Speaking of Reading the Newspapers,...

68 in Inquirer newsroom to lose their jobs
By Bob Fernandez
Inquirer Staff Writer

You can read Dan Rubin's whining about it here, on his blog Stinq.

Ending months of speculation, Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. said yesterday that it would lay off 68 newsroom employees, or 17 percent of the editorial staff, in another round of cost cutting at The Inquirer.

PMH said the cutbacks would save about $6.8 million a year in salaries and benefits and would lead to more restructuring of beats and coverage areas as the slimmed-down news staff regroups to report the region's news.

The Inquirer newsroom will have 325 employees after the cutbacks. As the cuts approached, a handful of reporters and editors left. The Daily News will have 106 newsroom employees.

"It's a very difficult day for The Inquirer and for the individuals, and we're going to try and handle this with professionalism, dignity, thoughtfulness and care," Inquirer editor William K. Marimow said last night. He said the cutbacks were smaller than earlier plans, which called for more than 100 jobs to be eliminated.

PMH, a group of local businesspeople, led by public relations and advertising executive Brian Tierney, bought The Inquirer, Daily News, Philly.com and other publications for $562 million in June. The company has since struggled with declining national advertising and slumping circulation.

Tierney said recently that he intended to invest $20 million in marketing, plant modernizations, and a jazzed-up Web site.

Managing editor Anne Gordon said yesterday that the cutbacks would usher in another review of how the paper covers the news.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer is an excellent newspaper, and we intend on keeping it that way," she said. "In order to do that, we will be making changes to beats and coverage plans in the next 30 days."

The Inquirer cutbacks follow contentious union negotiations that concluded in mid-December. The Newspaper Guild - which represents about 900 newsroom, advertising and circulation employees - and the company sparred over pensions and seniority.

Guild President Henry J. Holcomb said yesterday that he was disappointed in the cutbacks. He said the union tried to avoid layoffs by agreeing to work-rule changes and other money-saving concessions in the new contract.

The TrekMedic muses:

Well,..like none of us saw this one coming.

And, of course, the dastardly internet and we bloggers are ultimately to blame, right?

Wrong! For decades, the Inkwaster and the Daily Fishwrapper operated under the aegis of Knight-Ridder and enjoyed a near-monopoly in the information dissemination business here in Philadelphia. That left them free to publish whatever tripe they wanted and pass it off, unchallenged, as "news." (Remember the 2004 election? 21 straight days of John Kerry endorsements?) It didn't help that cable news giant CNN helped to strengthen their liberal bias.

Then along came Fox News and its "fair and balanced" reporting. Not to mention, the ubiquitous internet, its news outlets and bloggers to disseminate the other sides of the stories.

Now,...Knight-Ridder is getting caught with its pants down. Readership's declined. KR's shareholder's demand a cleaning out.

The knight in shining armor? Philadelphia media magnate and die-hard Republican, Brian Tierney.

But the ship is sinking rapidly and he's already made a major mistake - signing an agreement not to interfere with the editorial voices of the two papers.

BIG mistake, Mr. Tierney! That's like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! You should have seized control of the editorial board, put a few "right-minded" people into the mix to balance it and maybe,..just maybe, you would have increased your readership and revenues by now.

But instead,..its the same old, same old. How many more layoffs will it take before your figure it out? Its not the news,...its how you skew it, Mr. Tierney!