TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: NY Times Plans Major Job Cutback

NY Times Plans Major Job Cutback

NY Times Co to cut 125 jobs

The New York Times Co. said on Thursday it aims to cut about 125 jobs at
its New England Media Group, including 19 editorial staff at the Boston
Globe, through voluntary buyouts and outsourcing.

The Globe's publisher Steve Ainsley said in a letter to employees that
the buyouts would be offered in the first quarter to employees with at
least 10 or more years at the Globe and at Worcester Telegram and
Gazette, both of which are New England Media Group properties.

A spokesman for New England Media Group said the voluntary buyouts would
be offered to 70 newsroom employees, whose positions will not be
replaced. About 55 more people will be offered buyouts; their positions
will be outsourced.

There are 412 newsroom employees at the Globe and about 2,300 employees
in the group, a spokesman said, adding that the company will reassess if
it needs to make involuntary layoffs depending on how many employees
take up the offer.

The outsourcing effort, aimed at cutting costs, would begin in the
finance and advertising departments, with finance changes expected to be
completed by May, he said.

The job cuts do not affect Boston.com, his letter said.

The New York Times, like many other newspaper publishers, is trying to
cut costs as advertising revenue and circulation decline as a result of
more readers moving to the Internet and other media to get their news.

Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. Inc. plans to eliminate
nearly two dozen jobs at its Newswires and Factiva divisions in advance
of a restructuring, a union representative for company employees told
Reuters on Tuesday.

"You know as well as anyone that we are in the middle of one of the
most challenging periods in our history. Even though we have the
potential to reach larger audiences through the combination of print,
online and emerging platforms such as mobile, we still face tough
advertising and circulation markets," Ainsley said in his letter.

"One of the first steps we will be taking is to significantly reduce
costs to bring them into line with our revenue expectations," he said.

Ainsley added that there would be more steps taken to improve
efficiency and address audience and advertiser growth.

Globe editor Martin Baron said in a memo to employees that the
editorial department aimed to cut 17 news jobs and two on the opinion
pages. Some openings would also be frozen.

"These reductions also come at a time when we must fully transform our
newsroom into a multimedia news and information organization. That in
itself makes demands on our time and resources. Our jobs will be
different. But it is a challenge we must meet if we are to thrive in
the future," Baron said.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited.

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