Two more large dailies will absorb significant staff reductions as the newspaper industry continues to downsize as revenues decline.The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., on Tuesday neared completion of cost-cutting measures that will stave off a sale or closure of New Jersey's largest newspaper. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times employees were being told about likely staff reductions, the latest of several rounds of cuts at the paper since the start of the year.
The union representing the Star-Ledger's truck drivers was expected late Tuesday night to ratify a new contract, an outcome that would fulfill the publisher's third and final condition for survival beyond this year. In July the Newhouse family, which owns the Star-Ledger along with more than two dozen newspapers and the Condé Nast magazine company, said it would sell the paper unless it secured concessions from two unions and unless 200 people -- more than a quarter of its nonunionized full-time staff -- accepted buyouts.
The paper's mailers' union last month ratified a new agreement, and more than enough staffers have applied for the buyout. But just weeks ago the paper and its drivers' union remained far apart on a new agreement, prompting George Arwady, publisher of the Star-Ledger, to say the paper might need to pursue a sale or close in January.
The agreement with the truckers' union is a lifeline for the Star-Ledger, though it is unclear whether the paper will be able to survive in anything like its current form. About half of the roughly 330 current newsroom staffers have applied for buyouts, according to people at the paper.
At the Los Angeles Times, staffers say dozens of veteran newsroom employees are being encouraged to accept buyouts and the paper's Washington reporting staff is likely to shrink and be reorganized soon. Executives in business operations have been asked to cut costs, too. The Times, owned by Tribune Co., has an average weekday circulation of 773,884, fourth-largest in the U.S.
Newhouse publications other than the Star-Ledger also are feeling the economic downturn's pain. The Star-Ledger's sister publication, the Times of Trenton, N.J., has received more applications for buyouts than the 25 it needed to avoid closure.
At the Star-Ledger, the mood has darkened at the paper's headquarters as employees debated whether to accept buyout offers. Staffers decorated the newsroom with posters of the Titanic and Hindenburg, and an email that circulated with the subject line "Star-Ledger theme song" contained the Clash song "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Employees lamented the possible gutting of the paper, which has built up a fierce devotion and a lengthy list of longtime staffers.
Like many papers across the country, the Star-Ledger has had to cut costs, pare staff and eliminate sections as the Web and downturn have eroded print readership and advertising. The paper this year is expected to incur a loss of as much as $40 million, according to Donald Newhouse, president of Star-Ledger parent Advance Publications Inc. The Star-Ledger has an average weekday circulation of 345,130, 15th-largest in the U.S.
The paper enlisted J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. over the summer for a possible sale of the paper, but no steps have been taken to solicit buyers or circulate financial information.
Mr. Newhouse said management is committed to pursuing a sale if it can't reach agreements on the cost-cutting measures. "We are where we are today because there was a general belief that we meant what we said and that what we said was true," Mr. Newhouse said.
By: Russell Adams and Shira Ovide
Wall Street Journal; October 8, 2008
