An occasional correspondent just sent the following in an e-mail; as always, proceed with caution, because I haven't corroborated any of this: "Publishers at Gannett's 'non-top 30' dailies have been tasked with preparing two new contingency plans re: total operating expenses -- a 2% reduction, and a 4% reduction. Implementation, if necessary, would take place in the first quarter of 2009."Gannett owns 85 U.S. dailies, so this latest demand from Corporate covers about 65% of the community newspaper division.
Can anyone confirm -- and add details? 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.
If true, why are they being termed "contingency plans"? The contingency is going to be the reality. Cutting staff and shrinking the paper is not going to attract either readers or advertisers. Circulation and ad revenue are only going to shrink as a result. It's not going to get any better any time soon, folks.
ReplyDeletenon-top 30? identify, please
ReplyDeleteThat would be any paper that is not in the top 30 I would think.
ReplyDelete7:36 -
ReplyDeletedidn't I read some of your best work on the bathroom wall?
However, I will define "identify" for you:
ReplyDelete"To establish the identity of"
does that make it easier, 7:36?
OK, instead of the snarky comments, how about explaining which are the top 30, and whether the ranking is based on circulation, revenue, both or some other criteria.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the top 30 papers? They are the papers that will still be around next year with 7 day delievery. The year after that? I guess just the usatoday. Then there wont be any fights between UsaToday and the other newspapers on here anymore I guess.
ReplyDeleteI think you all are too hard on 7:36, he/she was just having fun.
Are there "newspaper" standards in place? In other words, is there any kind of regulation in place that separates newsletters or content aggragators from newspapers or credible news organizations?
ReplyDeleteI'm asking because I'm reading a lot about the company's plans to deliver content (Metromix, Moms, etc.) but "news" seems to be missing in all the discussion.
Do you have to deliver real news to sell ads or can anybody with a little bit of paper and ink and online sites do it?