Shocking: More McClatchy bad news

File - Oh, I'm quite sure of it. Just trying to wrap my mind around the thought. Crazy for papers that have a 225K-plus circ.

 

Gotta do better to make it solid...

 

Sean Hannity's a bastard. I've heard him harp at least every other time I flip through the radio about how journalism has died in this country and deservedly so.

 

I first heard King Sean utter the phrase "Journalism is Dead" when discussing Palin rumors. I think I posted then that I wondered if you could die from irony poisoning.

 

Good topic for another thread (but maybe a pointless one to discuss too).

 

Interesting response from the Lexington Newspaper Guild ...

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13597

 

Lexington Herald-Leader cutting workforce by 11 percent. That's on top of other cuts already made. I was talking to a write who said it was not fun going to work everyday not knowing if you were going to have a job soon. Best of luck.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/526643.html

 

Then again, I have unemployed friends who say it is not fun sitting down at their PCs to search job boards and send out resumes every day not knowing if they are going to have a job soon. Better luck to them.

 

True, I was just repeating what someone who still actually had a job told me. They may be in your friends' shoes soon enough.

 

Talk about asking for bad karma ...
<blockquote>On Tuesday, McClatchy announced further staffing reductions of 1,150 nationwide. The Herald-Leader announced today it is laying-off 22 employees in Lexington, including nine employees represented by the Newspaper Guild-CWA.

Yet McClatchy's corporate headquarters has been spared the brunt of cost cutting. In fact, McClatchy has added to its corporate bureaucracy. And not long ago CEO Gary Pruitt was even awarded an $800,000 performance bonus as the company's stock tanked. Even when considering the wage freeze implemented for executives, corporate compensation is still excessive.

To add insult to injury, McClatchy only grounded its corporate jet (a 2005 Dassault Falcon 2000EX jet, tail number N57MN) in the last month. As McClatchy was making its employees bleed to pay off crushing debt incurred by corporate decisions, McClatchy executives were jet-setting in luxury. From April 16 to Aug. 5, the jet was flown 30 times, according to flightaware.com. Many of the destinations were only a one- or two-hour drive away.

As workers were asked to do more with less, McClatchy executives enjoyed a plane that features two large flat-panel TVs, with 10 leather passenger seats and a wet bar with quarter fig mahogany cabinetry. A basic Falcon 2000ES cost $23.5 million in 2003. To put that in perspective, $23.5 million is more than the annual profits of many small- to medium-sized newspapers. The Guild applauds the company for selling this extravagant luxury (http://www.avprojets.com/detail.php?planeID=196), but we ask how many jobs could have been saved had McClatchy sold this jet a year ago?</blockquote>
Nice. Real nice.

 

The Bradenton Herald has signed a letter of intent to have its newspaper printed by the Herald-Tribune.

The proposed deal is a sign of the times in the newspaper industry, which is contending with declining advertising in a weak economy and readers who continue to migrate from print to the Web.

The move came as the McClatchy Co., the media conglomerate that owns the Bradenton Herald, announced Tuesday that it was cutting more than 1,150 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force, in an effort to trim $100 million in expenses.

McClatchy did not offer specifics about the effect of the printing shift on the Bradenton Herald, which last month gave about 50 employees the option of taking buyouts. Will Fleet, the Herald's publisher, could not be reached for comment.

Herald-Tribune Publisher Diane McFarlin noted that other newspapers around the nation now have similar printing arrangements.

"Printing presses are so expensive and our production facilities are only 10 miles apart," McFarlin said. "We probably should have done this a long time ago, but competition got in the way."

"These days, competition is less of a concern," McFarlin added. "As the economy becomes more difficult, we are looking at how we can help each other."

Florida newspapers have been particularly hard hit in the last two years because of the fallout from the housing market.

Within the New York Times Regional Media Group, the Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner announced last month they would merge some news operations.

At about the same time, The Ledger, based in Lakeland, said it was laying off 36 employees, and the Herald-Tribune announced cost-saving measures that trimmed 33 jobs.

The St. Petersburg Times, The Tampa Tribune and the Orlando Sentinel also have all announced layoffs or buyouts in recent months.

McFarlin noted that the Gadsden Times, a New York Times newspaper in Gadsden, Ala., started having its daily product printed at the News-Tribune press in Rome, Ga., a few months ago.

The Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, owned by McClatchy and Tribune Co., respectively, began distributing each other's papers earlier this year in another cost-cutting move.

"As a business, we have to become more creative," McFarlin said.

 

This is referring to the Herald-Tribune in Sarasota, correct? There's also a reference to the Rome, Ga., Herald-Tribune that could confuse people.

Sounds like McClatchy is trying to outsource all its printing as a company policy. Next step would be to sell the presses. Anybody want a ginormous printing press complex?