Democracy Has Prevailed.

December 18, 2008

P-G Updates

Things are happening on the Boulevard of the Allies. First the cost of the P-G.

From the Trib:

Pinched by higher costs and lower revenue, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised its daily newsstand price 50 percent and offered another round of job buyouts to its newsroom employees.

The newspaper raised the newsstand price to 75 cents from 50 cents for its editions Monday through Saturday. The increase was effective Dec. 15 at all retailers and coin-operated boxes. Prices did not change for Sunday editions or Post-Gazette subscription prices.

"The pricing action was necessary due to continually rising costs of raw materials," according to a memo to employees.

P-G marketing director Tracey DeAngelo noted the price increase was the newspaper's first since 1995, when a weekday issue cost 35 cents.

Again for the record, I am not related to Tracey DeAngelo. And then:

To further cut costs, the Post-Gazette expanded a job buyout offer to all 195 newsroom workers, who have until Dec. 31 to accept. An earlier offer drew 23 takers by the Dec. 12 deadline but was made only to the 100 or so whose age and P-G tenure totaled at least 70.

The newspaper's latest job buyout was "slightly less generous" in its lump sum and health care coverage, said an official with the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, the union representing newsroom workers, who added that a second offer had been expected.

And this from the Pittsburgh Business Times:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is seeking to extend “voluntary separation agreements” to all its employees who are represented by the Pittsburgh Newspapers Guild.

That includes approximately 200 newsroom employees who work at the newspaper as reporters, editors, photographers, artists and other support staff.

Thursday, Guild president R.J. Hufnagel emailed guild members at the PG announcing a meeting Thursday night about the plans, which come only a week after the company reached buyout agreements with 22 guild members negotiated by the union and the company.

Times are getting tougher on the Boulevard of the Allies.

7 comments:

Conservative Mountaineer said...

Smart move. Falling revenue? Raise prices. Ignore content, especially editorial content. Become irrelevant in the 21st Century.

In a few years, most newspapers will be.. gone... including my only subscription, the WSJ.

Why read about something when you've either read it on the Internet or heard it on cable TV? Both.. essentially free.


If a newspaper cannot make money utilizing a Website, then... goodbye. Less dead trees.. which should make liberals happy, but it won't.. they will have lost another avenue of disinformation dissemination.

BTW, I cancelled home delivery of the PG 5 or 6 years ago. I have purchased (maybe) 2 or 3 Sunday editions since. Quite frankly, the only thing I (sometimes) miss are the sports statistics pages.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like times are tough at the Post-Gazette.

John K. said...

John K: Meanwhile conservative talk radio continues to grow. And with this Hussein Obama in charge, conservative talk radio looks good for the future. Limbaugh is the Man!

spork_incident said...

Any idea what sort of profit margins the Block(heads) are demanding?


.

Anonymous said...

con eer,

Would ou say that the availability of "on line editions" of just about all major newspapers, including the PG, has anything to do with it?

And, I disagree that "conservative talk radio" continues to grow. Broadcast radio is in decline. If Limbaugh, et al, are still holding on to their numbers, it's probably because of the age (old) of their average listener.

Conservative Mountaineer said...

gtl... Yes, on-line editions have greatly impacted circulation. Why subscribe/purchase the deadtree version? Again, the only thing I (sometimes) miss are the sports statistics pages.

I get much of my news from sites other than on-line editions.

While you may disagree with the Conservative political leanings of my main source (www.freerepublic.com), you can rest assured that there is a plethora of breaking news items posted there. You don't have to read the comments or agree with the comments, but you can read articles from major newspapers/agencies from throughout the World.

Often, breaking news and updates for disasters and other significant events are there first. In fact, posts were made almost immediately after the 1st plane hit the WTC on 9/11.. the story was there before any of the cable or network stations.

Anonymous said...

Speed over accuracy, eh, 'eer?