A Deep Cut: Seattle Times To Eliminate 200 Jobs

 

SEATTLE, WA (April 7, 2008) - The news hit hard in Seattle today, where huge layoffs are coming to The Seattle Times.

Some 200 jobs are being eliminated through layoffs, hiring freezes, and possibly through voluntary separation offers as $15 million must be cut from the newspaper's budget in two months, the paper's publisher told employees today.

"We had hoped the expense reductions made at the beginning of the year would prevent the need for further downsizing, but that is not the case," Times publisher Frank Blethen told employees today.

"The only responsible action to take is to better align our expenses to the reduced revenue we now anticipate."

The company has more than 1,800 employees. Eliminating 200 jobs will reduce the workforce by about 11 percent. Up to 45 of the jobs being cut may be in the newsroom, the Times says.

The Puget Sound Business Journal reported that an eMail from the Times' senior vice president of business operations, Alayne Fardella, said up to 49 newsroom jobs were at stake.

A journalist at the Times says that 16 of the newsroom jobs being lost were frozen positions, but the rest of them were "real losses."

In another cost-cutting measure, the newspapers will eliminate "zoning" starting in May. "Zones" are when different neighborhoods get content specific to their area in the same day's newspaper. Doing away with zoning will mean the staff only has to create, print, and distribute one version of the newspaper.

Unionized workers have to be given four weeks' notice, so layoffs would likely start in early May.

At the Seattle Post-Intellegencer, publisher Roger Oglesby told Crosscut Seattle that the P-I has no layoffs planned at this time, but that's not to say layoffs might take place at the P-I at some point in the future.

The loss of revenue, specifically advertising revenue, is hurting more than just newspapers. In the last few weeks the television broadcasting industry has been hit with layoffs and downsizing as well, with 29 CBS owned and operated stations leading the way in job cuts across the country in response to bad economic news from 2007's fourth quarter profits and poor revenue indicators from this year's first quarter.

Today's news in the Times' newsroom comes after an additional $21 million in cuts made earlier this year, the company reports. At the beginning of the year the company said it would lay off 17 employees, cut 69 jobs through attrition, and eliminate or combine some sections of the newspaper.

Today Blethen wrote in an eMail to staff, "Due to the continued and increased loss of traditional newspaper revenue for both The Seattle Times and the Seattle P-I, we will be making necessary expense reductions. Our circumstances are in line with the newspaper industry nationally, which continues to see steep declines particularly in areas of Classified ad revenue and also a slowing of online revenue growth."

The Times manages advertising, circulation, and marketing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer under a joint operating agreement.

The Blethen family owns 50.5 percent stake in the company, and the rest is owned by McClatchy Co. Hearst Corp. owns the Seattle Post-Intellegencer and there are separate newsrooms.

Last month Times president Carolyn Kelly told employees that combined print advertising revenues for the two papers were down 10.7 percent from last year and 1.5 percent from their 2008 goals. Online advertising at the Times is also down. In March the company put up for sale three daily newspapers and one weekly newspaper they own in Maine. At the time, Blethen said the reason for the sale was that they needed to "focus on the future of its newspapers in Washington state." In Maine, the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal, and the Morning Sentinel are now for sale.

In Washington, the company also owns the Yakima Herald-Republic, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, and the Web site NWsource.com.

Blethen wrote today, "The SOC team has identified approximately $15 million in budget reductions that will be implemented over the next two months. These include significant changes to the way we do business and involve realignment and centralization throughout our organization. You will hear more about the specific changes in departmental meetings.

"The most difficult part of these changes involves a reduction of our workforce of approximately 200 positions through a combination of freezing open positions and a significant number of layoffs. This is not an action we take lightly — we recognize and regret that these decisions have a considerable impact on people’s lives."

Blethen said that most employees affected would be notified today.

 

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