NORFOLK
Plagued by advertising declines, The Virginian-Pilot is cutting at least 125 positions - or 10 percent of a 1,260-person work force - mostly through layoffs and shutting affiliated publications, publisher Maurice Jones said Friday.
Cost-cutting measures, triggered by the sputtering economy, will include:
- Shutting Link, a free daily newspaper geared to 18- to 34-year-olds.
- Reducing the size of the newspaper by at least 40 pages a week, or 8 percent.
- Eliminating the business section, including stock listings, every day but Sunday.
The Pilot newsroom will lose 15 employees, with a combined 297 years of service, editor Denis Finley said. Some, he said, wanted to leave the newspaper. In addition, two open positions will be dropped. That will put the newsroom staff at 193 - 22 percent smaller than its size of 248 in January 2007.
Most of the 15 are editors and managers, Finley said. "One of the goals," he said, "was to keep as many reporters on the street as possible."
Throughout the company, Jones said, those laid off include "members of my senior team, department heads and front-line workers."
"We're making these changes to keep this a healthy contributor to the marketplace in tough times," Jones said.
The Pilot will close Link at the end of the year "much to my sadness," but might maintain its Web site, he said.
The publication, begun in October 2006, had received positive reviews and met financial projections, which predicted it would turn profitable by 2010, he said. But "we, as a company, cannot afford to withstand those losses in the next couple of years in this climate."
The Pilot, Jones said, has not decided whether to continue Port Folio Weekly, an alternative weekly newspaper, or Mix, a multicultural monthly launched last year.
Most of the layoffs will occur by the end of the year, Jones said. About 45 so far are outside Hampton Roads. The Pilot will sell or close three military base newspapers - in Alabama, Georgia and Texas, Jones said.
The size of the newspaper will be reduced, and the weekday and Saturday business sections eliminated, in January, Finley said. Local business stories will appear in the front and Hampton Roads sections, he said, and the front section will include a "market page" Tuesday through Saturday. Stock listings will appear on The Pilot's Web site, Jones said.
"The paper will be a little smaller," Finley said. "I think readers will notice. We will keep the quality of the journalism as high as possible. There will just be less of it in the daily Pilot."
The Pilot, Jones said, will remain "the most thorough source of news, information and advertising in the marketplace." The newspaper's owner, Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, continues to negotiate a sale of the newspaper. A buyer is trying to get financing, Jones said. The potential sale, he said, did not influence the cost-saving measures. The Pilot also is expanding ways to generate revenue, Jones said. In October, it began printing front-page advertisements.
He said he expects the newspaper to raise prices again next year. In September, it increased the price of Sunday editions in boxes from $1.25 to $1.50.
Already struggling with Internet competition, newspapers nationwide have suffered further declines in advertising and circulation with the shriveling economy this year. Many have been cutting costs and laying off workers.
On Thursday, The Associated Press said it will cut 10 percent of its work force, or about 400 jobs, mostly by attrition. Earlier, E.W. Scripps Co. said it would lay off about 400 employees.
A recent report showed that The Pilot's average circulation for the six months that ended on Sept. 30 declined slightly less than the national average.
The weekday average fell to 174,573, down 3.4 percent from the previous year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported. The Sunday average fell 4.3 percent, to 200,457. The declines nationally were 4.6 percent on weekdays and 4.8 percent on Sundays.
Recent readership trends provide hope, Jones said. Since September, the number of weekday and Sunday subscribers in South Hampton Roads has increased, circulation director Mark Quan said. Jones said The Pilot is profitable - though he declined to provide figures - partly because of its diverse holdings, which include Web sites, a direct marketing company and niche publications. The newspaper, he said, is not in danger of closing.
"We continue to try to do things to supply people information," Jones said. "We're not going to stop that. We also have to make sure we run this business as tight as we can in the next year to 18 months."
Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com
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"To me it seems like a large
"To me it seems like a large portion of the articles seem to be written by the advertisers."
Who would you say was a very large source of advertising dollars this past election season?
My advice ...
Dump the A section and all syndicated stories (like the week-old technology news that is reprinted every Monday). We get those from other sources anyway. Put all your resources into the local section -- more pages, more stories, more opinion (especially from readers).
Local is where it's at! There's a reason the small-town papers and weeklies are doing better while the metros are losing readers.
Enough With The Politics
It's so easy to spot the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity lemmings on here. It's free market capitalism that forces business to contract and expand based on market forces... period, at least the Pilot management understands they have to innovate to stay relevant (The Link, HamptonRoads.tv, Mix, etc). The real force at work here is declining ad revenue, and the fact that print, TV, radio, even web are all suffering from a weak economy. Best wishes to those affected employees who must grapple with future unemployment.
Advertisers and what not
To me it seems like a large portion of the articles seem to be written by the advertisers. The Pilot never questioned the housing mania, they fanned the fire for their advertisers. To me that was a let down. As a younger person, I like media that has a feedback loop. I love the comment box (obviously). If I see something I don't like I like to throw down my personal point of view. In terms of competition, to whomever said they would like to see competition, you are free to start your own paper. The problem is you need to have the inside to get the news, and be able to figure out if the source of said news is playing you or not.
So, the end result of all these changes,
the readership will be left with the funnies and the editorials, only problem is, most readers today won't notice the difference between the two.
Let's keep port folio and combine that team from LINK with those at Portfolio, drop MIX 'it's empty' compared with the Richmond pub 'In Style'. For fun reading i suggest all, to look at 'SKIRT' a new monthly, and start using 757.com. web site, add your events and see the updated daily event calendar -
I still miss the evening news pub Ledger Star that was dropped by Pilot business types years ago. But, that's progress.
Creative destruction
That's the cycle of creative destruction. Either organizations adjust to a changing market or the market destroys them and creates a replacement. Obviously management at the Pilot knows electronic delivery is the future as they've been developing their Internet presence for over a decade.
The problem is they seem to want to do a "newspaper on the web" rather than "a news website." The difference being the old days of controlling all content is gone and interactive is the key. The only impression I get from this web site is they're doing the interactive piece because that's what other sites do but would rather not have us pesky users involved. Let's see how many hours this posts sites in "waiting for staff approval"...
"Since September, the number
"Since September, the number of weekday and Sunday subscribers in South Hampton Roads has increased"
Isn't that misleading? That is the number of subscribers before an election. A very big election. That would be like me offering my retail numbers only using the month of December.
Rupert Murdoch has some thoughts on the state of newspapers
The much maligned by the left Rupert Murdoch has some good points in a lecture he gave recently about the state of newspapers.
He said, "The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly--and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-10098194-60.html
Whats Happening to the Pilot is a Sign of the Times
Print media is dying a long, slow death. My 74-year old parents read the morning paper out of habit. All of my news is online. Print newspapers are a thing of the past; they are a giant waste of paper, as well as ecologically and enviromentally unsound. Yes, the Pilot is a liberal paper with left leaning bias; everyone is aware of that, and I'm sure that it's slanted media coverage hasnt helped it. But the death blow is simply a change in the way Americans receive their news.
I wish there was competition in this market.
I wish there was competition in this market.
real problem
The biggest concern to me is that a frightening percentage of the population is not reading any news from any source. Look at the polling data, Americans are terribly ill-informed. A survey from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a 33-question quiz on American history and basic economics, supports this. Over 2500 randomly selected people were questioned and the average score was 49%. The average among elected officials was 44%. Twice as many people knew that Paula Abdul is a judge on American Idol than knew about the Gettysburg Address. Awesome.
improved delivery
I still say more people would get their paper delivered if we improved the delivery system and created some system to pick up the old papers. Better delivery creates more demand for delivery, more demand creates more desire to place ads, more ads creates enough money for better paper, better paper creates more demand for paper. Have we forgotten how to make money the old fashion way? Service, quality and giving the people what they want. It's not like there is any competition out there for getting people their local news. The only other place is local TV stations and they cover less and not as in-depth.
the biggest danger to our country
will be the loss of newspapers without a reasonable substitute. Whether the paper, local or national, agreed with some people or not, is not the point.
They are a source of skilled reporters working with the mantle of trust, respectability and resources to do the long term investigative reporting that is a check on government. The blogs and other internet news sources are just rehashing what the newspapers are actually publishing. The don't have the fiscal muscle to do much more. The great reportage of the Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, the LA Times, The Washington Post are very expensive to maintain. Now, if the online presence of such media giants can turn a profit, which is the elephant in the room, then the loss of the physical paper delivered to your door may just be an indication of the new computer era. But I fear that people will not pay for the internet when there is so much other "news" available for free. And as such, they will confuse stories from WSJ online with some upscale blogger's trash. That is when the free press role of policing government will be in serious jeopardy.
management still has to produce what people want to buy
Readership of print media is indeed down across the board, largely because of the internet. CNN and other cable news outlets also hurt. Once upon a time people depended on newspapers for news but for those who take an active interest in the news the paper is a day late and a dollar short. As a result, newspapers have to offer something different. In theory, this should be easier for a local paper because it can report on local events one can't find elsewhere, such as hard news, local interest stories, etc. It IS management's job to figure out what the potential readership wants. It is also management's job to hire reporters who can write well. The Pilot has always fallen short in this respect. I never realized how bad the writing was in the Pilot until I went to college and was able to read real journalism in the Washington Post, NY Times and other papers available on campus. A newspaper filled with poorly written articles on subjects about which nobody wants to read is not a recipe for success.
Why free?
I seem to remember when the online paper came out it was by subscription only. I was disappointed but figured it was fair to have to pay to get the same news delivered online instead of the middle of my driveway or lawn. Then at some point it became free to read the news online that I'd have to pay to get delivered. Why? I can't imagine life without paper newspapers. (I get both) Are we getting so online will be the only paper? I can't tell you how often I've read a story that's been changed or edited after the first read online. You can't do that in print.(The stolen Chick Fil A cow story being my favorite before political correct change)
I find it sad
This article is talking about people losing their jobs and the comments have resorted to the childish name-calling (NObama) that plagued the comments section all through the election.
There definitely needs to be more in-depth coverage of local issues and more "citizenry" in the paper. I pour through the local section everyday because that is what the local newspaper is for. If I want coverage of national issues, I turn to one of the larger news sources.
Something else that would greatly help the Pilot and its online-only subscriptions would be to revamp that hideous e-Pilot. It's clunky, difficult to navigate and very inconsistent. The national retailers have an effective system for viewing their ads online... something similar would work for the paper. You "browse" through the paper, then click on a story you like which would open in an HTML-rich window complete with the photos, charts, etc, you would have seen in the print edition.
Blame the Operation Haliburton Crew
If we are talking the freefall of every economic sector and job loss...well, then, the Republicans simply got it wrong. Their economic plan was war and look where we are now. Economic stimulus should have occurred over 4 to 5 years ago with an ENERGY PLAN to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. The big 3 autos should have reorganized and figured out that a HUMMER or ESCALADE isn't what is going to help Americans out in the long run. Paying someone over $75.00/hour in a competitive auto environment doesn't help the worker in Detroit IF he loses his job (and his boss just took a jet to Washington). Now, we watch the freefall of every single economic sector based on the outgoing administration (Huffington Post shows great clip of noone shaking Bush's hand during current economic summit). Great!!
We have met the enemy....
It is too easy to blame the offensive editorial slant of the Pilot for its decline, but print journalism in general is in on the ropes. So long as the Pilot keeps its editorial slant on the editorial page, and does not let it into the newsroom or its advertising policy, that would not be reason for it to be worse off than any other paper.
The problem is that, as a people, we are becoming more shallow, and less demanding of the depth of detail involved in news. People used to take their responsibility to be informed of public affairs far more seriously. My father subscribed to two newspapers, a local Democrat morning paper and the more conservative New Orleans afternoon paper. Today, few of us read a paper at all, and lose interest in any issue that can't be rendered to a sound bite or bumper sticker.
I don't have a solution to offer. Perhaps it will take some unfortunate turn of events for us to take citizenship seriously again.
Paper's been diminishing for years (in many respects)
It's a sign of the times, even before the economic crisis.
Internet news trumps print news. The Pilot isn't anything special. We only still subscribe to the print edition (daily!) because my spouse insists on it.
The PC-centric emphasis of the paper bothers me, although thank goodness we don't have to read about it constantly from the public editor now, like we did with the previous one!
So Lame ...
Lord, you right-wing snivelers are so lame and so misinformed. No wonder you got clobbered at the polls.
Look, The Washington Times and The Chicago Tribune are two of the most conservative big-city daily newspapers in America. Both are losing circulation at a much faster rate than The Pilot. The Washington Times, even with national distribution, now has LESS circulation than The Virginian-Pilot. You could look it up.
That oughta prove, even to you guys, that it's not a liberal-conservative issue or an Obama-Bush issue. It's a question of rapidly changing social preferences.
So stop with your whining and sniveling, at least try to understand the issues you're commenting on.