Dark days at the....
The rumors that have been flying around the media community for weeks have been confirmed: the Deseret News, Utah's oldest newspaper, is slashing staff. And it's a gutting of the paper. Editor Joe Cannon will cut 35 positions. Cannon, a former lobbyist and Republican Party chairman with no newspaper experience who became editor in late 2006, explains:
There is no question it is a huge punch in the gut to everyone's morale. We will become more local, more online, and more Mormon. [Is that possible?]Cannon also acknowledged the unspeakable: The DN's revenues have declined 32 percent since January because advertisers have fled to other media, including the Internet.
Newspapers are hurting everywhere, so it should come as no surprise that a local paper would announce a lay off. But common wisdom held that the LDS Church-owned Deseret News was impervious to economic downs. It was assumed the vastly wealthy church would bail it out. Apparently, that is not true.
Cannon's frank statement brings up other questions:
The Deseret News had always been friendly place for non-Mormon journalists and took pride in having "gentiles" on staff (I once worked there!). Several of its top writers are non-Mormon — Lisa Riley Roche, Elaine Jarvik, not to mention political editor Bob Bernick. What is their future?
Credibility has always been an issue for the church-owned DN. How believable is a newspaper that presents news coverage along side blatantly faith-promoting content? (It's been jarring to see articles on the curious LDS slant on archeology and Egyptology mixed in with secular news.) Also, the LDS Church is the most powerful social, economic and political force in Utah. In the past, the DN tried to maintain some distance — that's over now.
Finally, I've got to bring it up — what does this forebode for The Salt Lake Tribune, which is inextricably tied through a joint operating agreement and history to the Deseret News?
7 Comments:
Not sure if your question at the end is rhetorical or not, Glen. I think you and others at the Tribune already KNOW the answer. People at the newspaper I worked at for 10 years and still love are already living the pain--though in a much more "pull the band-aid off slowly" way. For the non-media types out there, MediaOne has been gutting the newsroom for years. Staff members leave, and few are being replaced. Or if they are replaced, more often than not it's with a greenhorn who knows little about reporting/copy editing, etc., or with part-timers and "interns" who get no benefits and thus save the chain money. Or there are people like fine film critic Sean Means--now juggling what amounts to two full-time jobs to make up for glaring gaps on the staff.
A rash of job cuts all in one move hurts, but at least it's out in the open and it hurts all at once. The poor Tribune staff has to suffer as the sacking of the staff goes on and on. It's the Dean Singleton/MediaOne modus operandi. No surprise at all, just very sad.
DNews recommendations:
1. Dump Cannon. He'll run the DNews into the ground just like Geneva.
2. Dump Bob Bernick. He has no ethics as a reporter and isn't compelling as an op ed writer. Time to let him play some more tennis.
3. Dump Lee Davidson. He struggles with fact checking and accuracy.
4. Integrate news staffs of KSL TV and KSL radio with Deseret News.
5. Identify target market. No more meandering aimlessly.
Doesn't Holly mean MediaNews instead of MediaOne? Or maybe she doesn't.
Both major Utah dailies are becoming less relevant to the general public, and both will focus on core constituencies.
The D-News will focus on devout Mormons who still read newspapers, while the Tribune will target the wine-and-cheese "Utah sucks" crowd. Everyone else -- about 80% of the population -- will get their news from other sources or from none at all.
You can already see the change in both papers. The Tribune doesn't even pretend to be balanced any more with Vern Anderson, Rebecca Walsh, Paul Rolly, Glen Warchol, and Dan Harrie responsible for most of the local coverage.
The D-News is now promoting "Mormon Times" so it's obvious which direction they are going.
I was thinking how sad I am about what is happening at the DNews. But I'm not. My sadness occurred when Cannon became editor. As I look back, the writing was smeared all over the wall. The "church" no longer wanted to be in a competitive, journalistic world involved in truth-telling and objectivity. Cannon had no qualifications whatsoever to claim title as Editor. He was, and probably still is, a Republican flunky who's lone accomplishment was to run Geneva into the ground.
The "church" literally has taken over the DNews, even though it owns it. It's now hands-on.
My sadness also is for the few DNews journalists who have given so much in competing with the Tribune.
My sadness now focuses on the Tribune staff because Singleton is in the wings with scissors in hand. I see this newsroom also cut, probably by 25 percent. Maybe more. The paper no longer will tolerate half a dozen editorial writers, as many photographers. And, the many bloggers and columnists will be reduced to nearly nothing.
This valley has not had a good daily newspaper in many years. It was good - journalists were given license - under former publisher Jack Gallivan. There was good writing, good story selection and much of the production was award-winning.
Today's paper, under Singleton and Conway, is, to be polite, bland. and the reporters and editors are lazy. Read the Readers' Advocate lately?
The editorial page mirrors Singleton's inanity. No new ideas, no constructive criticism, just a repugnant shallowness, like Singleton. I recall with horror its unthinking endorsement of George Bush.
Gone now are my hopes for a good newspaper in this valley. With its present owner the Tribune won't come close. The good reporters, the good editors are gone, save a few - Rolly, Walsh, LaPlante.
My last fear is this: the DNews announcing it will be more Mormon, the Tribune braintrust will feel a need to compete. So the valley will have two dailies front-paging propaganda from headquarters, each trying to outdo the other.
It is beyond pathetic. It is a tragedy.
I'm with George.
I'm sure Holly meant MediaNews. However, MediaOne obviously is at as much fault. The hapless MediaOne(actually the newspaper agency dressed up in market-speak) see's revenue drop like that, and the only thing they can come up with is "what a women wants" conventions. Nevermind they are trying to splash 'MediaOne' on as much junk as a 15 year old tagger instead of banking on the tribune/DN brand... 3 cheers for Brent Low! I'm sure ol' Dean will be showing up in his office soon.
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