Read All About It – The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 28, 2007

[As Wall Street Journal Deputy Managing Editor Paul E. Steiger prepares to step out the door, he pens a thoughtful and dispassionate retrospective on what calls “the collapse of metro newspapers’ business model.” The 40-yet newspaper veteran chronicles the rise of the dominant media companies in the 60 and 70s that led to the post-Watergate “golden age of journalism.” He also tells of some of the spending excesses of that time that may have created too high a comfort level at the dominant dailies.

You’ll find some tidbits about the internal struggles at the Journal during the early days of the Internet. Steiger’s also right in pointing out that most newspapers’ early online efforts were half-hearted and unoriginal. This is ultimately a narrative on the industry’s decline, not an opinion piece about what should be or what should have been. In that respect, it’s frustrating to read. One would hope that a veteran with Steiger’s perspective would offer some opinon about what the industry should do, but he mainly sticks to the story line. In closing, however, he notes that he’s leaving the Journal to head up a small online investigative reporting group funded by two philanthropists. Perhaps his transition to the digital world is the most telling statement of all. – Ed.]

Switching sides – San Francisco Bay Guardian, Dec. 27, 2007
[A Bay Area alternative paper chronicles the diffusion of laid-off journalists into public relations jobs. While many are working for politicians and state agencies, some are in moving into the commercial sphere as well. Will the spinmeistering profession benefit from the addition of more seasoned journalists to the corps? – Ed.]

Seattle Times publisher hints at deep cuts – Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 27, 2007
“In his e-mail, [Seattle Times Publisher and Chief Executive Frank ] Blethen said revenue from print ads will be down by about 9 percent in 2007, with a similar decline expected in 2008. For combined 2007 and 2008, print revenue losses will be about $33 million, he said. In 2000, the paper booked $270 million in ad revenue, while in 2007, it fell below $200 million, he said. ‘Our Seattle Times newspaper losses for the decade will exceed $40 million — a staggering number,’ he wrote.”

U.S. media face troubling 2008 – Toronto Globe and Mail, Nov. 26, 2007
“Experts say advertisers need to remain competitive in a tighteningmarket while keeping costs down, making them likely to boost spending in areas more directly linked to commerce, such as Web search queries. That would benefit companies like Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. But television networks like CBS or NBC and Web companies like Yahoo Inc. that rely on brand advertising could suffer.”

Those Hulking Media Failures – BusinessWeek, Dec. 20, 2007

[Fresh on the heels of an FCC decision to relax rules on media ownership, the author argues that the decision is basically meaningless because mega-media companies haven’t been successful. Citing numerous examples of media conglomerates that are either breaking up or slimming down, he cites the lack of scalability and poor economies of scale as the culprits. In other words, combining two newsrooms doesn’t result in more information being published at lower cost. Media consolidation isn’t working, he argues, so the FCC ruling won’t be much of an incentive to anyone. – Ed.]

Zell closes deal for The Times – Los Angeles Times, Dec. 21, 2007

[Sam Zell formally took control of Tribune Co. and promised to skewer the sacred cows. Zell fired the board of directors and brought in an eclectic collection of media personalities to advise him. He also took the title of CEO, indicating that he plans to take a strong hands-on role in running the company. Zell promised to decentralize and push the decision-making at Tribune Co.’s properties down to the local level. He said newspapers have a great future, though he admonished journalists for treating their readers “more like students than customers.” The new employee-owners of the company will be challenged to shed their “journalistic arrogance” and come up with new ways to generate revenue, he said. – 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.]

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

60 Employees Retiring from Post-Dispatch – STLtoday, Sept. 28, 2007
“Editor Arnie Robbins said, ‘I’m sad that we’re losing colleagues that have such wisdom and institutional knowledge. But I’m convinced that we will continue to produce strong journalism with a strong public service mission.'”

How to Survive Newspaper Layoffs – eHow.com
[Erin Auerbach offers some tongue-in-cheek advice for journalists who have to prepare for the grim layoff reaper. – Ed.]

Express-News offers worker buyouts – MySA.com, Oct. 17, 2007 Annotated
“The newspaper’s goal is to eliminate 40 to 50 positions ‘through a combination of incentives and a hiring freeze,’ Express-News President and Publisher Tom Stephenson said in an e-mail to employees. The Express-News has between 1,000 and 1,100 employees”

‘Journal Sentinel’ Slashes Workforce By 35 to 50 – Editor & Publisher, Oct. 2, 2007

[That’s 3.5% of the workforce, which isn’t exactly a “slash.” Voluntary severance being offered. Layoffs only if absolutely necessary. – Ed.]

Flint Journal offering employee buyouts – ABC12.com, Oct. 15, 2007 Annotated

“‘I think what’s going to happen is the Flint Journal will go toward free lancers and a lot of times there might not be people who have a personal stake in the community, so some of the stories aren’t going to be as powerful.’

“A similar buyout offer is being made to employees of the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, a sign the newspaper business — especially in Michigan — is hurting.

“‘There’s a real struggle with newspapers right now,’ Zacks said. ‘Obviously the Internet — especially with my generation — is becoming the primary source for gathering information.’

[As if Flint, the flat-on-its-back city spotlighted in Michael Moore’s 1989 classic Roger & Me, doesn’t have enough problems. – Ed.]

Buyouts offered to Free Press employees-memo – Reuters.com

“The Detroit Media Partnership, a joint operating agreement between Free Press owner Gannett Co Inc. and MediaNews Group, which owns The Detroit News, aims to cut 110 positions, it said in a memo to employees on Friday. ‘If the voluntary offer doesn’t result in a sufficient number of volunteers, or if in the future, economic conditions worsen, it may be necessary to consider layoffs,’ the memo said.”

Saving investigative journalism – Steve Outing

“A new non-profit group called Pro Publica is being formed to fund and produce investigative journalism projects, which it will pitch to newspapers and magazines. One of the founders is Paul Steiger, who was top editor of the Wall Street Journal for 16 years.”

Black day for hockey coverage in the Bay Area, SF Chronicle and SJ Mercury News buy out and lay off Sharks beat reporters – Julia Dominic

“The San Francisco Chronicle bought out the contract of Sharks beat writer Ross McKeon, who has been covering the team since 1991. Also, Sharks beat writer Victor Chi is on the list of 31 San Jose Mercury News employees who were laid off on Monday. Fifteen others, including soccer and boxing reporter Dylan Hernandez and photographer Meri Simon, voluntarily resigned.”

[Maybe it’s a good thing that Bay Area sports fans don’t have much to cheer about these days – Ed.]

Bear Stearns Predicts Ripple Effect of Real Estate Decline – Editor & Publisher

”Retail is going to be the most vulnerable category, since consumers will probably spend less. Florida, predicts Bear Stearns, will feel these affects more acutely. It’s expected that retail sales will drop in Q3 and as a result retailers will cut back dramatically on advertising. In Bear Stearns coverage universe, Tribune and E.W. Scripps have the most exposure to Florida and California in terms of revenue at 37% and 14%, respectively.”

[It’s beginning to look like a perfect storm for newspapers, at least in some areas of the country. Demographic shifts and online competition are combining with a softening economy to accelerate declines in advertising. This leads to layoffs, a weaker product and more reader flight. – Ed.]

Chronicle colleagues who care

[Former San Jose Mercury News staffers have set up a blog to commiserate, keep in touch and share job leads. The paper has reportedly cut its reporting staff by half from its peak. – Ed.]

Alan Mutter throws cold water on the Yahoo newspaper partnership announced last year. The deal had been the subject of a recent glowing report by Deutsche Bank, which forecast that the deal could lead to actual increases in newspaper revenues as soon as 2009.

Hogwash, Mutter says, quoting sources inside the coalition. A restaurant that serves lunch and dinner can get a big initial boost in business by adding breakfast, but that surge won’t be duplicated the next year. “We aren’t anywhere near matching the initial gains,” says one insider quoted in the story.

It doesn’t help that the focus of the deal is recruitment advertising, which is being hit by a slowdown right now.