More cutbacks to come at Tampa Bay Times - UPDATE / CONFIRMATION

According to the latest circulation report from Association for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau of Circulations), released in September 2013, here are Florida's five largest newspapers (trends since March 2013 report in parentheses):


Newspaper Weekday Sunday

Tampa Bay Times 299,985 (-4%) 355,853 (-6%)
Tampa Tribune 181,589 (+5%) 255,704 (-6%)
Orlando Sentinel 172,675 (-8%) 259,791 (-4%)
Sun-Sentinel 151,413 (+8%) 206,175 (-3%)
Miami Herald* 129,907 (-4%) 191,323 (+1%)

*-does not include El Nuevo Herald

Under the new AAM rules, the Tribune counts 77,000 branded community newspapers as part of its weekday circulation, and 50,000 branded newspapers as part of its Sunday circulation. The Times includes 82,000 copies of its free daily commuter newspaper as part of its weekday circulation.

 

Not a major development, but one nonetheless: The Times has asked the IRS for permission to underfund their pension plan for the second time in two years.

http://tbo.com/news/business/times-seeks-irs-blessing-to-defer-pension-payment-20140314/

The letter was posted on Romenesko last week, but this story does offer some context. The tl;dr version — the Times is having huge cash problems, just like many other papers in the country.

Separately, I'm hearing rumblings that the powers-that-be are looking at the Sports desk as being "overstaffed."

 

It's not. They could lose 1, but that's purely a guess. They've been told they're going to start picking up 1-2 non-sports stories to start their day. I guess somebody misinterpreted that as a universal desk.
Deadline to accept buyouts is Monday.

 

Names have been announced throughout the past week or so -- people taking buyouts and people being "bought out," if you get my drift. As you can expect, there are lots of older and long-time (read: higher-paid) employees.

Have not heard about anyone from Sports. Have heard primarily about copy editors. Surprisingly, there have been a few folks from the online division and the team that publishes the free daily commuter tabloid. Sorry, but I won't reveal any names until/unless they say something publicly.

 

It appears the Sports desk is gaining a person, who is returning after a stint elsewhere in the newsroom. This will help as they begin to take on some early-shift biz copy, features copy, etc., etc.

 

What happened to go out and gain some experience and then we'll take a look at what you can do?

 

This sounds like great fun. Ugh.

What's this mean?

 

The same thing it meant when he posted it on the Newark Star-Ledger thread.

Whatever that meant.

 

Oh, NOW I get it. Or not.

 

So the 1 departure I anticipated from the sports copy desk -- person took a buyout -- is offset by a familiar face returning.
Never thought sports would be a real target. Any other movement in that department would be a surprise now.

 

In my youth, that used to be the slogan in this business at larger papers. Go out, gain some experience, and then we'll take a look at you. Now the trend has changed to we don't want experienced help.