Inquirer Staffers React to Tierney’s “10 Percent” Threat
Brian P. Tierney didn’t really drop a bomb today — he just warned union honchos representing Inquirer and Daily News staffers that such a weapon exists.
Citing bleak economic forecasts and difficulty making debt payments incurred when Philadelphia Media Holdings acquired the news properties in May 2006, Tierney predicted a “dire situation” by summer or fall if the company cannot find ways to cut costs by 10 percent. “It’s worrying,” said one news staffer. “It seems we’ve been through an endless series of cuts, buyouts and layoffs. I don’t know how far they can continue cutting, but it’s not promising.”
The meeting, held at 10 a.m. this morning, went on for an hour. Newspaper Guild president Henry Holcomb couldn’t attend, but said his representatives told him Tierney engaged them in a “frank discussion of the current economy and its impact on the newspapers. He asked us all to help the company get through it, and we are going to do our best to do that.” Holcomb also says he is “not sure what 10 percent means” in this context. Several other sources questioned if that figure is merely a bargaining tool.
But whatever number Tierney might be looking to cut, management is apparently already doing its fair share of saber-rattling. According to a Guild memo issued this afternoon, company executives “did not say what would happen if savings targets are not met, but made references to outsourcing jobs overseas.” The Guild memo also quotes Tierney saying he is “determined not to lose investors’ money.” (The local investors, Philadelphia Media Holdings — which includes Tierney himself — laid out $515 million for the papers and website philly.com, taking out $350 million in loans to make it happen.)
With today’s news, some staff expressed shock. “I don’t even know how to feel,” says Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney. “I don’t know if it’s real. I don’t know if it’s a bluff. I don’t know if it’s a case of losing money or not making enough money. I’d have thought we’d given away everything we can by now.”
Just last February, Tierney laid off 66 employees from the Inquirer newsroom —16.7 percent of the staff. Some reporters have been around long enough to feel awful about the latest announcement and make jokes about it at the same time: “Well, who needs a Neighbors section when we could have the New Delhi Digest every day?” says longtime Inquirer features writer Gail Shister, who lost her popular TV column during some of the staff retooling necessitated by earlier cuts. “Nobody I talked to saw this coming, but it’s not surprising. You have to have your head in the sand not to understand what’s going on with newspapers all over the country.”
There had been some small, promising signs of late for the Inquirer and Daily News, including slight circulation gains and great leaps forward in online pageviews. But given today’s events, the outlook now looks particularly grim.
According to one news staffer, when Eagles head coach Andy Reid was suddenly scheduled to appear at an impromptu news conference, an editor went running through the newsroom looking for somebody, anybody, to cover it. “There are situations like that every day,” says the staffer, “where people with no experience on a beat are parachuted in to cover something with no sources, no background in the material — and of course what they turn out is going to be crappy by definition. But we just don’t have the bodies anymore.” — Steve Volk
January 24th, 2008 at 8:45 am
David Carr was right when he wrote that, at this point, the newsroom’s just overhead:
“Serious reporting used to be baked into the business, but under pressure from the public markets or their private equity owners, newsrooms have been cutting foreign bureaus, Washington reporters and investigative capacity. Under this model, the newsroom is no longer the core purpose of media, it’s just overhead.”
Here’s Carr’s article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/business/media/10carr.html
February 5th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Liberal Bias = Layoffs
February 8th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I say as i said on the last blog,the companys money is being mis managed on upgrades half of which in my proffesional opinion did not need to be done but greatly appreciated,hes got to keep a closer eye on monies being spent in the plant,unless hes that blind or just does not know,or just dont care,I am and always was a money concienous employee,and you look around and see whats being spent in there i gotta tell you as a professional opinion hes gotta double check triple check these monies being spent on what i say is some ridiculous spending,but greatly appreciated,if it works dont fix it.a excellent rule of thumb in this business.
February 9th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
AS Stated on the news 2weeks ago,newspaper revenue is still 3-1 to the internet,they said we had a whole lot to worry about when high speed xerox copiers came out that the business was gonna take a hit in all printing firms well just go outside and the look in your mailbox,THATS THE POWER OF PRINT.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Tierney and his pals should have to turn over his financials before he cries no money. Having already started and sold several companies, it’s hard to imagine Tierney didn’t know what to expect with the Inky. My guess is he and his pals are pocketing the profits and trying to slim down the staff to bare minimum so he can sell in a few years. As I recall, Tierney only agreed to be CEO or a partner for what 5-6 years? He’s a flip the biz kind of guy.