Lower revenue leads to job cuts at Journal

Mulhern's 35-year career ended last month

By: Fran Daniel | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: December 10, 2008

The Winston-Salem Journal said yesterday that it will cut 12 employees to offset lost revenue caused by the current economic climate.

The reductions will be across several departments, including advertising prepress, finance and syndicated marketing services. The majority of the cuts affect employees who put together local advertisements for the newspaper.

"These types of things are the most difficult decisions that management has to make," said Michael Miller, the president and publisher of the Journal. "We can talk about product reductions. We can talk about cost containment in many areas, but when you talk about affecting people's lives, it's definitely the most difficult decision you have to come up with, and they are not pleasant."

Miller said that the Journal and other Media General Inc. newspapers will become partners to handle the construction of some ads.

Three of the job cuts are effective immediately, and nine will occur between now and February. The affected employees will receive severance packages based on tenure.

Other cost-reduction measures include the elimination of the Homespotter real-estate publication, some page reductions in core newspaper products and cutbacks in marketing programs in the newspaper's circulation department.

Also, last month, Mike Mulhern covered his last NASCAR race for the Journal, which has ended full-time staff coverage of stock-car racing, eliminating his job. The Journal will use The Associated Press and other sources for NASCAR coverage. Mulhern took over the NASCAR beat in 1974 and during his 35-year career at the paper also covered other beats, including Winston-Salem State and minor-league ice hockey.

Miller said that the Journal has been prepared for other cost contingencies over the past three months, but the economy has continued to slide.

"That's over and above newspaper issues right now," he said. "Newspapers are faced with a number of business-model adjustments, but the economy has really put not just newspapers but all media and all businesses in a pretty tight spot. Unfortunately, we had to act."

Many newspapers around the country have made staff cuts and looked for ways to control expenses in the past two years.

For example, The New York Times Co. said yesterday that it is in talks with lenders about debt payments coming due in the next two years.

The company, based in New York, said it has started a process to borrow up to $225 million in the form of a sale-leaseback for a portion of its headquarters in Manhattan to repay existing long-term debt. The company is also evaluating assets for potential sale.

The Tribune Co., based in Chicago, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The company has $13 billion in debt. It owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Baltimore Sun, along with other dailies, broadcast properties and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Cubs are not affected by the bankruptcy filing.

■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.