New ownership in Salt Lake

Also wonder if some positions will be restored, like at the GateHouse properties in New England (Berkshire Eagle, etc.)

I know, I know... I'm hired! lol

 

Huntsman announces layoffs are coming. More details within the next week.

The Salt Lake Tribune faces layoffs, cuts to print offerings

I was shocked to read that The Trib is down to a circulation of 31,000 -- in a market of over a million. That's insanely low. How the hell do they have a newsroom staff of 90 at that circulation size?

 

The Deseret News - the LDS paper - has just 40k as well.

And the Tribune is the paper of record in a state of 3 million people.

 

At least the Deseret News has a strong digital presence, I believe, with the help of LDS people from outside the area. Still, both figures are surprising in a state of 3 million.

 

Is a JOA possible?

 

“We’ve got to address the realities of where print is going,” Huntsman told the more than 60 staffers assembled in the newsroom, noting that key decisions loomed with the approaching end in 2020 of a long-standing joint-operating agreement with The Tribune’s news rival, the Mormon church-owned Deseret News.

 

If the SL Tribune is down to 31K circulation, I'm absolutely horrified at what the numbers would be elsewhere. That's a good paper, with a good reputation. Stunning.

 

The Deseret News has a circulation of 40,000 so the two papers total to 71,000. Salt Lake City has a metro population of 1,203,000.

The Kansas City metro population has a 2,128,000 and a circulation of 82,000. Denver metro has a population of 2,888,000 and circulation of under 100,000.

So Salt Lake is a town of newspaper readers.

 

True, but the problem is, those two papers compete directly against each other in an effort to be the paper of record for the entire state (and with the Deseret News, the entire LDS Church) and that means a massive duplication of resources to reach those 71,000 readers. As Tweener pointed out, the Trib has 90 editorial employees for a circulation of 31K, which is just not sustainable, no matter how badly the Trib wants to cover the Jazz, BYU, Utah, Real Salt Lake, preps, Salt Lake city/county news, Utah County (Provo/Orem) news, Davis/Weber county news, features, the LDS Church, etc. At some point, something has to give. But once it does, that will mean fewer readers whose needs aren't being met by the smaller staff, and the cycle continues.

 

My point I was attempting to make is that the circulation woes of Salt Lake City are not unique.

I think it is clear that in today's economic environment that the Salt Lake City can support more than one newspaper of record. I have no knowledge of the inner working of the L.D.S. but I suspect they want to maintain an editorial presence and will subsidize the Deseret News. The L.D.S. has very deep pockets. If my assumption is true the Tribune is not long for this world as a newspaper of record.

 

It's not necessarily a one-or-the other situation, though. Some LDS people in the area get both papers (the DNews for more church-related content) and the DNews is circulated widely to outside of the Salt Lake metro area. It's more complicated than simply looking at 71,000 and comparing it to the population of the area.

Maybe 31,000 for The Trib is not surprising but it's still seems uniquely low. Example: my current shop has a circulation of nearly 50,000 in a region that has a population of fewer than a million.

 

I checked and Salt Lake has a population of 1.2 million. So 71,000 combined is reasonable. In Denver when the Rocky and the post had a JOA about six percent of the subscribers taking both.