I want one.
Posted on 04/09/2017 6:58:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
OMAHA — The parent company of The Daily Nonpareil and The Omaha World-Herald announced last Monday it eliminated 289 jobs across the country, including 108 vacant positions.
BH Media Group, based in Omaha, is reducing costs because of declining advertising and circulation revenue. BH Media is the newspaper division of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. It now employs 4,450 people.
Terry Kroeger, president and chief executive, said in a memo to BH Media employees that some of the company’s 31 newspapers are reducing other expenses, including the number of pages they print.
None of the job cuts were at The Nonpareil or The World-Herald, although a few Omaha-based BH Media positions were eliminated.
Kroeger said in an interview that he told Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett last week about the cutbacks but said “the decisions were made completely locally.” Buffett’s opinion wasn’t sought or offered.
Kroeger said BH Media still considers buying newspapers that come up for sale, as it has in recent years under Berkshire ownership. Berkshire formed BH Media when it purchased a group of newspapers in 2012, shortly after acquiring The World-Herald.
In the memo, Kroeger said that without cost reductions, some BH Media operations would not be profitable.
“And, like it or not, profitable news organizations are necessary to practice exceptional journalism,” he said, adding: “While these actions are sad for all of us as colleagues, they are necessary to sustain the vital role our publications play in their respective communities.”
Kroeger said the company is experiencing a “critical moment” as print newspapers have “suffered from the growing popularity of the digital environment.” Regional and national advertisers are being hurt by online retailers, he said, causing them to reduce their print advertising.
Kroeger said BH Media newspapers are the leaders in their markets and are investing in digital publishing “to create as many connections as possible with our readers, non-readers, advertisers, non-advertisers and all consumers.”
Newspapers owned by BH Media include the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Roanoke Times in Virginia; the Tulsa World in Oklahoma; the Greensboro News & Record and the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina; and Nebraska newspapers in York, North Platte, Kearney, Scottsbluff and Grand Island.
The Richmond paper said it laid off 33 employees, including 13 in the newsroom, and is leaving other positions unfilled. Other changes in the paper will be announced later this week.
The Greensboro paper said it cut 36 staff positions and would consolidate its paper into two sections on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays; merge its Sunday news into one section; and drop the daily TV list, bridge column and horoscope.
And the Tulsa World said it eliminated 28 staff positions in news, advertising, finance, circulation and corporate services.
Figures on BH Media in Berkshire’s 2016 annual report show that the 31 daily papers’ weekday circulation was down 6.9 percent from a year earlier to a combined 674,000 copies.
In southwest Iowa, BH Media owns four weekly publications in addition to The Nonpareil: the Clarinda Herald-Journal, the Denison Bulletin Review, Harrison County-based Twiner-Herald and the Shenandoah Valley News.
I consider myself about 4 to 5 years behind the curve when it come to tech and I’ve not thought about buying a newspaper in many years.
The phone in our hands has more up to date news.
And it’s easier than bringing a newspaper into the bathroom :)
Maybe Warren can help them find jobs at Dairy Queen.
I want one.
And in one or more of these nearly-empty newsrooms, an editor will still walk in on Monday and tell some hapless writer: ‘Give me another 500 words on why we should have coed showers in middle schools.’
Five minutes later, that same editor will tell the same hapless writer: ‘Oh, and give me another 500 words on why we should have halal food in schools, Muslim prayer rooms and segregated male/female classes.’
Used to subscribe to the Weird Gerald and the Daily Nonpareil but they couldn’t deliver. If they’d miss a day, they’d tell you they’d take it off your bill. Now I stop and get the Sunday editions and that’s it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.