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(Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette to cut staff as ad revenues dip (Dinosaur Media DeathWatchâ„¢)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | September 24, 2008 | Thomas Olson

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to buy out workers or lay them off in a broad cost-cutting move, barely two years after its Ohio parent threatened to sell the struggling newspaper if it didn't get concessions.

Management needs to "cut staff throughout the company," Executive Editor David Shribman said in a memo to employees. It blamed the newspaper's "revenue situation."

Shribman declined to comment. He referred questions to marketing director Tracey DeAngelo, who did not return phone calls.

Between 10 and 20 Teamsters will lose their jobs in circulation, transportation and the stock room by year's end, said Joseph Molinero, president of Local 211, which represents 295 workers at the paper. He suspected steeper layoffs would occur elsewhere.

The full depth and scope of potential staff cuts were not immediately known.

Post-Gazette management plans to brief leadership of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh on details of the buyout Monday, said one union official, who declined further comment. The guild is the only union of P-G workers whose contract requires a buyout offer before layoffs can occur.

"I don't like it, but I'm a realist," said Molinero. "I've been to 11 different cities this year, and all 11 newspapers there were citing financial problems."

Newspapers generally have seen accelerated decreases in revenue in the past two years as advertising moves to the Internet.

The industry's year-over-year ad revenue declined 1.5 percent in second-quarter 2006; 8.6 percent a year later; and 15.1 percent last spring, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

For example, the McClatchy Co., which owns more than 30 newspapers, has reduced its work force by 30 percent and cut its shareholder dividend in half. Early this year, its chairman said staffing would again be cut to 10,000 from 14,000 at newspapers such as the Miami Herald.

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