Disappointing but by no means unexpected news from the News & Observer today, which announced that the paper would cut 70 jobs -- 8% of its workforce -- due to ongoing declines in advertising revenue amidst a tough time nationwide for print media.
About one-quarter of the job cuts come from the newsroom. That said, word from the N&O's Durham editor, Rob Waters, is that the Bull City newsroom escaped the ax, though headcount there is already down from a year ago, as the Independent Weekly noted in April.
The big change at the N&O likely to impact Durham is the elimination of the N&O's Triangle west edition, a special daily version of the paper that focused on covering the Bull City as well as Orange and Chatham stories.
As Waters put it, the actual effect of this change will shake itself out over the coming weeks, though one can imagine a scenario where Durham/Chapel Hill stories find themselves competing with Wake County stories for attention in the "The Old Reliable." One can imagine in such a scenario seeing more of that content in the weekly N&O production of The Durham News, and less in the daily paper.
(Disclaimer: while I'm not an employee of the N&O/McClatchy, I do occasionally write paid freelance columns for The Durham News.)
It's a relief to see no further cuts to the Durham newsroom, the presence of which is one of the best explanations I can find to the Herald-Sun's recent (and noticeable) beefing-up of its reporting staff after the Paxton blood-letting a few years back.
There will always be those who consider the Raleigh-based N&O a poor source of Durham news. For those skeptics, I invite you to compare this mid-day briefing from Matt Dees on the budget process with the following, which supposedly passes for content over at the Durham-anemic WRAL's Web site:
Durham city leaders are expected to approve a final budget Monday night.
City council members are to meet at 7 p.m. to vote on the budget, which calls for a property tax rate increase.
Firefighters, police officers and some other city employees will get raises.
City leaders also put arts funding back in the budget after a backlash.
Yes, that was the full story. One step above "WRAL understand Durham residents will have to, like, pay more in taxes." You can hardly imagine a less informative article.
I'll take my Raleigh-based Durham news in N&O fashion over the above coverage (or lack thereof) any time.
I'm relieved to hear there weren't any layoffs in the Durham newsroom; several of my favorite N&O bylines come out of that office.
That said, this is not only bad news for the overall quality of the N&O, it's terrible news for those of us in Durham who rely on it for our local news. While the writers and editors in the Durham bureau have been spared, they are going to be fighting for space in what is apparently going to be a very tight local news section from now on.
With the business section being eliminated and folded into City & State at the same time the western Triangle edition of the paper is discontinued, you've suddenly got all those writers and stories fighting for space. The front page of a section typically has five slots. With the zoned local edition you typically get two or three stories that run in all editions and two or three that are specific to a zone. In business you'd typically have three local stories and a couple of national ones. So if you're following the math, you now have the three business stories, three Western Edition (Durham & Orange) and three Raleigh edition stories -- nine altogether -- fighting for three slots on the City State front that would've been zoned in the past. All six of the leftover stories probably aren't going to fit inside, so they get busted down to briefs.
And you, dear reader, are left with a news brief about a Durham homicide instead of a story, or a brief about the Chapel Hill council giving themselves health insurance for life, instead of a story.
I'll be curious to see how long until the N&O decides its lease in Durham is too expensive and that all the news in Orange and Durham can be covered from the building it owns in Chapel Hill. I'd rather that than see another editor or writer let go, but if money is as tight as it now appears, you have to wonder if that isn't on the table at some point.
This is also terrible news for fans of the N&O's sports department, whose fine editor was among those laid off. Per today's paper, the N&O and Charlotte Observer will now operate a combined sports department out of Charlotte. That means someone 130 miles away in a market that has completely different sporting interests (Panthers, NASCAR, UNC, Bobcats) is going to be making decisions about sports coverage for Raleigh (UNC, Duke, State, UNC, UNC, Canes).
Posted by: Jonathan Jones | June 17, 2008 at 07:43 AM
This is bad news. I've been an N&O subscriber for about 10 years and have always been a much bigger fan of the N&O than the Herald-Sun. Aside from local coverage, everything non-Durham (state, national, or international, features, comics) is pretty weak in the H-S; it just doesn't feel like a "real" paper to me. (I grew up on a mid-sized paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and later my all time fave, the Washington Post.)
I have definitely noticed the N&O getting slimmer over the past year and I've noticed more wire and McClatchy stories. Some of them are good but many are things that I pick up while I'm online, so my N&O value has been declining. I'll have to see if it really tanks after this, enough to get me to sample the H-S once again.
Posted by: Derek | June 17, 2008 at 09:52 AM
I noticed that 112 S. Duke Street has a big sign on it advertising 4100+ sq.ft. of office space. I believe that's the location of the Durham N&O office which makes me think that they've vacated their offices. My wife (a former newswoman herself), thinks they've concentrated their offices into the Raleigh space.
Posted by: Jamie Gruener | June 21, 2008 at 04:00 PM