TNT Prepares Staff for Reductions
The fine folks at the The News Tribune are about to go through another round of trimming. This was not unexpected. However, the timing just kept getting drawn out and many of our friends were on edge. The waiting is over. Publisher David Zeeck sent out an email this morning announcing the changes.
In February and then again last week, we told you that we were still developing our expense reduction plans and would finalize and communicate them to you as soon as possible.
Today, I want to share with you what those plans mean for The News Tribune. We are announcing plans to reduce our workforce by 30 positions, or about 7% of all employees. Although many of these job eliminations will occur through involuntary layoffs, there also will be opportunities for employees to voluntarily elect a severance package where reductions are occurring in work groups of two or more employees. If enough employees do not take the voluntary option, then the work groups will be reduced according to least tenure.
Reductions will occur in all areas of the operation. Employees affected by this reduction will be notified and provided with information about a transition package. We appreciate their contributions to The News Tribune and will do everything we can to make their transition as smooth as possible.
In addition, we are implementing wage reductions for all employees whose compensation exceeds $25,000 annually. Anyone making more than $100,000 will have their pay reduced by 10 percent; those making between $25,000 and $100,000 a year will have their pay reduced 5 percent. In addition all executive bonuses have been eliminated. Every employee will receive a letter detailing the impact of the wage reduction on their pay and will have the opportunity to ask questions. These wage reductions take effect on April 13, 2009, and will be reflected on the paycheck you receive on May 1, 2009.
I will make my way around the building and to The Gateway for departmental meetings throughout the day, so that we can explain the other operational changes in greater detail.
These are difficult decisions, especially when it means saying goodbye to friends and colleagues, some of long standing. But we must make these additional cuts to remain a viable business and because the economy forces us to hasten our transition to a truly hybrid print/digital information business.
As to the question of furloughs, which has been raised in conversations I’ve had with every department: We are not planning furloughs for the first half of the year. However, we may revisit that option later in the year if financial conditions do not improve. Details will be provided if and when a decision has been made.
I’m sorry that developing this plan has caused anxiety as you waited to learn the details. I want to assure you, however, that the waiting and the careful planning was valuable. As we will make clear in departmental meetings today, many jobs were saved through creative and judicious cuts and adaptations made elsewhere to our operations.
And these cuts, though painful, move us much closer to a new business model with greater flexibility, a lower cost basis and a much higher chance of ultimate success than the traditional print model.
We now ask, as we have in the past, that you focus your efforts on helping our newspaper and Web site remain successful and thrive in the new media world.
Please contact human resources if you have any questions about the severance program or wage reductions.
Our thoughts are with all of you. Let us know what happens.
Also seen at McClatchyWatch
13 comments
B Brian Johnson March 16, 2009
This has been a long time coming. If they want to have any hope of saving the TNT, they better switch over the the hybrid/new media David speaks of. Hyper local is where it is at. Along with that hyperlocal viewpoint, opinionated journalism that has a point to make is the future and “just the facts” is dead. “Just the facts” was necessary when there was no choice, just as unions were necessary at one point, but now they are just relics.
T Thorax O'Tool March 16, 2009
I used to work at the Trib, back in 2003… needless to say, I’m immune from this.
BUT mt dad worked there and got the ax last August. My aunt still works there, for now at least. She got the ol’ pink slip today.
Anyone who says the economy isn’t as bad as “they” say is full of it… just look at my family. Between small businesses struggling (mom), layoffs (dad, aunt, bro-in law) and underemployment (both sisters, other bro-in-law, girlfriend and a few close friends as well), my uncle and I are the only ones with halfway decent jobs. And if the city’s budget implodes or people stop buying gas, diesel, jet or asphalt, we’re in that boat too.
My family is not unique.
J Jenyum March 16, 2009
@Brian Johnson:
Hyperlocal sounds great and certainly has the greatest utility and value to the people who read it. In the world of online advertising though, it’s tough.
The more specific your niche, the smaller your readership, the lower your page views, the smaller your click throughs… etc.
If you aren’t a lone blogger and you have to pay reporters, how do you balance the need for the greatest number of readers with the need for good local news reporting?
And what if your readership is more interested in restaurant delivery than education funding? With fewer reporters and scarcer resources, which interest wins out? One of the unfortunate byproducts of the information age is that we now know with an absolute certainty which topics are of most interest to the people who read the news. And good information about newsworthy subjects isn’t necessarily the winner.
There’s also a place for relatively opinion free reporting. How do you source your information if news is completely a product of an opinionated blogosphere? Right now, if I had to choose a source (even for an opinionated blog post) I would pick an AP story over a Daily Kos diary, even if the Daily Kos blogger wrote an amazing piece. I might use that to help make my point, but people want your information to come from trusted sources if they are to be swayed by your opinion.
There’s no way to spin this situation that makes it a good development. Entirely foreseeable and possibly inevitable, but good? I don’t think so.
S Squid March 17, 2009
Wait a second Thorax. You say your family isn’t unique. But out of the 10 of you (counting the GF) 20% are gainfully employed, 30% of you are out of work, and the other 50% are either struggling or underemployed. Yet unemployment nationally and locally is still below 10%. Your family’s circumstance suggests Great Depression numbers and we aren’t even close to that. We may yet get there, but that’s not where we are now. In fact, you ARE unique.
I’m not saying people aren’t hurting and I’m sorry about your particular circumstances, but let’s let stats talk, not anecdotes. All we have to fear is fear itself.
S Squid March 17, 2009
Jenyum: I agree we collectively benefit from the kind of reporting you describe. However, I’m still scratching my head about all this, hearkening back to my Journalism 101 class taught at Big Midwestern University School of Journalism by Dean of the School, Gerald Kline. Despite his Dean status he insisted on teaching 101. In the first lecture Dean Kline posed the question, “what is the job of a newspaper”? A smattering of hands went up, each offering some slant on the providing the public with the information it needed to function as a society. Freedom of speech, etc.
After taking comments for 10 minutes or so, Dean Kline cut off the discussion and said “none of you are even close. The job of a newspaper is to make money. If you don’t do that, you are out of business and don’t have the opportunity to serve the lofty goals you have described.”
If there is not a market for the kind of news reporting we have come to rely on, it is ultimately a result of product demand – and the lack of interest in the kind of reporting you describe. That’s what is sad. I’m not at all sure that the new hybrid media will succeed as nobody has effectively tested the financial metrics. If anybody has broken the code and is making money at hybrid media, please share.
It will be interesting to see what results. My guess is that those of who want “hard news” are going to have to pay a steep premium to get it as it is expensive to gather and relatively few interested consumers.
D Dave Seago March 17, 2009
As one who retired from the TNT in July (ahead of the storm, I guess), I appreciate the thoughtful comments about newspapers that have been posted here.
I’m greatly saddened by the shrinking of the TNT, the demise of the P-I and the parlous state of the newspaper industry in general.
What I worry about most is what is going to provide the civic glue that holds communities together when and if local newspapers die out.
I suspect that newspapers in smaller communities will continue to exist, because the demand for local news is still there. The big metro dailies are in the most trouble. The TNT falls somewhere in the middle.
The ironic thing about the TNT is that its purchase by the Sacramento-based McClatchy chain lifted it to a new level of quality journalism. But today the TNT, profitable on a local basis, suffers from being owned by a chain with a crushing debt load resulting from its ill-timed purchase of the Knight-Ridder newspapers.
Nothing is simple. Even some locally owned newspapers are in trouble. The information side of our culture is going through a massive shift that will only gain speed as technology evolves at an ever faster pace.
Having invested four decades of my life in local journalism, I find it hard to be philosophical about all of this. I’m still in mourning, and scared about what comes next.
I I know the secret March 17, 2009
Before anyone gets goofy eyed by the layoffs, which I agree are sad for many employees, let’s spell out a few facts:
As little as two years ago, even with a declining market share, TNT still elected to raise its ad rates to even its most loyal customers. It did this while it reduced yearly wage increases and overall spending.
Also, let’s not forget the fact that the ad department kept on managers that have failed to make their sales goals, not for a few months, but for months on end. In fact in some cases, 75 to 90% of the time.
Who received promotions and raises at TNT? The unqualified and perceived good employees that threatened to leave. Or even worse, the cute young gals.
Finally, look at the people who may get laid off next week and ask former managers if that should have happened years ago and most would say yes.
Believe me, it’s sad when people lose their jobs, but let’s not forget that many managers in place today are more that partly to blame for the increased numbers that had to go over the last nine months.
They are lying if they say otherwise.
Been there ’04 – ’08
P Patricia March 18, 2009
I AGREE with Thorax… this IS a depressing time. I have been looking for a job for 17 MONTHS! Can you beleive that? I have tried EVERYTHING I know on God’s green earth to get a job including networking, applying for over 100 jobs and going on 28 interviews. I want to work SO bad!! This IS a very difficult time for MANY people
S Squid March 18, 2009
My parents lived during the Depression. They’d laugh you out of the room if you compared our times to theirs.
It’s not even close. Please. People.
B boomer7 March 18, 2009
The Tribune along with the other newspapers nationwide unfortunately will keep downsizing in the future. The sweet profit margins they once enjoyed from classifieds are gone (some guy named Craig already figured out how to make it work properly!)
They will likely have to cut back on the days they publish or even survive as an online only publication… which will mean less overhead needed and less workers.
Innovate or die…
T Thorax O'Tool March 19, 2009
@ Squid… in comparison, we’re at 1930, and we all know the s*it really got bad in 1931-32. We’re not nearly as bad off, but the worst we’ve been since then.
@ boomer7… remember, Craigslist only makes $$$ on job postings. It costs nothing to use the site unless you want to post a job. I, among others, really like the fact that it’s free and has no ads.
Some papers, the largest and most well-off have more tricks up their sleeves than we give them credit for… don’t count them out yet. Every time I hear someone predicting that the newspaper will die by some arbitrary date, I have to laugh. Many will die, many will go online only. But we will never be rid of the paper newspaper. Some will still survive and a few will flourish… especially ones that cater to poorer demographics, and non-English speaking readership.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to meet the USA Today WA/OR regional manager (very nice guy, don’t know if he still works with USAT). He had mentioned how the USAT was pouring money like crazy into digital paper.
The thing they were researching into was using this digital paper with an integrated wi-fi chip. Here’s how it would work:
RR buys a subscription to the USAT. He gets the ePaper for $5 (heavily subsidized). The ePaper, using it’s wi-fi chip continuously updates itself with the latest news and such. Thus RR’s monthly subscription cost pays for the streaming of new content to his handy digital newspaper… no need for the computer, and with all the convenience and nostalgia of a traditional paper.
Imagine it: a newspaper that looks and feels just like a paper… but updates itself in real-time.
Granted, this was back in the 2002-2003 time frame. Who knows if they’re still researching it or what. But the idea is stupendous.
B boomer7 March 19, 2009
@ Thorax
Yep, I’m well aware of the CL business model. My point was really how a small team of people were able to change a long standing business model and make it work instead of the newspapers stuck in idle mode and not reacting when they saw it coming for years. There have been discussions for over a decade now on how the internet would affect newspapers and their revenues.
There will certainly always be print versions but it’s going to have to change and will not survive in it’s current form.
Who wants to read yesterdays general AP news story when you can get it real time online and for free?
Newspapers will have to target more local content that can’t be found online.
The Seattle Stranger is a good example of this and hasn’t been affected. They know their niche and still can survive as a print version.
The “digital paper” is an interesting idea but yet another example of the papers not seeing the big picture and failing… people have and will continue to just use their phone browsers to read the online paper while away from their PC’s.
R RR Anderson March 19, 2009
nothing travels faster than the speed of light except bad news.
in the future all news will be delivered on bad news waves.
people will rebel and destroy the concept of ‘news’ once and for all.
We will all live in a better place by then.