Print’s Woes: Slashed Staffs, Online-Only Papers…

Finding it hard to keep track of the near-daily announcements of trouble for Old Media? Let TheWrap do it for you

Finding it hard to keep track of the near-daily announcements of trouble for Old Media? Let TheWrap do it for you. Here’s a look at the most recent bad news.

MAY 12, 2009:

Maverty Media Group
A number of racy gay magazines are being shuttered, including Playguy, Torso, Honchos, Inches and Mandate. 

 

MAY 11, 2009:

Playboy
The magazine reported a $13.7 million net loss during the first quarter, compared to a $4.2 million loss during the same period last year. 

WNYC
Multiple sources tell FishbowlNY that senior staffers at the New York public radio station will take a 5% pay cut.

Rolling Stone Mexico
After seven years in the industry, the magazine is shuttering.

 

MAY 6, 2009:

Television Week
In June, the NewsPro supplement will become a web-only publication.

 

MAY 4, 2009:

Selecciones
The Reader’s Digest Association closed the U.S. edition of the magazine. The June issue will be its last.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette
The paper announced Monday that it had laid off 16 people from their jobs in the Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas newsrooms.

Boston Globe
The New York Times Co. reached agreements with six of the seven unions involved and will not file the closing notification for the paper.

 

MAY 1, 2009:

Men’s Journal
Gawker hears that the magazine laid off five women today.

The Boston Globe
The paper’s biggest union has asked the New York Times to extend today’s midnight deadline to come up with $20 million in cuts to keep the paper from shuttering. The Boston Newspaper Guild asked for the extra time because it says management made a mistake and counted $4 million of previous salary cuts in saving options.

Tribune’s Morning Call
An estimated 70 employees will be cut from the newspaper.

 

APRIL 29, 2009:

The New York Times
The Newspaper Guild, the union that represents newsroom and other employees of The New York Times, reached a tentative agreement over a 5 percent salary cut that had been reached by management.

 

APRIL 28, 2009:

Atlanta Woman
The magazine is shutting down and releasing its final issue in May.

Baltimore Sun

The paper laid off at least 15 staffers from editorial, including the copy desk chief and a deputy managing editor, reports the Baltimore Brew.

 

APRIL 27, 2009

Portfolio
Conde Nast is finally shuttering Portfolio, the glossy magazine that cut about 20% of its staff and went from publishing 12 times a year to 10 last fall. The magazine’s website will also be discontinued.

PRWeek
Citing an advertising revenue shortfall, the weekly – delivered like a tabloid – is going monthly and will be in magazine format. It’s online content, once free, will now be available by subscription-only.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations
The organization reported its spring figures which showed, not suprisingly, that newspapers are continuing to shed readers at a rapid rate. Of 395 newspapers, daily circulation fell 7$ compared to last March, while Sunday circulation was down 5.3%.

 

APRIL 24, 2009

NPR
Employees will not be paid for three holidays — Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day — this year and three more when the new fiscal year begins in October. The company is also eliminating contributions to retirement accounts through the end of this year and is cutting the contributions in half next year.

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Employees got a memo that "certain functions" in IT and finance will be outsourced by the end of the year. Gawker also hears that the company is notifying freelancers that it is reducing their rates.

Phoenix Media/Communication Group
The owner of the Boston Phoenix and other weeklies is suspending 401K matches. Six people – two from editorial – are being laid off, and every employee is having their salary cut from 10 percent to 2 percent.

 

APRIL 23, 2009

The McClatchy Co.
The company, which owns The Miami Herald and 28 other daily newspapers, suffered a greater first quarter loss than analysts had anticipated, with a $37.5 million drop in ad revenue.

New York Times Co.
The CEO of the company, Janet L. Robinson, said today that it will stick to its May 1 deadline to garner $20 million in concessions from Boston Globe unions. If it does not get the money, the company is threatening to shutter the Beantown paper.

 

APRIL 22, 2009

Chicago Tribune
A total of 53 journalists were let go from the newsroom today.

 

APRIL 21, 2009

New York Times Co.
The company lost $75 million in the first quarter, while ad revenue fell by 27% – a loss of over $120 million as compared to the same period last year.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The paper, which went online-only in March, hasn’t been attracting much attention online. Last month, the site was knocked off of Nielsen Online’s list of top 30 newspaper sites.

 

APRIL 20, 2009

Jossip.com
Gawker is reporting that the six-year-old celebrity gossip site run by David Hauslaib has folded, with its two editors, Cord Jefferson and Drew Grant, fired. The site has been up for sale since March.

Ecologist
The British magazine will publish online-only beginning in June – but director Zac Goldsmith says it’s for environmental reasons. Its final printed issue will be on U.K. newsstands June 19.

 

APRIL 17, 2009

The New York Times
The City section, the regionals and the Escapes section will no longer be stand-alone sections in the paper — the material from those sections will now appear in a Sunday metro report. The Sunday Times Magazine will also stop style coverage starting May 3, and the freelance budget will be cut significantly.

Hearst Newspapers
The Houston Chronicle’s style critic Clifford Pugh was recently laid off, and fashion editor at the San Francisco Chronicle Sylvia Rubin took a buyout – perhaps implying that fashion coverage at Hearst-owned papers is shrinking.

Media General
The newspaper publisher and TV station owner reported a large first-quarter loss today and said it will cut its work force by nearly 300 jobs and will freeze its pension plan. The company lost $21.3 million in the January-March period this year as compared to $20.3 million a year earlier.

AbitibiBowater
The world’s largest newsprint maker filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The company recently took over and merged with a number of pulp and paper companies and now controls around 45% of the market, but now also faces $8.78 billion debt.

 

APRIL 16, 2009

 

Publishers Weekly

Three editors at the book industry trade magazine were laid off today as part of a 7% across-the-board slash by parent company Reed Business Information.

 

News & Record

The paper is cutting 25 jobs from across its departments, including six in the newsroom.

 

APRIL 15, 2009

The Boston Globe
The paper will eliminate bonuses for over 200 Globe managers and executives, including its publisher. It will also rescind 10 extra days off it had initially given to nonunion management in exchange for a 5 percent pay cut.

Magazine Advertising
Adversing revenues for glossies posted a 20.2% decline against the same period in 2008, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

 

APRIL 14, 2009

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Employees at the company, which owns a number of magazines, will see a cut in base salaries, according to a memo from the CEO obtained by Gawker. Exempt employees will see a 6 percent reduction, while non-exempt employees will see 3 percent. The work day will also go from 7 ½ hours to 8 hours.

Reed Business Information
The owner of 80 business-to-business publications, including Variety, laid off 7 percent of its workforce Tuesday, including Variety executive editor Michael Speier.

 

APRIL 13, 2009

The Chicago Tribune
The paper is cutting another 20 percent of its newsroom staff.

Marriott International
The hotel chain is stopping automatic newspaper delivery to guest rooms, citing guest demand for newspapers down around 25% at its 2,500 national hotels.

 

APRIL 10, 2009

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The entire news graphics department was laid off at the paper on Thursday, a source told the Visual Editors blog.

 

APRIL 9, 2009

The Los Angeles Times
In an effort to garner ad revenue in any way possible, the paper ran a front-page advertisement promoting the NBC show "Southland" which was in the place of and resembled a news article.

 

APRIL 8, 2009

Wall Street Journal
The paper’s online executive editor Alan Murray says the paper will implement a higher subscription rate to some of its readers and is planning a "premium initiative" to sell "narrower information services," reports Romenesko.

 

APRIL 6, 2009

Associated Press
The AP and the WSJ will attempt to track down copyright violators online to raise the value of their news content. The news service will also cut fees by $35 million for U.S. newspapers next year; a $30 million reduction occurred last year.

A.H. Belo Corp.
The parent company of The Dallas Morning News started laying off what will ultimately be a total of 500 employees – 14 percent of its workforce – across all of its properties.

WebMediaBrands
The company is shuttering Dynamic Graphics+Create and Step Inside Design, two bi-monthly design magazines.

 

APRIL 3, 2009

The New York Times Co.
The company is threatening to close The Boston Globe unless the paper ponies up $20 million in savings. Labor unions would have to agree to pay cuts and pension changes to meet the requirement.

Men’s Journal
Portfolio hears that "multiple staffers" were laid off on both the business and editorial sides of the Wenner Media publication.

Woman’s Day
The magazine laid off six staffers, including the style director and food managing editor, according to FishbowlNY.

 

APRIL 2, 2009

Maxim UK
The men’s magazine is going online-only.

Richmond Times-Dispatch
The newspaper is eliminating 31 open positions and laying off 59 employees.

 

APRIL 1, 2009

Forbes
Everyone at the magazine is getting a 10 percent pay cut and a one-week unpaid furlough.

Conde Nast Digital
Gawker hears that around 20 employees were laid off at the company.

Entrepreneur Magazine
The Irvine-based magazine has seen a number of layoffs this week, according to FishbowlLA. Among them: the executive editor, the managing editor, the online editor, an associate editor, the special projects editor, a staff writer and 2 editorial assistants.

 

MARCH 31, 2009

Sun-Times Media Group Inc.
The owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and a number of suburban newspapers has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize it’s operations, settle a tax liability and make the company eligible to be bought.

Forbes Media
The company has begun a new round of layoffs and will cut over 50 people from its editorial and business sides.

KING
The hip-hop magazine is folding, with the final issue hitting newsstands April 21.

 

MARCH 30, 2009

Prevention
The Rodale-owned magazine is lowering its rate base from 3.3 million to 2.8 million – a guaranteed circulation decrease of 15 percent.

Adweek
There are rumors that Adweek, MediaWeek and Brandweek will compress into one publication called Adweek.

 

MARCH 27, 2009

The Boston Herald
24 employees leave the paper, through either layoffs or buyouts.

Los Angeles CityBeat
The alternative-weekly announced on Friday it would cease publication.

Budget Travel
"Minor staff reductions" at the Frommer’s-owned magazine.

Industrial Equipment News
The U.S. edition owned by Thompson folds, but international editions will continue to publish.

 

MARCH 26, 2009

The New York Times
Lays off 100 workers on the business side, while all of its employees take a 5 percent pay cut.

The Boston Globe
Cuts 20 part-time positions, while 24 employees take buyouts as a result of  budget cuts from parent New York Times Company.

Blender
One of the last remaining music magazines goes online-only. Its owner, Alpha Media Group, left only with Maxim in print, will eliminate 30 jobs.

Washington Post
A new round of buyouts are offered to newsroom, production and circulation employees; layoffs not ruled out.

Google
Cuts 200 employees from the company’s sales and marketing teams.

Christian Science Monitor
Today marks the last day in print for the CSM, which is now an online-only publication.

Hoy
The Spanish-language paper of the Los Angeles Times switches from daily to weekly.

The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine
Narrows its circulation to selected zip codes.

 

MARCH 25, 2009

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The publicly owned operator of national television and radio networks cuts 800 jobs and puts assets up for sale.

Los Angeles Times
Cuts 50 jobs; merges its foreign reporting department with the Chicago Tribune.

Houston Chronicle
Hearst cuts 12 percent of the staff.

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
On the block: Popular Photography, American Photo, Boating, Cycle World, Flying and Sound & Vision.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The paper downgrades its circulation and cuts about 90 employees.

Brides.com
Conde Nast cuts jobs at the website.

 

MARCH 23, 2009

Genre
The gay monthly magazine folds.

Ann Arbor News
The will go online-only publication in July.

Charlotte Observer
McClatchy cuts 14.6 percent of the workforce and reduces pay for remaining employees.

The Gannett Co.
The owner of USA Today and over 80 other daily U.S. newspapers makes employees give up to two weeks’ pay.

Men and women’s fashion magazines
Lost 20 percent or more ad pages in April, according to the Media Industry Newsletter.

Advance Publications
A 10-day unpaid leave and pension freeze begins at all of the company’s daily papers outside Michigan, like New Jersey’s Star-Ledger and Portland’s Oregonian.

 

MARCH 18, 2009

Ad Age 
The trade announces it will publish fewer issues this year, but will cut fewer than 10 staffers.

San Diego Union-Tribune
A private-equity firm purchases the newspaper.

 

MARCH 17, 2009

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Goes online-only.

 

MARCH 13, 2009

The Washington Post
Folds its daily business section into the "A" section.

US Style
Wenner Media delays the launch of the fashion quarterly from US Weekly for the the third time. The magazine should still be published in 2010.

 

MARCH 12, 2009

Unlimited
A business and work-culture magazine out of Canadagoes online-only.

 

MARCH 11, 2009

The Miami Herald
Cuts 19 percent of its workforce and cutting salaries of remaining employees.

Best Life
The magazine is ceasing publication.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Hearst passes its deadline to sell the the paper, which now says employees may lose their jobs as soon as next week. (On March 17, the paper goes online-only.)

 

MARCH 10, 2009

Travel + Leisure Golf
Folds.

San Francisco Chronicle
Staff reductions are expected at the paper, which along with its union reached an agreement on contract concessions.

 

MARCH 9, 2009

New Republic
Editor Marty Peretz buys back the magazine with a group of investors.

McClatchy
Slashes 1,600 jobs, or 15 percent of its workforce, in an effort to cut $110 million.

OT
The Boston Globe closes its sports weekly tabloid.

 

MARCH 8, 2009

Conde Nast
Publishers at the company are told they need to figure out how to cut 10 percent from their budgets.

 

MARCH 5, 2009

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Cuts its workforce by around 12 percent.

Sacramento Union
The weekly local newspaper folds.

The Boston Globe
Cuts the Health/Science section.

 

MARCH 3, 2009

Arena
The British men’s style magazine owned by Bauer Publications folds.

 

MARCH 2, 2009

The Philadelphia Daily News
Announces it could become an edition or supplement of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Boston Herald
Cuts its staff by 20, offers buyouts to 400.

Rodale
20 sales employees are cut.

Frederick News-Post
The Maryland paper cancels Monday editions.

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