Posted on 05/09/2011 9:02:55 AM PDT by abb
The Charlotte Observer will lay off 26 employees in an effort to battle continued revenue declines, publisher Ann Caulkins announced today.
Company officials were notifying those workers, including four in the newsroom, this morning. In some departments, employees were given the option to volunteer for a buyout. More than half of the cuts will come from operations; Caulkins said the Observer is transferring its pre-run printing to a sister paper in Columbia, S.C.
The company is also freezing 25 vacant positions, she said.
Caulkins said the paper continues to experience year-over-year revenue declines. Local advertising has improved, but national accounts are still weak, and it's difficult to predict when those sales will rebound, she said.
"The revenue picture remains challenging for us, but there are signs of recovery, and we remain optimistic," she said in an e-mail to employees. "We are seeing signs of improvement in various areas of the business, and we are working hard to develop new products and find new business every day."
The changes come as the Observer reaches more readers than ever - more than 1 million online and in print each week. Yet the newspaper, like others across the country, hasn't been able to generate comparable revenue from its online product. The company currently has about 500 employees.
This morning's announcement is the latest in a series of job cuts since the recession began and the second so far this year. But Caulkins and Observer editor Rick Thames said they worked hard to preserve the paper's newsgathering and watchdog roles and would continue to do so.
"In our cost reduction plan, we worked to protect our core mission of delivering the best news and advertising products in our region while trying to minimize the number of employees impacted," Caulkins said.
ping
I wonder if newspapers could survive if they dropped their liberal agenda?
As Charlotte turns, Bev squirms.
Doesn’t this paper do this every other month?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/business/global/09telecoms.html?_r=1&ref=business&pagewanted=all
Mexico Takes Aim at a Titan in Telecom
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/televisions-curse-was-its-blessing/?hp
Televisions Curse Was Its Blessing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576311352951033930.html
In Mexico, Rare Headwinds Buffet Slim
I’m not up to speed when it comes to Charlotte. The Raleigh News and Observer has its own set of problems, which I follow with glee.
The Charlotte ‘News and Disturber’ is a liberal rag with very little newsworthy content. I stopped my subscription during the 2008 election because it was all Obama, all the time. Do not miss it at all.
Good point, but most would rather go bankrupt than abandon the “truth” of liberalism as they see it.
Here's a suggestion. Why don't the Charlotte Observer do stories and editorials on how Obama and the democrats are destroying the U.S. economy? Why don't they do stories on what a crook Obama is?
Maybe they already have. I've never read this paper.
The are owned by the same lucky company with similar results. :-)
When these fools start printing articles like this, they might get their mojo back. But they never will. Its against their religion.
Is Obama a Serial Liar? (American Thinker)
Accusing someone of lying is a serious matter. Especially when that someone is the President of the United States. Charges of that nature should be leveled based only on absolute proof of a deliberate statement, intentionally made, whose sole purpose is to deceive. Based on this criterion, President Obama is a liar. Demonstrably so. And a disturbing pattern is emerging that allows for the possibility that our president is a serial liar. Consider:
In just the last month, Obama has made several statements that are just not so. Statements made to the American public that were in direct conflict with known facts.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/05/03/2268996/no-to-eliminate-about-20-more.html
News & Observer to eliminate about 20 more positions
By Alan Wolf
The News & Observer will eliminate about 20 jobs in the latest cost-cutting effort by the Raleigh-based media company.
The newspaper, which is a McClatchy Co. partner of The Charlotte Observer, continues to see declines in print advertising revenue, mirroring similar trends nationwide. Online ad revenue is increasing, but is still a smaller part of the total.
The latest staff cuts follow last week’s weaker quarterly earnings from the parent corporation of the N&O, The McClatchy Co.
Total revenue for the first quarter was $303.7 million, less than analysts had expected and down 9.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. Ad revenue was off 11 percent.
The Sacramento, Calif.-based company publishes 30 daily newspapers nationwide, including the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer, as well as dozens of weeklies and other publications. Other papers in the chain also continue to reduce their workforces to match revenue declines.
Probably because they wrote a headline which infers that The Charlotte Observer is engaging in a razor blade attack on its staff...
Molly's has a great spread.
Perhaps if the Observer wasn’t simply a propaganda organ for the U.S. Socialist Democrat Progressive Marxist Party they might have had slightly better results.
I think they use this as an excuse to get rid of the people they don’t like.
Unlikely. Technology and attitudes are changing so fast on them they really are pinched. The WSJ has a niche and so does the NYT. The rest are in big trouble, including WaPo.
Will the last person laid off at the newspaper please turn off the lights and mail the donation check to the Democrat party.
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