Chronicle to cut 100 newsroom jobs, union says (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 18, 2007 | John Coté

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Chronicle management informed the newspaper guild Thursday that it intends to cut 80 union and 20 management positions in the editorial department, the guild said in a statement. The cuts represent roughly 25 percent of the newsroom staff of about 400.

Michael Cabanatuan, president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild, said management described the cuts as necessary because the paper is losing substantial funds. Newspapers across the country have seen reduced circulation and falling advertising revenue in recent years as the industry copes with the emergence of online media.

The union has proposed a plan to achieve the target number of job reductions through voluntary buyouts and retirement incentives, which management is considering, Cabanatuan said.

Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega said, "Representatives from the Chronicle did meet (Thursday) with Guild representatives to initiate discussions on early retirement and buyout programs involving a significant number of people. We are not prepared to discuss specifics because it was just a preliminary conversation."

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Friday Morning Good News

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Raoul's First Law of Journalism
BIAS = LAYOFFS

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Ping

[rod1]

Hooray for the new media

[pikachu]

Let see, that would be 20 from the folks who cut-n-paste national news from the New York Times, 20 from the folks who cut-n-paste AP stories on international subjects, 20 folks who spell check the Al Jazera stories, 20 editors who make sure anything positive about conservatives in kept out of the paper, 19 folks who make sure that the Boxer/Feinstein financial shenanigans are covered up, and the last white, heterosexual male on staff.

[SoFloFreeper]

News to brighten my weekend.

[SoFloFreeper]

...that would be 20 from the folks who cut-n-paste national news from the New York Times, 20 from the folks who cut-n-paste AP stories on international subjects, 20 folks who spell check the Al Jazera stories, 20 editors who make sure anything positive about conservatives in kept out of the paper, 19 folks who make sure that the Boxer/Feinstein financial shenanigans are covered up, and the last white, heterosexual male on staff.

LOL!! You're more accurate than you may know, my friend!

[SoFloFreeper]

....except they’re keeping ON the person who re-writes DNC press releases.

[Mr. Lucky]

Are you sure they actually bother to re-write the DNC press releases?

[andyandval]

losing substantial funds

Funds?

[abb]

The concepts of “enterprise” and “commerce” are foreign to most newsies. Their craft, doncha see, is on the order of Spreading the Gospel or Saving Souls. They do the Lord’s Work - or so they believe.

[SmithL]

ping

[SF Republican]

I sent an email to a SF writer yesterday; her reply was full of writing and grammar errors.

[Primetimedonna]

A million years ago I used to read the Chronicle (as well as the Examiner, and long ago the Call Bulletin) cover to cover. Now I check out the obituaries on line. Hate to see folks out of work, but as for the owners and “reporters”, couldn’t happen to a better group!!

[tubebender]

Let’s raise another cup of coffee and toast the demise of the SF Commical...

[Milhous]

Horace Greeley's probable advice to budding journalists: "Go Asian young man!"



While back in America we witness yet another big old mass media sacrifice ritual.

[Milhous]

Speaking of MSM doing the Lord's Work allow me to do a riff on big old mass media's self righteousness. (A repost of my latest bit.)

Socialist shills at The New Republic insist that all must respect MSM's earnest effort to achieve a neutral understanding of events despite the fact that a wide majority of MSM identified themselves as "Democrat or liberal" or leaning in that direction.

... There are many, especially in the blogosphere, who can't wait to dance on the graves of the crusty old MSM "gatekeepers." They champion the rise of "citizen journalism," as techno-enthusiasts like to describe the bloggers and their Wikipedia model of media: Unlike the MSM brontosaurs, bloggers will actually report the truth without fear of losing access to Washington cocktail parties or pressure from corporate bosses. And the champions of the blogosphere have a point. There have been times in the Bush era when blogs have crushed the largest papers in pursuit of scoops.

But there's a problem with the new order they imagine--which resembles the partisan newspapers of the nineteenth century, with bloggers chasing Truth without the shackles of objectivity. You can always dismiss a blogger, or a partisan paper like the New York Post, as biased. But The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal have long batted down this complaint. That's because it rings so empty. The MSM makes an earnest (albeit occasionally flawed) effort to achieve a neutral understanding of events, and that's the source of an authority and prestige that even its harshest critics in the political and corporate elite still must respect.

Indeed, that's what makes this moment so dangerous. While the MSM's authority and prestige persist, they are in peril. ...

[SevenofNine]

HA HA

[Grampa Dave]

Great news!

I will send in an extra monthly pledge to Free Republic when the Gay Rhonicle closes its maggot infected doors.

[Grampa Dave]

Actually, I unloaded a cup of used coffee in honor of the Gay Rhonicle.