More from San Jose - UPDATED

" . . . rather than dwell on the past . . . "

Die.

 

i've learned that i don't want to listen to/read any fuck who begins a sentence with the words "my vision."

 

That letter badly needs a SportsJournalists.com "translation."

 

"You're fucked."

There you go.

 

Translation: Internet, internet, internet, fewer jobs, more with less, internet, tough times, internet, more with less, internet.

 

Ran it through Babelfish ....

 

Good, but I think it might need Dooleyfish

 

More fun from Dave Butler, found at Romenesko.

Things that jump out: "Quick Read" papers Monday and Tuesday, sidebars and graphics may become online-only, new computer system.

From: [Mercury News editor] Butler, Dave
Date: Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Subject: Budget update - 6-6-08

Folks:

I've had lots of people ask about our budget for the next fiscal year in light of the drastic cuts that Sam Zell is proposing for the Tribune Company newspapers, both in terms of people and newshole. Here's where we are:

1). We're still crunching numbers like crazy for the budget year that starts July 1. The tough component – and it's not mine to do – is to predict where advertising is going to be a year from now. Who knows? We should have this wrapped up in late June. Could it change later? Of course. But from what I've seen – and I've been in plenty of meetings – every effort is being made to produce an attainable budget while launching all sorts of efforts to find new business as Mac Tully has reported to you on other occasions.

2). We are doing all that we can to limit any newsroom staff reductions to attrition. So far, so good, though I can make no promises.

3). We will likely have some newshole cuts in light of a 15%-plus increase in the price of newsprint for the next year. One thing we're exploring – as are a number of other MNG newspapers – is to produce "Quick Read" Monday and Tuesday newspapers. As you all know, we've been moving down this path for some months and would likely continue to do so, particularly tightening up Monday.

4). We'll likely have some other nip-and-tuck newshole cuts. Kevin Wendt is reviewing some ideas to see if they are practical and the editors will be discussing them over the next few days.

5). It is CRITICAL that we all work together to reduce the length of stories so we can get in as much information as possible for our readers. It has never been more important than it is today for all reporters and editors to demonstrate their outstanding writing and reporting skills by cramming the same information – or what's essential for the story -- in less space. This is hard. It does not work on every story, but please, please, work harder at making stories – particularly the more "routine" ones -- shorter. We want to continue having in-depth work and we will – but we have to be much more disciplined in what merits 25 inches and what merits 5. (We also need to continue to refine our story planning. It is embarrassing to me – as I know it is to you – when we don't have a strong centerpiece "in the bag" for Page 1 and others clamoring to get on the front. We all need to contribute more in this area.)

6). We need to think about how we can bust up stories and packages and put sidebars or graphics online only as an added bonus for readers. Many newspapers do this better than we do. I'd like Randy Keith to take the lede is raising this issue day after day with people. The world is transitioning to online and this is one way that we can help speed up the process.

7). I suspect you'll be reading a lot as this Tribune saga unfolds about story production. All I can say about that is I expect everyone to carry his or her appropriate load – and that certainly differs by job, by assignment, by how much online work you're doing. We all know that. We also know some people are doing less than they could while others are working their butts off. Those who could do more are likely to hear about that from me and the other editors.

8 ). The rest of the budget – non-payroll – is tight. But, we still will do some training, we still will travel, we still will cover the news as it needs to be covered. As I have asked in the past, please don't spend a penny if you don't have to. We have good uses for all of them!

9). We're about to embark on one of the most important episodes in years – the installation of a new computer system. Those of you who have gone through this know it is a pain at the outset but then winds up to be wonderful once you learn how to use the new system. This newsroom is long overdue to get the latest technology and that is what you are getting. I urge you to jump into this process, to hold down the complaining and focus your energy on learning the new system. It's tough when you're putting out the paper on the old system and learning the new system and that's what we face this summer. But we have an outstanding staff. Lots of smart people. Let's make this easy rather than hard.

10). And finally, it will soon be 6 months since I joined your team. Once we nail down this budget I want to have a staff meeting where we talk about this past year and some goals for the next year. We should be able to do that in a few weeks. In the meantime, I thank you for your efforts, for the welcome you have given me, and for all of the hard work. You all lost several valued colleagues this past year. My hope is that we won't lose many this next year. We all know – as I have been saying in my one-on-one sessions – that we can't control the economy, but we can control the quality and quantity of journalism we do and we simply must focus on producing the most compelling, interesting, lively and relevant newspaper and web site possible.