O-No! slicing to the bone
Submitted by James Protzman on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 1:11pm
Laura Leslie expresses my own sentiments about the next phase of dismantling two once-great daily papers. The news is grim for staffers at both the Raleigh News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer. The Charlotte paper appears to be getting hit hardest:
Publisher Ann Caulkins said the Carolinas' largest newspaper aims to eliminate more than 9 percent of its workforce, roughly 75 positions, with a nearly companywide buyout offer. The reductions are to be completed Oct. 3. “The economy is really, really tough,” Caulkins told the newsroom this morning.
In June, the paper announced plans to eliminate 123 positions, about 11 percent of its workforce, as part of sweeping cuts across its parent company, Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy Co. Other McClatchy papers, including the News & Observer of Raleigh, also are embarking on more buyouts as the newspaper industry wrestles with falling circulation and advertising revenue as readers increasingly turn to the Internet for their news.
For all the grief we give both papers, they're two of the most important pillars of North Carolina's fourth estate. This is a bummer, pure and simple. But Caulkins is right, of course: the economy is really, really tough. Thanks in large part to the incompetence of the modern Republican party.
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I don't see much light at the end of this tunnel
Cutting is always a tough call, but sometimes it's necessary to keep the enterprise afloat. That said, cost reduction is not a winning strategy for long-term profitability. Cut too deep and you run the risk of undermining essential core capabilities. When local coverage gives way to wire stories, which are already homogenized to the point of irrelevance, it's the start of a downward spiral that's hard to reverse.
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Jesus Swept, so you can come clean.
I think part of the problem
was the fact that you can pick up either print edition and read many of the same stories. Here in the middle of the state, it doesn't really matter which one you read, you know? It's very sad. It's sad that newspapers are big business and not public service (privately held, of course). I understand about bottom lines, believe me.
My great grandfather started a newspaper in Greene County that is still in publication today, and there is still nothing like reading the paper and having the newsprint come off in my hands. I love that. That said - if a paper becomes mass marketed, and doesn't really stand for anything, well, this is what happens.
O-No! The irony!
Failed Republican policies result in loss of jobs for staff of paper that jams said failed Republican policies down readers throats.