NEW YORK It has not been a kind year for the newspaper industry.
With costs rising and circulation on the decline, newspaper companies have responded by trimming a considerable portion of their staffs this year. A review of past news reports offers up a startling number: more than 2,000 jobs have been cut from major and mid-sized newspapers over the past year. That figure does not include cuts at many smaller papers that don't often garner the same headlines.
The downsizing began in January with acquisition-related cuts at The Herald-Sun in Durham, N.C., and Dow Jones' Consumer Electronic Publishing group. The last two months of 2005 have seen a flurry of downsizing, with several of the Tribune Co.'s newspapers announcing new plans to cut costs. In between, Knight Ridder's San Jose Mercury News trimmed close to 16% of its newsroom staff, while the Houston Chronicle cut about 7% of its total workforce.
The New York Times Co. raised eyebrows in September when it announced it was cutting 500 jobs across the company, including 45 newsroom positions at its flagship New York Times. Just four months earlier the company announced plans to shed 190 jobs across all divisions.
While no number will be entirely precise, a conservative estimate puts the total loss of newspaper jobs around 2,100 on the year. Below is a list of the major job cuts since Jan. 1, 2005:
TRIBUNE CO.
Newsday - 9/1 - 49 (buyouts)
Hartford Courant - 10/6 - 14 (companywide)
Baltimore Sun - 11/11 - 75 (12-15 newsroom; 5%)
Los Angeles Times - 11/16 - 85 (newsroom; 8%)
Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) - 11/16 - 12 (1.4%)
Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) - 11/16 - 8 (4 newsroom, 18 open positions)
Chicago Tribune - 11/16 - ~100 ("likely" less than 100; 3.3%)
Orlando Sentinel - 11/29 - 54 (33 open positions and 21 layoffs)
Newsday - 12/02 - 112 (72 layoffs and the reduction of 40 open positions; no "news gathering personnel" were affected)
Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) - 12/02 - 50 (5% of its work force of 950)
Los Angeles Times - 12/05 - 110 (Chatsworth production plant closed)
NEW YORK TIMES CO.
New York Times - 5/25 - 125 (all departments, 12 newsroom)
New England Newspaper Group - 5/25 - 65 (companywide)
New York Times - 9/20 - 250 (companywide, 45 newsroom)
New England Newspaper Group - 9/20 - 160 (35 in newsroom at The Boston Globe/20 in newsroom at Telegram & Gazette)
Regional Media Group - 9/20 - 80 (companywide)
KNIGHT RIDDER
Philadelphia Inquirer - 9/20 - 75 (newsroom buyouts)
Philadelphia Daily News - 9/20 - 25 (newsroom buyouts)
San Jose Mercury News - 9/23 - 52 (newsroom buyouts; 16%)
HEARST
San Francisco Chronicle - 8/1 - 120 (companywide)
Houston Chronicle - 8/19 - 125 (companywide, but newsroom and ad dept. spared; 7%)
Gannett
Green Bay (Wis.) News-Chronicle - 5/19 - 14 (ceased publication)
Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.) - 12/08 - 19 (all departments affected; 1.5%)
OTHERS
The (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun/Paxton - 1/5 - 81 (17 newsroom; 23%)
Seattle Times - 1/14 - 99 (23 newsroom; 6%)
Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing - 1/26 - 97 (due to Marketwatch acquisition)
Boston Herald/Herald Media - 4/4 - 35 (newsroom)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Lee Enterprises - 8/22 - 130 (41 newsroom; 12%)
Birmingham (Ala.) Post-Herald/Scripps - 9/22 - 43 (ceased publication)
New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News/Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications - 11/30 - TBD (aims to cut 9% of 300+ employees through buyouts)
* Note: This article will be continually updated as new cuts are announced.
Jay DeFoore (jdefoore@editorandpublisher.com) is E&P's Online Editor.
