It continues to baffle: The idea that when you reduce the quality of a product -- in this case, news -- more people will buy it and you will make more money. To paraphrase the late, great Molly Ivins: "It's not that newspapers are dying that pisses me off. It's that they are committing suicide." Clearly.McClatchy newspapers just announced it will trim its workforce by 10 percent -- or roughly 1,150 full time positions -- in the face of advertising revenues that had decreased by 17.8 percent this past year.
According to the press release issued by the company: "It is painful to announce these staff reductions, but the continued restructuring of our company is necessary given the relentless economic downturn and its impact on our business," McClatchy Chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a release. "But it is also part of a strategic vision of becoming a hybrid print and online media company. McClatchy is committed to remaining a healthy, profitable company positioned to meet current challenges."
Photo courtesy of Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman, via Associated Press. Molly Ivins in 2006.
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So sad to hear news like this.... just this afternoon I was exchanging emails with a reporter at eWeek (a tech trade publication - don't ask :) ) and he indicated he'd been laid off the day before. Apparently so many reporters had been laid off that it could only be described as a "blood bath". Yikes! Many of the reporters had been at the publication for over a decade.
I know I shouldn't be shocked every time I hear of publications doing lay offs, but for some reason it still makes me so sad - especially for those veterans who are being pushed out for not being "cutting edge" enough!
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