From a Modesto Bee reader:
Readers criticizing recent changes at The Bee just don't understand the situation. When McClatchy bought the Knight-Ridder chain, a minnow swallowed a whale. Management is simply trying to prevent the indigestion from being fatal. Since McClatchy can't be Knight-Ridder, perhaps it can become Gannett. To this end, these specific suggestions:
1. Wire excess monies to corporate nightly (liquidity).
2. Reduce circulation to most-profitable size. (For Stockton, this was 56,000.)
3. Change ad-to-news page ratio (more ads, less stories).
4. Eliminate all perks, such as training, maintenance and capital investment (to service debt).
5. Reduce all production and operations crews to skeletons. (This has long been done; outsourcing was inevitable.)
6. Eliminate all second-level and most third-level supervision. (Scapegoats are needed.)
7. Replace well-compensated employees with cheaper help. (Loyalty is expensive.)
8. Reduce size and quality of the newspaper. (No action needed; inevitable result.)
9. As profitability and equipment degrade, sell the newspaper. (Unprofitable corporations don't need tax write-offs.)
10. Prepare huge golden parachute for CEO. (The worse they screw up, the more you have to pay them to leave).
BENTON HENDRICKSON
