Shhh, it's not relevant if it's happening to us

The privately held Newshouse newspapers have suffered a steady drip of downsizing through buyouts over the last couple years, but the chain has tried to keep the news out of its own pages. Most recently, a columnist at the Birmingham News decided to write about the 20 or so reporters who walked out the paper's door and the effect it has had on morale and quality, only to have the column spiked by the editor for being too "funereal."

Such an information lock down is a double blow to newsrooms, which pride themselves on holding every institution accountable, including their own. And almost inevitably, information about buyouts and layoffs eventually gets out through other sources.

In this case, the Birmingham News column escaped the surly bonds of the internal news system and was published on Facebook, as well as other places. And now the whole controversy is the subject of a column at Poynter.

Star's opinion editor departs

Ventura County Star opinion-page editor Marianne Ratcliff has decided to take a buyout from the paper. Former Star cartoonist Steve Greenberg reports:

Marianne is still fairly young, with two kids (ages 6 and 9), and her immediate focus will be to spend more time with them and with her husband Kevin, who’s had to take on more of the child-rearing duties given his wife’s unrelenting deadlines. Some suspect she left the Star over dismay at all the cuts in personnel, features, budgets and overall quality, but she declares she just needed a breather and more family time. She states, “I have no idea what I will do next” but expects to be connected with journalism in some way.

(found via fishbowlLA)

"Transformation" another way of saying "You're fired"

ABC News plans to cut several hundred jobs in its news division, first through buyouts and then layoffs if necessary. ABC News president Drew Westin has recast the shrinking payroll as a "fundamental transformation" of the news division.

From NPR:

Westin said it was important for ABC to seize the moment as an opportunity to redefine how it operates. Instead of maintaining expensive gold-plated bureaus dotted around the globe, ABC now relies on digital journalists in eight foreign countries who can record footage themselves or work in concert with a crew on assignment. It has added several digital national reporters as well.

I hope they're the right eight countries.

Possible layoffs at the Bee

The Sacramento Bee plans to cut 25 jobs in the next couple of weeks. Management will first offer buyouts and will resort to layoffs if not enough people agree to leave. Sac Bee

Not much cheer here

In what might be his final chance to do so, Joe Strupp of the soon-to-be shuttered Editor & Publisher put out his Top Ten Newspaper Industry Stories for the year. Here's number one:

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS - More than 40,000 newspaper jobs were lost in 2009, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is nearly twice the 21,000 cut in 2008 and more than any single year in the past 10 years. Even with furloughs, salary cuts and numerous retirement fund freezes, publishers lopped off a tragic number of positions, even as they sought to expand online and, of course, increase workloads for those who remain. The count at the end of 2009 is 284,220 jobs. In 1999, that number was at 424,500. If things don't slow down, any attempt to properly cover news, and write and edit it, will be lost if it hasn't been already.

Adding to the tally this week are the Los Angeles Times and New York Times, which are laying off as many as 66 newsroom staffers between them.

Of course, 2009 has been cruel to workers across the spectrum. But even if the economy turns around, it's unlikely newspaper companies plan to add 40,000 to the payrolls next. So, will we finally see a robust and sustainable online newsroom take shape in 2010? Is "hyperlocal" still the mantra of the managers? Are we going to have to suffer through another year of "walled gardens" vs. "link economy" debates? Stay tuned.

NYT layoffs

New York Magazine has listed some of the journalists laid off by the New York Times. The paper has a goal of eliminating 100 newsroom positions and, after a round of buyouts, looks to hand out 26 pink slips this week.

Here's the list so far:

Eric Konigsberg — Culture
Sara Rimer — National
Christine Hauser — Metro
Josh Barbanel — Real Estate
Mitch Blumenthal — Continuous News
Kate Galbraith — Business
Allen Salkin — Styles
Monica Evanchik — Web

Four in the morning

1. Remember when Dean Singleton said that it no longer mattered "whether your [news] desk is down the hall or around the world"? Well, more and more newspaper owners find themselves in agreement as they make plans to outsource their news desk functions. Alan Mutter

2. The New York Times plans to lay off as many as 26 editorial employees in the coming days to reach its goal of eliminating 100 positions - 76 newsroom staffers agreed to take buyouts. NY Post

3. The metro editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group reviews the "Climategate" controversy and concludes that global warming is a hoax. SGV Tribune *(McClatchy has a primer on "Climategate" here.)

4. Time magazine and CNNMoney "de-clutter" their web pages to make room for bigger ads and cross promotion: "Time.com is also pushing its content partners like Huffington Post, AOL, and others in a prominent box of current headlines in the right rail of the page." min online

NYT loses two veterans

Two veteran reporters working in Washington, DC for the New York Times have taken buyouts. Stephen Labaton, who's been covering the financial crisis and regulatory issues, said he plans to leave journalism. Neil Lewis, who covered at various times the White House, Justice Department and State Department, said he will teach a course on media and the First Amendment at Duke Law School.

Buyouts, layoffs and departures at the L.A.Times

Peter Wallsten, who covered the White House and national politics for the Los Angeles Times and coauthored "One-Party Country: the Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century," has decided to leave the paper for a national reporting position at the Wall Street Journal, Politico reports.

LA Observed and fishbowlLA have kept a sharp eye on who's leaving the paper, whether by choice or by pink slip. In addition to Tina Daunt, the paper has lost business writer Peter Hong, who's been covering the housing market; Calendar writer Diane Haithman; travel writer Susan Spano, and music writer Scott Sterling.

Buyouts at the Star-Ledger

Yet another Newhouse newspaper has offered buyouts employees as a way to shrink the payroll. The Star-Ledger in New Jersey wants 50 people to "voluntarily" leave their jobs to avoid the possibility of layoffs, the New York Times reports.

Here's a portion of the memo from Publisher George Arwady:

Full-time, non-represented employees can apply to receive 2 weeks’ pay for every year of completed service, capped at 26 weeks’ pay, along with medical coverage for the severance period. The newspaper reserves the right to reject applications based upon business needs.

We sincerely hope that we meet our staffing goals through this voluntary buyout offer. If we do not, we will need to resort to other ways of reducing our employee costs, which could include involuntary layoffs.

The paper eliminated 150 positions through buyouts last year.

Elsewhere in the Newhouse chain (aka Advance Publications)...

The New Orleans Times-Picayune recently made all employees eligible for a buyout package equal to one year's salary.

The Oregonian's interim publisher released a buyout plan last month and hinted strongly that layoffs would follow if too few people took the offer. To wit: "If a significant number of you accept the offer it could minimize or eliminate the need for layoffs down the line." The interim publisher did not say how many jobs were on the line but set a deadline of November 9 for employees to accept a buyout.

Cuts, consolidation and reorganization at the Oregonian

With a buyout offer on the table and the specter of layoffs looming, the executive editor of the Oregonian newspaper yesterday released a memo - obtained by Oregon Media Central - that outlines a major restructuring of the paper's newsroom.

From the memo:

We are committed to the principles and values that have defined print journalism and will not shirk our responsibility to serve as a watchdog on government and the powerful. At the same time, we need to evolve our journalism, embrace the two-way nature of the Web world and be even more responsive to a public that expects more of a conversation with us.

-snip-

We will not abandon our foundation of beat reporting, but beats will be redefined along areas of expertise of most interest to our readers. Some beats will be eliminated because with fewer people we cannot cover everything that we have in the past.

The smaller newsroom will be split into two parts. The first, with between 60 and 70 staffers, will focus on "local expertise and enterprise reporting." The second, with about 40 reporters and editors, including interns, will focus on "community." There will also be an "editing and producing" hub that will endeavor to push stories out onto the web more quickly with fewer rigid deadlines. As with most newspaper cuts these days, the change also means fewer copy editors and designers to check quality. Again, from the memo:

We also need to streamline editing operations and simplify newspaper production since we will be losing many copy editors and designers. We must move toward “one-touch editing.”

In addition, all photographers and photo editors will need to be trained in both still and video.

The Oregonian is owned by the Newhouse family, which operates the paper through its Advance Publications company. Advance also runs Condé Nast Publications, which recently shuttered Gourmet and Portfolio magazines and which has made significant cuts to many of its other magazine operations. Advance newspapers include the New Orleans Times Picayune, Cleveland Plain Dealer and New Jersey Star-Ledger. The Times-Picayune recently offered buyouts to all employees.

Buyouts and wage cuts in Syracuse

The Syracuse Post-Standard, which is part of the Newhouse chain, is offering a generous buyout plan to eligible employees and cutting the wages for everyone who stays at the paper. From the paper's own story:

Editor and Publisher Stephen A. Rogers, who announced the measures in staff meetings, offered a buyout of a year's pay to employees with at least seven years of full-time experience. For all remaining employees, pay will be reduced July 1 through the end of the year by a range of 5 to 12 percent, depending on pay levels. Highest-salaried people will get the steepest cuts. In addition, all employees will begin to contribute 25 percent of their health care coverage costs.

The cuts come on the heels of 10 days of involuntary furlough announced last month.

Buyouts buy time to try online

The newsroom purge last fall at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey has spawned a website, newjerseynewsroom.com, run by about 40 former staffers - all of them took lucrative buyouts from owner Advance Publications, aka Newhouse. The site is a mix of original reporting and links, some provided through a deal with Voice of America, Editor and Publisher reports.

None of the writers are being paid just yet. It was the buyouts that have provided the cushion to allow the start up to keep going, according to former sports writer Matt Romanoski. From E&P:

Romanoski says the beauty of the start-up is that contributors can work without pay, to start, and rely on their buyout payments. Some have outside jobs and contribute one or two stories per week.

"No one is being paid as of now, we are giving equity and hoping to secure revenue," he said.

So who's staying?

At least 120 employees have applied for buyouts at the beleaguered San Francisco Chronicle. Owner Hearst set a goal of cutting 150 positions. Frances Dinkelspiel at Ghost Word has an updated list of Chronicle journalists who have decided to leave.

Buyouts at the Chronicle*

Freelance journalist Frances Dinkelspiel at Ghost Word has a partial list of journalists taking the buyout from the San Francisco Chronicle. Arts and music, science and the copy desk appear to be the hardest hit. The list includes music writer Joel Selvin, Washington bureau reporter Zachary Coile and editorial cartoonist Tom Meyer. About 80 people have applied for the buyout, Dinkelspiel reports, and more layoffs are likely.

*Quirky, political, and hyperlocal don't seem to have been a successful recipe for the Chron, according to a story by Richard Pérez-Peña in the New York Times.

Buyouts and layoffs at Daily News*

As expected, the Daily News began another round of downsizing yesterday, when management formally accepted buyouts offers for copy editors who chose to leave the paper rather than make the forced 40-mile drive to West Covina to join the universal copy desk.

LA Observed has three of their farewell notes.

Up to eight newsroom staffers are expected to receive pink slips today. As reported yesterday, Editor Carolina Garcia said the paper can't cut fast enough to match falling revenues. She said she'll be forced to use whatever outside copy she can to fill her "wafer thin" newspaper.

*Updated 11:56 a.m.: Four copy editors have taken the buyout so far. They are copy desk chief Ed Richeson, who is retiring; news copy editor Carol Bidwell; news copy editor Alan McCabe, who was a rescue from the Santa Barbara and simply can't commute to West Covina, and features copy editor Melinda Kough.

Denise Swibold, who had been on loan to the city desk, will return to the copy desk.

Roiling in Woodland Hills

According to the Daily News[room] blog, Los Angeles Daily News Editor Carolina Garcia on Friday told reporters and editors that the planned copy desk merger with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune will take place in March. She also told staffers to expect more layoffs, but said the paper would offer buyouts first.

The Daily News[room] reports:

The potential number of layoffs would be dependent on how many employees accepted the buyout offer, but initial reports suggest the target is five or six.

The details and terms of the buyout package are unclear at this time, but several employees have stepped forward in response to the offer.

More of the same

The San Francisco Chronicle on Friday announced another round of buyouts between now and the end of the year, with a goal of cutting 125 jobs. If the goal isn't met, layoffs are likely to follow.

From a Saturday brief: "Obviously, we're not the first newspaper to be affected by the continuing downturn in advertising," said Publisher, President and CEO Frank Vega. "We are hopeful that by opting for our employees to voluntarily sign up for buyouts we can avoid any type of layoffs going forward."

The Hearst-owned paper cut a quarter of its newsroom staff just last year and has gained a certain level of infamy as being the paper that loses a million dollars a week.