Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Employment

Deseret News to restructure, coordinate operations

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:29:24 -0600

Considering the major shift of readers from traditional news sources to digital media, changes were announced today at Utah's longest publishing daily, Deseret News. The U.S. newspaper will reduce its newsroom staff numbers by nearly half and introduce new strategic initiatives to serve massive audiences globally, TheSaltLakeTribune.com reported today.

Like many other newspapers, Utah's second largest daily faced a difficult choice - to either reduce staff and reinvent itself or to stop publishing. The newspaper chose the former; and despite declining ad revenues, the newspaper's readership showed an increase of 20 percent in 2009, the highest growth rate experienced by any newspaper in the country, according to a blog post by the newspaper's editorial page editor, Jay Evensen.

USA Today to cut 130 staff, restructure

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:42:47 -0600

USA Today announced plans for the most extensive reorganisation in its 28-year history, including cutting 9 percent of its staff and shifting its emphasis to digital media operations, according to the New York Times' blog.

Company spokesman Ed Cassidy said it plans to shed its workforce by 130 employees across the company, Toronto Sun reported.

Viacom's digital exec to head News Corp.'s tablet-only newspaper

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:52:53 -0600

Rupert Murdoch is pushing forward with his plans for a tablet computer-only digital newspaper, tapping Greg Clayman, currently head of digital distribution for Viacom, to serve as publisher, All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reported yesterday.

News Corp. is looking to spend US$30 million to $40 million on the project, paidContent confirmed today.

Newsday to add 34 editorial jobs

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:18:14 -0600

Newsday, which is owned by Cablevision Systems Corp, will be hiring 34 journalists for its newsroom and digital team over the next six months, and it will add 2,600 news and opinion pages annually, Crain's New York reported yesterday.

"I'm very excited to announce that we are making this significant investment in people and pages to provide more and stronger coverage for Long Islanders," editor-in-chief Debby Krenek said in a memo sent to the newspaper staff, while explaining that the move is aimed at "boosting our local coverage," Poynter Online quoted.

Photo Source: Getty Images via The New York Observer

Boston Globe creates position to expand audience

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:44:19 -0600

The Boston Globe is hoping that adding a new position, vice president of digital content development, will help to expand the newspaper's audience beyond print and its website, the daily announced today in a press release.

Jeff Moriarty, former senior vice president of product management at About.com, has been named to the position.

SFN report: More than 166 U.S. newspapers have closed or stopped printing since '08

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:25:43 -0600

Since 2008, more than 166 newspapers in the United States have closed down or stopped publishing a print edition, according to Paper Cuts, SFN's Million Dollar Strategies for Newspaper Companies reported.

More than 39 titles did so in 2008, and the number rose to 109 in 2009. So far in 2010, more than 18 papers have closed down or stopped publishing a print version.

SFN report: U.S. journalism job market down more severe than in other countries

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:16:10 -0600

Compared to some parts of the world, the U.S. journalism market has experienced a more severe downturn. According to the American Society of News Editors, the country's newsroom workforce grew from about 45,000 in 1978 to more than 55,000 in 1989, but has been in a general state of decline since then. In 2006, the journalism workforce totalled about 55,000, but dropped to less than 50,000 within the next two years, SFN's Million Dollar Strategies for Newspaper Companies reported.

According to the Amerian Society for Newspaper Edtiors census for 2009, a total of 5,200 newsroom professional jobs were cut, not as high as the 5,900 in 2008. Online-only newspapers also cut 284 jobs in 2009. This caused newsroom employment to drop to 41,500, from 56,400 in 2000. The percentage of losses are higher at big metros and lower at smaller titles, according to "The State of the News Media 2010," a report by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Mirror Group to cut 200 editorial jobs

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:19:31 -0600

Trinity Mirror is to cut 200 editorial staff at its three national titles, including the Daily and Sunday Mirror, and The People, Media Guardian reported.

The company said the cut was due to the creation of new multimedia newsrooms, which emerged from its web-based content management system, ContentWatch. Among all the 200 people being made redundant, 140 of them are full-time.

Photo: Daniel Jones / Alamy

The Oklahoman cuts 57 jobs as ad sector struggles

Thu, 06 May 2010 12:58:24 -0600

The Oklahoman announced yesterday it will cut 57 jobs, blaming the layoffs on the "struggling advertising environment," Editor & Publisher reported.

According to Publisher David Thompson, the layoffs will affect all departments of the paper, including the newsroom. Employees who lose jobs were offered severance packages.

Blogger rejects Washington Post's 'blagoscabbing' offer

Mon, 03 May 2010 16:03:46 -0600

The Washington Post is creating a "local blogging network," in which the newspaper will link to selected blogs from its Web site, Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch wrote last week. As part of the network, the Post would ask bloggers to submit original content, which would be edited by Post editors. The Post would also have rights to that content through a written agreement, and expect that bloggers participate in a blogger "discussion" each week and stick to a "workflow" plan.

The only problem with the set-up is that the Post wouldn't actually pay the bloggers, he stated.

Yahoo News hires journalists for original content

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:38:26 -0600

In an effort to increase the popularity of its news site through original content, Yahoo has recruited many journalists from print and online media agencies and opened a bureau in Washington, The New York Times reported yesterday.

The move will bring together original news articles and videos created by its team of journalists on politics and media, and those licensed from the media sources on its news site.

Virginia paper outsources page production to Chicago Tribune

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:41:44 -0600

As a part of the Tribune Co.'s efforts to reduce costs and direct resources to focus on local coverage, the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia will outsource page design, formatting and editing pages to the company's flagship paper, the Chicago Tribune. This announcement came to the staff at both the newspapers on Monday, the Tribune reported.

The transfer of responsibilities from the Daily Press suggests elimination of copy editors and designers, Hampton Roads reported. The newsroom staff will likely be reduced by 15 percent, Digby Solomon, president and chief executive of the Daily Press, told the Tribune.

Fairfax looks for digital director as part of overhaul

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:48:34 -0600

As Fairfax Media restructures, adding a digital director with wide-ranging media experience is essential for the Australian media group's renewal, board chairman Roger Corbett told The Australian this week.

Corbett said he is talking to potential hires who will help strengthen the digital area. "We have pretty good traditional media experience in, of course, John Fairfax and (managing director) Brian McCarthy, but we certainly want to have a mind that understands media and helps us move into this broad new era and the changes that will happen," he said.

USA Today to enforce leave and extend freeze on pay increase

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:39:16 -0600

Gannett Co.'s USA Today will impose an unpaid leave for about 1,500 employees before July, in order to reduce cost and counter advertising and circulation sales downturn, according to a memo to staff, Bloomberg reported.

According to the publisher, David Hunke, in the memo, a pay halt started in February 2009 will be extended by at least 90 days.

DMGT properties see revenues slide; Metro building online money-makers

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:53:15 -0600

UK national newspaper business Associated Newspapers Ltd. this morning reported a 12 percent fall in overall revenue in the last three months of 2009 to £208 million for the period. Meanwhile, Associated's owner, Daily Mail and General Trust, recorded a year-on-year revenue decline of 15 percent in the last three months of 2009, to £482m for the period, Press Gazette reported.

Meanwhile, the company is looking to build new revenue streams, as evidenced by free daily Metro's plans to launch new revenue streams online, MediaWeek reported. Metro is looking to overhaul the commercial aspect of the site, while also launching new audio and video tools. The reworked site is expected to go live from its test phase next month.