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BBC Global News and Channel M suffer restructuring, cutbacks

Posted by Alexandra Jaffe on March 17, 2010 at 4:18 PM

Despite promising growth forecasts made by many in the industry, staffing cuts at news organizations big and small indicate that the news media industry is not yet out of the woods.

Today, Journalism.co.uk reported that BBC's Global News division is undergoing restructuring that will result in the elimination of a number of management positions. And smaller but still significant Channel M, the Manchester regional TV station owned by Guardian Media Group (GMG), will be losing 29 positions--a reduction of 88 percent.

The BBC will be losing a laundry list of high-level positions, including the directorial positions of BBC World News, BBC World Service and BBC World Service English.

More layoff details from The Guardian

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 10, 2010 at 12:51 PM

More departures have been announced from The Guardian, as the voluntary redundancy scheme at Guardian News and Media continues.

The Guardian reports that its business editor Deborah Hargreaves is leaving after four years. Her replacement is Dan Roberts. Business news editor Geoff Gibbs will leave the newsdesk in April and Observer business correspondent Nick Mathiason is set to leave in March after ten years at the Sunday paper. Economics correspondent Ashley Seager has left after six years at the paper. He plans to write a book and is expected to now work in finance.

Guardian redundancies continue: 40 staff set to go

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 22, 2010 at 3:38 PM

Around 40 editorial staff have taken voluntary redundancies at The Guardian this week, as part of a package of 100 layoffs announced late last year.

Staff who have opted for the redundancies include Media Guardian reporters Stephen Brook and Chris Tryhorn and deputy production editor Aly Duncan, as well as the San Francisco-based technology reporter Bobbie Johnson.

Toronto Star reduces job cuts

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 20, 2010 at 11:12 AM

The Toronto Star has cancelled plans to outsource editing jobs, in a move that will substantially reduce the number of job cuts planned.

The newspaper announced in November that it was outsourcing all copy-editing and cutting 78 editing jobs, eight of which were part-time and the rest full-time. This constitutes one fifth of its total editorial staff of 390. Revenue at the paper's parent company, Torstar, had fallen 13% in the last quarter and the cuts were expected to save around $4 million a year.

The union and the paper have reached a deal to keep editing duties as part of the internal operations, saving around 35 jobs. The rest will still be cut, though, through layoffs and voluntary redundancies. Design and layout of the paper's ads will still be outsourced.

Earlier deadlines for LA Times

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 12, 2010 at 1:23 PM

The planned closure of the LA Times' Orange County printing plants, announced last week, will mean more than just staff layoffs. According to LA Observed, editorial deadlines could be brought forward as much as five hours.

After the closure, the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times will both be printed on the same Los Angeles presses. Under a plan approved by Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein, the Times will move to the earlier, and thus less desirable time, while the paying customer, the WSJ, will benefit from the later deadlines.

More jobs to go at AOL

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 12, 2010 at 10:57 AM

AOL will close many of its European offices and is expected to cut over 1,000 jobs across the US and Europe, The Guardian has reported.

As part of a $300 million a year cost-saving operation, the company announced plans in November to cut 2,500 jobs globally. Since then, around 1,100 employees have taken voluntary redundancy, which leaves the prospect of job cuts to make up the rest of the savings. AOL has not confirmed the total number of positions it expects to shed, meaning it may not be as high as the shortfall of 1,400 positions.

An AOL spokesman said: "We will be significantly reducing our UK staff, but will continue to have a robust advertising operation as well as a consumer offering."

UK, US printing plants to close

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 8, 2010 at 4:06 PM

Two newspaper printing plants, one each in the US and the UK, are set to close, and substantial layoffs are expected to follow.

In the UK, Harmsworth Printing has begun a 30-day consultation over closing its Plymouth printing plant. If the plant is closed, 90 staff could be lost, although the company has said it would try to find jobs for them elsewhere in the organisation.

Canada: Supreme Court strengthens press freedom

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 6, 2010 at 10:45 AM

A new ruling by the Supreme Court in Canada will allow journalists and bloggers greater protection from defamation lawsuits, establishing the new defence of responsible journalism.

If sued for defamation, journalists will be able to defend themselves by proving that they acted in the public interest and that they acted in a responsible way to gather the information. This rule will still apply even if particular facts are found to be false.

Bad tidings for staff at Washington Times

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 4, 2010 at 11:14 AM

Following the Washington Times' announcement at the beginning of December that it would reduce its staff of 370 by a significant 40 percent, an announcement on the 30th of December showed exactly where those cuts have been made:

Managing editor for print, David Jones, was fired, as were several other senior editors, leaving the paper temporarily without a top editor. Managing Editor-Digital Jeff Birnbaum resigned from his management position, but will carry on as a political columnist.

It's Christmas time at the Telegraph

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 15, 2009 at 5:50 PM

The Telegraph Media Group has reinstated their Christmas salary bonus, under which all staff will receive an extra £500 in their pay.

Employees are expected to be paid this week, on top of a 1.5% pay raise next month, negotiated nearly a year ago. The next pay rise of 2.5% is expected in January 2011.

Washington Times has good revenue idea; bad execution

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM

The newspaper industry is struggling. Circulation is down, layoffs are ubiquitous, but fortunately, the industry is not taking it lying down. Even though most US newspapers are still turning a profit, the wheels are turning to come up with alternative revenue streams. The Washington Times recently used an interesting strategy to raise outside funds- though it was executed with less than complete application.

The paper was originally going to have a festive Cruise for America! around the Bahamas, during which the passengers could attend lively discussions such as "Where is America Headed Under President Barack Hussein Obama?" and "Who Will Emerge As the Next Republican Party Leader?"; however, the Times all but backed out of the event before it even left port.

New York Times to retain assets among easing ad decline

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 9, 2009 at 3:03 PM

The New York Times was in some good business news yesterday showing a slowdown in print ad decreases and reporting that it will not sell the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The New York Times' drop in ad revenue this quarter is much less severe than anticipated, and a marked improvement from previous quarters this year, fueling hopes for a 2010 recovery and balanced budget.

Although the new sent the paper's share up a few points, the losses in print advertising still outstrips the gains in online ad revenue. The fourth quarter is still expected to have a 25% print ad decline year-on-year, a $97 million drop.

Two American editors step down

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 9, 2009 at 12:26 PM

Two American editors-in-chief have announced that they will be stepping down from their current positions. Sandra Mims Rowe, editor of The Oregonian since 1993, will be retiring from her post at the end of the year; Janet Coats, executive editor of the Tampa Tribune, will be finished on 18 December.

Rowe reportedly made her decision to retire over the Thanksgiving holiday in an altruistic attempt to spare other employees' jobs. In an email obtained by Portland-based Willamette Weekly, Rowe stated, "It became clear we would have to shed about 70 jobs total from the newsroom staff. As we have gotten much smaller as a newsroom, it is also clear we have too many editing positions concentrated at the top of the organization. Over Thanksgiving I wrestled with the number of layoffs we would need and determined it was best to start by removing my own salary from the budget. I informed [publisher N. Christian Anderson III] of my decision last week. Doing this preserves other jobs."

Persgroep to cut 131 positions

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 8, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Persgroep Publishing, a Belgian newspaper group is to cut 131 jobs at its de Volkskrant and Trouw newspapers, reports Dutch News.

Persgroep took over the PCM newspaper group earlier this year as the company faced serious debt issues. The deal made Persgroep the single owner or all Dutch national dailies, except the Telegraaf and the Financieele Dagblad, forcing the group to put up the popular NRC Handelsblad for sale in order to meet competition authority objections.

New York Times does not meet buyout goal; must resort to layoffs

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 8, 2009 at 11:25 AM

The deadline for the previously announced New York Times optional buyouts was yesterday and according to a memo sent out by editor Bill Keller last Friday, the paper will be far short of meeting its goal of having 100 staff accept the offer. This will force the paper to resort to layoffs, reports paidContent.

The offered buyouts have been on the table since October, after the terms were agreed upon by both the Times and its largest union.

The Washington Times announces future mass layoffs

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM

The Washington Times just announced that it is cutting up to 40 percent of its staff, reports Politico, which quotes acting publisher and president Jonathan Selvin as saying that there will be "significant staff reductions."

At a meeting regarding the future of the Times, all employees were given notices that layoffs will be occurring in the future. All employees, however, were guaranteed jobs for the next 60 days. This announcement was made to ensure that the Times is following the WARN Act, which requires companies of more than 100 employees to give 60 day advanced notice for mass layoffs.

The Times currently employees a staff of 370.

Greenspun merges print and digital

Posted by Nestor Bailly on December 2, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Greenspun Media, parent of the Las Vegas Sun, has begun merging their print and online assets in the Las Vegas area.

The staffs of Greenspun's eight media properties will merge into single teams of editorial, advertising, and support for all the media outlets concerned. This combines the editorial, online, advertising, marketing, production, human resources and finance departments for the Las Vegas Sun and its Web site.

However, the other individual newspapers involved in the merger will continue to be sold separately. No word yet on whether this will effect the content of these papers.

US newspapers still profitable

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on December 1, 2009 at 4:21 PM

Good news out of Texas today. According to the CEO of the Texas Observer, Carlton Carl, even amid the copious layoffs and budget cuts, most newspapers in the United States are turning a profit.

The Texas Observer is, funny enough, a bi-weekly not-for-profit political news magazine.

Despite the 160 American newspapers that have been shut down in the past couple years and the 30 000 staff who have been fired or laid off in the same time frame, the typical American newspaper is making money.

This good news, however, begs the question: if the papers are making money, then why all the closures and layoffs?

Toronto Star to outsource copy editing; layoff 78

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 25, 2009 at 4:21 PM

Due to their restructuring earlier this month, the Toronto Star has cut 78 editing jobs, reports Bloomberg. The 117 year-old paper has just announced that it is outsourcing all of its copy editing to Pagemasters North America, a provider of editorial services owned by The Canadian Press. The switch will save the paper C$4 000 000 annually.

The 78 staff that are to lose their jobs constitute a fifth of the employees at the Star. The newspaper currently employs 390 on its editorial staff and a total of 1 300 employees. The layoffs will not affect reporters, columnists, or photographers.

Washington Post to close domestic bureaus

Posted by Emma Heald on November 25, 2009 at 10:59 AM

The Washington Post is closing its remaining domestic bureaus, the paper reported last night. The six correspondents who work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offered positions in Washington. Three news assistants will be laid off.

"The fact is we can effectively cover the rest of the country from Washington," executive editor Marcus Brauchli said on Tuesday from New York, according to a WaPo article. "We have for years been able to cover issues around the country for our readers with a corps of traveling reporters. It's more possible than it's ever been to cover the issues that matter to our readers from a Washington perspective." Brauchli stressed that the Washington post was not a national news organisation, and that its strength was to report issues through a "Washington prism."

Associated Press confirms total of 90 layoffs this week

Posted by Emma Heald on November 20, 2009 at 10:47 AM

After much speculation in the past few days about exactly how many staff were being laid off, the Associated Press has announced that a total of 90 employees worldwide have been let go this week, and that the company has thus reached its goal of cutting annual payroll costs by 10 percent.

A press release specified that this target had been set in October 2008 and that most of the reductions had been achieved through a continuing hiring freeze and attrition, and buyouts. The total number of layoffs this year has not been confirmed, and the AP said that the figure did not necessarily equate to 10 percent of staff, because of differences in wages.

AP layoffs total at least 71

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 19, 2009 at 5:52 PM

As reported earlier, the Associated Press has been holding a series of layoffs this week. Though the official totals are still unavailable, there are some numbers coming in. According to the News Media Guild, which represents 1 300 of the AP's 4 000 employees, 71 AP union members have been laid off this week, reports Editor & Publisher.

In addition to the 57 Guild members laid off on Tuesday, 14 union employees reportedly got pink slips yesterday. Thus far those let go include 42 newspersons, 22 editorial assistants, 6 photographer, and an office assistant. The Guild does not have any numbers for the amount of non-Guild members or managerial staff laid off this week.

BusinessWeek potentially to layoff 100

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 18, 2009 at 4:39 PM

Just a day after announcing the appointment of new editor Josh Tyrangiel, BusinessWeek is reportedly formulating plans to lay off 100 employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. A round of redundancies of this size would cut the staff by 25 percent.

The business magazine was recently bought by Bloomberg LP from McGraw-Hill. The deal is set to be finalized on the first of December, perhaps why Bloomberg is finalizing its plans for the future of the weekly magazine.

Reportedly there has already been a small amount of layoffs this week, with more to follow. There are some that believe the largest shift won't occur until this spring, when BusinessWeek is to be relaunched and moved into the Bloomberg offices.

AP lays off undisclosed number

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 18, 2009 at 11:50 AM

As speculated, the Associated Press laid-off an undisclosed number of employees Tuesday. According to the AP, the move was done to reach its goal of cutting payroll costs by 10 percent.

The cost cutting has been slowly implemented since last October when the AP announced that it would be lowering its fees for newspapers and broadcasters in a move to help those hit by the recession and the shift of readers to the internet. The projected fall in revenue from the reduced fees will be about 6 percent this year, to $700million.

Even with the drop in fees, many papers have cancelled their subscriptions to the AP to attempt even bigger cost cutting. Tribune Co., which filled for Chapter 11 last December, recently ran a test week in which none of the company's papers used AP stories. However, many papers that gave the AP the required two-year have begun to cancel their cancellation requests.

MediaWeek to cease printing today after 25 years

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 17, 2009 at 2:41 PM

UK publisher Haymarket will close two of its media-focused titles this week. Twenty-five year old Mediaweek will cease to publish immediately with today being its final day in print and Revolution, a monthly publication will now become a give away quarterly publication within marketing.

The decision is part of a wider restructure of Haymarket's marketing and advertising trade titles and is expected to see 18 out of 58 editorial jobs slashed.

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