In comments and a couple of e-mails, people are blaming the Belo bosses for where we are at. One reader writes that management actions in the past few years had been like boring holes in the bottom of a leaky boat to let the water out. We still remember CueCat.
But if our problems were mainly management, wouldn't better managed papers be in better shape? Are there any examples of that out there?
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Luminant is looking for a "communications specialist"
I got an e-mail from the Luminant corporate communications office asking that I pass this new job posting along for a Communications Specialist. The description of the job includes:
It's a Dallas job. Apply online.
The ideal candidate for this position will have a strong background in all facets of internal and external corporate communications. A strong knowledge and experience with Web-based channels (both internet and intranet) and implementing digital initiatives is required.
Responsible for generating all content to engage a diverse and diffuse workforce, creating new and sustainable internal and online communications vehicles that may not currently exist. Position requires strong writing skills and the ability to seek and uncover new, creative story ideas. The candidate will also be tasked with enhancing and maintaining the company’s intranet and external Web site.
It's a Dallas job. Apply online.
What we learned today -- not a lot
George Rodrigue answered questions for an hour during an informal lunchtime conversation. I'm told there was very little new news. Readers say he did make a few points:
1) A list of proposed RIFs is now in the hands of HR and the corporate lawyers. If the list is approved the process will complete quickly. How long will the review take? George would not say. When will the RIFs happen. A week or two into next month seems to be a reasonable bet. But if there are legal reasons to change the list, or if financial news gets so much worse that more are needed, that could delay things.
2) How many will lose their jobs in the news operation? George refused to give any estimate and said the final number has not been set. But he did say that the number now being reviewed is significant. It is the third "official" number. The first demand from corporate was reduced after evaluation of what it would mean to the content in the newspaper. Then after the unexpectedly bad financial numbers from the first couple of months of this year came in, the number went back up.
3) The real estate reshuffling among Belo properties seems most related to the people now in rental space in the Founders Square building. Company wants to end that ASAP, so there will be reshuffling in the buildings we own and where there is space. See comments on earlier posts for some other suggestions about what is happening.
4) About the future shape of Local News. There will be fewer fulltime editors. There will be what George called "team leaders" who will do some writing and some editing. Some will be current editors asked to take on writing. Some will be current writers asked to take on editing. Projects reporters will be deployed sometimes to work with community reporters on relatively fast-turnaround stories.
5) The real controllers of AH Belo at this point appear to be the banks that loaned the company money last year. The banks set quarterly cash flow goals that, if we miss them, the banks can literally own us. George says the details are available online in SEC filings. I've heard that the first goal, set for March 31, looks hard to attain. But I'm not good enough at reading that material to offer an opinion. I'm sure there are others out there who can do better. Please comment or send me an e-mail.
In general, there seemed to be a general sense of appreciation that George had put himself forward to take questions, along with frustration that there were not more or better answers.
If I've missed any headlines, the comments are on.
1) A list of proposed RIFs is now in the hands of HR and the corporate lawyers. If the list is approved the process will complete quickly. How long will the review take? George would not say. When will the RIFs happen. A week or two into next month seems to be a reasonable bet. But if there are legal reasons to change the list, or if financial news gets so much worse that more are needed, that could delay things.
2) How many will lose their jobs in the news operation? George refused to give any estimate and said the final number has not been set. But he did say that the number now being reviewed is significant. It is the third "official" number. The first demand from corporate was reduced after evaluation of what it would mean to the content in the newspaper. Then after the unexpectedly bad financial numbers from the first couple of months of this year came in, the number went back up.
3) The real estate reshuffling among Belo properties seems most related to the people now in rental space in the Founders Square building. Company wants to end that ASAP, so there will be reshuffling in the buildings we own and where there is space. See comments on earlier posts for some other suggestions about what is happening.
4) About the future shape of Local News. There will be fewer fulltime editors. There will be what George called "team leaders" who will do some writing and some editing. Some will be current editors asked to take on writing. Some will be current writers asked to take on editing. Projects reporters will be deployed sometimes to work with community reporters on relatively fast-turnaround stories.
5) The real controllers of AH Belo at this point appear to be the banks that loaned the company money last year. The banks set quarterly cash flow goals that, if we miss them, the banks can literally own us. George says the details are available online in SEC filings. I've heard that the first goal, set for March 31, looks hard to attain. But I'm not good enough at reading that material to offer an opinion. I'm sure there are others out there who can do better. Please comment or send me an e-mail.
In general, there seemed to be a general sense of appreciation that George had put himself forward to take questions, along with frustration that there were not more or better answers.
If I've missed any headlines, the comments are on.
Anonymous comments now enabled
Lots of settings in that settings panel. I hadn't noticed the Comments choices. If anyone had wanted to comment but didn't want to create a new gmail account to preserve anonymity, I've fixed that. But I will enforce the ironclad rule about personal attacks. Do not.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
More details about the restructuring of Local news: Back to the future
Editors had a meeting this afternoon. Some details are filtering out. The plans sound more ambitious than scaled back. The idea is to better serve the "core readers" in those communities where we have the most of them. That means other communities will get less attention: NE Tarrant and the southern Dallas suburbs in particular.
What will the identified communities get? Small teams of reporters. A government reporter and a schools reporter, maybe. But there will still be GA reporters. There will also be an emphasis on analysis and context stories. Maybe some cuts in specialties, though there aren't many of those positions left.
One of my readers said the plans made him think of the scene in the movie Apollo 13 where the astronauts need to power up the command module but only have enough battery power for a couple of light bulbs. Getting it to work took very careful planning. How to "power up" local coverage while cutting the editorial staff will take very careful planning.
What will the identified communities get? Small teams of reporters. A government reporter and a schools reporter, maybe. But there will still be GA reporters. There will also be an emphasis on analysis and context stories. Maybe some cuts in specialties, though there aren't many of those positions left.
One of my readers said the plans made him think of the scene in the movie Apollo 13 where the astronauts need to power up the command module but only have enough battery power for a couple of light bulbs. Getting it to work took very careful planning. How to "power up" local coverage while cutting the editorial staff will take very careful planning.
Questions from a reader
Some questions with what few answers I have:
I've heard that both are "on the table" where they were not a couple of months ago. Isn't a furlough also a salary cut?
I thought our debt position was better than other media companies? Better for sure than the other Belo? Or McClatchy?
I heard today that it's more likely we'll be seeing people from the Belo building filling space on the fourth floor that has been and is being vacated by lifestyles.
As always, anybody who knows better, please let me know.
I understand we should expect salary cuts and furloughs later in the year, on top of the job cuts. (I, for one, prefer furloughs to salary cuts.) What do you know about this?
I've heard that both are "on the table" where they were not a couple of months ago. Isn't a furlough also a salary cut?
I wouldn't be surprised by furloughs/salary cuts because I think our cash position is frightening. A drop in cash flow would presumably trigger a debt covenant, that could boost our interest rate cause big problems on the balance sheet.
I thought our debt position was better than other media companies? Better for sure than the other Belo? Or McClatchy?
Also, what's with the real estate reorg? Are they going to lease space in DMN building? Wouldn't it make sense to lease out space and make a little revenue? Or sell the building and move us to the Belo building?
I heard today that it's more likely we'll be seeing people from the Belo building filling space on the fourth floor that has been and is being vacated by lifestyles.
As always, anybody who knows better, please let me know.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
What a rearranged Local operation might look like
Bob Mong indicated a change in the Local news focus in his house ad letter to the readers this past weekend. It was short on details. Here's what I'm hearing: That it could be a smaller-scale version of the zoned coverage the DMN has been working with for quite some time. Arlington Morning News, Collin County initiative, the series of zoned sections that were rolled out and back. Even NeighborsGo was an attempt to increase coverage of specific areas.
But instead of trying to increase coverage everyplace, a few specific communities would get the extra focus this time. The targets have not been identified to the staff, but the northern suburbs where the DMN still has significant "core readers" would be one logical direction. We're still selling a lot of papers in Dallas itself, so maybe there are parts of the city that would also get the team focus. How we do all that with a smaller staff, unless other coverage areas or beats get eliminated? I guess it's all in the plan.
If I'm off target, or if anybody has more to add, please e-mail me.
But instead of trying to increase coverage everyplace, a few specific communities would get the extra focus this time. The targets have not been identified to the staff, but the northern suburbs where the DMN still has significant "core readers" would be one logical direction. We're still selling a lot of papers in Dallas itself, so maybe there are parts of the city that would also get the team focus. How we do all that with a smaller staff, unless other coverage areas or beats get eliminated? I guess it's all in the plan.
If I'm off target, or if anybody has more to add, please e-mail me.
Monday, March 16, 2009
A worthy reminder that social networking tools may be of use
From a reader:
(One other bookkeeping point: If you send me a note, let me know if it's OK to post your name. I think this contributor would not mind, but I'm assuming nothing.)
UPDATE: Bob Wasinger gave permission to give his name. He's the owner of the group.
To which I'll add: For those not familiar, LinkedIn is the professional/business equivalent of FaceBook. But it takes time to create a profile worth having. Start now.There is a DMN alumni group on LinkedIn that might help those departing the hallowed halls of Belo find other employment.The direct link to join can be found here.Or you can just go to:and search Dallas Morning News under groups.
(One other bookkeeping point: If you send me a note, let me know if it's OK to post your name. I think this contributor would not mind, but I'm assuming nothing.)
UPDATE: Bob Wasinger gave permission to give his name. He's the owner of the group.
One more thing we know: From Bob Mong's house-ad letter to readers
From Sunday March 15, on page 25 A:
That could mean a substantial redeployment of the Local news operation that will somehow happen in addition to the layoffs. Will this change of assignment affect how the layoffs will be done? Maybe editors have been told what this will look like. I'm not aware that the reporting staff has been informed.
"Based on your requests for more in-depth local coverage, we will assign specific teams to our communities -- including reporters who specialize in schools, government and community affairs, and investigative reporting."
That could mean a substantial redeployment of the Local news operation that will somehow happen in addition to the layoffs. Will this change of assignment affect how the layoffs will be done? Maybe editors have been told what this will look like. I'm not aware that the reporting staff has been informed.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
What we think we know now
The last official information we had was from Jim Moroney's meetings. We were told that AH Belo would be cutting about 500 jobs. That Riverside would be cut proportionately worse than the DMN. That the DMN should hear by the end of February something about how many cuts we would have, and maybe something about how departments would be affected. And that the cuts should be completed by the end of March.
February came and went. We've seen cuts at some smaller departments at the DMN, notably al Dia. (If anyone who was cut from al Dia wants to use this blog to post a farewell, you are surely welcome.) But we have not been given any further official information about the size of the cuts.
Last week, we got semi-official word that the newsroom layoff has been pushed back at least a week, to April 7. We also heard that furloughs and pay cuts were now being considered in addition to the layoffs.
There was also a persistent rumor about the number of proposed cuts to the newsroom -- in the mid-60s. There was also a rumor that a preliminary list had been sent to corporate but was not approved.
That's all I know. If anybody has additional or better information, please send it to me.
February came and went. We've seen cuts at some smaller departments at the DMN, notably al Dia. (If anyone who was cut from al Dia wants to use this blog to post a farewell, you are surely welcome.) But we have not been given any further official information about the size of the cuts.
Last week, we got semi-official word that the newsroom layoff has been pushed back at least a week, to April 7. We also heard that furloughs and pay cuts were now being considered in addition to the layoffs.
There was also a persistent rumor about the number of proposed cuts to the newsroom -- in the mid-60s. There was also a rumor that a preliminary list had been sent to corporate but was not approved.
That's all I know. If anybody has additional or better information, please send it to me.
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