Editorial Cartoon Group Prez Hits Huge Payout to Former Tribune Co. Boss — And Delivers ‘Top 10’ List – Editor & Publisher, Jan. 5, 2008

[News that former Tribune Co. executive Dennis FitzSimons had received a $41 million golden parachute prompted one Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist to express outrage that the payout was so low. Nick Anderson then proposed the “Top 10 ways that Dennis FitzSimons can get a bigger payoff.” They include “Remaining staffers at Tribune papers sell a kidney to go the extra mile for Fitz.” – Ed.]

Back to the chopping block – Reflections of a Newsosaur, Jan. 13, 2008

[Alan Mutter isn’t optimistic about the economy in 2008, and he sees terrible implications for newspapers. If newspaper revenues decline 7.9%, as one analyst has forecast, instead of the generally accepted 5%, then the cost
cuts needed to sustain profitability would amount to 15% of total newspaper payroll. And that’s not all. Debt service costs could increase and papers could be required to make deeper staff cuts to balance increases in insurance and other expenses. Unless the economy rallies, it’s looking like an ugly year. – Ed.]

The Cincinnati Enquirer Expands Coverage and Grows Online Video Presence with Avid Media Publishing Solutions – Business Wire, Jan. 8, 2008

[This press release notes that the Enquirer “has a team of 40 video producers and online editors trained to generate news stories with video elements – up from eight this time last year.” The newspaper, perhaps emboldened by the recent death of the Cincinnati Post, appears to be making some significant investments in multimedia coverage. -Ed.]

Media Biz: Dead trees, dead stocks, dead cat bounce? – CNN Money, Jan. 7, 2008

[A columnist sees another tough year for newspapers, with pressure growing for some companies to go private. But there are bright spots at companies like the Washington Post, which is diversifying and growing revenue. More papers should follow the Post’s lead, he says. -Ed.]

Newspapers:
Hitting The Coffin Nail on the Head – Seeking Alpha

[Noting that the internet is “not built on big. It’s built on a mass of smalls. And newspapers think big. That’s their real challenge,” Jeff Jarvis suggests that newspapers brought their current crisis on themselves by focusing their sales efforts on $100,000 advertisers and ignoring the mass of $100 advertisers. He suggests that the only way out of this predicament – if there is one – is to spin off sales units to go after small customers. It’s wise advice, but can newspapers make the attitude shift to embrace the Long Tail? Doubtful. – Ed.]

The
Seattle Times Cuts 86 Jobs – Associated Press, Jan. 9, 2008

[Actual layoffs total 31 people; 55 vacant positions won’t be filled. Most of the cuts are in circulation. Since the paper delivers The Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Financial Times to the Seattle area, we can assume this indicates broader circulation weakness. -Ed.]

Shrinking Union-Tribune: ‘Doing Less With Less’ – Voiceofsandiego.org, Jan. 7, 2008

Herald-Republic announces job cuts, expense trimming – Yakima Herald.com, Jan. 3, 2007

Quoting: Yakima Herald-Republic has laid off five employees, closed its Sunnyside bureau, and eliminated its zoned edition for the Lower Valley to trim expenses for 2008.

The Herald-Republic will leave several open positions unfilled, including one news reporter job. It will revamp its Spanish-language weekly, El Sol de Yakima, partly by outsourcing some page production to Mexico…”I don’t think it has to negatively affect the product,” [publisher] Shepard said. “Like any business, we can try and do as much or more with a few less folks.”

Sun-Times to cut costs; layoffs loom — chicagotribune.com, Dec. 15, 2007

[The Sun-Times had previously announced plans to cut $10 million in operating expenses, so this is a dramatically more ambitious goals. The CEO is quoted as saying, “We have to accept that the print advertising market may never again reach the levels of the past. We must scale our organization to meet that reality.” – Ed.]

How Garry Steckles can hang around – Chicago Reader Blogs, Jan. 9, 2008

[As the Chicago Sun-Times prepares to cut 30 editorial positions, staffers have come to focus on two employees who have recently been promoted to exempt positions and spared the threat of layoffs. Both are pals of EIC Michael Cooke, and speculation is rampant that that’s what saved them. Worse, this columnist claims, one is effectively a do-nothing consultant. -Ed.]

Cuts at Yakima, Bremerton and byline strike in Maine – Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild Blog

The end of the year was a good time for newspaper insiders and critics alike to review a pretty terrible year and wonder what come next.

$23B zapped in news stock value – Reflections of a Newsosaur, Jan. 1, 2008
[Alan Mutter runs the numbers and concludes that US newspaper companies have lost 42% of their market value in the last three years, with the majority of that decline coming in 2007. He further suggests that Wall Street’s lack of confidence in newspaper stocks is an indication that investors don’t believe that newspaper executives know how to pull out of the tailspin. As usual, his analysis is well-researched and pointed. – Ed.]

Lee CEO Junck Optimistic About Newspaper Biz – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 31, 2007

[A newspaper CEO points proudly to a year in which her company’s financial performance sucked less than that of its competitors’. -Ed.]

Enduring Values in a Time of Change – washingtonpost.com, Dec. 30, 2007

[The Washington Post’s ombudsman looks on the bright side. Deborah Howell starts by detailing the declines in circulation and revenue at the paper, but finishes by describing the shift in attitude about the Web that’s occurred among the reportorial staff. While it’s clear that some are adapting to the new online channels out of self-preservation, Howell clearly believes that most of the staff is embracing new media and trying to reinvent the paper. -Ed.]

‘Cincinnati Post’ Closes, Other Newspapers Outsource To India – MediaPost, Dec. 31, 2007

Quoting: “The Miami Herald announced Thursday that it is outsourcing some advertising production tasks to India as a cost-cutting measure, beginning in January. The New Delhi firm Mindworks will handle copy editing and design for special advertising sections, including a weekly community section covering Broward County. So far, the move hasn’t resulted in any layoffs in the paper’s Florida offices. However, Herald executives say the outsourcing is a test–implying that some jobs could go to India if it proves successful.

“The Miami Herald is actually the second newspaper owned by the McClatchy Co. to outsource to India. At the beginning of December, The Sacramento Bee also said it would experiment with outsourcing some ad production tasks.”

[This really isn’t surprising. Many functions associated with running a daily newspaper can be managed remotely, and why pay $25/hour to someone in the US when you can get the job done for $5/hour overseas? These early outsourcing experiments have sparked considerable teeth-gnashing in the newspaper industry, which is interesting, considering that creative cost-cutting initiatives like these are clearly needed. – Ed.]

Old and new clash in a struggle for dominance – The Boston Globe, Dec. 30, 2007
[A Globe columnist sums up the rough year that mainstream media has had and asks what’s next. “As old embraces new, some fear that the basic function of old media – watchdog, investigator, pillar of democracy – will be lost in a sea of microtargeting and snark,” she says. It’s an interesting observation, because blogging is, in many respects, the epitome of democracy and communities have proven to be pretty good watchdogs when they’re given a forum to talk about what they see. As for the investigator role, we’re still working out how to sustain that valuable function in the new world. Sending 2,500 reporters to cover the Iowa caucuses was not a great PR move for the newspaper industry. -Ed.]

Album Sales Plunge, Music Biz Rethinks – Media Post, Jan. 4, 2008
[The topic isn’t newspapers here, but the dynamics that are killing the music industry are meaningful to any mainstream media business. Record companies have long resisted buyers’ demands that they provide more flexible means to acquire their products. They’ve stubbornly refused, insisting that consumers buy an entire album, even if they only want to listen to one song. So customers have stopped buying, and now the recording industry is paying the price. Album sales are off a stunning 15% year-over-year, continuing a long-term decline. A desperate industry is forced to resort to desperate measures, but their reputation is so tattered that it’s questionable whether customers will give them another chance. This is a harsh lesson of the digital media age. -Ed.]

November Journal Communications Revenues Plummet 13% On Political Ad Fall-Off – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 19, 2007
Retail advertising was up 1.9% — but classified advertising revenue slumped 15.5%, with bi declines in help-wanted and real estate. Help-wanted classified revenue fell 24.7%, while real estate was down 30.1%….Total interactive advertising revenue at the daily newspaper, which is included in various ad revenue categories, increased 38.8% to $1.19 million for the period.

Gannett November Revenues Fall 4.6% On Big Classifieds Drop – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 18, 2007
The fall was “propelled by huge declines in U.S. classified newspaper revenues, including a 28.4% plunge in real estate and a 23.5% collapse in help-wanted.”

Publisher Hands Sun-Sentinel News Site Over To Marketer – The Daily Pulp, Dec. 14, 2007
[The Sun-Sentinel puts a marketer in charge of the newspaper’s website, including editorial content. A lively debate takes place in the comments section, including opinions about the senior editorial manager who was laid off as a result of the changes. – Ed.]

Times Media readership increases – St. Cloud Times, Dec. 14, 2007
[The St. Cloud Times appears to be doing a few things right. Overall readership is up 9% over the last four years (presumably most of those gains are online). Aggressive investment in local coverage appears to be paying off: “Over a 30-day period, Times Media reaches 93 percent of the adults in the region, the highest of all Gannett papers’ surveys that have been measured so far.” – Ed.]

‘Cincy Post’ Shutting in 3 Weeks — How Staffers Spend Final Days – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 12, 2007
Many employees plan to get out of the journalism business.

Big Investor Tells Sun-Times Group To Cut More, Pay Execs In Stock – Editor & Publisher, Dec. 11, 2007
$1.8 billion plunge in shareholder equity has big hedge fund up in arms.

More on Times Layoffs – New York Observer, Nov. 29, 2007

[The New York Observer publishes a memo from Times management about the layoffs along with a Newspaper Guild reaction. Apparently the Times still maintains a photo lab years after news photography went entirely digital. -Ed.]

Smithfield Herald to Shift Printing Operations to News & Observer – WRAL.com, Nov. 28, 2007

On Bad Day For Newspaper Stocks — Sun-Times Media Group Sinks 23% – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 26, 2007

[No one knows why Sun-Times stock fell 23% in one day. – Ed.]

Black October For Tribune Revenues – MediaPost, Nov. 28, 2007

[The Trib’s ad revenue was off 10.6% in October, largely because of lower real-estate advertising. Perhaps even worse is that circulation revenue was down 6.3%, meaning that the paper is losing subscribers. Speculation is that unless the FCC will let Tribune Co. own a newspaper and a TV station in the same market, buyer Sam Zell may back out of the deal. – Ed.]

Online Revenue Grew 21% In 3Q For Newspapers – MediaPost, Nov. 23, 2007

[Good news about strong growth in newspaper online ad revenue is tempered by the fact that growth is slowing and that print revenue declines are falling faster than online sales can make up the difference. – Ed.]

Deflating sales for de press – Reflections of a Newsosaur

[Alan Mutter adjusts newspaper industry financials for inflation and reports that 2007 print advertising revenues are actually about 20% below 1997 figures. What’s worse is that the decline is accelerating. Ed.]

How an electronic newspaper could become profitable – Crosscut Seattle

[A veteran journalist proposes a scenario in which print newspapers move entirely to Amazon’s Kindle reader and ditch print entirely. This article has some interesting numbers about what it costs to run a newspaper, based on averages provided by industry associations. It also presents an intriguing cost/benefit model, one which ultimately argues that ditching print may actually be a good idea. – Ed.]

L.A. Times Launches Readers’ Representative Journal – Bloggers Blog, Nov. 27, 2007

[The LA Times has been tiptoeing into the world of audience interaction. Some stories invite reader comments, although hyperlinks are almost absent within editorial content. The LA Times has badly fumbled its frachise over the last two decades, by many accounts. For example, this morning’s home page contains not a single sentence in Spanish. And this is Los Angeles. – Ed.]

The Seattle Times minority owner cites an 81 percent ‘loss in value’ – Crosscut Seattle

“McClatchy disclosed on Thursday, Nov. 8, that it wrote off $1.52 billion of the worth of 31 newspapers and other holdings. Buried deep in a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission was further news that the writedown included a drop of $69.1 million in valuation of McClatchy’s stake in the Seattle Times Co…What McClatchy stated was worth $102.2 million then is thought to be worth a mere $19.0 million now. And as McClatchy noted in this latest SEC filing, it now sees the loss in value of the Seattle Times Co. as ‘other than temporary.'”

‘NYT’ Introduces Comments on Web Stories — But Worries About It – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 4, 2007

“Quietly, without promoting the move, The New York Times began this week publishing on its Web site readers’ comments at the end of certain articles. This is a move The Washington Post and USA Today, and many other newspapers, began long ago.”

[The decision to add moderation to comments adds costs to the revenue-strapped Times, but the Old Gray Lady isn’t yet ready to let go. Says Times‘ Public Editor Clark Hoyt, ““How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways? The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.” – Ed.]

First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 5, 2007

“Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains…According to an analysis of ABC figures, for 538 daily U.S. newspapers, circulation declined 2.5% to 40,689,617. For 609 papers that filed on Sunday, overall circulation dropped 3.5% to 46,771,486…For the past several years, publishers, particularly those at major metros, have been whittling back on circulation considered to be less useful by advertisers. Those papers fall into the category of other paid, which includes hotel, Newspapers in Education, employee, and third party copies.

“Of course, the trend points to fewer people reading the paper too as single-copy sales, considered a barometer of the industry, is decreasing at larger rates than the overall top line number — somewhere in the ballpark of 5%.”

[Santa Barbara News-Press appears to be especially hard hit. – Ed.]

‘NYT’ Introduces Comments on Web Stories — But Worries About It – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 4, 2007

[The decision to add moderation to comments adds costs to the revenue-strapped Times, but the Old Gray Lady isn’t yet ready to let go. Says Times‘ Public Editor Clark Hoyt, ““How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways? The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.” – Ed.]

Spokesman-Review cuts two editions, will print just once a day – Fading to Black

[This newspaper continues to document its troubles on its own blogs, demonstrating admirable transparency. – Ed.]

MediaNews Goal: Triple Web Revenue By 2012 – paidContent.org, Oct. 21, 2007

[Here’s a publisher who gets it. And he’s set a tangible, achievable goal that his people can strive for. Most publishers are just saying they need to “increase” online revenue contributions. Leaders know that clear objectives are more motivating than mushy statements of direction. – Ed.]

First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 5, 2007

Circ Declines, Some Steep, Continue – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 2, 2007
“According to industry sources speaking to E&P, daily circulation for reporting papers in the six-month FAS-FAX period ending September is down about 2.5% while Sunday is expected to fall 3.5%. Those types of declines — in the 2% and 3% range — have been occurring as far back as the March 2005 period.

”E&P has learned that several major papers have suffered declines in daily circ of over 7%, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Miami Herald and The Dallas Morning News.

When the FAS-FAX comes out next Monday, ABC will introduce the ‘audience FAX’ where about 200 papers are providing the organization with not only circulation data, but print readership, online readership, unduplicated market reach, and monthly unique users. Daily and Sunday circulation will be a part of the report as well but the audience FAX is the first step in what will most likely be many more to emphasize total audience.”

[Facing circulation declines of 5%-10% per six-month reporting period, many newspapers are drastically cutting back on free/bonus distribution, reducing reader churn and trying to bring the numbers down to sustainable levels. Unfortunately, the demographic trends (half as many people under 35 read a newspaper daily as people over 65) point to the declines continuing. Interesting that a circulation decline of less than 1% is now considered ‘growth.’ – Ed.]

Spokane Spokesman-Review breaks news of layoffs as it happens

[This interesting experiment in Spokane, WA offers readers a glimpse into the decision-making process at the daily newspaper. The daily coverage plan is documented on a blog for all to read. Unfortunately, today the news is about upcoming layoffs. See below. – Ed.]

A sad day…layoffs announced – News is a Conversation
“This was a sad day for The Spokesman-Review newsroom. We announced the involuntary layoffs of 12 Spokane Editorial Society (that’s the newsroom’s union) members, a manager, and one non-union employee. There will be modest additional cuts announced next week.”

[While other papers bury news of their cutbacks, the Spokesman-Review publishes a personal note from the editor on a blog. Such openness and candor is rare these days. – Ed.]

Chron honcho issues memo to layoff survivors – Lone Star Times, Oct. 31, 2007
[An editor’s memo to a decimated staff is roundly ridiculed. – Ed.]

MediaPost Publications – Age, Income of Magazine Readers Edge Up – 10/31/2007 Annotated

Online, Newspaper Audiences Up, But Revenue Growth Slows – MediaPost, Nov. 1, 2007 Annotated

Don’t count newspapers out yet – CNN Money, Oct. 22, 2007 Annotated

‘Newsweek’ Gets New Execs, New Look – MediaPost, Oct. 31, 2007 Annotated