 12/1/05 | E&P Staff

[Uncledave]

Since they print whatever they want to make up anyway, what good is an editor?

[Uncledave]

But the familiar gale winds that buffet the American economy in general

Has she seen the GDP numbers?

[Jack Wilson]

I find the editorial page to be reasonably balanced (except for 2nd amendment issues). Oddly, the Letters to the Editor consist almost entirely of liberal viewpoints.

[martin_fierro]

Based on an amused spectator's list Send FReepmail if you want on/off MSP list
The List of Ping Lists

[Uncledave]

first-in-class coverage of the Supreme Court's transformation

Aha -- bias noted.

[abb]

The tar pits capture a few more victims.....

[neodad]

We are creating a 24-hour desk to give our breaking news operation the muscle and velocity it needs to dominate the Chicago news market

You mean, more reporting of news and less editorializing? What a novel idea! /sarc

[neodad]

Every newspaper editor out there is wondering "How do I get a deal like NPR?"

[KeyLargo]

Chicago Tribune' Joins 'L.A. Times' in Large Job Cuts

By E&P Staff

Published: November 16, 2005 10:20 PM ET
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001523714

CHICAGO The Chicago Tribune expects large layoffs in the next three weeks, likely "fewer than 100", Publisher David D. Hiller said in a memo to employees late Wednesday.

The announcement came the same day as Tribune Co. papers in Los Angeles and Orlando announced dozens of job cuts. "(W)ith other Tribune business units announcing cuts, and so many of you wondering about our plans, I wanted to share as many facts as I could today," Hiller wrote.

Hiller said the flagship Tribune was cutting some newsprint costs, "in part through product changes," and was reducing planned spending on promotion.

"But we have also concluded that it will be necessary to eliminate some employee positions," Hiller wrote. "We have tried to be as careful and thoughtful as possible. In many cases we will be able to eliminate positions that are currently open. The number of current employees whose jobs will be eliminated will likely be fewer than 100, spread across all of our departments." The Los Angeles Times announced 85 job cuts earlier today.

Buyouts are not planned, the memo indicates. Hiller said layoff decision would be finalized in the next two weeks, and people affected would be notified "promptly....Individuals whose positions are eliminated will be provided a severance package," he wrote.

In the Tribune on Thursday, Editor Ann Marie Lipinski said that her approximately 670-person newsroom will lose fewer than 30 positions, including some open jobs left unfilled. But she added that both the exact number and possible elimination of content have yet to be finalized.

Lipinski called the cuts the deepest at the paper in recent memory. She said the paper would be mindful in making the trims of their "impact on our readers, on our staff and on our newspaper."

"The cutbacks," the Tribune notes, "come as the paper looks to bulk up its round-the-clock Internet presence and hopes to stem a decline in circulation. The paper reported declines of 2.5 percent weekdays, to 586,122, and of 1.4 percent Sundays, to 950,582, for the six-month period that ended in September."

The Hiller memo alluded to Tribune Co.'s depressed stock price, and the call by some investors for a sale of Knight Ridder Inc. "We intend to be successful for the long term and that means dealing with these major changes in our business," Hiller wrote.

He said the newspaper would "innovate and change," and suggested that "there also may be some things we should stop doing, or do only on our websites instead of in print."

Hiller said the newspaper would continue to "grow audience across a family of products and channels-starting with the blue paper," the in-house name for the Chicago Tribune printed newspaper. To become the leading Chicago-area online news provider, Hiller said, "will require growing our 24/7 news reporting efforts and retooling our organization to fit that continuous cycle, and we have plans for doing that."

"We want to invest for growth at the same time that the revenue in many parts of our business is coming under increasing pressure," Hiller wrote. "The only real solution is to find costs to reduce where possible and to use the savings to help fund investment."

[MOgirl]

Hello,

I think she should take a look at Fox's numbers and profitability....

Glad to be here, MOgirl

[FormerACLUmember]

"But the familiar gale winds that buffet the American economy in general"

Dear moron, the economy is BOOMING! The deceitful democrat party media is sinking like the Titanic. Who in their right mind reads the Chicago Tribune or LA Times anymore?

[Candor7]

The boycott of the MSM is taking hold ?

[moonman]

Thanks for the post. Orlando Sentinel announced they were eliminating 21 positions and not filling 34 current vacate ones.

[travlnmn41]

>>The boycott of the MSM is taking hold?<<
Yes, but let's not get complacent!

[Loyal Buckeye]

Papers have been consolidating for some times. Our local paper consists entirely of cut and paste articles from Knight Ridder, the DNC Times and a few others.

You can look down the road and see further consolidations, whether they be on the ownership side or the content side, are in the cards.

[ml1954]

Sounds good to me, as long as they don't eliminate the 'conservative leaning editors' (apparently the only even remotely conservative editors left at the Chi Trib) who write some of the 'editorials'. The op/ed section is the only place left where the Trib hasn't become completely left wing.

[LasVegasMac]

we are creating a 24-hour desk to give our breaking news operation the muscle and velocity it needs to dominate the Chicago news market.

"...we will now be monitoring the FR web site 24/7..."

LVM

[aligncare]

Thank god for the Internet. It will inexorably usher out the 'old' media.

[Hans]

Lefty rag.