Friday, March 29, 2002

Primedia Lays Off 65 Staffers
Forty-five jobs were cut from the 1,100 positions in the company's business-to-business magazine division, and about 20 layoffs occurred across its Media Central properties, which employ around 220. Media Central staffers said that in the wake of a closed-door meeting of top managers that took place late Wednesday afternoon, some sort of action was expected to occur today. "It's the end of the quarter," said another staffer. "Figure it out." About one thousand jobs have been cut so far.

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Worcester Magazine Lays Off 4 Employees
Worcester Magazine laid off four of its estimated 40 employees last month, according to an e-mail memo from the magazine's publisher, Allen W. Fletcher. The memo identified the employees as members of the editorial, graphics and accounting departments. Fletcher's memo said: "This is directly related to our financial performance and underscores the need to redouble our efforts out there."

Tuesday, March 19, 2002

Tribune Plans More Job Cuts
Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, plans to cut staff this year as sales in 2002 will be little changed and will fall ``somewhat'' in the first half, according to a regulatory filing. On Monday, Tribune announced its February earnings were down 3 percent. Cuts will attempts to reduce costs by 2 percent.

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Star Trib Casualty: Felt Tip Pens
But ballpoints freeze in the Minnesota winter. "We cut back on the variety of pens we have been offering," confirms Kent Gardner, an assistant manager in administration who has been with the paper for 33 years. Having received numerous protests, he has reordered the felt tips.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

Publisher Sees NYTimes As Multimedia Player
NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the paper's long-term competition isn't The Washington Post, USA Today or The Wall Street Journal, but rather Microsoft and AOL Time Warner. Speaking a day after a federal appeals court cleared the way for greater expansion by media conglomerates, Sulzberger said the ruling increased his concern that giants like AOL, which aren't primarily news companies, will gain greater control of information.
PLUS: Tribune may wind up a meal for AOL-TW

SFExaminer Graphics Arts Workers Vote to Unionize
Employees of the papers, part of ExIn LLC, a company owned by the Fang family, voted 15 to 5 to join the Graphic Communications International Union Local 4 in San Francisco on Feb. 8.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Minnesota Public Radio Turns a Profit
In fiscal 2000, MPR took in $7.4 million more than it spent, which, coincidentally, is almost the exact amount it received from listeners.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Exec: MSNBC Won't Spend Big Bucks on Talent, Promotion
The third-rated cable news network fares well during periods of breaking news, as it draws on NBC's correspondent corps. In prime time, however, an initial strategy of repackaging NBC News material from "Dateline" and "Today" into taped shows such as "Headliners & Legends" works for the bottom line but doesn't make sense when viewers wanted to know about big stories.

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Reuters Sheds Another 200 Jobs
The news and financial information provider says the global economic slowdown and fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks continued to depress earnings. The job cuts -- on top of 1,100 announced in July and another 500 in October -- were announced as Reuters reported its 2001 earnings fell from a year ago. Their goal: "Sustainable double-digit earnings growth."

Monday, February 4, 2002

Jersey Journal Saved
Members of the newspaper drivers' union at The Jersey Journal voted Sunday in favor of an agreement cutting half their jobs to save the 135-year-old daily, a representative said. Leadership from the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union reached the agreement just after midnight Saturday, the day Journal managers planned to shut down the paper unless all the unions agreed to deep job cuts. The drivers' union was the last of three unions to negotiate a deal.

Thursday, January 31, 2002

Report: Jersey Journal to Close This Weekend After 135 Years
Jersey Journal publisher Scott Ring said in a letter that the 135-year-old paper will fold after Saturday's edition is published, according to the local Newspaper Guild president. Journal owners had warned that the paper would close unless the three unions representing 96 workers agreed to staff cutbacks. Editor & Publisher reports talks broke down Thursday between the newspaper's management and the union representing its truck drivers. (Associated Press/E&P)
> Consultant: Jersey Journal hasn't made money in 15 years

Friday, January 25, 2002

One of Three Jersey Journal Unions OKs Pact
Managers at the newspaper said earlier this month that the newspaper would close by Feb. 1 if its three unions didn't agree to up to 50 percent reductions in staff. A second union, representing newsroom personnel, said Friday it was close to an agreement; the third union, representing drivers, continues to negotiate with managers. Steven Newhouse, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, has said that circulation has been declining for years because of the county's growing Spanish-speaking population.

Modesto Bee Courts Mom-and-Pop Advertisers -- And Sees Profits
After big advertiser Montgomery Ward closed, Modesto Bee publisher Lynn Dickerson replaced lost ad bucks by offering discounted rates to dozens of much smaller businesses."It was a daring tactic in an industry that years ago priced small businesses out of its ad pages," reports Patricia Callahan. The result: The Bee saw a 6 percent ad revenue increase last year, while the newspaper industry suffered an 8.6 percent decline.

Struggling Mags Try Doubling Up
In this tough economy for the magazine industry, many magazines are publishing fewer issues this year and increasing the number of double-issues. New York magazine, US Weekly, and U.S. News & World Report have all adopted the strategy.

Dow Jones Reports Lousy Numbers, But Broad Cost-cutting Isn't Planned
The company says operating profit fell 92%, and revenue dropped 23% in the fourth quarter. The publisher added that it didn't see much respite in the first quarter. Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Kann said the company still is looking to lower expenses but added that there are no current plans for any broad, companywide cost-cutting. For the full year, Mr. Kann said he expects the advertising climate to improve with each succeeding quarter, with the second half stronger than the first.

Thursday, January 24, 2002

Slate Publisher Calls Long Term Economics of Print 'Highly Dubious'
In a letter to MediaNews, Slate publisher Scott Moore says he doesn't believe print media will disappear overnight, but in time more ad dollars will shift to a maturing Web. He adds: "It's not only that younger readers are turning away -- a trend for which (Shift.com's Neil) Morton makes a compelling case is unlikely to reverse itself and will in fact accelerate. It's that printing ink on paper and distributing it to an audience is incredibly inefficient and expensive as compared to publishing in cyberspace."

Tuesday, January 22, 2002

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Online Boss Quits; Site Lays Off 15
Colette Hogan, who headed Pulitzer Inc.'s effort to find success on the Internet with its STLtoday.com website, is resigning, and the site is laying off about 15 employees as the company seeks to cut losses.

Husni: August '01 Saw 34 Magazine Launches, Compared to 99 in '00
"Even before Sept. 11, we were starting to feel the pinch [from the economy] and we are going to feel it until the next six months," says the magazine industry expert and University of Mississippi journalism professor.

Monday, January 21, 2002

Newsweek Offers Buyout Packages to 12 Percent of Staff
The packages have been offered to 85 employees aged 55 or older with at least 10 years of service. Newsweek employs about 740 full-time staffers. Buyouts were last offered there in the late 1980s.

Saturday, January 19, 2002

Talk Magazine Folds
Magazine industry observers wondered if the venture was doomed from the start. Christopher Dixon, a media analyst at UBS Warburg, said that he still accepted the premise that a magazine might be a source of book and movie ideas, giving publishers and producers a first look. But he said the problem was that Talk magazine never managed to captivate readers.

Wisconsin's Largest News Org Folds Chain of Weeklies, Cuts 60 Jobs
Journal Communications subsidiary Add Inc. shut down its Appleton, Wisc., area weekly newspapers Tuesday, cutting 60 full- and part-time jobs and ending a venture launched less than three years ago. Ceasing publication with Thursday's editions are: The Flag, of east Appleton; the Eagle, northwest Appleton, Grand Chute and Greenville; The Pursuit, north Appleton; the Spirit, Menasha; the Scribe, Neenah; The Times, of Kaukauna, Sherwood, Buchanan and Vandenbroek; and the Villager, Kimberly and Combined Locks. The seven papers' combined circulation was about 33,000.

Thursday, January 3, 2002

Omaha World-Herald Trims 40 Jobs
The company cited the effects of the economic recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have slowed sales for newspapers and other companies that rely on advertising revenues. The World-Herald earlier had implemented hiring and salary freezes.

WXLV Winston-Salem Cancels News Operation
The decision leaves 35 people without jobs. Will Davis, who manages the Sinclair-owned station, said that WXLV could no longer justify producing a local newscast that had not made a profit in 2001. On Oct. 12, Sinclair canceled its news operations at St. Louis-based KDNL.

Jersey Journal: We Need to Cut 45 Jobs or We're Gone!
The Newhouse-owned Jersey Journal has told unions that the 135-year-old paper will close if they don't agree to cut staffing levels by nearly 50 percent within 30 days. Editor-in-chief Steven Newhouse says the paper is "truly at a crossroads," and this "isn't something that just happened because of the downturn." The Newspaper Guild met with editorial employees last night.

Wednesday, January 2, 2002

G+J USA CEO Sees Better Times for Mags in March
Publishing insiders tell Keith J. Kelly they see a continued magazine industry slump, but Gruner + Jahr USA CEO Daniel Brewster predicts a spring turnaround. "January and February continue to be very difficult months, but we're seeing some positive signs in March," he says.

Bloomington, Ind., Alt-weekly Suspends Operations
After 11 years in business, seeking buyers or 'community partners.'