McClatchy sells Miami Herald property to casino developer

A Malaysian casino company has bought the beachfront property that houses the Miami Herald for $236 million. McClatchy, which owns the Herald, said the newspaper will be moved to a new home sometime in the next two years. The developer plans to build a resort with retail and housing components.

Four in the morning

1. Journalism warning labels. Tom Scott

2. Toxic David takes on corporate Goliath. McClatchy

3. The other SXSW. Poynter

4. USC's Andrew Lih wants to "wikify" fact checking (if you think Wikipedia gets all the facts straight, you're gonna love this idea). Nieman Journalism Lab

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

Blog about newspapers folds

McClatchy Watch is the latest newspaper blog to go dark. The author explains in a Dec. 23 post that he'll stop blogging for good to spend more with work and family.

The unkindest cut

To save money, McClatchy Co., the owner of the Sacramento Bee, is contemplating a big cut to the severance pay for laid off workers, according to Sacramento News & Review.

Partners in journalism

Increasingly, large newspapers and newspaper chains have agreed to partner with nonprofit news organization to provide them with supplemental or specialty coverage of complex issues of the day. In one of the more recent pairings, McClatchy Newspapers has teamed with Kaiser Health News to keep a watchful eye on the health care debate.

Downgrades at NYT, McClatchy

Moody's has lowered the debt ratings for two of the country's largest newspaper companies, McClatchy and New York Times Co. The New York Times, which suffered a $74.5 million loss in the first quarter, drops to a B1 rating. McClatchy, which lost $37.5 million in the first three months of the year, slipped to Caa1.

Three things I read on Romenesko today

The Associated Press countersues Echo Park-based artist Shepard Fairey, who sued AP after AP claimed he had infringed on its copyright for using an AP photo as the basis for his "Hope" Obama poster.

The Miami Herald slashes its workforce, becoming the latest McClatchy newspaper to do so. The paper will cut 175 employees and eliminate 30 vacant positions. The employees who remain will see a pay cut of either 5 or 10 percent, depending on how much they make. Also, the paper plans to shrink its print edition. In December, McClatchy put the Herald up for sale.

Lastly, a law professor at the University of Montana wants to shut down the college paper's weekly sex column because she doesn't like it. She's threatened to take her case to the Board of Regents... even the state Legislature if necessary! Apparently the professor doesn't teach constitutional law.

Cuts at the Sacto Bee*,**

The Sacramento Bee is expected to cut as many as 26 newsroom staffers next week. Those that remain will see their paychecks cut by six percent.

*Updated March 9, 5:42 p.m.: The Sacramento Bee will lose 29 newsroom staffers, the paper announced today, and 128 jobs overall. That brings the total number of layoffs to 301 since June.

The cuts are part of a company-wide downsizing plan. Owner McClatchy is slashing 15 percent of its total workforce, or about 1,600 jobs. McClatchy stock was trading at 45 cents this morning.

**Updated: The Fresno Bee is still working on its layoff plan.

A shrinking Modesto Bee

The Modesto Bee is about to get even smaller.

Last week, management sent out a memo outlining a plan to make major cuts in the number of pages and sections put out by the McClatchy-owned newspaper. From the memo:

In the next several weeks, we'll be:

§ Consolidating and/or combining some sections.

§ Reducing the number of section fronts.

§ Eliminating some pages and sections altogether.

§ Refocusing some sections with content that we think will be a plus for readers.

Read the full memo here.

Last July, McClatchy laid off 80 people at the Modesto Bee and moved the paper's production to Sacramento.

By the skin of its teeth*

Breaking from the Wall Street Journal:

McClatchy won important concessions from its banks, sparing the newspaper company from defaulting on its debt.

*UPDATE: The Sacramento Bee looks at what McClatchy had to give up to win these concessions:

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 dividends under certain circumstances, although that ban wouldn't take effect until next spring.

McClatchy cuts again

McClatchy plans to cut another 1,150 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, in the second major "rightsizing" in the last three months. Falling revenues are blamed.

More of the same*

Job cuts at Gannett and wage freezes at McClatchy (via Romenesko).

The job cuts cheered Gannett's investors. The company's stock rose 10% on the news.

*Update: So what does all of this means for the Gannett-owned Desert Sun in Palm Springs? According to Publisher Rich Ramhoff, the paper will have to fire three full-time employees and eliminate an untold number of open positions:

In Palm Springs, we have been able to make up almost all of our reduction through attrition and holding positions open. However, we will have to eliminate three current full-time positions... Each person will receive on week of pay for every year of service (minimum two weeks) and medical benefits will continue during this time.

Read the full memo here.

McClatchy losses

Newspapers are a hard nut these days. McClatchy Co., owner of the Sacramento Bee and other fine papers, posted a 15% drop in revenues during the first quarter. It was worst on the coasts:

CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement that while Florida and California made up only a third of the company's revenues, those markets accounted for 56 percent of the decline in the first quarter.

Buyouts offered, fundamental changes cited (updated)

The Modesto Bee, a part of the McClatchy chain, offered voluntary buyouts to about 100 employees.

From the paper's own report: Mark Vasché, editor and senior vice president of The Bee, said the buyouts will affect a "very small" number of the newsroom's 90-plus employees and thus should have a minimal impact on readers.

McClatchy has seen ad revenue plummet in recent years. I wonder if what is happening in Modesto is a sign of things to come at the company's other papers, namely the Sacramento Bee* and Fresno Bee?

*Doh. I should have done a little more research. Turns out the Sacrament Bee already did offer buyouts... last month. Thanks to the alert eye of LJ Phillips for setting me straight.