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To use a sports term: It is a twin killing. For regular New York Times readers in the metro area, Monday was a shocker, although long-planned: The end of the Metro section, now folded ingloriously into the end of the A-section. At least it had a Calvin Trillin gluttony story. Now Tuesday: goodbye Sports. It now comes at the end of Business (causing conflict in who knows how many households). And it's only six pages long, even with baseball playoffs on and football seasons in full swing -- more like the national edition than the local, or a mid-sized daily....

Most of the 27 members of the fifth generation of the Ochs-Sulzberger family -- who are slated to inherit control of the New York Times Co. -- work as artists, musicians, academics, even fashion stylists. "You don't see a line of people in succession to run the joint," says a former Times exec.

Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

Total advertising revenue for the newspaper industry is expected to decline 11.5% to $40.1 billion this year, according to the Newspaper Association of America. The organization forecast that by 2009, ad revenue declines would not be as steep -- total ad revenue is expected to drop 5.5% to $37.9 billion that year. The loss of dollars in 2008, which if the NAA proves to be correct will be the largest decline the industry has seen since the association started tracking results 58 years ago, is due to plunges in print advertising. The forecast is in the September issue of Press...

As I was eating breakfast while flipping the pages of a French local newspaper this morning, my eyes caught the picture above, which accompanied an article about Sarah Palin. I couldn't put my finger on it right away, but I knew there was a problem with this picture. The caption under it says that during interviews, Palin is hesitant, troubled and clumsy but didn't offer more on where the picture was taken and who was on the right. All day, I tried to discover what was wrong with the picture. Thanks to Quebec's news station 93,3, which I listen to...

Tough Times for Leftwing Newspapers AMSTERDAM, 02/10/08 - The circulation of most daily newspapers in the Netherlands dropped in the second quarter. The newspapers produced by publisher PCM were hit particularly hard, the HOI Institute for Media Auditing reports. The total circulation of De Telegraaf, including free copies, rose to more than 700,000 from more than 699,000 copies in the second quarter of 2007. The core circulation of purchased copies dropped slightly though, to over 623,000 from over 626,000 a year earlier. De Telegraaf, a newspaper with a rightwing orientation, is published by Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG). The primarily leftwing-orientated...

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch made another round of layoffs Friday, cutting 20 employees, including 15 people from the newsroom staff. Employees in the marketing and production departments were laid off as well. A few members of management lost their jobs, but details about those positions were not immediately known, said Shannon Duffy, the St. Louis Newspaper Guild's business representative. The newspaper and the guild had opened early labor negotiations Sept. 15, well ahead of the guild’s current contract expiration set for June 2009. But they failed to prevent the job cuts. “We were in early bargaining with the Post-Dispatch to...

The McClatchy Co., facing falling revenue and profit, renegotiated its bank loans Friday to win greater financial flexibility. While the company says it's in no danger of defaulting or missing a debt payment, it was seeking greater latitude from its lenders. "The impact of the current environment on our cash flows necessitated taking the initiative," Chief Financial Officer Pat Talamantes said in a news release. But the agreement comes at a price. The Bee's owner will have to pay a higher interest rate. Its line of credit has been scaled back. And it could be prohibited from paying any shareholder...

All eyes are on Wall Street and Washington as government leaders seek to come to terms on a bailout of the much-endangered U.S. economy. But well before the credit crisis reached these proportions Americans were cutting personal spending down to necessities, and marketers were cutting their spending in response. Just how much becomes apparent looking at the latest data from TNS Media Intelligence on ad spending for the second quarter and for the full first half of 2008. Total ad spending on all media for the months April through June fell 3.7 percent. That's the steepest decline since 2001, during...

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to buy out workers or lay them off in a broad cost-cutting move, barely two years after its Ohio parent threatened to sell the struggling newspaper if it didn't get concessions. Management needs to "cut staff throughout the company," Executive Editor David Shribman said in a memo to employees. It blamed the newspaper's "revenue situation." Shribman declined to comment. He referred questions to marketing director Tracey DeAngelo, who did not return phone calls. Between 10 and 20 Teamsters will lose their jobs in circulation, transportation and the stock room by year's end, said Joseph Molinero, president...

The roles of Dwane Powell, an award-winning editorial cartoonist, and Ted Vaden, the public editor, have been reduced to part-time as part of continuing cutbacks at The News & Observer. Publisher Orage Quarles III confirmed to WRAL.com in an interview Tuesday that the N&O veterans would work on a limited basis. “You have to look at the whole picture, not just parts of it,” Quarles said when asked about why the changes were made in two of the newspapers’ most visible positions. “I had to make decisions about what our needs are not only today, but in looking forward. That’s...

The McClatchy Co. has slashed its work force by 20 percent, cut its shareholder dividend in half – and might have to trim some more. In its 151st year, The Bee's parent and America's third-largest newspaper chain is facing "the biggest challenge in the company's modern history," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and chief executive officer. Like practically every chain, McClatchy is struggling with a media revolution. Its newspapers, where it still makes most of its money, are losing ground to the Internet, though its combined newspaper-online readership is growing. But because of the insanely competitive nature of the Web,...

Well, leave it to Pat Oliphant, political cartoonist of the Washington Post, to make fun of both God and Sarah Palin at the same time, eh? Back on September 9, with his Tuesday comic, Oliphant featured a God that curses and portrays Sarah Palin speaking in gibberish as if she were "speaking in tongues" because she is supposedly a crazy Pentecostal. Oliphant apparently isn't aware she left the Pentecostal Church six years ago? I'm sorry missed this one back on the 9th, but it is no less outrageous now than it was then.

Advertising revenue at the New York Times Co.’s New England Media Group, which is dominated by the Boston Globe, declined by more than 16 percent in August compared to the same month the year before. The Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) said Thursday that its New England Media Group, which includes the Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, saw a 16.4 percent drop in advertising revenue to $22.2 million from $26.5 million. The drop was due to a decreases in national advertising, retail advertising and classified advertising, the company said in a release. Overall advertising revenue for the month of...

The decline in advertising revenues at the NYT accelerates again, and now the largest newspaper in New Jersey, the Star-Ledger of Newark, is threatening to shut down next January, if its employees do not voluntarily accept buyouts and unions do not agree to concessions. Editor & Publisher obtained and posted a copy of the email from the Star-Ledger publisher to employees. See it here. The NYT is not threatening to close yet, but advertisers are deserting it so fast now that its business model can be considered broken-to-year, advertising revenues for The New York Times Media Group decreased 15.1%. The...

The McClatchy Co. announced another round of job cuts Tuesday and said it was slicing its shareholder dividend in half. Sacramento-based McClatchy, parent company of The Fresno Bee and 29 other daily newspapers, said it was cutting its work force by another 10%, or 1,150 full-time positions, as part of an effort to cut expenses by $100 million a year. The Fresno Bee will lose 40 workers in the McClatchy expense-cutting effort, publisher Ray Steele Jr. announced in a letter to employees Tuesday. Of those, 35 -- including 11 in the newsroom -- accepted buyouts. Five -- including one in...

Washington Post Co. (WPO) Chief Executive Don Graham on Tuesday reported the sale of $2.9 million in company stock. According to a regulatory filing, 4,664 shares of Class B stock were sold through trusts of Graham's siblings. snip

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg announced in an email to employees this afternoon that the newspaper is cutting 119 jobs in what amounts to the third round of buyouts, according to two newsroom sources. The cuts are being made across the McClatchy Company, which in total is slashing 1150 positions across the chain. Landsberg's explanation to employees, issued today at about 4:30 p.m., was dictated to the Pulp by one reporter. "Today we are announcing plans to reduce our worforce by 119 full-time equivalents, or about 10 percent of all employees," Landsberg wrote. "About 80 full-time and part-time employees will...

McClatchy Co. (MNI) will lay off about 1,150 employees, equivalent to 10% of its total workforce, in an effort to reduce costs, the media company said late Tuesday. About half of the staff reduction will come from voluntary programs and attrition, according to McClatchy. The layoffs will result in $100 million in savings over the next four quarters, excluding severance costs of around $20 million. snip

Publisher George Arwady of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., has told employees that the paper will close on Jan. 5, 2009, if 200 buyouts and several union concessions are not met, or if the paper cannot be sold. The e-mail, obtained by E&P, sent to workers today is posted below. It comes about a month and a half after the paper announced it would need 200 employees to take buyouts -- and the drivers and mailers unions to renegotiate contracts -- or the newspaper could be sold. In recent weeks, Arwady has indicated to staffers in other e-mails that the...

Grim numbers cast a shadow over showbiz Monday as Wall Street endured a historic day of turmoil. The Dow’s 504-point drop — the worst one-day percentage decline since July 19, 2002 — followed Sunday’s triple-whammy of Lehman Bros.’ bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch’s sale to Bank of America and AIG’s flirtation with disaster. The S&P 500 also dropped almost 5% on the day. Given how much damage the media and entertainment sector has already sustained during this economic downturn, though, most vets don’t see the latest news as a particular reason for despair. It certainly proved a major distraction during the day...

Gannett reported today that advertising revenue at its publishing division plunged 16.8% in August compared to the same period a year ago on steep declines in classified advertising revenue. Classified advertising revenue decreased 28% on severe drops in real estate (down 40.0%), employment (down 33.6%) and automotive (down 21.1%). Both of Gannett's U.S. and U.K properties experienced declines. At Gannet's U.S. community publishing division only, total classified revenue fell 25.8% on a 32% drop in real estate revenue, a 35.1% drop in employment revenue, and an 18.3% drop in real estate revenue. Total retail advertising revenue at Gannett's publishing division...

Poynter Institute media analyst Rick Edmonds estimated that by year’s end, the U.S. newspaper industry will have shed about 5,000 newsroom jobs, more than twice what it lost last year Last week, Gannett Co. said it would slash 100 management jobs, after laying off 600 employees a month before. Earlier, Belo said it would eliminate jobs in the coming months at its Providence Journal, The Dallas Morning News and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. Those cuts, along with voluntary buyouts, are expected to save the company $29 million a year. Also, Hearst Newspapers’ The Houston Chronicle has announced plans to...

The Star-Telegram will soon put its historic downtown office building up for sale as the newspaper continues to cut costs. The move comes on the heels of the newspaper selling its four-story annex building, an adjacent parking lot and two other downtown parking lots Friday to the Fort Worth Club. Walter Littlejohn, general manager of the Fort Worth Club, did not return phone calls Friday. But he said recently that the club will use the property for parking. There were about a dozen potential buyers for the property, at Taylor and Fifth streets. Gary Wortel, the Star-Telegram’s publisher, said that...

The Boston Globe said yesterday that the newspaper plans to shutter its Billerica printing plant by 2010, affecting as many as 200 employees who work at the site. The paper plans to keep its main printing plant in Dorchester. The decision is the latest in a series of moves by the Globe, a unit of The New York Times Co., to reduce expenses because of declining print circulation and advertising. "We are closing our Billerica printing plant because we no longer need as many presses to print all the copies of the Globe," publisher Steve Ainsley said. "This has been...

IN his annual "State of the Times" address to employees yesterday, New York Times Chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger painted a rosy picture of the company and its newest investor, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim - but Wall Street still seems skeptical. Slim, ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $60 billion, on Tuesday disclosed that he had purchased 9.1 million Class A shares, which gave him 6.4 percent of the company stock. That makes him the third-largest stockholder who is not a member of the controlling Ochs-Sulzberger family. "He [Sulzberger] said that they...

Under continued pressure to reduce costs, The Bee cut its work force on Wednesday by another 7 percent, this time through voluntary buyouts. The Bee said 87 full- and part-time employees accepted a buyout offer that followed a previous round of layoffs and attrition in June that shrank the staff by 8 percent. The buyouts went to 23 newsroom employees. It wasn't clear whether that's the end of the staff cuts. At the time buyouts were offered, Publisher and President Cheryl Dell said more layoffs were possible if there weren't enough takers. She said on Wednesday the paper won't know...

Move over Warren Buffett. One of the world's richest men has decided to bet on newspapers, too. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú along with his family disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that they now own 9,100,000 Class A shares or 6.4% of the New York Times Co. The New York Times declined to comment. This makes the Slim family one of the company's largest Class A shareholders along with Harbinger Capital Partners. Harbinger owns a 20% stake in the company and two seats on the board held by Scott Galloway, founder and CIO of Firebrand Partners, and...

Letter from Gannett U.S. Community Publishing president Robert J. Dickey September 9, 2008 Dear Fellow Employee, Given the job reductions across our division in the past month, I wanted to share with all of you our reasoning and plans for the future under a new structure we are implementing beginning today. Like many businesses, the weakening economy has had a significant effect on our financial performance. Hardest are the classified categories – real estate, employment and automotive, where our year-over-year classified losses are in the 25% range. But it does not stop there: All segments are struggling with the current...

New York Times Co. (NYT) said Monday that it will close its distribution organization, called City & Suburban, which delivers the Times and about 200 other publications to retailers in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Times Co. will offer severance packages to about 550 full-time equivalent employees affected by the closure. snip

Media Mob has learned that The New York Times will make an announcement later today that it plans to cut the number of sections it has in the paper during some days of the week and it will fold in the Metro Section and Sports section into other sections of the newspaper. According to newsroom sources, the Metro Section is moving into the A-section and the Sports section will move into the Business section for some portion of the week. The move is being made to save money on printing. According to one newsroom source, neither metro editor Joe Sexton...

Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko Date/Time: 9/5/2008 8:51:46 AM Title: Houston Chronicle to cut staff Posted By: Jim Romenesko Memo to Houston Chronicle staffers Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 8:01 AM Subject: Message from Jack Sweeney Dear Chronicle Colleague: It has been a difficult year for our industry and the Houston Chronicle. Revenues are down, considerably, with major expense items like newsprint showing unprecedented increases over the past twelve months. Unfortunately, as we complete our 2009 Budget Plan, prospects for a turnaround in these critical areas are not evident. Consequently, we will be initiating a job reduction program over the...

Dallas-based newspaper company A.H. Belo Corporation, which owns The Dallas Morning News, will cut more than 80 employees in addition to the 413 who will leave through a recent voluntary severance offer, the company said Thursday. About 50 of the involuntary job losses will occur at The News, with about 30 coming at The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., and an unspecified number at The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. The company anticipates completing the cuts in mid- to late October. Of the 413 employees taking the voluntary buyout, 270 came from The News. snip

NEW YORK The Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner, two New York Times Co. newspapers in Florida that announced last month that they will share resources, will also be shedding some staffers. The Gainesville Sun reports that 22 news positions will be eliminated, and as many as 15 Ocala news staffers will help staff a joint news and copy desk operation in Gainesville. Both papers are in the process of undergoing redesigns. They plan to share copy desks, design, layouts, and pagination. Gainesville is about 50 miles north of Ocala. Both papers have roughly the same average daily circulation, with the...

For the third time in five months, the Charlotte Observer, amid a slumping economy and changing media landscape, is cutting jobs through voluntary buyouts – and layoffs, if necessary. Publisher Ann Caulkins said the Carolinas' largest newspaper aims to eliminate more than 9 percent of its workforce, roughly 75 positions, with a nearly companywide buyout offer. The reductions are to be completed Oct. 3. “The economy is really, really tough,” Caulkins told the newsroom this morning. In June, the paper announced plans to eliminate 123 positions, about 11 percent of its workforce, as part of sweeping cuts across its parent...

The nine people convicted in the Newsday circulation scandal were each sentenced Friday to 5 years' probation and up to $125,000 in fines, escaping potential restitution totaling $5.9 million and up to 20 years in prison. Those sentenced - in what federal prosecutors said was the end of their investigation - included Louis Sito, a former top Newsday executive who ran the newspaper's day-to-day business operations, and Robert Brennan, former vice president of circulation. Sito also served as vice president of Hispanic media at Tribune Co., which owned Newsday and the Spanish language Hoy, also implicated in the scandal. The...

RALEIGH - The News & Observer this morning offered voluntary buyouts to about 320 employees -- including all full-timers in the newsroom -- as the newspaper continues to contend with slumping advertising. The number of people affected represents roughly 40 percent of workers at The News & Observer Publishing Co., which also owns community publications such as The Herald in Smithfield and The Cary News. Publisher Orage Quarles III said the company expects "a relatively small percentage" of those offered buyouts to actually apply for them. The company might limit the number of applications accepted, he said, though he did...

U.S. newsprint demand continued to decline at double-digit rates in July, but exports are helping give the market some support, according to data released last week by the Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC). Newsprint consumption by U.S. daily newspapers dropped 15.7% in July vs a year ago, bringing the year-to-date total to 3.176 million tonnes, down 14.0% from the first seven months of 2008. Some of the drop in July was due to last July having one additional Sunday. However, year-to-date last year and this year had the same number of Sundays. Sunday newspapers tend to be heavier than...

If you are wondering why the stories in your local newspapers are starting to look so similar to other newspapers, it might be because they are following the new business model of South Florida newspapers: eliminating competition. All the major South Florida newspapers, Miami Herald, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (now called SunSentinel), and Palm Beach Post have had big staff cutbacks recently. So who is left to cover the news? The skeleton crews still working at the newspapers don't have the capability so they came up with a solution: pool their resources and share their stories. A story in Friday's Sun-Sentinel,...

Brian Williams says "there are real concerns the Portland Press Herald might not be around much longer ... another victim of the web and our changing times." Watch Janet Shamlian's report. || Earlier: Press Herald publisher says closing of paper not likely.

At the entrance of "The Big Tent" -- a refuge for bloggers a short walk from the Pepsi Center -- there's a signup sheet for visitors from newspapers and television and others of their ilk. "Traditional Media," it says. It's a subtle putdown, but illustrative of a larger truth: the "new media" -- the Internet journalists, the V-loggers, the satellite radio hosts -- are on the ascent at this convention. They're the ones with the swagger, the ones with the coolest parties and the wonkiest panel discussions. At "The Big Tent," funded in part by Google and progressive blog DailyKos...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― In a bombshell announcement in the world of sports journalism, star columnist Jay Mariotti has abruptly resigned from the Chicago Sun-Times. The Sun-Times says Mariotti left to "pursue other opportunities." But Mariotti told the Chicago Tribune he decided to quit after covering the Olympics in Beijing because newspapers are in serious trouble, and he did not want to go down with the ship. "I'm a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn't compete," he said in the Tribune story. "Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. "To see what has happened in...

Recommend to a friend Print Submit a Comment Strib tells AP: we're canceling It’s hard to imagine: the Star Tribune without the Associated Press. But that’s what could happen in 2010; the region’s biggest news source recently sent the nation’s most prominent wire service the required two years' cancellation notice, an AP spokesman confirms. If a split comes to pass, Strib readers will notice changes from the biggest international headlines to the smallest sports agate type. Just this morning, I counted at least 18 AP stories or photos in the Strib’s news sections; a wire-service credit was attached nearly all...

The New York Times Co. (NYT) said Tuesday that its advertising revenue for July fell 16.2%. Total revenue from continuing operations decreased 10.1% compared to the year-earlier period, while circulation revenue slipped 0.5%. The newspaper publisher said ad revenue from About Group grew 14.6% during the month. Shares of New York Times closed Monday at $12.88.

The Bee offered voluntary buyouts to the majority of its full-time employees today and hinted that another round of layoffs is possible as well. The buyouts represent the latest round of cost cutting at The Bee, which is facing a big slump in advertising revenue. Two months ago the newspaper eliminated 86 jobs as part of an across-the-board layoff ordered by its parent, The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento. McClatchy imposed a companywide wage freeze two weeks ago. But Bee executives said today they needed to make more cuts. The economic downturn has deepened and The Bee, like the rest of...

Last week news industry consultant Vin Crosbie published part 1 of a thoughtful, pointed essay: Transforming American Newspapers. (UPDATE: Part 2 is now available, too.) This is must-read material. Here's Crosbie's stunning prediction, with which I agree: "More than half of the 1,439 daily newspapers in the U.S. won't exist in print, e-paper, or Web formats by the end of next decade. They will go out of business. The few national dailies... will have diminished but continuing existences via the Web and e-paper, but not in print. The first dailies to expire will be the regional dailies, which have already...

Gannett Co. Inc., bedeviled by plunging classified advertising, reported a 12.3 percent decline to $546.4 million in revenue for July compared to a year ago. A 25.2 percent decline in classified advertising sales reduced publishing revenue 16.7 percent to $340 million. Real estate classified revenue was 37.9 percent lower, employment classified revenue was down 29.1 percent and automotive classified revenue declined 21.1 percent. Broadcast revenue declined 6.1 percent to $61 million while a 4.2 percent decline in paid daily newspaper subscribers reduced circulation revenue by 2.6 percent $108.7 million. The latest figures from the Mclean, Va.-based media giant, the nation’s...

Something's happening here, in the newspaper industry, and as the old Baby Boomer anthem goes, what it is ain't exactly clear. Faced with an unprecedented crisis that combines cyclical turbulence with metastasizing digital technology that steals away revenue and readers at an alarming and seemingly accelerating rate (while offering newspapers only stingy payoffs), publishers and editors everywhere have thrown away their rule books — and, to find their way in this new and alien environment, are ready to implement previously unthinkable changes. Or are they? Ask any two industry observers and you'll get at least three views on whether the...

At least four more daily papers are planning to drop the Associated Press in the wake of new rates being announced, including The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash, which is trying to cut ties without the required two-year notice. "Our lawyers think that we don’t have to wait two years," said Steve Smith, Spokesman-Review editor. "By the end of this week, we will have nailed down all of the things we have to do to replace AP." AP contract rules require a two-year notice before service can be dropped. Smith said his paper would like to cut ties completely within 30...

Shares of The McClatchy Co. dropped almost 6 percent in early-morning trading Wednesday, after the newspaper publisher announced another month of disappointing revenue. The Sacramento-based company — publisher of The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald and 28 other daily newspapers — reported $167.8 million in revenue last month, a 16.4 percent decline from the $200.7 million for the same quarter a year ago. Advertising revenue plummeted 19.3 percent to $136.8 million from a year ago. Classified advertising, especially for employment and real estate, tumbled 29.5 percent from a year ago, while national ad sales plunged 20.2 percent for the same...