GR Press/Kalamazoo Gazette to cut 233

[Hank_Scorpio]

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/grand_rapids/Grand-Rapids-Press-Kalamazoo-Gazette-to-lay-off-233

Effective beginning of January.

Haven't heard of a breakdown, but linked story does say newsroom will be affected.

 

[I Should Coco]

****. Outside of completely shelving the print product, what more can they cut?

And if this is going on at Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, you know Michigan's other Booth papers are going to have layoffs, too.

"The beatings will continue until morale profit improves."

 

[WolvEagle]

Is this tied to the cuts announced earlier this month, or is this something new?

 

[NickMordo]

****. Outside of completely shelving the print product, what more can they cut?

And if this is going on at Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, you know Michigan's other Booth papers are going to have layoffs, too.

"The beatings will continue until morale profit improves."

The other Booth papers already did make cuts. My colleague at The Flint Journal got canned a couple weeks back, but he was supposed to finish out his contract into January or February. As he was trying to file a story on a Saturday morning, his editor called and said he was done immediately.

It's a whole new ballgame for MLive.

 

[PBOWKER]

This is tied to previous announcement of cutting down number of newspapers to three per week, delivered. I am told about eight people, TOTAL, will be left in Gazette newsroom. These are huge cuts, all the way from publisher to editor to city editor, and beyond. GR is regional center for editing, design, etc., but GR is losing a ton of people, too.

 

[NickMordo]

This is tied to previous announcement of cutting down number of newspapers to three per week, delivered. I am told about eight people, TOTAL, will be left in Gazette newsroom. These are huge cuts, all the way from publisher to editor to city editor, and beyond. GR is regional center for editing, design, etc., but GR is losing a ton of people, too.

I heard that this new "epicenter" will involve using companies from out of state for design purposes. Don't know if it's fact or fiction.

 

[American Civilian]

Come on, they're only laying off 550 of Booth's 1,200 employees.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/layoff_numbers_confirmed_for_b.html

 

[slappy4428]

This is tied to previous announcement of cutting down number of newspapers to three per week, delivered. I am told about eight people, TOTAL, will be left in Gazette newsroom. These are huge cuts, all the way from publisher to editor to city editor, and beyond. GR is regional center for editing, design, etc., but GR is losing a ton of people, too.

EIGHT? Jeebus ****...

 

[Clerk Typist]

Eight? Jeez, one person calls in sick, or is on vacation, or takes a day off, and there goes 12.5 percent of the staff. And what about Saturday and Sunday?

 

[dixiehack]

Do more with nothing.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Man, it's going to be a free-for-all for Michigan elected officials. No one will be watching a damn thing.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I am curious about staffing in Kalamazoo because I think it portends the future as more papers regionalize.

I don't think Kalamazoo staffs the Big 10 schools or the Detroit teams. I think Booth covers these teams collectively for the chain but I have not seen the Kalamazoo paper for three years and don't have a clear memory.

I would guess Kalamazoo regularly covers the local minor league baseball and hockey teams and Western Michigan University. And I would guess a couple staffers on preps.

So after consolidation how many sports staffers does Kalamazoo still have? Will they still have a beat guy at Western Michigan? Will they cover the monor league teams? How many prep staffers? Or are those unanswered questions?

 

[westcoastvol]

MDead.

 

[I Should Coco]

I am curious about staffing in Kalamazoo because I think it portends the future as more papers regionalize.

I don't think Kalamazoo staffs the Big 10 schools or the Detroit teams. I think Booth covers these teams collectively for the chain but I have not seen the Kalamazoo paper for three years and don't have a clear memory.

I would guess Kalamazoo regularly covers the local minor league baseball and hockey teams and Western Michigan University. And I would guess a couple staffers on preps.

So after consolidation how many sports staffers does Kalamazoo still have? Will they still have a beat guy at Western Michigan? Will they cover the monor league teams? How many prep staffers? Or are those unanswered questions?

In a quick search, I couldn't find recent/believable circulation numbers for the Kalamazoo Gazette. The most recent number I found was from 2008, and it was about 45,000 daily. No way it's that now.

But, even cutting that number in half, eight newsroom staffers is shockingly low -- even given the fact page layout and copy editing is done elsewhere.

My off-the-cuff guess on future staffing: three news reporters, one ME, one photog, one news clerk, two in sports. If that's the case, they probably have one sports staffer on Western Michigan beats and another full-time on preps. Everything else? Stringers or press releases.

And yeah, Lancey, I fear this is the direction many chains could go.

 

[slappy4428]

MDead.

Didn't waste any time in the end of that lifetime job pledge, did they?

 

[lcjjdnh]

I am curious about staffing in Kalamazoo because I think it portends the future as more papers regionalize.

I don't think Kalamazoo staffs the Big 10 schools or the Detroit teams. I think Booth covers these teams collectively for the chain but I have not seen the Kalamazoo paper for three years and don't have a clear memory.

I would guess Kalamazoo regularly covers the local minor league baseball and hockey teams and Western Michigan University. And I would guess a couple staffers on preps.

So after consolidation how many sports staffers does Kalamazoo still have? Will they still have a beat guy at Western Michigan? Will they cover the monor league teams? How many prep staffers? Or are those unanswered questions?

In a quick search, I couldn't find recent/believable circulation numbers for the Kalamazoo Gazette. The most recent number I found was from 2008, and it was about 45,000 daily. No way it's that now.

But, even cutting that number in half, eight newsroom staffers is shockingly low -- even given the fact page layout and copy editing is done elsewhere.

My off-the-cuff guess on future staffing: three news reporters, one ME, one photog, one news clerk, two in sports. If that's the case, they probably have one sports staffer on Western Michigan beats and another full-time on preps. Everything else? Stringers or press releases.

And yeah, Lancey, I fear this is the direction many chains could go.

GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) AVG E (M-F) DLY 39,325
GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) SAT M DLY 45,786
GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) SUN DLY 55,571

From the most recent ABC numbers.

 

[SixToe]

Didn't waste any time in the end of that lifetime job pledge, did they?

Nope.

Outsourcing customer service help to out-of-state contractors, too.

 

[slappy4428]

I am curious about staffing in Kalamazoo because I think it portends the future as more papers regionalize.

I don't think Kalamazoo staffs the Big 10 schools or the Detroit teams. I think Booth covers these teams collectively for the chain but I have not seen the Kalamazoo paper for three years and don't have a clear memory.

I would guess Kalamazoo regularly covers the local minor league baseball and hockey teams and Western Michigan University. And I would guess a couple staffers on preps.

So after consolidation how many sports staffers does Kalamazoo still have? Will they still have a beat guy at Western Michigan? Will they cover the monor league teams? How many prep staffers? Or are those unanswered questions?

In a quick search, I couldn't find recent/believable circulation numbers for the Kalamazoo Gazette. The most recent number I found was from 2008, and it was about 45,000 daily. No way it's that now.

But, even cutting that number in half, eight newsroom staffers is shockingly low -- even given the fact page layout and copy editing is done elsewhere.

My off-the-cuff guess on future staffing: three news reporters, one ME, one photog, one news clerk, two in sports. If that's the case, they probably have one sports staffer on Western Michigan beats and another full-time on preps. Everything else? Stringers or press releases.

And yeah, Lancey, I fear this is the direction many chains could go.

GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) AVG E (M-F) DLY 39,325
GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) SAT M DLY 45,786
GAZETTE, KALAMAZOO (KALAMAZOO CO.) SUN DLY 55,571

From the most recent ABC numbers.

Down 20K almost across the board in the last five years...

 

[Herky_Jerky]

Last I heard, they kept on two sports guys -- preps dude and WMU beat writer -- and are taking applications to hire back just one of the people they laid off.

 

[podunk press]

I understand the online model supports far fewer employees, but if you can't cover your community well, you're not going to get the requisite Web hits necessary to carry your product.

A newsroom of eight just isn't enough, even if seven of those folks are actually content providers.