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McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers. Unions representing McClatchy employees say the layoffs will hit more than 90 journalists across the country, including reporters, photographers and videographers in such coverage areas as government, education and sports. The Seattle Times reports that, according to the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, McClatchy has laid off a third of its unionized employees across the newspapers in the region—10 at The Idaho Statesman and seven at The News-Tribune in Tacoma, The Olympian, The Bellingham Herald and The Tri-City Herald. Greg Farmer, the chain’s executive vice president of local news, said in an email obtained by The New York Times that while the company had maintained its level of investment in local news for the past five years, consumer revenue during that time had dropped 41 percent. His strategy to bring the papers back is to invest in journalism that “is differentiated, consequential and difficult to replicate; reporting rooted in our communities and strengthened by sources, investigation, verification, context and judgment.” McClatchy declared bankruptcy in 2020 and was subsequently sold to hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, which remains its owner.
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The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for the paper. The shutdown would affect both its digital and print versions. In an Aug. 28 vote, the Toledo NewsGuild turned down, by a vote of 46-25, a two-year contract that would have cut their severance in half, as well as opening the door to handing their work over to Al, among other outsourcing. Blade Guild members continued to negotiate with Block, but those efforts were not successful. Block disclosed the Blade’s fate in an email to the paper’s staff. “The Block Family’s continued investment to keep the Blade open is no longer an option. The financial losses the Blade has endured for years are simply not sustainable,” said Block president and chief operating officer Jodi Miehls, adding that it was “an extremely difficult decision.” In January, the company announced that it would shutter the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also citing financial losses. However, shortly before the paper was set to cease publishing in May, Block announced that the nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism would buy the newspaper and keep it open.
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| Gavin Newsome |
A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. The Community Newsroom Employment and Workforce Sustainability Act would provide refundable tax credits to local newsrooms for each journalist they employ. Under the bill, community-rooted newsrooms would get a credit of $20,000 for each of their first five full-time editorial positions, with a credit of $15,000 for every additional full-time journalist. Eligible organizations include print, broadcast, digital, nonprofit, and independent family-owned news outlets. Those credits are meant to ensure the baseline workforce stability that is increasingly important for smaller news outlets. It would also help sustain ethnic media outlets which often provide services ranging from translations of emergency evacuation orders to helping dispel dangerous mis- and disinformation.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
