Staff cutbacks — not
Posted by Bob HunterI had a phone conversation yesterday with a concerned reader/news junkie, who was sure that local media are cutting back their news staffs. Much of her concern seemed to center on reports of layoffs at major metropolitan newspapers and a sense that local TV stations are not covering as much local news as they once did.
I can’t speak for local TV — although one staff member at a local affiliate told me he thought their staff was actually a bit larger than a few years ago. Not a lot larger, but a bit. My caller said one of her concerns was the number of national stories that show up on “local” TV newscasts. I agree with her — it always seems a bit odd and/or jarring to see a national story during the local news: “Rogue Valley news at 11: Family dies in house fire! (in Tennessee.)”
As for us, we have about the same size staff that we’ve had for years — approximately 40 people in the newsroom. We have expanded our reporting capabilities, because we are paying for more freelance reporting than ever before, while maintaining the number of staff reporters.
What that happy news doesn’t reflect is the fact that we are also doing a lot of new things — particularly on the Web — so we do feel stretched in trying the cover all the bases. For us, though, the Web has proven to be a way to add readers and to add them consistently month after month. So the extra effort does pay off with more eyes on our news reports.
Big city papers are having a tough time. Virtually every big city paper has reduced its staff in recent years or months. They’re still reaching hundreds of thousands of people in their circulation areas, but that number has been on a decline. As with us, though, most of them (all of them that are really trying) are seeing big gains on the Web.
Newspapers are not going to disappear anytime soon, but I suspect the newsrooms’ routines will continue to change a lot in the years to come.
March 2nd, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Bob, I worked for a major city newspaper for 35 years and I have seen the industry going down the tubes. I have personally seen newspaper executives waste millions of dollars for no apparent reason. Then they say they are not making enough money. The town I worked in had 5 papers when I satarted and now they have one and half (the half is a throwaway!) I think it is really sad that such good venue for good reporting and comentary go out the window.
March 5th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Yeah, there certainly have been some unfortunate developments in the news business, especially at the bigger papers. The collision of corporate profits with the rapidly changing nature of the media — i.e., the Internet — has been a bad mix in a lot of places. The pressure for profit remains, while the market is increasingly fragmented. I guess the good news is that newspapers are jumping online in a big way and that we shouldn’t care how we get the news to people, as long as we get it to them.
Now, the ad side of things is a lot more dicey; we’ll just have to wait to see how that turns out. The challenge for newspapers that hire professionals to cover the news is that those professionals want to be paid a decent wage (of course, if you’re a journalist, your definition of “decent” is different to start with). As much as making money can be seen as an evil thing, it’s a real factor in determining the resources that any organization — newspaper or otherwise — can bring to bear on its work.
This is not an issue unique to newspapers — the Web has disrupted a lot of traditional businesses; off the top of my head I can list travel agents, mapmakers, encyclopedia printers, book stores … the list could go on and on. And, of course, other media, like TV stations, are struggling to hold onto their place in the food chain.
It’s a war out there. To the adaptive go the spoils.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
The press is not simply another drycleaner or pizza place. As the 4th estate it fulfills the unoffical role of peoples representative. Many folks believe the Tribune is a government agency. A deranged man caused a bomb scare at a local TV station in his futile attempt at redress of grevences. The media has a unique role and a unique responsibility to the community first. Newspapers specifically, are the offical record. Public notices of agencies and non-profits are required to submit their records for print even at financial burden.
Its a war allright, its a war on the workers. 25 years of staff cuts, budget cuts, and now a campaign of outsourcing and reduced benefits. Staff writes too many fluffy “product innovation” pieces that offer little value but create lots of wealth for the bottom line. Worse are horrors such as “Distinctly Northwest” a ego piece aimed at the greedy and gluttony. Encouraging more unsustainable development, more overpriced homes and damaging the community that supports you. Do workers deserve a say in how these profits they deliver are used? Before we can agree on what a “decent” wage is for the worker, we must open the books. How much wealth is extracted each year from this community? How much goes to the workers and how much goes to Ottaway/Dow Jones? Workers deserve a say in how the profits they deliver are used.