Chicago Tribune Executives: No Number Set for Future Layoffs

Management at the Chicago Tribune said that advertisement revenue was off by 20 percent this year and that they expect that trend to continue, but they denied a report in Crain’s Chicago Business that they were looking at trimming its newsroom staff by 20 percent.

Job reductions will take place throughout the paper, not just the newsroom, Tribune publisher and chief executive officer Tony Hunter and editor Gerould Kern said in an article posted at media reporter Phil Rosenthal’s Tower Ticker blog. They said that specific numbers have also not yet been determined.

“We are reorganizing the newsroom to meet our strategic goals, respond to the current economic downturn and position ourselves for success in the future,” Kern said. “It would be premature to say more at this time.”

Crain’s: Chicago Tribune to Lay Off 20 Percent of Newsroom

The Chicago Tribune is informing its employees that management plans to lay off 20 percent of the newsroom in the coming months, representing roughly 90 to 100 people, Crain’s is reporting.

Ann Saphir, with Lorene Yue, wrote today:

Staffers were told of the impending layoffs last week, according to three people who attended a meeting on the topic. The cuts will take place over the next several weeks, the sources said.

The expected cuts are the latest attempt to reduce expenses at the paper, whose parent Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in December.

A Trib spokeswoman declined to comment.

Saphir and Yue noted the Tribune had 480 employees in its newsroom last August. It cut about a dozen workers in December, just before its Chapter 11 filing, and eliminated the jobs of another 20 people in February.

Audio of Tribune Editors Discussing Life on the Blagojevich Enemies List

Chicago Tribune editorial page editors Bruce Dold and John McCormick answered questions in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum on Monday evening in an event called “Life on the Governor’s Enemies List.” writes Ali Elkin of The Daily Northwestern.

Northwestern University has the audio here.

Chicago Tribune to Offer Tabloid for Street Sales

Chicago Tribune management announced yesterday that the newspaper will offer a tabloid-size newspaper during the week for single sales. The edition, aimed at commuters, will have all the same content as the broadsheet.

Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher writes:

Chicago Tribune Editor Gerould W. Kern says the decision to launch a single-copy tabloid version of the newspaper is a continuation of the risk taking that led to its bold redesign three months ago.

The Chicago Tribune on Monday will replace its broadsheet Mondays through Fridays with a tabloid edition that will be sold at all outlets where the broadsheet is now available.

“We said we were going to be more daring, bolder and going to take some risks,” Kern said in an interview. “We said we were going to be more reader-focused about what we did, and we meant it, and we think we delivered on that.”

The tabloid version will contain all the content of the broadsheet, Kern said, so stories will not be cut to fit the smaller page. “It’s the same content in a different shape — it’s as simple as that,” he said. “The tabloid is half the size of the broadsheet, so it will have roughly double the number of pages. There’s going to be no impact on length.”