The Chicago Tribune is planning a reorganization that will result in job cuts throughout the paper, as the economy continues to batter the newspaper industry. But experts said the challenges the newspaper faces may also be caused by internal factors.
Advertising revenues declined by more than 20 percent so far this year, and the newspaper doesn’t see revenues improving in the coming months, said Chicago Tribune Media Group spokeswoman Kate Mersman.
While there isn’t a time frame for when the restructuring will occur, Mersman said the changes will help the newspaper reach strategic goals, which she declined to outline further. Mersman also declined to state the amount and extent of the job cuts.
“It’s hard to argue with the financial end of it,” said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst for the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit industry educational resource. Advertising is the biggest problem for newspapers due to the onset of Internet classifieds, he said.
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While many newspapers are struggling, the situation in Chicago is a “double whammy” because of the recession coupled with Sam Zell’s purchase of the Tribune Company in 2007, said Jacqui Banaszynski, Knight Chair Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Recently purchased papers, such as theTribune, are suffering because their value has significantly declined since their purchase dates.
“It’s the difference between owning your home and having bought you home in 2005 at the peak,” she said.
As a result, the initial debt Zell accumulated escalated with the recession, according to Mike Hoyt, executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, a bi-monthly publication of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
“They took on such a mountain of debt and it was going to be tough to pay back anyway,” he said. “And that was before there was this vicious recession.”
Another problem facing the Tribune is the negative response to its switch to a tabloid format in January from a broadsheet for newsstand sales, which Edmonds said is one of the more unpopular redesigns he has seen.
“Many newspapers are getting dangerously close to disappointing the readers,” he said. “Some of the changes in format can be kind of jolting to people who liked the paper as it was.”
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While the Audit Bureau of Circulations hasn’t released its six-month circulation numbers for the period ending March 31, Edmonds said it’s possible the redesign is affecting the Tribune’s circulation.
Also, as newspapers try to adapt to the Web and reach a younger audience, they risk losing loyal readers who can turn to the Internet instead, Banaszynski said.
“The only way they can figure out it seems it to try to make their projects more like the Web,” she said. “It doesn’t work in print and they run the risk of alienating long-time loyal newspaper readers.”
By Suzy Evans
April 14, 2009
source: news.medill.northwestern.edu