Craig Damrauer’s New Math post for this week addresses layoffs:

Damrauer’s New Math is very smart — something for the geek in all of us.

(Copy editors, and non-copy editors, I’m sure you can relate to “Copy Editor’s Lament (The Layoff Song)”.)

Under the guild contract, employees with more seniority could volunteer to be laid off, which is what has happened. O’Connell, Byers, Schrappen and Baird return to work today. In the next month, reporters Bill Lhotka, Jerri Stroud and Jo Mannies will retire and Mary Jo Feldstein and Angie Leventis will resign.

Lhotka has been at the paper for 35 years, often covering the St. Louis County Courthouse in Clayton. In 1981 he was a defendant in Green v. Alton Telegraph, a libel case over a memo that was never published. In 1992, Kenneth Baumruk walked into that courthouse, where this divorce case was being heard, carrying two handguns in a briefcase. He shot his wife in the neck and head, killing her; shot his attorney and his wife’s attorney, and shot at the judge. Baumruk left the courtroom, shooting the bailiff and a security guard before two police officers shot him nine times. After Baumruk shot his wife but before he was shot and captured, he ran into Lhotka in an elevator. (Baumruk is now on death row.) Lhotka’s last day is Oct. 31.

Stroud has been at the paper for 33 years. She has been covering banking and finance since 1981 and has written a weekly finance column for the last year. Appropriately enough, last week’s column was about what to do after you’ve been laid off. Her last day is Oct. 31.

Mannies has been at the paper for 32 years. For the past 18 years she has been the paper’s chief political correspondent. If it’s happening in Missouri politics, she knows about it and has already reported it. Mannies writes a weekly column, started blogging two years ago and recently joined Twitter to cover the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Mannies last day has not been announced, but I’m sure it will be after Election Day.

Feldstein has been at the paper for four years. She covers the business side of health care and writes a weekly column. Her last day is Oct. 31.

Leventis has been at the paper for two years; in fact, her last day, Oct. 31, will be her two-year anniversary. (We also worked together at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., in 2003.) She recently got married and is moving to Chicago.

Amy sent an update on Saturday:

Two exciting things happened this week:

1) the poster I designed for Manifest Hope is now hanging in super-large-format in Silverlake — right in my neighborhood. You can see it on the exterior wall of the amazing Smog Design studio (they’re also the good citizens responsible for hanging the thing and taking the photo), right next to Spaceland on Silver Lake Blvd.

2) a website called Obama Art Report published a really nice interview with me.

Amy has more details and photos on her blog, and more projects that she’s working on. Great job, Amy!

Adding to they mayhem, our guild contract is being renegotiated and the layoffs started a couple of hours after the union walked out of negotiations. The union site said Lee Enterprises had threatened layoffs during talks, until the situation became “layoffs will happen, not matter what.” Two of the laid off employees were editors, who are not in the union, so I don’t believe this was a direct reaction to failures in the negotiation process. The union is meeting on Saturday to discuss what’s next.

Employees laid off on Friday include:
• News clerks Robert Douglas, Bryant Ingram, John Mertzlufft, Coddy Murray, Keith Schildroth, Cyndi Waters, Pam Williams, Kim Taylor
• Jefferson City assistant Linda Sommers
• Reporters Patrick O’Connell and Christine Byers
• Copy editor Colleen Schrappen
• Designer Elizabeth Baird
• Assistant metro/business editors Ed Kohn and Rod Hicks

I’m missing two names. Under the guild contract, employees with more seniority can volunteer for the layoff, so not all names have been made public. The Washington, D.C., bureau is also shrinking. After the election, Bill Lambrect will stay in D.C. Phil Dine and Deirdre Shesgreen were offered transfers to St. Louis; I don’t know if they have accepted those transfers.

This layoff is just as difficult as the one in your newsroom. Too many great journalists and friends are being laid off and leaving newsrooms across the country right now.

Business editor Bill Bero is probably the most notable departure — and his role will not be filled. When I met Bero, he was a metro editor. Then he was pushed off to advertising to run a couple of magazines. When he made those successful, editors welcomed him back to the newsroom as features editor. In the last move, he became business editor. No matter where they tried to put him, Bero succeeded, and mentors many journalists along the way.

Also laid off was long-time sports reporter and columnist John O’Malley, columnist and community coordinator Adele Mackanos, and community reporter Barb Martin. Another 15 positions throughout the paper will not be filled — almost half of them are from the newsroom. No details on severance packages — or if there was one.

Executive editor Bill Nangle sent an e-mail to staff outlining how vacated roles would be filled. The Times is located in Munster, Ind., has a daily circulation of about 85,000 and bureaus in three Indiana towns: Crown Point, Valparaiso and Portage.

From: William Nangle
Sent: Fri 8/1/2008 3:42 PM
To: MUN Newsroom
Cc:
Subject: Staff Assignment Changes

Media Center Assignment Changes

In order to facilitate operations of the Media Center, the following changes in assignments are being made effective August 11:

Sharon Ross becomes Metro Editor overseeing east Lake, west Lake and Illinois coverage.

Melinda Moore assumes the role of Assistant Metro Editor based in Munster.

Robert Blaszkiewicz assumes the role of Assistant Metro editor based in Portage. He retains certain Portage community duties.

John Scheibel assumes supervision of staff in the Portage office and continues as Porter County Editor based in Valparaiso.

Marc Chase continues as Issues Editor with the business staff becoming part of the Issues Desk. He will remain in Crown Point.

Matt Saltanovitz becomes Assistant Issues Editor and remains in Munster.

Jen Pallay assumes responsibility for Illinois and west Lake community pages.

Annette Arnold will handle a combined Valparaiso and Portage community page.

Carolyn Thompson assumes the role of community staff writer based in Munster.

Previously announced staff reassignments:

Theresa Badovich from Marketing Director to Managing Editor / New Media

Chris Keller from Illinois Editor to News Editor / New Media

Christopher Smith from Assistant Director of Photography to Director of New Media Visuals

Hillary Smith from Sports Staff Writer to Coordinator New Media Sports

Related posts

• Lee’s falling online profits an anomaly or a sign?
• Times of NWI promotes 2 more
• Marketing director takes over new media at Times of NWI

Send memos, links and suggestions to erica@graphicdesignr.net

On Thursday, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel added a Web job to the Tribune job board:

Title: Online Content Producer
Business Unit: TI – South Florida
Full/Part Time: Full
Location: FL-Ft. Lauderdale
Job Description Position Responsibilities:
Create a fresh, entertaining and informative website on a daily basis, with fresh updates throughout the day. Program the site, selecting, editing and packaging content. Collaborates with TV show staff to develop content for use on-air and online. Supervises associate producers, freelancers and interns.

Qualifications & Requirements:
Strong writing skills, particularly humorous, attitude-laden headlines and teases. Knowledge and love of pop culture. Extensive knowledge of the Internet, including emerging sites and trends. A collaborative working style. Minimum of two years media experience. Television, video and multimedia expertise a major plus. Excellent writing and editing skills.

The job posting is still active.

The news that made headlines: Profits were down by a whopping 87.4 percent. Net income was $2.8 million, compared to $22.5 million for the same period last year.

But, as Observations on the Newspaper Business points out, the news that should have made headlines: Online advertising fell by 9.1 percent, or $14.7 million.

That’s a bad sign.

Two other newspaper companies also reported earnings last week. Earnings dropped for both, but online revenue increased:
• The New York Times Co. released second quarter earnings on Wednesday: A 6 percent drop over last year, but online advertising revenue increased by 18.3 percent over the last year.
• The McClatchy Co. released second quarter earnings on Thursday: A 44 percent drop over last year, but online advertising revenue increased by 12.5 percent since the start of the fiscal year.

In response to Lee’s falling profits, CEO Mary Junck offered these comforting words:

We believe our financial outlook remains solid.

Because we cannot foresee the length of the economic downturn, we are focusing on rigorous cost reductions through staff reorganizations, narrower page widths, newsprint conservation programs and other efficiencies, as well as reduced capital spending. In our fiscal year that begins this fall, assuming no new surprises in newsprint prices, we are aiming for a further reduction in cash costs of 5-7 percent.

That would seem to lend credence to the rumor of upcoming layoffs.