The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
The Virginian-Pilot will lay off 40 people, dropping its work force below 1,000 employees, the newspaper's publisher said Thursday. It will be the third wave of job cuts at The Pilot in the past six months.
Nevertheless, The Pilot's financial outlook is brightening, said Maurice Jones, the president and publisher.
Combined, the newspaper and its associated companies turned a profit in the first quarter of the year, said Jones, who declined to disclose figures. March was The Pilot's most robust month in at least a year, he said, with every unit recording a profit.
But the profits, Jones said, still fall short of the company's targets, required to pay taxes and other bills and equipment costs, including the modernization of its printing press. That, he said, triggered the latest cutbacks.
"We've made a lot of tough choices in the last year or so," Jones said. "We are starting to see that they're actually working.... But we still know that there's more work to be done because the recession shows no signs of relenting."
The Pilot previously laid off 180 people since the fall. The latest reductions - most of which will take effect this month - will cut its staff size to 988 from 1,028, Jones said. That does not include about 800 independent contractors who deliver the paper.
Of the 40 job reductions, 12 will occur in the newsroom, editor Denis Finley said. That will reduce its size to 176, nearly 30 percent smaller than its complement of 248 in January 2007, Finley said.
Jones said he does not expect further layoffs in 2009.
Last week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch announced that it would lay off 59 employees and eliminate 31 open positions.
Newspapers have been battling two monsters - the recession and mounting competition from the Internet. At The Pilot, newspaper advertising sales are still slumping, Jones said, but online ad sales are expanding across the board.
The online growth, he said, illustrates the Pilot's continued campaign to expand revenue and reduce expenses to maximize profits.
Among newly announced cuts, the newspaper will eliminate pay raises for the second straight year. It also will reduce its size by 12 pages a week, in part by merging the Daily Break and Flavor sections on Wednesdays and reducing the frequency of its North Carolina sections to one day a week from three.
Earlier this year, it cut about 40 pages a week, partly by eliminating its business section except on Sunday.
New revenue-gainers include Pulse, the recent expansion of the Thursday Daily Break to provide more entertainment coverage, and the June launch of a Web site for "busy moms."
The Pilot also has expanded its direct marketing services, Jones said, and struck deals to deliver national newspapers in Hampton Roads. The Pilot on Monday began delivering USA Today within the region. Last year, it started delivering The Wall Street Journal and will add The New York Times next month and The Washington Post in June.
"We're making changes to stay healthy, and we're seeing results," Jones said. "We're not going out of business."
Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com
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Bad idea..
I think the idea of 'consolidated' papers is a bad one, BUT, the idustry very well may gravitate to that as a means for some papers to try to stay in business. I don't see how consolidating will improve content. It certainly won't allow for much diversity of views or opinion, of course, that's the knock with the industry NOW, so maybe that's a moot point at this point in time. I've said it before, I'll say it again, I TRULY believe the only reason most papers are in existence is because they are still much easier to tote into the 'can' than a typical laptop. That will change too.
Not a good comparison
Unlike other countries like Japan, UK, and Germany, America's newspaper industry
That's not really a good comparison. Those countries are far smaller and homogenized than the US. A comparison to the US would be more like all of Europe having a consolidated newspaper.
I was reading about the
I was reading about the issues and effects that the housing bubble (and credit bubble) would cause 4 to 5 years ago. At that time, the blogs I was reading had epic long lists of all the "positive" hype-spreading articles in local papers all across the country (including this one). The articles often cited an industry trade group called the National Association of Realtors, with quotes from one person specifically (David Lehrah). Just seeing all of this play out into what could be the greatest depression is pretty wild. And to think the local papers fanned the fire, all to get advertising money from Realtors. So Pilot, would it have been better to forgo the Realtor tainted advertising money and all those mortgage companies (that all had "No income verification" listed), and instead not have to lay off now? Why don't the laid off workers start their own paper, or at least website?
Future of American Newspapers
Unlike other countries like Japan, UK, and Germany, America's newspaper industry is localized (expect USA Today and WSJ). You end with many newspapers duplicating copy staff and national/international reporting staffs. I would like to see wholesale consolidation in the industry with a handful of national and regional (or state) papers emerging. Copy editing and reporting costs would be reduced, while improving access to exclusive national/international stories (more in-depth than the AP wire). What used to be your hometown paper would be reduced to a local news/weather/sports/misc supplement (something inbetween the Beacon and the Pilot). This local paper should easily be supported by local ads. The regional/national papers would have more bargaining power with the big advertisers like Kroger and Macy's. Everyone wins.
Started with CNN
Printed papers cannot beat the speed that news can come to the public via the Internet.
It think that started with CNN in 1991. It was the beginning of trying to get news out so fast that no one bothers to investigate the facts. News has degraded to mostly "he said she said" rather than facts. Just google a topic, and you'll find almost everything is someone commenting on it rather someone actually investigating it.
Time will tell.....
The Internet will no doubt get better as far as any perceived lack of content with news stories posted there. Think about it, as newspapers and other media go under, there are experienced reporters and investigators available to those who are in that industry. Competition will get better, because these 'Net outfits will want viewer loyalty just like the papers. Unlike the papers, like the Pilot, the 'Net WON'T allow for monopolies, which is what the Pilot has southside, and are STILL in financial trouble. Yahoo recently uncovered the scandal involving UConn's basketball team recruiting. That's a small step but you can count on them expanding on it, and others will follow.
That said, it's interesting that the Pilot will continue to shed workers and reduce content as the steps they take to stay in business. I guess it's apparent that increasing their paying subscriber rolls is not to be contemplated. They might achieve that if they offered other view points besides the uber leftist slant they provide now, on local issues and elections. But they evidently feel that they can get thru this while dumping on those they want nothing to do with. Time will tell...
The INTERNET; Good & Evil
Printed papers cannot beat the speed that news can come to the public via the Internet. Our technologically advancing society is moving ahead by leaps and bounds and inherently we are also becoming less patient with waiting for anything. The Internet also makes it easier to compare information from various sources as to make individual conclusions of perceptions of reality.
I don't agree
Most of what you see on the Internet as "news" is lowest common denominator Jerry Springer style junk. It has pulled audience away from organizations that actually employee reporters and create original material. It's a Walmartification type effect where quality product has a harder time competing simple because it cost too much compared to the low end junk flooding the market.
No, Evan
"The sad part is lower quality material actually does better in the Internet environment."
In fact, I'd say its just the opposite. If I trusted to Pilot to provide both sides of every issue, I wouldn't bother with reading several other sites online. The Internet news sources are flourishing BECAUSE people no longer trust their newspapers.
This is particularly true WRT AP stories on climate change. They are propaganda, not news. So, every time one comes out, with no balancing story in the Pilot from another source, I have to go searching for the truth on that issue. Just a little balance on the issue and I wouldn't bother.
That's not to say that the Internet is not a part of the problem, but the Pilot and other newspapers drive people to the Internet with lack of balance and make their problem worse.
No
Is it possible the news business is going down the drain because of the quality of their products,
No, the market data pretty much says it's the Internet. The sad part is lower quality material actually does better in the Internet environment. People don't want to read pesky details and just want flashing headlines and pictures.