If failing print publications go online-only, what can struggling websites do, short of closing? Turn into microblogs, naturally. It seems to be working for AdWeak, the advertising world's own Onion.
New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis wouldn't disclose today where the $14-16 million in staff cuts will take place during the next three months. She did say: "Nearly every quarter we do have buyout expenses, this is not unusual—certainly not the largest that we've had. For every quarter, I have in front of me a chart that goes back to the first quarter of '06 and we've had buyouts in place in every quarter over the last seven quarters. We have an ongoing program of focusing on costs and efficiency. What we've said is we'll continue to focus on reducing costs, improving the efficiency of our business, taking into account our long-term goals, the quality of our journalism, and making sure our operation functions smoothly." Update: Ms. Mathis now says that "most of the reductions are associated with the consolidation of the two printing plants in College Point and Edison, NJ." But we don't understand why that would be the bulk of reductions in Q4; for one thing, the sale of the Edison plant closed way back during Q2.
Um, whoa! Buried in the bottom of the 3rd quarter statement from the New York Times is this: "The following expectations are for the fourth quarter of 2007.... Staff reduction costs - $14 to $16 million. This range can vary significantly based on seniority and the timing of implementation." Hey what now? In the first quarter, when they shuttered the Boston Globe foreign bureaus, giving buyouts to 125 workers or so, they reported "Staff reduction costs of $7.8 million." In the second quarter, when workers were eliminated at the Edison, NJ, printing plant, they reported "staff reduction costs were $5.0 million." So presumably a good chunk of people are about to get canned. But who? Update: The Times claims that "most" of these costs are associated with the sale of the printing plants—one of which, as we already noted above, closed half a year ago. Hmm!
