Posted on 09/30/2006 5:01:46 AM PDT by abb
Citing a shortfall of more than $20 million in advertising revenue, the Orange County Register said Friday that it would offer voluntary buyouts to employees to help reduce its workforce.
If enough people do not accept buyouts, layoffs will be likely, said N. Christian Anderson III, publisher and chief executive of the Santa Ana-based newspaper. He declined to specify the target savings and denied staff members' reports of $5 million to $8 million.
"Along with almost every other metropolitan newspaper, the Orange County Register has suffered declines in advertising in recent months," Anderson said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we don't see a quick turnaround in the loss of this advertising in key categories."
The paper remains profitable but not at the level that shareholders and investors expect, according to information provided to employees. Investment firms Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners Inc. in 2003 acquired a 40% stake in Register parent Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc.
The advertising decline has become more pronounced in the last three months, Anderson said in an interview, and it has affected every segment except new-home ads.
Anderson said the cuts were not the result of Freedom Communications' launch in August of OC Post, an abbreviated, quick-read newspaper. As expected, the new publication will operate at a loss for 2006.
The voluntary severance package is being offered to about a third of the newspaper's full-time staff of 1,600. Sales, print operations and OC Post employees are not eligible.
The Register last offered buyouts in 1993. In 2001, the paper laid off 85 people and cut 20 more positions through attrition.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
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I take it that the paper is left-biased, from your comments. That seems like idiocy for a conservative county like OC, although I suspect it's less conservative now than it used to be.
Orange County is one of the richest counties in California and the nation. OC has a highly educated population. Financially well off and educated potential readers are there, and still this Fish Wrap slips into the Dinosaur Fish Wrap category.
If a fishwrap in OC falls into the Dinosaur Fish Wrap category in this country during good economic times, there isn't much hope for newspapers in this country.
How can this be good news, unless you're an LA Times fan? While I disagree with the Register's editorial position in favor of open borders and legalizing drugs, its op-ed page provices forums for Thomas Sowell, Deroy Murdock, and many other conservative writers one can't find anywhere else in the Southland. The Register is one of the few remaining conservative-leaning papers in the entire country.
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.
It may also be true that conservative opinion can be accessed on the Internet, but it's not always as convenient as a newspaper. For example, if one wants to read the news, say, while having lunch at a coffee shop, one would usually find it easier to read a newspaper than to access a website. And a lot of people, including many older folks, still don't use the Internet.
It would be a shame to lose the Register. If that were to happen, the only paper available in this area would be the Los Angeles Times--a true Establishment "gatekeeper.".
Whether it's news, print ads and/or classified, the 'Net can deliver more current/relevant information to a larger and/or discrete (targeted) audience for less money.
Just like TV forced movies out of low-budget serials and into larger, more extravagant features, the only surviving print media will be content rich publications like the Nat'l Geog, Atlantic Monthly, et al.
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