Newspapers trim work forces as advertising slows (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The summer of 2006 has brought a rash of notices of job buyouts and layoffs at U.S. newspapers, and experts say more nips and tucks will come as advertising dollars dry up and more readers cancel their subscriptions.

Among others, Belo Corp. (NYSE:BLC - News) said on August 10 its flagship Dallas Morning News wants to cut 85 positions through buyouts as it prepares for a restructuring this fall. A day later, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, owned by privately held Advance Publications Inc., said buyouts were coming.

In July, Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB - News) said it would cut 120 jobs at the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT - News) said it would cut about 250 jobs in its printing operations.

Nearly all the recent announcements promise pinpoint reductions rather than deep cuts. The reason publishers prefer a steady trickle, experts say, is that newsrooms are stretched too thin to allow deeper slashing.

"Any time you reduce the staffing of a journalistic enterprise, it's inevitable that you're going to lower the quantity, and probably the quality, of the journalistic product," said newspaper analyst John Morton.

"If revenue continues to not grow, I think you'll see sort of a steady adjustment in the work force," said Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino.

David Black, the Canadian publisher whose Black Press Ltd. bought the Akron Beacon Journal from McClatchy, told Reuters in a recent interview that some papers can afford to slim down.

"I don't really believe that quality of a newspaper is a direct function of body count in the newsroom," said Black, who also owns the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in Hawaii. "I walk through way too many newsrooms where I see people just talking or looking on the Internet and having fun."

Whatever the scope of the cuts, they are one of only a few available means to rein in the rising cost of newsprint against cutbacks on advertising, from department stores to cars.

The newspaper industry is girding for fundamental changes as new media, particularly the Internet, attract more readers and advertisers with the promise of free and fast news.

Newspapers' Internet revenue is jumping, but it still represents too small a portion of the pie to turn the industry around. That means that small layoffs and buyouts are one of the few cost-cutting means under their control, analysts said.

Wall Street, sensing an end to the ride but not knowing when it will hit, is punishing most of the stocks. New York Times shares have fallen by 17 percent so far this year and Belo shares are down 23 percent.

Most of the job cuts come through buyouts, which tend to be better for morale than layoffs though they invite problems of their own, experts said.

"A layoff normally means you go on some sort of rehire list," said Linda Foley, president of the Newspaper Guild. "When companies do buyouts, almost always it's about eliminating positions, so the jobs are gone for good."

While buyouts feel better, Foley said, they typically target older, better-paid staffers who harbor institutional knowledge that can be hard to replace.

One of the most high-profile buyouts of the past year was at The Washington Post, involving more than 170 staffers.

FWIW my fairly current index of DBM stories with hard data (eg financial results) versus opinion pieces. My index got segmented by company because bad news about the media experienced exponential growth during the past year.

As hard cord DBMers already know, I always like to preface my index with a little bit of preaching:

Gn 22:17 your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies

Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World
. . .
[Hillary Clinton] said, "We're all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gatekeeping function."

Newspaper sale$ decline should be blamed on the Journos
. . .
People who work at journalism full time ought to be able to do a better job of it than people for whom it is a hobby. But that's not going to happen as long as we "professional" journalists ignore stories we don't like and try to hide our mistakes. We think of ourselves as "gatekeepers." But there is not much future in being a gatekeeper when the walls are down.

Study: Web is the No. 1 media - 06/06/2006

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