Monday, March 9, 2009

What are you hearing?

If you have news or a question, leave it in comments.
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34 comments:

Anonymous said...

McClatchy Newspapers Cutting 1,600 Jobs

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/media/mcclatchy-newspapers-cutting--jobs/

Anonymous said...

Merced Sun-Star editor writes about layoffs: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/115/story/724587.html

Anonymous said...

Yeah what the hell is this cutting 1600 jobs thing about? Here's another article. Is this the stuff we're currently experiencing, or something completely new? Because if it's new, who in the world is going to put out the paper?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123659457938769641.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Anonymous said...

Are they any posters with any insight as to why there are some newspaper chains that are doing well?

Anonymous said...

Chapter 11 for Tribune Co. Wonder who's next??

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/media/reports-tribune-mulls-bankruptcy-filing/

Anonymous said...

5:21 - that's very old news...

Anonymous said...

Did you know that if you type "kcscar" into the address bar of the fire fox browser, it automatically takes you to the KC Star main page?

It's a plot I say! Those people are in cahoots with Faux News...Wah!

Anonymous said...

No announcement at our paper, and it is starting to piss people off.

Anonymous said...

Announcements planned today in Rock Hill, S.C.

Anonymous said...

Board members, who declined stock awards for 2008 and 2009, will have their compensation reduced 13 percent, including retainers and meeting fees.

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Declined stock awards for 2008 and 2009? Then what were all the shares they gave themselves on Dec 16?

Anonymous said...

5:19 a.m.

There are chains that are doing well? No chain is doing well. None has an answer.

Name these "doing well" chains, please.

JAT said...

Sooo...If 1600 is the number they will cut, and XYZ is the number they HAVE cut in recent days, then there is still ABC to go, correct?

In other words, this "announcement" in nothing more than quantifying -- slighty -- the $100 to $110m. in savings MNI promised Wall St.

Or did I miss something?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for trying to destroy a persons job by "outing" them. RIP Newspapertrails.

Anonymous said...

I went to that newspapertrails blog and it's been removed. What was the deal on it "outing" somebody? And if they did that is that the reason the blog has been removed. Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Not a thing and that is the problem! We just got a memo from the pub that said "in a few weeks" we will be notified for a reduction plan here (at the N&O). They are being inhumane....

Anonymous said...

Thanks for trying to destroy a persons job by "outing" them. RIP Newspapertrails.
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You should have known what kind of person that was by the way they came in here and bragged about trying to destroy this blog. You can't ever trust someone like that.

Anonymous said...

The Telegraph (Macon, Ga) has announced a meeting at 1 p.m. today, presumably to share the plan beyond the already announced plans to move press operations to Columbus, Ga.

Anonymous said...

And you are sure it was 1 person that was spamming? I personally know of 5 people that came here and posted links to the other blog.

So if it was spamming, it was a group effort from multiple people around the country.

By trying to out the "owner" is just not right. They have a life and a day job. Kevin will not lose his job for providing a place for information, and he knows it.

To knowingly try to out someone is just reprehensible.

Anonymous said...

Daily Finance

McClatchy's hubris sealed its doom as newspapers spiral down
Jonathan Berr
Mar 9th 2009 at 10:45AM

When McClathy Co. (MNI) Chief Executive Gary Pruitt ended his drawn-out
fight for rival newspaper chain Knight Ridder, he bragged in his company's
press release that "opportunities like this come perhaps once in a
company's lifetime." Man, I bet he wishes he could eat those words.

McClathchy, publisher of the Kansas City Star and Miami Herald, today
announced plans to slash 1,600 jobs, or about 15 percent of its workforce.
The company expects to incur $30 million in costs through the job
reductions including severance expenses. It also will also outsource some
business functions.

"The effects of the current national economic downturn make it essential
that we move even faster to realign our workforce and make our operations
more efficient," Pruitt said in a press release.

Shares of Sacramento-based McClatchy are down more than 92 percent over
the past year as investors continue to abandon newspaper publishers in
droves. Wall Street, though, has even more reasons to be angry with
McClatchy because of Pruitt's ill-advised acquisition.

McClatchy won the $6.5 billion boobie prize for Knight RIdder almost three
years ago to the day. Pruit's statement underscored the lingering optimism
of newspaper publishers who thought that happy days would arrive as long
as they could figure out how to integrate the company's print and internet
operations. The Sacramento publisher, like every newspaper publisher, has
not figured out how to do that profitably.

These days, Pruitt is far more humble. He declined bonuses in 2008 and
2009. Other senior executives are doing the same. They don't deserve any
reward considering that the company had a net loss of $27 million last
year.

"Today, the company announced that Pruitt's base salary will be reduced by
15%, other executive officers' salaries will be cut by 10%, and no bonuses
will be paid to any executive officers for 200," McClatchy said. "In
addition, the company ha reduced the cash compensation, including
retainers and meeting fees, paid to its directors by approximately 13%."

The future for newspapers is bleak. Gannett Co. ( GCI) and the New York
TImes Co. ( NYT) have cut staff in the face of declining circulation and
advertising. The private owners of newspapers in Philadelphia and
Minneapolis (former Knight Ridder papers) filed for bankruptcy. No buyers
have emerged for McClatchy's Miami Herald and the chain's paper's in Fort
Worth, Sacramento and Kansas City continue to struggle.

About the only hope for McClatchy and the other public chains is for them
to go private. Even so, it's hard to see the appeal of the newspaper
business has for anyone.

Anonymous said...

Ewww Columbus GA. Nothing but hookers and camp followers trying to leach off new soldiers. I think of all the towns I have ever been in, that one ranked right up there with San Francisco and Barstow. A nuclear detonation would be considered urban renewal.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:18 Nice to start my morning with a Pravda good news update.

Thank you.

Kevin Gregory said...

8:17 -- whoever was publishing Newspapertrails -- and no, I don't know her name, and her name was not posted on my blog -- has a history of starting blogs then deleting them. She had an earlier blog called Newspapertrails and she deleted that one, too.

Anonymous said...

And you are sure it was 1 person that was spamming?

---
There may well have been more than one spamming, however, the person that runs that site not only started the ball rolling, but made specific comments about his/her intent. He/She left absolutely no doubt and took great pride in what they were doing.

Anonymous said...

The competition between the two sites is getting annoying. Please stob blogging about each other.

Anonymous said...

The owner didn't delete the original newspapertrails blog, which lasted all of 2 days. It's still there. Being new to blogging he/she hit a technical glitch that forced a start over with the 2 version. That's all there is to it, and that was stated clearly on the original blog.

Anonymous said...

That's all there is to it, and that was stated clearly on the original blog.




That isn't all there is to it. There were previous blogs before that. If you're supposed to be a reporter, just do a damn search and find out what this person is all about. Not that you need too. What she or her husband did was reprehensible.

Anonymous said...

Hearing 128 fulltime positions will be hacked off at the Sac Bee. About 11 percent of the total employees. Email from the publisher announced the total cuts.

Anonymous said...

David Zeeck sent this email out to the TNT employees this morning:

On Feb. 5, McClatchy announced plans to further reduce operating expenses as a result of the ongoing and unprecedented economic pressures and revenue declines. Today, McClatchy released additional information about these expense reductions. The press release is available on McClatchy’s corporate website.

Here at The News Tribune, we are experiencing advertising losses greater than any of us have ever seen in our history. As the economy declines, so do our revenues. We are still developing expense reduction plans to offset these losses, but the plans aren’t quite final. We understand how disruptive the last several weeks have been and how announcements by other McClatchy newspapers increase concerns about the future. We apologize for the delay, but want to make sure we carefully review every option before making final decisions. We anticipate communicating these decisions to you in the next week or so.

Our future success is dependent on the hard work you do every day. We know these repeated announcements and ongoing restructuring are difficult and disruptive, but we respectfully ask for your continued focus, even in these difficult circumstances.

Please contact your department manager or human resources if you have any questions.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that TNT email is so close to the one sent to the Olympian employees today!

To: All Employees

From: Jennifer Matts-Sprague

Subject: Expense Reductions

Date: Date


On Feb. 5, McClatchy announced plans to further reduce operating expenses as a result of the ongoing and unprecedented economic pressures and revenue declines. Today, McClatchy released additional information about these expense reductions. The press release is available on McClatchy’s corporate website.

Here at The Olympian, we are experiencing advertising losses greater than any of us have ever seen in our history. As the economy declines, so do our revenues. We are still developing expense reduction plans to offset these losses, but the plans aren’t quite final. We understand how disruptive the last several weeks have been and how announcements by other McClatchy papers increase concerns about the future. We apologize for the delay but want to make sure we carefully review every option before making final decisions. We anticipate communicating these decisions to you in the next week or so.


Our future success is dependent on the hard work you do every day. We know these repeated announcements and ongoing restructuring are difficult and disruptive, but we respectfully ask for your continued focus, even in these difficult circumstances.

Please contact your department manager or human resources if you have any questions.

Anonymous said...

Cool! Dave the Zeeck and The Hyphenated One send out a form letters.

Wonder if they hired a freelancer to write it for them.

Anonymous said...

The Lexington publisher's letter this morning was very similar. That really makes it heartfelt, doesn't it? Here it is:

To: All Employees

From: Tim Kelly

Subject: Expense Reductions

Date: March 9, 2009


On Feb. 5, McClatchy announced plans to further reduce operating expenses as a result of the ongoing and unprecedented economic pressures and revenue declines. Today, McClatchy released additional information about these expense reductions. The press release is attached and is also available at www.mcclatchy.com.

Here at the Herald-Leader, as with newspapers across the country, we are experiencing advertising losses greater than any of us have ever seen. As the economy declines, so do our revenues.

I understand how disruptive the last several weeks have been. A few McClatchy newspapers have already announced their plans, but many, like us, have not. I know everyone is anxious, but we are still in the process of finalizing our plan, which has many moving parts. I apologize for the delay, but we must carefully review every option.

There are steps we have to take before I will be able to make a comprehensive announcement. I anticipate communicating our plan within the next couple of weeks.

Our future success is dependent on the hard work you do every day. I know these repeated announcements and ongoing restructurings are difficult and disruptive, but I respectfully ask for your continued focus, even in these difficult circumstances.

Please contact your division director, Jim Green or me if you have any questions.

Thank you for your patience and for all that you are doing in these trying times.


T.M.K.

Anonymous said...

9:17, why assume everyone on here is a reporter? Reporters make up a small percentage of a newspaper's payroll.

Anonymous said...

biloxi sunherald will feel the wrath of khan on 3-16-09.

Anonymous said...

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world