More Tampa Tribune cutbacks?

Thanks for the nice words, reformedhack. I was the copy editor from sports who was released. No regrets. Nearly 28 years at the Tribune and 36 in the business. Time for new challenges.

 

I'm acquainted with a few people who used to work with you, and they all gave you and your work the highest praise after they heard the news. I'd imagine you'll be hearing from them soon, if you haven't already.

If the business editor was who I think it was, she's a solid professional who went through the same thing in Fort Lauderdale during the Zell/Michaels/Abrams reign of terror.

 

Good luck in this new chapter of your life.

 

Thanks! I've heard from many folks, co-workers past and present.

 

Interesting read from Columbia Journalism Review:

"... in the eyes of observers both near and far, things still look bleak for the Tribune. In the wake of a fresh round of layoffs last week, a second consecutive year of spring pay cuts, and the recent news that the paper’s waterfront headquarters is slated to be redeveloped for residential use, it seems fair to ask: What will happen, and when, to The Tampa Tribune? That’s the same question CJR recently asked about the [rival Tampa Bay] Times, across the bay, and the two publications are in many ways linked—locked in what seems like a death match for years, some would say decades. The battle by the larger Times to take over the entire Tampa Bay area, and the Tribune’s fight to hang on, playing out against the broad collapse of the metro paper business model, has put financial pressure on both publications."

More tough times for The Tampa Tribune - Columbia Journalism Review

 

Moving the news forward a bit:

Sale of the Tribune's downtown Tampa headquarters has closed. Demolition scheduled to begin in 2016. Publisher says the newspaper is looking for a new location and "intends to remain a viable part of the Tampa Bay community ... ." It's exploring options for printing, including contracting with other press operations and acquiring newer presses for printing offsite.

Complete story at Tampa Tribune sells downtown building, seeking new offices | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune

 

Any news on where the Tribune will print? Office space is always available but print locations are relatively limited. I wonder if the Times would throw a lifeline?

 

you CANNOT be serious!!!

 

Highly unlikely, although everyone has a price — and the Times desperately needs cash right now. That price, however, would most likely put the Tribune out of business quickly. Current speculation has the paper being printed by the Lakeland Ledger, the next-closest printing facility, about 30 miles to the east.

Other options would be the Orlando Sentinel (about 80 miles east) or the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (about 60 miles south). The Tribune has developed a content-sharing arrangement with the Naples Daily News, but that's 150 miles to the south, which would be a logistics nightmare for printing unless the Tribune decides to cut back on its printing schedule, along the lines of the papers in New Orleans and Detroit, from seven days to three or four. But that's just wild, unsubstantiated conjecture.

 

I think it is unlikely. But one of the stated reasons for the Chicago Tribune to buy the Southtown papers from the Sun-Times was that they would reacquire the Sun-Times printing contract. I don't think that the St. Petersburg paper printing the Tampa paper is much more implausible than what happened in Chicago.

And if St. Petersburg thinks Tampa will find another printer they may decide to combine printing and distribution. St. Petersburg has a government lien on their office building so I don't think they can afford to wait Tampa out. They need cash fast.

 

There's some — very small — precedent for sharing of resources between the Times and the Tribune. In the distant past, both papers had occasional technical problems printing the stock tables inside their business sections. When that happened, gentlemen's agreements were in place to share pages. (As noted, this was the distant past — neither paper has a business section anymore, let alone prints stock tables.)

One paper printing or even distributing the other isn't outside the realm of possibility these days, but I highly doubt it will happen.