Unfortunately, the two reports I've obtained are dated and incomplete. One report is for last year's periods 1-9 -- in other words, Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. The other is for all 12 periods of 2006. Also, I don't have any figures for USA Today.
Still, both reports disclose prior-year figures, so you can see revenue, expense and profit trends at dozens of newspapers as they staggered into what has been a devastating 2008. One paper, for example, lost nearly $10 million in classified advertising alone during the first nine months of last year vs. the same period in 2006, the documents show.
Decoding the categories
Before I post any details, however, I need to understand some of the line-item categories. Here's a screenshot of those under the "General" column; the full list of items appears at the bottom of this post.
My question concerns the third line, "News. Payroll % of News. Exp." If the figure reported for, say, The Daily Bugle is 32.5, does that mean payroll was 32.5% of all expenses for the period in question? Also:- When and why did Corporate discontinue these reports?
- Were these replaced with a new type of report?
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
Do you have these for Newsquest papers too or just Gannett in the States?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, they only show U.S. newspapers. Also, USA Today isn't included.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just post them and let the discussion begin -- as we at the community papers are told to do whenever we get our hands on a new database?
ReplyDeleteThe documents are too big to copy and paste into a post. But I may make them available for download. First, though, we need to understand how to interpret the data; that's why I'm starting with these questions.
ReplyDeleteJim
ReplyDeleteThe News % of payroll represents the payroll expense of the news department against the entire papers payroll expense.
Example: Paper Payroll Expense=$100,000
News Dept. Payroll=$33,000
or News Payroll= 33% of Newspaper Payroll.
Hope this helps.
I think this is bottom line stuff so each stat would be total newspaper. So News. Payroll % is Total Newspaper Payroll as a % of Total Newspaper Expense. The stats specific to news will be in the News part of the Operating statement.
ReplyDeleteConsider that you may be handling confidential data and posting could hurt the company. The person slipping it to you may have ignored company policy. Analysis may help you understand some ways the company measures performance versus expense, but be careful handling this data.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: I will NOT be able to make this report available in a download, as per a request from my source.
ReplyDelete2:55 pm: Thank you for your concern.
ReplyDeleteAs a journalist, my job is not to HURT Gannett, nor to HELP Gannett. Instead, my job is to write about Gannett: the good, the bad and everything in between.
In this case, knowing the profit margins of individual papers, as well as other performance metrics, will help employees better understand whether Gannett needs to lay off workers and cut other expenses -- as it is doing right now.
Jim I have a legit question for you; How is it that a former business reporter for a national newspaper doesn't know how to read business reports? I am not bashing you but I would like you to answer this question. You've asked these kinds of questions ebfore and I have shaken my head in disbelief. Maybe this is why the economy is in such dire straights. The business reporters don't even know what questions to ask.
ReplyDeleteSo, are you going to tell us which papers were profitable? What time period are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteRegardless of Jim knowing or not know dick about financial information, even as a former business reporter, Jim is clearly a shitty journalist to boot.
ReplyDeleteHe is a fake, phony "blogger". he is not a journalist. Please do not offend me and my trade.
If there was a license to practice our art, Jim would have failed miserably.
Gobble gobble!
I would caution anyone from sending this type of information to Jim. It is confidential company information and you will face severe punishment by Gannett and from the authorities.
ReplyDeleteWhatever asshole from the "Community Newspaper" division leaked this information should be tracked down by the corporate authorities.
This information compromises plenty and Jim if you post it, Gannett should come after you first.
Amen 3:36pm Jim sucks!
ReplyDelete-Sleepless in NJ
3:26 pm: A good business reporter -- heck, ANY reporter -- never makes assumptions.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "News. Payroll % of News. Exp." line item: I THINK that means the overall newspaper's payroll as a share of its overall expenses.
But maybe, I wondered, it means the NEWSROOM's payroll as a share of the NEWSROOM's overall expenses.
In other words, "News." might be an abbreviation for "newspaper" or for "newsroom." After all, with the possible exception of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission forms, there's hardly such thing as a standard "business report."
If you worked for a profitable news organization and got laid off, wouldn't you want to include that little detail on your resume?
ReplyDeleteSounds like I'm on to something!
ReplyDeleteJim is a chicken. He won't show this type of data. he is afraid of Gracia Martore coming after him.
ReplyDelete3:39 pm sounds like a manager at a very, very profitable paper, no?
ReplyDelete3:56 pm: Is she going to lay me off? Hah!
ReplyDeleteSkip the data for now. Just make a list of profitable places so we can all update our resumes please!
ReplyDeleteGannett can give you horrible performance appraisals, berate you and push you out the door. But just think of what a boost it would be to know---for 100% sure---that you were part of a profitable team.
And if you weren't part of a profitable team, seems like knowing that upfront might make the layoffs make more sense.
Newspapers, radio stations or TV stations are not the only places that house journalists. A degree does not make you a journalist.
ReplyDeleteThe line between bloggers and journalists has blurred in the online age. It's up to you as the reader to determine the credibility of of the blogger, just as you would with a journalist in a newspaper.
There are a lot of bloggers who have more credibility than reporters.
As stockholders, why shouldn't we have access to this information?
ReplyDeleteIf Gannett gets sued for descrimination (Class Action)in the layoff process, then as part of the legal 'discovery' process this information would have to be provided.
Seems to me it would be hard to justify layoffs when a newspaper is showing a 20%+ profit margin...most
businesses would kill for our profit margins....even at their shrinking level.
It would be much easier for Jim to provide a list of papers that did not make a profit...the list would be small also for papers making less than 10%. Realizing that list may be a little larger in 08.
ReplyDeleteWere the people with online duties included in the news expenses?
ReplyDeleteThe profitability of individual newspapers means little to the Wall Street demands. They expect an aggregate return. Raising all profit margins at the same time may be the only way to move the needle, explaining the across the board bath of layoffs and cuts. It does appear individual properties are getting some wiggle room to meet demands.
ReplyDeleteAs we've read here already, some papers are pushing for harder numbers (cuts) and others are not.
The summary reports simply offer a window into trends and ways to measure performance of like newspaper markets.
Percentages help reveal great performance by some papers, but keep in mind that cash flow is important too. To manage by comparables without analysis of individual market conditions is not wise. Some categories are more important to higher ups than others. And some only mean anything when combined with another.
Just be careful handling the reports because raw data without context can cause anyone to draw incorrect conclusions. And as suggested, some individual factors could provide a dangerous revelation to competitors in a given market. At the end of the day, the material is known to be confidential.
As to revenue and small newspaper issues, remember that smaller newspapers can do a bunch of small things to get ahead in percentages much quicker than a large paper. A large paper can do one thing to move a great deal of revenue, but have little impact on their overall number.
We've got some serious haters out there.
ReplyDeletePost 'em.
Compromise the company? Look around you; it's already compromised beyond recognition.
Note 1: GCI has quit providing monthly financial information to investors as of last quarter. Explaining that the business is cyclical and in a downturn, ha ha ha. Business is dying...its too late to make drastic changes.
ReplyDeleteNote 2: GCI has decided to keep the dividend...yield at around 20%...are you kidding me? Im wondering if the dividend may still be cut...if that is even possible. GCI is toast either way.
Note 3: I bet that financial info Jim has is interesting. I propose Jim to give a 0 to 10 rating on the financial outlook of GCI.
This is a breakdown of the newspaper's expenses by departments.
ReplyDeleteGeneral would be the overall results of the paper.
News budgets by payroll dollars & hours, columns, net and gross, and non-payroll expenses.
Looks like this report focuses more on the cost and percentage of newsprint for News. Net columns are actual news less adv. The % would be based on the number of news columns in a full paper. A 40-page paper is 240 columns if the paper is based on 6 columns per page. If news has 120 columns, it has 50% news.
I never understood the importance or payroll hours vs. payroll dollars. It seemed if the paper made the dollar payroll why worry about hours but it's apparently a big deal.
Total news expense would be payroll and non-payroll (syndicates, wire services, travel etc)
3:39: I'd love to work in your newsroom! Must be nice to run a paper full of news release rewrites and high school prom photos. Forget about digging into anything beyond the corporate or government wall, let alone checking out some documents someone sent you that could shed some real light on how a huge institution actually works. So where do you work, and how can I be a lazy-ass "journalist" there?
ReplyDeleteWhy flaunt information you have and won't share? It serves no purpose.
ReplyDeleteI think if we saw how profitable USA TODAY really is, there would be pure mutiny about the 20 pending layoffs. Eventually, someone will leak that info, so perhaps USA TODAY might want to reconsider pink slipping folks next week.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up Jim. I think you're on the trail to something that will be more than just a passing interest to Gannett employees.
ReplyDeleteUSAT is VERY profitable. These layoffs are not necessary to remain profitable. If the paper goes through with them, upper management will lose all credibility and trust. The newsroom will not forget this injustice.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteYou are a big boy with rubber duckies, so you shouldn't need anyone to convince you to releasse this information. It's got the makings of a Gannett-orchestrated "Watergate." Don't be a Rosemary Woods and cover the corporate asses that sold you out so fast your head spun!
We love you, Jimmy!
11 pm and everyone else: You'll need to be patient. The first of these two reports includes more than 25,000 pieces of data; the second report includes even more. I don't need most of it, but I still have to separate the good from the bad.
ReplyDeleteWhat a clown. He boasts about having something then doesn't post it. What is the point.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little tired of this guy reveling in GCI's problems.
Keep crunching Jim. As Deep Throat advised Bob Woodward: "Follow the money." That's where the answers lie. I trust you and your source. Thanks for providing some good cautious but pressing journalism.
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back here waiting for this info. I posted a request for this weeks ago and I am just too excited to wait for this info. Thank you to the source, and Jim please please post something.
ReplyDeleteTake your time, Jim, and get it right. I'm confident you can do it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for not making assumptions, Jim. I know some Gannett reporters could learn a lot by following your example.
ReplyDeleteTake your time on this one.
Jim:
ReplyDelete1. Corporate likes to keep this type of info private because advertisers would rebel if they saw how much profit their "partner" was making.
2. Employees would go nuts if they found out that the publisher means "I'm only making 20 percent on each sale" when he says times are tough. He used to make 35 percent.
3. On the hours versus dollars: Hours are a proxy for dollars, they can predict OT and benefit costs and they are a way of keeping properties from budgeting for unfilled positions.
4. Please note that the first item on this list is profit margin. The report was built in a time when it was assumed that every local monopoly was extracting as much revenue as possible from its community. The only way to judge the effectiveness of a publisher was to measure margin.
This approach bred generations of cost-cutters and stamped out anyone who even thought about making something new work.
For the love of dog, please just write a story with the facts and figures - don't make us wade through a huge download. Tell the top papers by profit, which papers have the most OT, who has the lowest and highest online profit margins, etc., etc. Compare them to industry averages if you can.
ReplyDeleteOh and stick a graf in there that "Gannett spokesman Tara Connell did not return e-mails seeking comment."
Bottom Line...? These cuts are necessary to feed corporate. You don't need to have a phd to figure that out.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeletewhy don't you do a fundraiser and have people contribute online enough money so that you reach a goal like, $1,500 in the next 48 hours and you will release the info that you have?
Here's the deal.
ReplyDeleteFirst, those newspapers with extra large profit margins are generally ones that print on old, fully depreciated presses. When papers install new presses and have to write them off over 15 years, it really puts a dent in their profit margins. Now this doesn't mean that even newspapers with a large depreciation expense don't have ridiculous profit margins, because they still do when compared to other industries. That's the smoking gun when it comes to the greed of the industry. You would think with those margins they would invest in their products more by hiring more reporters and improving the news content of their papers so folks want to read them.
Second, the "News Payroll % of News Exp" is the news payroll as a percentage of total news expenses.
Lastly, way to go Jim. I think what you are doing is fantastic. Keep up the good work.
Why track newsroom payroll vs. newsroom expenses -- rather than, say, production payroll vs. production expenses? What's so special about the newsroom?
ReplyDeletefrom what I remember of these reports, you need to look at the percentages more than the money...
ReplyDeletesay they are tracking hours per column inches...a paper with lower hours per column inches is operating more efficiently. You can't judge efficiency by the total payroll cost...some papers exist in very expensive markets and have very high payroll costs.
When you are comparing papers you need to compare sites of similar size. Don't compare Westchester to Livonia. There's no similarity. However, you can compare Westchester with Wilmington.
Each department has key indicators for comparing efficiencies site to site. The departmetn heads know what to look at and immediately go to those number to see how their site did during the last month.
Jim, theres several sets of monthly reports that are available. The one that tracks production is the Cost and Stats reports that gets into comparison of all newspapers listed in descending order by size. It includes payroll by department, newsprint and ink expense and usage etc.
ReplyDelete