quick link, on seattle

j.linx is rapidly morphing into a newspaper deathwatch. hideous.

This, on the possibility of Seattle, one of the most literate cities in the U.S., becoming a no-newspaper town, if the Seattle Times folds on the heels of the Post-Intelligencer.

I can't imagine it will happen -- all may be part of the Times' owner's tax rant. But still. Scary stuff. bk

hesitation cuts

Aggregation or aggrevation:

Re the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Reuters reports that Hearst will make a decision next week whether to "name a buyer for the daily newspaper, close its print edition or shut it down entirely."

Re the SF Chronicle: WaPo and others have reported that the union has agreed to concessions that "will allow the Chronicle to lay off union employees without considering seniority, which means it can more easily cut higher-paid employees." The union ratification is set for today.

Re MediaNews and Gannett: The same site reports that "unions at Gannett and MediaNews may eventually have to decide on whether to accept unpaid furloughs next quarter."

Re McClatchy: HuffPo reports that "about 175 employees at the Miami Herald will lose their jobs, and most of the remaining full-time staff will see their salaries reduced as the newspaper tries to cut costs amid plunging advertising revenue."

Molly Ivins had it so right. bk

more on the chron

The SF Chronicle reports that management and the paper's largest union are closed to an agreement that might save the paper.

The cynic in me wonders if forcing union concessions was the plan all along. Or -- if the pact is approved -- what, if anything, will remain of the Chron as we know it today. Despite losing bags of money on a weekly basis, the paper maintained bureaus outside SF, kept a stable of talented writers who chronicled the life of the city itself with style and voice, wrote its own arts reviews and obituaries, and held onto not only a (monthly) Sunday magazine, but a book review section as well.

From the story:

The Media Workers Guild represents 483 Chronicle employees, including 218 in editorial and 265 in advertising, circulation, finance, ad production and other functions. The company said it expects to eliminate about 150 of those jobs.

"The terms reached late Monday include expanded management ability to lay off employees without regard to seniority," the Guild said in a statement. "All employees who are discharged in a layoff or who accept voluntary buyouts are guaranteed two weeks' pay per year of service up to a maximum of one year, plus company-paid health care for the severance term, even in the event of a shutdown."

Other concessions include reductions in vacation time, sick leave and maternity/paternity leave; expansion of the work week from 37.5 hours to 40; and the right for the company to subcontract any work.

R.I.P. San Francisco Chronicle?!

Another heartbreak. And a bit of a coincidence -- or is that irony -- given this morning's post.

MarketWatch reported this afternoon that the Hearst Corporation said today that without "critical cuts" within the next few weeks, it will be forced to sell or close San Francisco's daily newspaper. Whether you liked the paper or not, you've still got to root for the survival of this 144-year-old fixture of the city's history. What will replace it?

I noticed today that the front section of the San Jose Merc was all of eight pages.

Thanks, Andrea, for the tip and the link. bk

et tu, oprah?

The New York times reports that Hearst Corporation is planning to kill O at Home, a spinoff of its insanely popular O, The Oprah Magazine. Word is out that Hearst has cut staff at other pubs as well.

The problem is not that audiences are shrinking -- They are not. Especially online -- but that advertising revenues are.

Clearly, the readers are out there. So are the writers. But where's the new business model?

photo credit: shannon kelley gould
santa barbara independent