Dallas Morning News To Cut 85 Newsroom Jobs

 

DALLAS, TX (August 10, 2006) – Newsroom employees at The Dallas Morning News were handed packages today with details of the “voluntary severance” program that’s being offered by Belo Corporation, which hopes to cut as many as 85 newsroom jobs from the newspaper that’s won eight Pulitzer Prizes since 1986. Included with the details was the news that layoffs are possible “if voluntary severance participation does not match the paper’s strategic realignment goals.” In other words, if enough people don’t take the buy-out then Belo’s goal of cutting 85 jobs may be reached through other means.

Director of photography William Snyder, himself a winner of three of the newspaper's eight Pulitzer Prizes, says he'll have a better idea in about a week how many photography positions will be involved in the buy-out and reorganization. "We'll be told as the plans are rolled out," he told News Photographer magazine today. "We have a meeting on Monday that's supposed to give us the outline of the reconfigured newspaper and Web site staffs. Not down to 'titles' but staff numbers, and general directions."

Snyder says the photography department's current head count is 50, "but that includes a couple of part-time lab positions."

Belo said in a press release that the program “is part of a broad organizational realignment, adapting print and online products to reflect evolving, fundamental changes in the use of media by consumers and advertisers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.”

The Dallas Morning News says there are currently 500 employees in editorial, including their interactive department, metro, investigative, business, sports, general news, art and lifestyles staff, and photography departments. The job cuts will reduce editorial staff by about 17 percent.

The paper’s editor, Bob Mong, said in the Belo news release that the smaller editorial staff will be reorganized to cover and emphasize local news, and a newsroom reorganization will be announced in November. Belo says The Dallas Morning News is America’s 10th largest newspaper with a print and online audience of 2.1 million. Belo Corporation has 7,700 employees and more than $1.5 billion in annual revenues from 19 television stations, seven cable news channels, four daily newspapers, and 30 Web sites.

Belo is offering two weeks base pay for each year of continuous employment for up to 15 years of work, and three weeks of base pay for each year exceeding 15. Belo also says that an additional lump-sum payment equal to 12 months of the employee’s currently applicable COBRA health care premium is included in the offer.

Newsroom employees have from today until August 23 to consider the offer. Employees have to tell Belo whether they accept or reject the offer during a period from August 24 through August 30. From August 30 through September 14, managers will consider employee acceptances of the offer and confirm or reject them. September 15 will be the final day of work for most employees who take the voluntary severance if it’s accepted by managers.

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