Richmond's reaction

The good folks at my old paper had a staff meeting yesterday where this plan was unveiled. About 50 people sent it to me afterward. I'm not sure what to think so I wanted to present it for discussion. I like parts of it and it doesn't seem a bad plan on first glance. Maybe I feel that way because I know they're going to do what they can do avoid cutting people but I still get a nagging feeling (and knot in my stomach) that it is coming.



Everyone,

I know that those of you who tried to phone in to today's staff meeting
were cut off just before major changes we're announced and that others
were not able to make the meeting at all. So here is a synopsis of what
was discussed.

Because of the economic conditions facing the T-D and Media General, we've
been asked to cut costs. We've cut our expenses about as much as possible,
but we need to find more ways to save money.

We have come up with a plan to do that by cutting about 16 pages a week
out of the paper. If that sounds like a lot, it is. But we've also been
working diligently to come up with a plan that will preserve the
journalistic integrity of the paper and add content in areas that we know
readers want.

Here are the key points:

>> We will not make any cuts in the Sunday paper because we feel that is
the foundation of the franchise.

>> We will have a "destination" each day of the week. It will be Metro
Business on Mondays, a Discover wrap on Tuesdays, an expanded Food section
on Wednesdays, an expanded Home & Garden section on Thursdays, Weekend on
Fridays and Channels plus a section/wrap to be named on Saturdays.

>> On Mondays, we will combine the A, B and Flair sections into one News
section. The focus of the Monday news section will be to prepare readers
for the week ahead.

>> We will drop three other sections out of the paper: Monday and Friday
Flair sections, and the Explore section.

>> We will move the comics, the TV grid and the Back Page content into a
"Fun & Games" spadea that will wrap the Sports section every day. A spadea
is basically a 3-page wrap -- a half page on the front of the Sports
section attached to a full page on the back of the section. It will easily
pull off.

>> We will add a second spadea on Tuesdays called Discover that will
combine content from the current Explore section with the Mini-Page. This
section will target kids involved in our Newspapers in Education (NIE)
program. Some of the content that will be included will the Sci-Kids
column, and the Try This and Science Matters graphic.

>> The Food and Home & Garden sections will be six pages.

>> Weekend moves to Friday. We're still trying to decide whether it will
be a broadsheet or tab.

>> We will move the weather map from the back of the B section to A2 and
cut it from a half-page to a 5 columns by 5 inches.

>> A2 will also feature a large online promo.

We are in the process of doing mockups and will do a press test of the new
sections next week. We have also assigned team leaders or champions to
each of the new sections to involve as many people as reasonable and get
as many good ideas as we can. If you're interested in helping or have
ideas about the changes, they are the people to contact.

 

No. Steve is running the section but still listed as a deputy. It is my hope they change that soon and promote him for real but I sure as hell have no say anymore.

 

That's the fear among the masses.
But I will say this sincerely, as I have no more bacon to save there: I truly believe they will look at staff cuts as a very last resort rather than a first or second option as many places seem to be doing. They don't do everything right at Richmond. Who does? They are sincere when they say they will look at every possible option before cutting people.
The market better change quick.