Electric Fishwrap

I’m not sure if I’m creating a blasphemous analogy on the anniversary of our nation’s founding by saying this but here goes.

It may come as a shock to some that newspapers need to make money. Yes, we are the guardians of the First Amendment, a voice for the voiceless and the afflicters of the comfortable.

Newsrooms everywhere are in a downward spiral. Tampa Tribune editor in chief Janet Coats, according to blogger and news intern Jessica DaSilva, decided to reorganize the newsroom and reprioritize the newspaper’s coverage.

Essentially, it’s a shakeup of the traditional beat system. From Mindy McAdams’ blog:

• Managing editors
• 5-6 audience editors — keep in touch with what the print, TV, online audiences want/need
• 5 sections of reporting (all the reporters for print, TV and Web are mashed up together in these groups):

1. Deadline — for breaking/daily news
2. Data — specifically for database stuff
3. Watchdog — for investigative reporting
4. Personal journalism — stuff for people’s every day lives like weather, health, entertainment
5. Grassroots — citizen journalism

Outside of these groups are three “finishing” groups for print, TV and online to determine what stories should be covered and with what medium.

Read more of McAdams’ blog. I really like how she lays out the system for news coverage.

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It is difficult for me to maintain my optimism about the industry when I see a layoff from somewhere around the country literally every day. So far the count for this year alone is nearly 6,000 newsroom jobs, and that’s just the announced amount. Assuredly the real total is much higher.

The LA Times is cutting 150 newsroom jobs and is reducing published pages by 15 percent. The Minneapolis Star Tribune union is working to cut 10 percent from the newsroom budget.

I thought community newspapers were relatively immune. But this downturn in the economy (not a recession?) has proved me wrong. Something is happening, and even my paper is not immune.

I do appreciate my editors’ candor. They give us regular updates on how the paper is doing with ad and subscription sales. Without giving away too many details, reporters have been told to watch their mileage (41 cents a mile now) and watch the number of hours they work past 7 p.m. (we get a 50-cent boost in pay for each hour between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.). We also have an open business reporter position that may remain open for quite some time.

But I am not one to complain without attempting to find a silver lining — or a solution. The silver lining: We are holding steady on circulation.

One thing is clear: we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different results (Einstein quote). I’m not so sure about the solution.
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It always hurts when I see yet more layoffs in the industry. I really do love this profession. I think it serves a vital need. But how can we serve the readers when we have a more important group to serve — stockholders.

In this year alone — and it’s not even half over — More than 4,400 news jobs have been slashed across the country. Check out this great Google Map of the layoffs (Thanks CyberJournalist).

More recently, McClatchy announced a 10 percent cut in their work force. I’m surrounded by McClatchy papers here in Washington: Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma and Kennewick. The Bellingham Herald announced Monday that it is in talks with my paper, the Skagit Valley Herald, to print their paper after we move to our new building (see the building cam down on the right side of the Web page). We’re moving in sometime this fall/winter, and could start printing the Bellingham Herald sometime in 2009.
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