Gheorghe Explains: News in Decline

Recently in this space, veteran ink-stained wretch Dave Fairbank offered an insider's view of the sad fate of the American newspaper. He closed that post about Alden Global Capital's increasingly (and negatively) impactful place in our nation's news industry by saying, "I have no idea how Alden’s tenure will affect my friends and former co-workers in Newport News and Norfolk. I would like to think that they’re far enough down the food chain to grant them some reprieve from the butcher’s knife. Both shops have been through several rounds of cuts and layoffs through the years, so little fat remains. But given the bloodless chase for profits and satisfied investors, nothing would surprise me."

As we learn today, he was right not to be surprised.

Local newspapers are shrinking and disappearing at a troubling rate, which I wrote about here recently, after hedge fund and newspaper strip-miner Alden Global Capital bought into Tribune Corporation and by extension my old shop, the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press, and companion rag, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

I bring it up again because, in advance of Alden coming on board this summer, Tribune offered buyouts to journalists with eight or more years’ experience. Within the next couple of weeks, my old newsroom and that of the Pilot are going to be gutted beyond even what I imagined. Friends and colleagues are going to be out of work. Local journalism will suffer. People will be less informed.
There have been several rounds of buyouts and staff purges over the past 20 years, and many of us chose to weather them and take our chances. This time, however, editors and administrators who weren’t simply spouting the corporate line advised reporters to take the buyout. Reporters and photogs were told that if they chose to stick it out, instead of receiving months of severance pay and benefits depending on length of tenure, that it is quite possible they could get pink-slipped and receive only two weeks’ pay and a box to haul out their stuff.

Any excuse to post this pic of Fairbank and Teel will do

From what I’ve been told, the sports departments will lose at least four veteran reporters – three from the Daily Press, one from the Pilot – who have a combined 120 years’ experience, beaucoup awards and irreplaceable institutional knowledge. One of them, my compadre and former roomie David Teel, was recently honored as state sportswriter of the year for the 13th consecutive year. He’s covered the ACC for 35 years. He’s a member of the state Sports Hall of Fame. Administrators, coaches and athletes return his calls because they trust him and know he’s good at his job. You might think that he’s the sort of figure that management would want to keep around, to convey at least the appearance of professionalism amid massive change. In fact, he asked if he could remain until the end of basketball season. Clean break, and all that. He was told, hard no, and here’s the buyout paperwork and here’s how and where to file it.

I have no sources about the reasons and timing of this round of buyouts and staff reduction, so I’ll be the kind of journalist I generally abhor and hazard a guess: the buyouts were conditional for Alden’s buy-in. Cutting staff now means that Alden cannot be blamed, technically, for doing so later. Alden also didn’t want buyout salaries, bennies, and “dead” money on its books when it comes on board.

(Side note: I’m happy to be told I’m wrong and welcome other possible explanations from those who visit this speakeasy and are more astute than me on corporate financial matters – which encompasses pretty much all of you.)

It was a bit of a whirlwind. Announce buyout plan Jan. 13. Paperwork sent out to eligible employees Jan. 21. File by Feb. 3. Gone Feb. 7.

The verbiage from the company is as confounding as it is discouraging. The Prez and CEO of Tribune Publishing sent out a memo saying that business is improving, but expenses remain high. That company-wide layoffs are a last resort, but here’s a buyout package for tenured staff. That they’re committed to digital products and subscriptions, but there’s still a lot of money tied up in the print product and they must reduce expenses in anticipation of continued decline.

The new editor-in-chief of the Pilot and Daily Press sent out a memo announcing the departure of several staff members. It contained the following:

“In the coming weeks, we will assess workflow and realign the newsroom as needed to continue      creating exceptional journalism. Change can be challenging but it’s necessary for our future success.”

Yes, because nothing conveys creating exceptional journalism like encouraging exceptional journalists to walk.

There are days when I miss the job. Conversations, storytelling, big games, explaining things to people, the adrenal rush of deadlines, the satisfaction of doing a job well. I no longer miss the business of newspapers and what it has become, the lives disrupted and ultimately readers and populace cheated. Saddens me greatly.