Posted on 12/21/2004 3:27:07 PM PST by BurbankKarl
Seattle Times losing $12M in '04, layoffs planned
The Seattle Times will lose more than $12 million in 2004 -- a record -- and plans layoffs and other cost-cutting measures, according to a memo to Times employees from president Carolyn Kelly.
"Our immediate objective is survival," Kelly wrote.
Staff reductions by early February are inevitable, and Times publisher Frank Blethen has signed off on downsizing recommendations, the memo said.
Kelly wrote the company has not made decisions on how many staff members will be affected and who will lose their jobs. The Times will freeze hiring for selected open staff positions.
The newspaper plans news space reductions, cutting back in the Sports, Ticket, NW Weekend and Wine sections, and eliminating movie listings three days per week.
Over the next year, the company will reduce the Sunday section by 130 pages, according to the memo. The Times also will cut back on travel coverage, shrink use of syndicated material and color, and reduce the number of pages in the TV book.
Other reductions listed in the memo include reducing market research projects, sponsorships, and United Way and other corporate giving. The paper will cut back on in-paper employment ads, reduce front-desk staffing, and scale back discretionary spending on meals, travel and conferences.
The Times has lost money for five straight years. Four years ago, revenue fell by $50 million in one year, and the company has never recovered, Kelly wrote.
A spokesperson for the Times, Kerry Coughlin, said the cuts reflect the new fiscal "reality" of the current newspaper industry and are aimed at "getting the company realigned with the new financial picture.
Both Papers Suck,Both Papers need to die!
Perhaps if they would just add a wee bit of liberal slant to their reporting, things would straighten out.... </ sarcasm off>
I couldn't even continue my subscription with the Times for my dog to poop on!
LOL
You can be sure if it was the government running short of money the Seattle Times would endorse raising taxes, shouldn't they follow that advise and just raise the price of their newspaper until they are prosperous?
LOVE-IT! Die, you lib-dem bastards!
On August 21, 2004, the Seattle Times made the claim that "The new ad by the Republican-backed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth depicts..."
Yet the Seattle Times never substantiated that claim. The paper was unable to support its claim that the official Republican Party was backing Swift Boat ads.
Nor has the Seattle Times apologized for publishing that lie.
Cant wait to see the headline "CBS bankrupt" No I dont mean morally bankrupt, they are already that.
Gee whiz, there won't be enough left of this fishwrap newspaper to wrap fish in.
I know a reporter from another message board who works for the Seattle Times. She mentioned this the other day and said it was because of the terrible economy. This is a woman who lived for a while in Berkeley and, of course, now Seattle, so that should give you a good idea of how incredibly liberal she is. She blames everything on Bush, of course. She's hopeless. And she drives me insane.
Oh the humanity.
Hey Seattle Times, I'm sure the unions will plan a strike in order to help put the final nail in your coffin. They helped your business so much a couple of years ago.
Make that three papers that need to turn belly up.
I just read they want to tax visitor to pay for year another rebuilding of Key Arena!!!
Hundreds of millions in handouts.
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