‘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.]

The Public Editor of the Orlando Sentinel notes that newsroom cutbacks are leading to more errors in the newspaper because copy editors aren’t checking copy as carefully as they once did. “In the past three months, the newspaper has corrected more than a third more errors of its own making on average than it did during the relatively placid prior five months. August, September and October have accounted, thus far, for significantly more corrections of internally generated errors than the newspaper averaged in that three-month period during the prior five years.”

This includes incorrectly identifying the winner of an NFL game on the front page of the sports section. Whoops.

Dark day at the BBC as staff learn their fate – The Independent, Oct. 18, 2007

Big Weeklies Sputter, Smaller Pubs Soar – MediaPost, Sept. 04, 2007

[It’s not a good time to be a broad, general-purpose magazine. Time and Newsweek circulation is trending steadily down, while U.S. News’ numbers are falling precipitously. Meanwhile, Europe’s The Economist and The Week are growing nicely.

What’s strange about all this is that both of the European magazines publish longish, weighty and thoughtful articles. Since the USAToday-ization of the media began in 1984, conventional wisdom has been that the only way to keep readers was to lighten, shorten, colorize and sap editorial content of as much depth as possible. Now it appears that growth is shifting to publications with some gravity. Maybe we’re beginning to lose our appetite for cartoon infographics? – Ed.]

Morgan Stanley Sells Entire New York Times Stake – Bloomberg, Oct. 17, 2007

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.]

Recent downsizing initiatives in newspaper land:

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers 60 buyouts – Employees must be at least 50 with 10 years of service. The move is expected to save up to $4.4 million a year, or $73,000 per employee.
• The Baltimore News-American will lay off an undisclosed number of employees, citing the sluggish economy in the area.
• The Daily Herald, third largest newspaper in Illinois, will lay off about 40 employees. Surprisingly, circulation has been flat at the paper, compared to the overall pattern of declines throughout the U.S.
• The St. Paul Pioneer Press said 15 employees will take buyouts, including 10 newsroom staff members. The paper is hoping to eliminate 30 positions in all.
• Media News Group of Denver said it’ll cut back on staffing at some of its Northern California papers. The publisher hopes to eliminate jobs through attrition, but said layoffs can’t be ruled out.
• The Tennessean offered voluntary buyouts to 15 staffers. The paper has already frozen hiring and cut issue sizes by about six pages.

Mark Glaser and Nicholas Carr have been mixing it up over the outlook for the newspaper industry and both have interesting cases to make.

In a piece on MediaShift, Glaser argues that journalism jobs aren’t going away so much as being redirected into online outlets. He cites numerous sources claiming that online reporting and production jobs are plentiful and growing. And he offers examples of newspapers that have cut staff in print while hiring online.

Carr, who’s a bit of a professional skeptic, pokes holes in Glaser’s thesis. He notes that Glaser doesn’t cite many actual numbers in his reporting (which is true) and cites many numbers of his own, including damning Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that show that employment is falling in both print and online media.

Glaser responds that it’s really, really difficult to find accurate numbers about media employment trends. He says the coverage is all focused on the bad news while the bright spots in journalism employment – including a stable-to-growing picture at smaller newspapers – is ignored. And he notes that overall job losses in newspapers are still under 10% in the last decade.

Both authors make valid points. Where I part company with Glaser is over his assertion that newspapers need to do a better job of “re-skilling” their print veterans. In my experience, the ink-stained wretches of print journalism are a notoriously stubborn lot, and few of them are willing to make the changes that are necessary to practice their craft online. Digital journalism requires a completely different approach to reporting and production. It’s unrealistic to think that a newspaper is going to wait for $100,000-a-year veteran reporter to “get it” when they can find eager young journalists who are willing to do the job for a fraction of the cost.

There’s no question that the future of newspapers is online, but the economics of that business demands that they make a wrenching transition from a high-dollar cost structure to a much smaller business. This will involve lots of layoffs, particularly of veterans. Many of these people are well-connected in the media world, and there troubles will continue to generate extensive coverage.

There will be lots of journalism jobs in the digital-media world of the future, but I expect that not many of them will be filled by the people who today are putting ink on dead trees.

Thew New York Times Co. said it plans to cut 500 jobs, including 35 positions in The Boston Globe newsroom and 45 on the NY Times editorial staff.

“Knight-Ridder Inc. yesterday said it was eliminating 100 newsroom jobs at the Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, because of lower circulation and revenue. The Boston Herald this year said it was eliminating about one quarter of its newsroom staff,” said an article in the Globe.

A Globe spokesman noted that the paper still has the largest editorial staff in New England, but that’s slim consolation when your biggest competitor has just slashed a quarter of its workforce. The Globe layoffs won’t begin till October, which means the Globe has got to be one gloomy place right now.

This remarkable exercise in community journalism from last June just came to my attention from reading Jay Rosen’s PressThink post. Working from a terse report by the Greensboro News & Record of layoffs of 41 of its own employees (why are newspapers so timid about covering their own bad news?), Ed Cone decided to let the people affected by the layoffs tell their own story.

And they did. As you can see from the frequent updates to Cone’s original post, affected staff members named names, told of the subdued atmosphere in the newsroom and fretted about the future. Some of their comments are touching. This account certainly adds depth and clarity to the unspecific report from the newspaper itself.

But I guess Ed Cone shouldn’t be taking seriously. After all, he isn’t a “journalist.”