(Ft Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel cutting staff 20% - But not reporting it (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Editor & Publisher ^ | July 21, 2008 | Joe Strupp

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Just days after The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel admitted it was cutting 20% of news staff but not reporting it, The Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, another Tribune paper, revealed it was reducing staff under a similar plan.

Sun-Sentinel Editor Earl Maucker told E&P Monday that his paper also plans to cut 20% of its news staff -- now at 290 -- by the end of July. He said the cuts are coming through a combination of voluntary and involuntary departures.

"A number of people have approached asking for consideration in the last three or four weeks," Maucker said, noting he told staff in late June that severance packages were available for those who wanted to leave. "We intend to have it wrapped up by the end of July."

Both the Sentinel and Sun-Sentinel are owned by Tribune Co., which has announced significant cuts at several of its dailies, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

Maucker said the severance package at his paper includes two weeks' pay for each year of service, up to 52 weeks. Not everyone who offers to take the deal will receive it, he said, adding that staffers are being chosen based on which jobs can be eliminated.

"If anyone wanted to express interest in it, they could," Maucker said. So far, between 15 and 20 staffers have offered to take the layoff, along with "fewer than 10" who have been laid off involuntarily.

By the end of July, at least 50 newsroom staffers are expected to lose their jobs, either by choice or forced layoff, Maucker said. "It is fluid," he said of the final number.

Of concern to several staffers, however, has been the Sun-Sentinel's lack of reporting on the cutbacks, with no stories appearing in the newspaper or on its Web site about the cuts. In most cases, newspapers have reported on their own cutbacks prior to the final reductions.

Maucker said he chose not to report on the changes until they are completed: "It serves nobody's interest to put it out ahead of time. As I've found, it gets butchered in the media, [there is] misinformation."

Sun-Sentinel Publisher Howard Greenberg could not be reached for comment Monday. Greenberg, who is also publisher of The Orlando Sentinel, confirmed Friday that that paper was cutting 20% of news staff, but also withholding reporting until the cuts are completed at the end of July.

"We are in the middle of the process, not everyone has been notified," Greenberg told E&P Friday when asked why the Sentinel had not reported its cuts. "We chose to do it the way we did."

Maucker said his decision to withhold coverage of the cuts until they were completed was not directed by Greenberg or any Tribune executives. "I have no other mandate other than my own to keep staff informed and I do that verbally," he said. "When it is over and finalized we will do a story."

Maucker added that the paper is also undergoing a redesign that will be completed within a month: "We have been working on it for a while; lots of things percolating here." He said it is un-related to the Sentinel's recent redesign.

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Monday good news.

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http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=30261
Trib buries news in redesign test

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989178.html?categoryId=1682&cs=1
TV, radio will regret print’s plunge
Shrinking coverage means less real news

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41732
Thousands of newspaper jobs go in US midsummer massacre

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ping

[NavyCanDo]

I just sent my cancellation notice to the Seattle Times which has also been delivering less of a paper. If such a thing is possible.
Less of a paper, but the price keeps going up and up every year.

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Whatever money you were sending to them, send it in to FRee Republic. The good you will feel knowing you’re depriving them of money and helping this site at the same time is priceless.

[Uncledave]

midsummer massacre

Catchy - I like it.

[Joe Boucher]

“voluntary and involuntary departures”
What the heck is an involuntary departure? It’s FIRED.
Don’t ya just love public relations people?

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http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1095243.html
From the Editor: Bee to change look, reshape coverage for new era

“Less is more!” proclaims Editrix MelSill.

[GitmoSailor]

Today’s “Arizona Republic” is almost a paper with no news.The front section is only 8 pages. One page is a full page add.Soon I will have to buy two copies just to have enough to line the bird cage.

[Milhous]

TV, radio will regret print’s plunge

Let's face it: TV and radio stations rely on the local newspaper for most of their news. So what happens to those "rip and read" broadcasters as print staffs shrivel amid the draconian layoffs strafing the newspaper industry?

Here's what: Shrinking print coverage threatens to trigger a "domino effect" as news operations downsize, feeding the strange Internet age conundrum where there's more information -- courtesy of blogs and the Web -- but less real news, especially as it pertains to backyard issues. ...

That's going to hurt liberals a lot more than conservatives.

[MovementConservative]

Feh! I’m tired of these nickel and dime cuts. I need more blood. One of these papers needs to go bankrupt.

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http://www.cjr.org/parting_thoughts/parting_thoughts_john_sugg.php
Parting Thoughts: John Sugg
Newspaper publishers knew the end was nigh—and they milked it

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One of these papers needs to go bankrupt.

You won't have long to wait. Within 6 to 12 months, I predict.

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More teeth, hair and eyeballs smeared all over the Drive-By Media pavement...

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/OPINION/807200306/-1/NEWS06
FROM THE EDITOR: A tough time for newspapers, a worse time to be without them

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/advocate/248776
Gas costs force rural route cuts

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2008/07/newspress_lays_off_36.php
News-Press Lays Off 36

http://www.crosscut.com/seattle-newspapers/16060/
In Maine, banks are involved in Seattle Times Co. decisions

To satisfy lenders, the company says, it will impose another round of cuts — the fourth in a year — at its Portland, Maine, newspaper.

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13491
Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 7/21/2008 3:12:37 PM
Title: Possley leaves Chicago Tribune
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
Maurice Possley’s note to Chicago Tribune colleagues

http://gawker.com/5027287/why-newspapers-shouldnt-allow-comments
Why Newspapers Shouldn’t Allow Comments

[Milhous]

Bob Unger provides this example of mass media's requisite watch dog role.

On Thursday, The Boston Globe published an outrageous story about the actual cost of the Big Dig project — $22 billion, including financing costs.

It will suck up virtually every available road, bridge or rail dollar for more than a generation and mean that many of the state's other needs will go unmet as we are forced to shoulder this unconscionable burden inflicted on us by the deceitful leaders of this project.

The very same deceitful Boston Globe touts yet another big government highway project (up to the point that actual work commences so they can revert to mad dog barking criticism).

a bigger commitment is needed: to channel significant new capital into the MBTA, now operating beyond design capacity. The region needs to shake off its post-Big Dig exhaustion, the belief that one mega-project a century is sufficient.

[Clay Moore]

"As I've found, it gets butchered in the media, [there is] misinformation." I cannot imagine such a thing happening. I thought it was always just the unvarnished truth with no bias whatsoever.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

BTTT

[ConservativeMind]

Apparently, they think this is so common that it isn’t “news.”

We’re winning!!