Union workers at the Denver Post have voted to enter into formal discussions with the newspaper's owner to reopen contract talks in a bid to trim expenses at the ailing newspaper, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Denver Post owner William Dean Singleton wants $2 million in wage and benefits givebacks from its union workers. That’s roughly 20-25 fulltime positions at the daily newspaper.
The AP report said: [Link]
Meanwhile, there was still no word Monday night on a potential buyer for the Rocky Mountain News, Denver’s other daily newspaper, which was put on the sales block last month by its owner, E.W. Scripps Corp. Scripps spokesman TM King said it would be several days before any announcement on the News is made. "There won't be an announcement for a while as we'll spend the next several days working with our broker to evaluate where we are and determine next steps," he said.
The Denver Newspaper Agency is the partnership that publishes the News and Denver Post, which is owned by Denver-based Media News Group, under a joint operating agreement struck between the two papers in 2000. Singleton has said he needs $18 million in concessions from the DNA as well. Both papers are losing money amid falling classified ad revenue and circulation decline.
Scripps officials put the 149-year-old News on sale in early December, saying they were projecting losses of $15 million in 2008 for the newspaper in the face of severe declines in advertising and circulation. They said they would consider various options for the paper if they could not find a buyer, including shutting it down. Both Denver dailies have been rocked by severe losses in advertising revenue and circulation in recent years, and are now struggling through the recession.
