Any way you look at it, it’s been a bad year for the print journalism business. Publishers and large media corporations are scrambling to find ways to make online news more profitable while advertising revenues are falling like bricks. And it’s no exception at MediaNews Group, which owns the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
The anonymously-run Southern California Media Guild blog, known as the Stress-Telegram, reported yesterday that MediaNews has ceased their fund-matching program for employee 401(k) accounts (though the announcement won’t affect P-T employees that are members of the Guild).
Len Cutler writes:
It’s unfortunate that this is happening to any employee, and you have to wonder just how much they could possibly save. The fund matching cap is low enough to minimize employer expenses already. But our members can be assured that their rights have been secured, and the provision remains unchanged for them.
This announcement comes just three weeks after Moody’s Investment Services downgraded MediaNews‘ status due to a “heightened risk of near-term default.” With Tribune Co.’s recent bankruptcy filing – and their default risk was just slightly worse than MediaNews’ – paranoia is in full effect in the print industry. MediaNews points out that they have never had trouble in the past and will continue to make good on their debts, but there’s a sour taste in the mouths of readers after CEO Dean Singleton floated the idea of offsourcing editorial work, possibly overseas. Since then, MediaNews has backed off the statement, saying that it probably won’t happen.
But that’s a lot of “probably” and “maybe” and “we promise” for a large corporation that seems to be in hot water. MediaNews needs to cut costs, and fast, and has already exhausted many of their attempts with the P-T by slashing staff, salaries and merging content with other papers they own (ex: Daily Breeze and San Jose Mercury News).
Will MediaNews run out of options and be forced to take even more drastic action?
Here’s an option: stop punishing people who work in content and editing for the mistakes and oversights that were made by people working in management.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor