Imagine No Daily Newspaper
An update on the financial condition of the Buffalo News:
According to what management is telling the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, the News lost money in November, December, and January—$714,000 in November alone and about $1 million over those three months. Management has told the Guild that it expects to have turned a profit for February. The paper expects to be $6.6 million in the black for 2009, but only because it has already begun cost-cutting measures that it expects to save $8.4 million and has counted those projected savings in its balance sheet.
News management has told the Guild it wants to find $15 million in savings overall, and expects the Guild to help cut $2.9 million, either in jobs or in givebacks. The timetable for finding that money is short, though management has assured Guild negotiators that no layoffs will be announced before the end of next week. (That’s two weeks since publisher Stan Lipsey sent all employees this memo.) Layoffs would take effect two weeks after that announcement—so three to four weeks.
The News is looking to its other unions to find $3.7 million in savings.
Many News employees blame the paper’s precarious position on an upper management team made complacent by the comfortable profits the company has earned since the demise of the Courier-Express. Here’s how one editorial staffer puts it:
One thing that we have to be mindful of is that in the long run, we need an employer that is financially viable, because otherwise the whole thing goes down the tubes. What want to do is help them get there while doing as little harm to our people as possible—it’s a balancing act.
But in order to get there, we need a company with leadership capable of getting us there.
As it is, our publisher is telling people the paper is going to close.
We called him on it. If he’s not prepared to stop panicking, he needs to get out of the way. We need leadership, not just cuts.
The News is not going to be able to cut its way out of this to survive. It has to grow to survive. Now they’re only in cut mode.
We mentioned to them today that Warren Buffett has made $550 million since he bought The News. This is the first time he’s ran into turbulence.
Stan Lipsey’s response is to start throwing women and children overboard. They need to recognize, that when this is done, there will still be a lot of people working for them, and those people have to feel like they’re not next for the firing squad. The way they handle this is now affects the next chapter in how we handle this business.
We don’t think (the problem) is Warren Buffett, and we don’t think it is the department heads. We think a lot of this has to do with Stan Lipsey. We said (to management) you folks need to figure out how to deal with the publisher, because he’s the most immediate problem we have. We have a bad recession, we have a bad industry, but we’ve got a publisher hitting the panic button like crazy.
We can’t survive in a panic mode. Were prepared on our side to work through those panics.
Potentially related posts (automatically generated):
“Many News employees blame the paper’s precarious position on an upper management team made complacent by the comfortable profits”
How does that cute theory explain the crumbling business model at daily newspapers across the U.S., some of which have already closed, many of which have already cut a much bigger percent of jobs than the Buffalo News is even considering at this point?
Who does the News employees blame for those newspaper declines in other cities?
Buffett? Bush? Limbaugh?
Comment by huh? — March 6, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
The Seattle Times now is online only.
Another one bites the dust.
There is a reason for this. Daily news papers from the NY Times on down are nothing more than the propaganda arm of the democrat party. (With the exception of the Washington Times) same applies to network news, you will note that they are failing economically too. I do not have cable so I do not have the opportunity to watch FOX. While I am at it, how about the movies, I refuse to go into a theater, its always the same BS. The “Hollywood Black List”, what you can not find in hollywood is a open conservative actor.
I will not accept a dead fish wrapped with a local paper, never mind support them by buying one (a paper).
The market place speaks. Maybe I am too optimistic, the democrats could bail “their” media out too. They are trying to shut down conservative voices on radio.
Don’t worry though we can get the same politics in this rag for free. (Seattle has one too, hmm, every city does? Wonder who funds these little artsy/lefty publications??? Is it funded through the sale of fine art?) At least they do not try and present themselves as mainstream.
It is unfortunate in the end, because a balanced daily paper would be economically viable. I do not like to read the news off of a computer screen, I would much rather peruse a physical paper.
Remember, Joe McCarthy was totally wrong. The number of communists in our government bureaucracies far exceeded the short list of names that he had compiled. Also, not taken into consideration, are the leftists that run our schools, unions, the ACLU, ACORN, Media/entertainment (very important for propaganda, Hitler knew this too). Even as communism fails around the world we still have the legacy of this malignant affliction continuing to grow in this country. I am looking at siberia or mongolia as the new lands of opportunity, at least they know that communism does not work. (Read Seeds of Treason by De Toledano, The Red Hunter, W.F. Buckley or the Venona Documents)
I wonder how long it will take for me to get locked out of this forum? ; )
Always Vigilant
Always Faithful
KBAR Man
Comment by activemountain — March 19, 2009 @ 11:03 am