Is Philly next in line for trouble?

???Anybody see this on the wire tonight?

Can't be good news for the Daily News and Inky folks:

Union: Philly papers might share newsroom jobs

By DEBORAH YAO

AP Business Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and

Daily News is exploring the possibility of sharing editorial

functions of the two papers’ newsrooms, a union official said

Thursday.

Henry Holcomb, president of The Newspaper Guild of Greater

Philadelphia, said management is looking for ways to save money and

improve efficiency. He said owner Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC

hoped to avoid more layoffs.

Holcomb said the company didn’t provide many details. But in the

past there has been talk of sharing some copy and photo editing

functions, he said.

A spokesman for the company didn’t immediately respond to

requests for comment.

The union supports the company’s goals of conserving cash and

raising productivity, as long as it doesn’t “damage the

independence or personalities of the papers,” Holcomb said.

“If there is a way to do it, we will be all for it,” Holcomb

said.

The Inquirer is a traditional broadsheet paper while the Daily

News is a tabloid that doesn’t shy away from more sensational

headlines and stories. The two papers’ newsrooms are on different

floors of the same building.

The union represents about 900 editorial, advertising and other

staff at the two dailies.

AP-ES-06-26-08 1828EDT

 

despite this news, I'm still counting today as a rare 24 hours without another layoff announcement.

 

Still two hours and 38 minutes to go.

 

As bad is this might sound, it would actually make sense for these guys. They already share a building and a web site, so what's the difference if they share some editors? Calling them "competitors" is a joke because their circ numbers aren't even close.

 

"Improve efficiency" = Maintain ridiculously high profit margin, thus ensuring bonus check for those in management.

 

Because they are radically different products. It's like expecting a gorilla to mate with a poodle.

I can't think of one instance when papers sharing resources haven't lost their identity to some degree. You can't expect people under deadline to produce radically different products simultaneously. When time runs short, they do what's expedient, and that leads to sameness. It's not going to save one of the papers, it's going to make one somewhat worse and the other a lot worse.

 

Damn you BYH! You jinxed it. Just read the Portland thread.

 

Philly's been in trouble ever since the current, incompetent ownership marched in and blithely expected to leverage out by stacking bodies like cordwood and riding the "survivors" into the ground.

 

There's a big one coming and it hasn't hit the board yet.

 

Is it coming today?

 

That would be my guess. They may wait until after the APSEs, but I've heard it's coming down today. It's a biggie.

 

Someone would factor in the APSE convention when timing a layoff announcement?????