So you think Pittsburgh blogs are disappearing...

The City Paper's Chris Potter surveys the carnage in the Pittsburgh print media and notes that female columnists in particular are becoming an endangered species.

Read it here.
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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.

Post-Gazette Buyout Update

From our friends at the Trib:

About two dozen newsroom employees at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette accepted buyouts on Friday from the newspaper, which floated the offer to cut costs.

Had fewer than 18 agreed to forfeit their jobs, management might have resorted to layoffs, a union official said.

The Post-Gazette offered to buy out about half the employees in its 200-person newsroom in mid-October. Workers who accept will receive one year of salary and one year of health care coverage, plus an option to buy two more years' coverage. Eligible are those whose age plus years of P-G service equal 70 or more.

The P-G has a shorter blurb that says roughly the same thing:

Twenty-three newsroom employees of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette accepted a voluntary severance package offered by the company as a cost-cutting move. The buyouts were offered in October to about 100 members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, the union that represents about 200 writers, editors, photographers, artists and other newsroom personnel. Some of those who took buyouts may continue to do freelance work for the newspaper. "We are saying goodbye to some of our colleagues and friends, but we are also taking inspiration from them," said David Shribman, executive editor.

No word yet on who those 23 are.

Update: Smizik took the buyout.

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.