Chicago Tribune's Continued Decline, Boston Globe Fights Back

Today's report of the US newspaper industry's epic decline shows two faces.

First, the Chicago Tribune, of the country's most prestigious newspapers, is planning to cut another 20 percent of its editorial staff in yet another desperate move to keep the publication from disappearing.

The Chicago Tribune's tower. (EPA photo)

Chicagobusiness.com reports that staffers were warned last week of the impending layoffs and that the cuts will take place in the next few weeks.

Tribune Co., the paper's parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection in December and has struggled to keep its news operations going after its worsening advertising drought.

Chicagobusiness.com:

The Trib has been adding some workers — including hiring a new spokeswoman — as it beefs up staffing in “emerging growth opportunities,” Publisher Tony Hunter told employees in an e-mail earlier this year.

The paper is also shuffling some newsroom duties. Last month it mixed copy editing, page design, graphics, imaging and some photo editing into a single department, creating new job descriptions that will combine copy editing with graphics and photo editing with design.

In August 2008, the Tribune had 480 employees in its newsroom, according to a memo from Editor in Chief Gerould Kern. It cut about a dozen workers in December, just before its Chapter 11 filing, and eliminated the jobs of another 20 people in February. It’s not clear how many other workers have left and not been replaced in recent months.

And second, the city of Boston is mobilizing to save its dying newspaper, the Boston Globe. Ever since its parent company, The New York Times Co., announced that the paper had to make deep cuts, including draconian union concessions, Boston luminaries are stepping up to save their beloved newspaper.

The city of Boston mobilizes to keep the Globe's presses
rolling. (EPA photo)

The New York Times:

Civic leaders and ordinary Bostonians alike — particularly those old enough to remember a pre-Internet age, before free access to news on the Web siphoned away so many of the paper’s readers — have spoken out about the central role of The Globe in the life of a region that cares deeply about local culture and local politics and fashions itself as the higher education capital of the nation.

“I’ve been surprised at how well people understand that this would not be the same city without it, and not as good a city,” said Paul Levy, the chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who organized the “blog rally” on The Globe. “It’s the only thing that can really hold institutions accountable.”

Mayor Thomas M. Menino agrees, despite his share of run-ins with the paper.

“I have disagreements with The Globe, but what’s good for Boston?” he said in an interview. “To have them not here would be a big hole in our life.”

Boston is taking almost a nationalistic stand to standing up for the survival of the Globe. Many of the City's most emblematic business institutions have become the property of outsiders, including one of the most revered sports franchises in the United States, the Boston Red Sox, a baseball team.

Given the fact the Globe belongs to a New York City company, rumors are flying that several wealthy Bostonians are considering buying the paper.

But so far, that's all there is, rumors. The Globe is bleeding and its huge loses have become a liability.

At the Times Company’s New England Media Group, comprised mostly of The Globe and its Web site, Boston.com, advertising revenue fell 18 percent last year, and executives said recently that it would drop faster this year. From 2004 to 2008, that segment of the company had a 33.7 percent decline in ad revenue, and The Globe’s circulation fell 28 percent, to 324,000 on weekdays.

Yet its news staff is still one of the largest in the country, at about 340 people, though it is down almost 40 percent from its peak, and the paper has dropped some of the sections it once printed.

A major city such as Boston must have a vibrant newspaper that keeps the powerful accountable. Even that city's public officials have realized that. Let's hope the Globe can be saved.

Comments

[Ricardo Iglesias]

I am glad to hear of the Globe's impending death! They did all they could to smear and defame the Catholic Church in 2002, and behold, they ended up alienating even more of their own readers! Serves them right! I know at least one priest who is celebrating the paper's demise.

[KingofthePaupers]

Jct: Too bad they don't sell ads for Chicago Community Currency they could use to pay for more employees. Oh, too bad, Chicago doesn't have an alternative currency yet. Still, it would be a great way to run a daily LETS noticeboard in the Want Ads section that could earn even more ad money. Oh, too bad, no one has started a local currency yet. The newspaper could offer on online LETS time-trading database but I'd guess they'd prefer waiting for the day when more federal money shows up. See my http://youtube.com/kingofthepaupers channel for more info on operating a Chicago timebank noticeboard.
It all applies to other papers as well.