Stock price up, employees out
McClatchy Newspapers, owner of the Raleigh News & Observer, is expected to report its third quarter earnings later this week, and investors are betting the news will be good. The company’s stock price has spiked up significantly in recent weeks. Then again, newspaper stocks in general have enjoyed a recent revival, so McClatchy’s good fortune isn’t unique. For instance, Media General and Gannett were number 3 and 6, respectively, on the Wall Street Journal’s list of companies with the biggest percentage gain in stock price for the quarter. (To be fair, McClatchy outpaced both those companies in terms of percentage increase, but the Journal only measured firms whose stock price was $2 or higher at the start of the quarter. At the time, McClatchy’s stock price was 50 cents.)
But McClatchy’s relatively healthy performance these days is more attributable to cost-cutting than to a forward-looking business plan. And that cost-cutting continues. As McClatchy Watch reported today, the News & Observer is planning yet another staff reduction.
That’s four in the past 18 months or so, by my count. Or is it five? I don’t even keep track anymore. It’s too depressing.
October 14th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
How sad. I can’t even imagine what the morale must be like around that place.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I am not sure about depressing or how sad. I follow the McClatchy Watch blog also and when Duane Powell posted the following on his Acorn cartoon I decided to cancel my subscription. It shows how the people at the N&O really think, they despise 50% of their readers.
Dwane Powell said…
Evidently opposing comments are not welcome according to ’shitcan it on site.”
You folks enjoy your little echo chamber, y’ heah. For the record, McClatchy watch, the fake pimp and hooker aren’t whistle blowers…that would mean they actually were working for Acorn. That is my cartoon you posted, btw. You Neocons get all giggly over a few sad nuts at Acorn but don’t seem to give a s### about illegal torture techniques, troops being fried in showers in Iraq because of greedy, corrupt contractors or the actions of so many perverts in what’s left of the republican party. You aren’t conservatives, for Christ sake…you are D###Heads who could care less for your fellow human beings.
September 22, 2009 4:40 PM
October 15th, 2009 at 1:53 am
So, because Dwane went off on the MacWatch site, you’ll welcome more folks getting kicked out the door at the N & O? Let ‘em eat cake, right, bubba? Thought this was ol’ Locomotive Breath for a second there.
October 15th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Don’t know why my earlier comment appeared and then was deleted. To repeat, the N&O has it coming.
The three biggest local stories to break nationwide in the last couple of years are:
1. The Crystal Mangum false rape claim. The N&O led the hysterical and inflammatory coverage in support of Mike Nifong, at least until he was safely re-elected. Linda Williams later admitted that, early on, the N&O knew Mangum was also accusing “the other stripper” of robbing her. The N&O buried that information because it didn’t fit the narrative.
2. The Edwards affair. The N&O made no mention of the story until Edwards was no longer politically viable and it had been reported everywhere else. In this case, the tabloid press was more reliable.
3. The Easley corruption. It had been going on for two years but the N&O didn’t report on it until Bev was safely re-elected. Didn’t want to damage her chances. Then they want credit for “blowing the whistle”. Earlier, they had also failed to point out that Edwards got a similar deal from UNC after his failed VP run.
See a pattern? Since the days of Joe Daniels, the N&O has been the media relations arm of the NC Democrats.
RaoulDuke can’t seem to figure out that expressing contempt for someone and then asking them to buy your product is a bad business model. The days of the N&O’s local media monopoly are over. We now have alternatives. Too bad for the N&O. Not.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Err…until Bev was safely elected.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
One should find no surprise in Tom’s response. It is fairly typical for people on both sides of the political divide these days — if comments or opinions (remember that DPowell’s work appears in the OPINION section) don’t support your view of the world, just tune it out. You can always find the likes of Fox news if you’re on the right or Olberman or the Ed show (if you can stand it) if you’re far to the left. No one with any conflicting viewpoint has anything to say worth a moment’s contemplation so just stick with what you like and don’t worry that you are only hearing one, highly biased, side of the story.
October 15th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Loco Breath: I don’t recall an earlier comment from you on this topic, and certainly didn’t intentionally delete it. (That would run contrary to my let-’er-rip philosophy, under which only vicious personal attacks are policed.) But I get hundreds of spam comments every day, and it’s possible one of yours accidentally got caught in a mass deletion. If so, my apologies.
October 15th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I love Dwayne Powell
October 15th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Thanks. No sweat.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I do feel sorry for the N&O folks as I can relate to how the internet has caused jobs to move off shore in the programming business which I am a part of. It is not easy for all different kinds of jobs not related to the newspaper business. The problem is that I really always felt that the N&O folks were fair minded just on the other side of the political platform than myself. But, you can see that they are not, in the sense that Powell would label all Republicans as perverts. And I believe that this is the overall mindset at the N&O. When things were good in the newspaper business they basically said to most other types of media, Let ‘em eat cake.
And I feel I do not tune out the other side, I have read the N&O for over 30 years and understood their political stance and motives. I just never knew they hated my guts. I am sure there are exceptions to this thinking at the N&O, as you can see, G.D. here on his blog is very fair minded and fun to read.
My wife thinks I am going to reverse and take the paper again, because my breakfast really is not the same anymore.
Tom
October 16th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Well Tom,
1st, your extrapolation of some comments made by a single individual (who happens to work in the Editorial department) to the entire paper at large is not exactly fair minded and, frankly, smacks of the same generalization for which you condemn Dwayne (well actually you’re condemning the whole N&O but, hopefully, you get the point).
2nd, using GD as an example doesn’t really say much as he is generally conservative and so would fall into the category of “things you already agree with.”
Lastly, your conclusion “Powell would label all Republicans as perverts” is a subjective interpretation of his comments. In my interpretation, if you are truly a fair minded individual, he isn’t even talking about you. He is speaking to those on the far right who spew venom on anything liberal but excuse anything done by a conservative politician. On the other hand, if you think it’s okay for the US to use torture, award no bid contracts to companies which perform shoddy work resulting in our own soldiers’ electrocution in exchange for some campaign loot, and feel it’s fine to look the other way when a politician of their own side gets caught with their pants down but pull out all the stops when someone on the other side is guilty of some extramarital activities then maybe I have you all wrong. Do you consider yourself a neocon? Why do you feel he is talking about you?
Re-read his comments and pay attention to this part; “You aren’t conservatives…” My interpretation has Dwayne stating fair minded conservatives are not the object of his rant. I’m sure you feel differently because you obviously have already taken it personally but I believe your reaction is due mainly to your desire to tune out those you don’t agree with.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
NotThatImportant, you have valid points but when I read Powell’s post I was taken back by the vitriol of it. He is a member of the N&O and I felt this was a very poor way to respond to a valid critique of his cartoon about ACORN. He did this in a public forum, he represents the N&O, and I am paying for this. Since he is being paid for his services he should be held accountable for his childish post. For these reasons you cannot equate my comments to his comments. I am a conservative, but I do not look at the far left or right the way Powell did in his post. And just because he works in the Editorial department does not give him a pass.
Powell’s comment was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I have followed many writers at the N&O over the years and over those years I have become attached to them based on their writings. I actually admired Powell and his work. But lately the decline in the newspaper business and the resultant newspaper shrinkage at the N&O has caused large cracks to appear in the facade of the N&O. Dennis Rogers had a similar rant on McClatchy Watch, he has retired, but I got to see a side of him that I would have never thought possible. A.C. Snow has turned into a grumpy old man. A few weeks ago he complained about the salaries for the Carolina Hurricanes. Jim Jenkins keeps writing about Watergate and Vietnam and that bloggers are not journalists. Linda Williams who is an editor of some kind had a rant on the N&O’s editor blog about rednecks. These cracks added up over time to make me see that journalism and journalists are not what they have said they were. They were living high on the hog, writing their stuff, and laughing at their readers in the back room.
Tom
October 19th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Tom,
Okay, though I still believe you are painting with too broad a brush. Frankly, I’m no fan or defender of comments or decisions made by Linda Williams and certainly can’t agree with everything penned by Jim Jenkins. However, one goal the N&O looks to achieve (even among its decimated ranks) is a diversity of their staff that somewhat resembles the communities they cover. While this is a pretty challenging task, coming anywhere close will mean that you will have people of different backgrounds, beliefs and political philosophies on staff. And a fair minded assessment would acknowledge that this is true of the public at large — even in the Triangle.
If you believe the N&O and all who work for it, are like minded and speak like Powell and Jenkins, how can you explain the likes of GD, the sorely missed Peder Zane (hard to get more conservative than that guy) or even Matthew Eisley? Bottom line… you can cite all the staffers and alumni you want to make your point, but the fair minded part of your argument would have to consider the whole of their coverage and ALL the people they use to assemble it or you’re simply proving my original point. Seems to me, you’ve discovered that some percentage of the N&O staff and alumni hold beliefs different from yours and discussed them publicly. You’ve extrapolated that to include everyone there and stuck your fingers in your ears to block out the noise.
I suggest you call the N&O and ask them if you can join their community panel. There, you can get all this stuff off your chest and gain some insight into how they put their product together. Perhaps you can even help make their report a better one.
Me, I am going to keep reading all the stuff with which I agree as well as disagree and make up my own mind. When I get mad, I’ll just do what I always do — yell at the pages of my paper or the screen I’m reading from. I only hope there are people around willing to continue providing something worth reading.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:55 am
NotThatImportant, very good response and it has been two weeks since I canceled the N&O. And as I sit here in the morning with my laptop trying to read the small print on websites, my wife is bemoaning at the breakfast table about she has nothing to read. The N&O is missed and we get calls from them almost every night now to restart. I am still holding fast but we shall see, the cracks are getting bigger as my wife found a good deal for a year subscription.
I agree with you on the people at the N&O, John Drescher has revamped the paper in a positive way. I wish Pender was still there along with Joe Miller who wrote about the outdoors. I enjoyed Leigh Ann Frink who was a young writer, but they let her go based on seniority it looked like. Maybe that is the problem. I see that Powell has now retired from the N&O, maybe they need more of this to happen at this point.
On the community panel, I would be lost. I am too much of a geek and really am pretty closed minded as you surmised.
Tom