SA Express-News cutting 15 percent of staff (75 in newsroom)

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Express-News To Cut 135 Jobs
30 Positions Will Not Be Filled

POSTED: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
UPDATED: 12:55 pm CST February 25, 2009
SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Express-News announced Wednesday that it will cut its staff by 15 percent and leave dozens of jobs unfilled as the newspaper battles the slump that has pummeled it and other dailies across the country.

Wage and hiring freezes, buyouts and smaller job cuts have not been enough to offset the continuing revenue shortfall at the Hearst Corp.-owned newspaper, said Publisher Thomas Stephenson. The newspaper will eliminate 135 jobs and leave 30 open positions unfilled.

A total of 75 of those positions will be from the newsroom, said Editor Robert Rivard in an e-mail to the staff. The final day for those whose jobs are eliminated will be March 20.

"Incremental staff and budget cuts, we are sorry to say, have proven inadequate amid changing social and market forces now compounded by this deepening recession," Rivard said to the staff. "We are undergoing a fundamental and painful restructuring of the newsroom staff. We will have fewer departments and few managers, and yes, fewer of every class of journalist."

In addition to the job cuts, the Express-News will make changes to its press runs, move all downtown San Antonio employees to its headquarters near the Alamo and make changes to its health and benefits packages in attempt to reduce costs, Stephenson said.

The announcement at the Express-News came the day after the publisher of the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle told staff that if the newspaper can't dramatically reduce spending in the next few weeks, Hearst will close or sell the newspaper, the largest daily in northern California.

Rivard reassured Express-News staff members in his e-mail that he and the newspaper's management intend to "get through these difficult days and work to remain an indispensable source of news and information through the recession and beyond."

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Sad day in San Antonio media. Keeping our friends and colleagues at Avenue E in our thoughts.

[Richard Cranium]

That is bad news.

[clambake]

newspapers are dinosaurs.

[JoeChalupa]

newspapers are dinosaurs.

For some so is reading.

[JudynTX]

That sucks. Bye-bye paper, hello Kindle2.

[mrsmaalox]

Damn I feel guilty now :( Just this morning I called to have my paper delivery cut down to weekends only....

[JoeChalupa]

That sucks. Bye-bye paper, hello Kindle2.

I'm old fashioned and still like to read the paper although I only have weekend delivery. I don't see me using a Kindle2. I'm cheap too.

[JudynTX]

I'm old fashioned and still like to read the paper although I only have weekend delivery. I don't see me using a Kindle2. I'm cheap too.

Pretty soon you'll find these Kindle2's at the pawn shop. :tu I only read the Sunday paper anyway.

[Destro]

newspapers are dead. craigslist put the final nail in the coffin because they killed the classifieds

[Buddy Holly]

You have to adapt to the changes. You have to grow with them. The newspaper is a old fashion median.

[EricB]

Buddy is 100% right.

Newspapers are ancient history.

[theInternet]

Sorry. All those damn bloggers didn't help.

[Re-Animator]

The paper does have its uses.

http://www.dennisflood.com/photos/pow/2004-05/l-recycled-newspaper-6611.jpg

[BlackSwordsMan]

I hope they don't cut the guys who write the spider man comic

[Hoveround]

The paper does have its uses.



http://bydianedaniel.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/200810_33_francis-with-paper-hat.jpg

[Condemned 2 HelLA]

Any truth to the rumor that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is closing up shop in the near future?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Any truth to the rumor that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is closing up shop in the near future?

Likely.

Hearst (the owner of the E-N) said the news organization is losing about $14M/year and would need to sell, close completely or move to an online-only news org. I think that decision is expected in the next two weeks. The Seattle Times is having similar trouble, recently forcing its employees to take a 12 percent pay cut. I think they also had employees take a 2-week furlough.

Hearst also made a similar announcement (sans the online-only option) for the San Francisco Chronicle, but no timetable was given. The SF Chron lost $50M last year. Should the paper close, San Francisco would be the largest major city without a major daily newspaper.

It was announced earlier this morning that the Scripps-owned Rocky Mountain News will publish its final edition tomorrow (Friday). The paper has been around for about 150 years and ends one of the remaining two-paper cities in the country.

[CubanMustGo]

Any truth to the rumor that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is closing up shop in the near future?

Wouldn't be surprised. Aren't there two dailies up there?

The Rocky Mountain News is closing up shop ... tomorrow. Same situation, two dailies in one metro,

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/

The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow.

Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper's future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.

"Denver can't support two newspapers any longer," Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news. "It's certainly not good news for you, and it's certainly not good news for Denver."

On Dec. 4, Boehne announced that Scripps was looking for a buyer for the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because of financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.

"This moment is nothing like any experience any of us have had," Boehne said. "The industry is in serious, serious trouble."

Boehne said there was a nibble from one potential buyer, who withdrew after realizing that it would cost as much as $100 million "just to stay in the game."

The Rocky has been in a joint operating agreement with The Denver Post since 2001. The arrangement approved by the U.S. Justice Department allowed the papers to share all business services, from advertising to printing, to preserve two editorial voices in the community.

Since then, Scripps said, it has been working with Post owner MediaNews Group to come up with a plan to allow it to exit Colorado. It also shares 50-50 ownership with MediaNews of Boulder's Daily Camera and a handful of other smaller papers in the state.

Boehne said that the Post's broadsheet format and established Sunday edition made it more economically viable.

"In this environment, where there's so little room to take economic risk, I really feel the best chance for survival belongs to the broadsheet," he said.

The closure of the Rocky will mean Denver will have just one major newspaper, like the vast majority of American cities today.

"I certainly feel that all of (us) did what we could to make this paper successful. And I want to thank you for that," Editor John Temple told the staff. "To me, this is the very sad end of a beautiful thing."

Scripps said it will now offer for sale the masthead, archives and Web site of the Rocky, separate from its interest in the newspaper agency.

Today's announcement comes as metropolitan newspapers and major newspaper companies find themselves reeling, with plummeting advertising revenues and dramatically diminished share prices. Just this week, Hearst, owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, announced that unless it was able to make immediate and steep expense cuts it would put the paper up for sale and possibly close it. Two other papers in JOAs, one in Seattle and the other in Tucson, are facing closure in coming weeks.

The Rocky was founded in 1859 by William Byers, one of the most influential figures in Colorado history. Scripps bought the paper in 1926 and right away entered into a newspaper war with The Post. That fight ebbed and flowed over the course of the rest of the 20th century, culminating in penny-a-day subscriptions in the late '90s.

Perhaps the most critical step for the Rocky occurred in 1942, when then-Editor Jack Foster saved it from going under by adopting the tabloid style it has been known for ever since. Readers loved the change, and circulation took off.

In the past decade, the Rocky has won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than all but a handful of American papers. Its sports section was named one of the 10 best in the nation this week. Its business section was cited by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers as one of the best in the country last year. And its photo staff is regularly listed among the best in the nation when the top 10 photo newspapers are judged.

Staffers were told to come in today to collect personal effects.

"I could say stupid things like 'I know how you feel.' I don't," Boehne said. "We are just deeply sorry. I hope you will accept that."

[CubanMustGo]

dammit JB beat me by seconds!!!

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

The E-N lost some good people yesterday. Some very good people... I assume the full list will come out soon, but I'm sure not going to be the one to do it.

BTW, I've had a few people message me in various ways asking the same question. I haven't worked in any capacity for the Express-News since late 2007. I left to take a Web editor position at Internet Broadcasting and have been contracted to KSAT.com throughout my employment.

Thanks for the well-wishes, though. I don't expect people to change their news consumption habits, but I hope people realize these reporters, photogs, designers, artists and columnists are people as well, regardless whether you agree with them or not, and they do work hard to produce great content. These people do care about the communities they cover because they live here, too. Unfortunately, the models are broken and can't support the staffs they once did, which means some must go.

[Sec24Row7]

If you don't read the newspaper
you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain

[Richard Cranium]

There was a story on the news about journalism students and their fear about finding employment after graduation. Sucks.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

There was a story on the news about journalism students and their fear about finding employment after graduation. Sucks.

If you want to look for a bright side with those students and their upcoming plight, they're learning far more skills that will make them marketable in other industries as well. I came out right on the first bit of multimedia training, so I've been learning those skills on my own.

Since coming to KSAT, my work has allowed me to learn how to use the Web and its tools to enhance our newsgathering operations, so it's made me learn new skills that many haven't worked with. Coming out, I was a print guy with ink in my veins, but now, I feel I've expanded my knowledge to include many different forms of media, and that's ultimately better for me.

[Richard Cranium]

If you want to look for a bright side with those students and their upcoming plight, they're learning far more skills that will make them marketable in other industries as well. I came out right on the first bit of multimedia training, so I've been learning those skills on my own.

Since coming to KSAT, my work has allowed me to learn how to use the Web and its tools to enhance our newsgathering operations, so it's made me learn new skills that many haven't worked with. Coming out, I was a print guy with ink in my veins, but now, I feel I've expanded my knowledge to include many different forms of media, and that's ultimately better for me.

That is exactly what the instructors said.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

That is exactly what the instructors said.

Great instructors at SAC. I was a student in one of their HS journalism programs 12 years ago and finally was able to go back and help students in the same program last summer.

[Richard Cranium]

Great instructors at SAC. I was a student in one of their HS journalism programs 12 years ago and finally was able to go back and help students in the same program last summer.

That is good to hear. I hear people bash SAC all the time.

[Clandestino]

Express News business section is a joke. The fucking Corpus Christi Caller Times is 4 times better!