Buyouts At The P-G

From Marty Levine at the City Paper:

Within the next several days, some of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's best-known correspondents -- including an award-winning investigative reporter -- will likely be disappearing from its pages.

Earlier this year, the P-G's parent company, Block Communications, announced sizable losses and negotiated a buyout offer with the paper's nine unions. The deadline for accepting the buyout -- which included severance pay and extended health-care benefits -- expired on Dec. 5. According to sources within the Post-Gazette, about two dozen reporters and copy editors signed up for the buyout, which was offered to senior staff.

Those who have accepted the buyout have until Dec. 12 to change their minds. Rumors are circulating about who has accepted the offer, and some of the candidates rank among the paper's best-known correspondents. Most have either declined comment or could not be reached by press time. However, at least one reporter, Bill Moushey, has confirmed accepting the buyout. Moushey, who would not otherwise speak about the situation, is best known for his work on prosecutorial misconduct and other highly regarded investigative reports.

Business reporter R.J. Hufnagel, head of the Newspaper Guild union representing newsroom employees, cautioned that "We won't know anything for sure until [Dec. 12], and nobody will really be able to speak intelligently about what it means for the future until then."

So far, P-G theatre critic Christopher Rawson confirms he's taken the buyout:

That's my way of saying that this is my final week as full-time Post-Gazette theater editor and critic. The paper has offered its veterans a generous buyout, and I've decided to take it, although with deeply conflicted feelings.

The Trib had the story back in September:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to buy out workers or lay them off in a broad cost-cutting move, barely two years after its Ohio parent threatened to sell the struggling newspaper if it didn't get concessions.

Management needs to "cut staff throughout the company," Executive Editor David Shribman said in a memo to employees. It blamed the newspaper's "revenue situation."

Shribman declined to comment. He referred questions to marketing director Tracey DeAngelo, who did not return phone calls.

For the record, I am not related to Tracey DeAngelo. Going on, it's obvious that things are tough all over for our friends in the newspaper biz:

The industry's year-over-year ad revenue declined 1.5 percent in second-quarter 2006; 8.6 percent a year later; and 15.1 percent last spring, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

For example, the McClatchy Co., which owns more than 30 newspapers, has reduced its work force by 30 percent and cut its shareholder dividend in half. Early this year, its chairman said staffing would again be cut to 10,000 from 14,000 at newspapers such as the Miami Herald.

The Post-Gazette is owned by Block Communications Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, which also owns The Blade there. Block said it lost $11 million from 2003 through 2005, then lost $12 million through August 2006, the last time figures were made publicly available.

I'll try to return to this story when more is known.