What happens after copyeditors get laid off?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune isn't a New York Times Co. paper, but its just-announced decision to eliminate the jobs of 18 copyeditors and one copy desk chief offers clues about how newspapers are shifting work around.

More of these jobs across the NYT Co. could be lost -- especially at the company's 16 smaller newspapers -- as the company consolidates more work to reduce overhead.

In Minneapolis, here's what will happen after the 19 jobs get cut, according to a memo obtained by MinnPost:

• Some reporters might serve a shift as a copy editor or line editor in any given week.
• More pages will be templates and easier to produce.
• Most stories will now flow from team leader to designer to slot.
• Reporters and team leaders will be required to write initial headlines for their stories.

How have copyediting duties changed at your paper? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's Star Tribune front page, Newseum]

Boston | Staff meeting said called; job cuts near?

Updated at 8:12 p.m.: Quoting top Editor Marty Baron, the Phoenix now says this was a routine meeting.

Earlier: The Boston Phoenix is now reporting, without citing a source, that the Boston Globe's Morrissey Boulevard headquarters is currently adorned with signs calling all employees to a 10:30 AM meeting in the William O. Taylor room. "It's not clear right now what the purpose of the meeting is,'' the Phoenix story says, "but given the state of the newspaper industry and the New York Times Co.'s push last year to eliminate lifetime-job guarantees at the Globe, one has to wonder if a program of buyouts and/or layoffs is about to be announced."

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In New Year, NYT Co.'s workforce seen below 9K; outlook appears better -- depending on economy

[Job cuts: NYT Co. employment, 2004-2008]

Following another series of job cuts, the New York Times Co. starts the year with a workforce at least 6% smaller than a year ago, according to recent company disclosures and a new review of public documents filed with federal regulators. But the actual figure almost certainly will be higher, when the company discloses the count in its next annual report in about two months. The question: Whether the decline will exceed the 9% drop between 2007-2008.

The outlook for 2010 employment, on the other hand, looks modestly better compared to a year ago, amid rosier advertising forecasts as the economy emerges from the deepest recession in decades. The strength and path of that recovery is a key factor, leading blogger Alan Mutter said in a new post last week.

A robust economy could boost ad buying among retailers, car dealers, employers and real estate agents. "It does not follow, however," Mutter cautions, "that advertisers will return to their former behavior. After being forced to do more marketing with less money during the worst economy since the 1930s, advertisers in every key newspaper and broadcast category have learned to become increasingly proficient at low-cost, highly-targetable, meticulously-measurable interactive advertising."

Missing: City & Suburban cuts
NYT Co.'s newest total workforce total is due in the next annual report, expected at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by early March. In advance of that report, it's possible to ballpark the number. To begin, the company had 9,346 employees at the start of 2009, according to the last annual S.E.C. report, called a 10-K filing. (See chart, above.)

Since then, however, the company closed its City & Suburban distribution business in New York City, eliminating 500 jobs; that step was announced in late 2008. More recently, the flagship New York Times cut 100 newsroom jobs, through buyouts and layoffs. That figure, however, didn't include any cuts in other departments.

Moreover, at least one of the NYT Co.'s regional newspapers, the The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif., has announced a 10% cut in its payroll; it's hard to imagine that other dailies in the 14-paper group haven't also reduced employment. Plus, The Boston Globe started 2009 with plans to cut 12% of its newsroom jobs -- about 50 in total. Once more, that's just the editorial side of the business; other cuts no doubt occurred beyond the newsroom.

Earlier: In workforce trims, some NYT Co. units lost more

Related: CEO Janet Robinson's remarks to media stock analysts at last month's UBS conference

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[Image: yesterday's Globe, Newseum]

Santa Rosa | Fronting today

The New York Times Co.'s Press Democrat

• Santa Rosa, Calif.
• Publisher: Bruce Kyse
• Executive Editor: Cathy Barnett
• Circulation: 90,000 daily
• Contact us list

Recently in the news: Press Democrat to cut payroll 10%

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NYT | Keller says no more staff cuts 'foreseen'

Top New York Times editor Bill Keller wisely prefaces his forecast of no more job reductions by saying: "Of course, we have no guarantees of what the future holds,'' according to a new memo obtained by the New York Observer. "But," the memo continues, "anxiety-fed gossip notwithstanding, there is no further newsroom staff cut planned or foreseen, no 'next round' on the agenda. It is my fervent hope that we will never endure another month like this one."

Keller also says that this year's 5% wage reductions are over, that wages will be restored to their previous levels, starting next month. Plus, he says: "And our work force will no longer be depleted by furloughs, which should compensate a little for the reduction in staff."

Still, on the Romensko blog, reader Alex Dering comments: "That's still a salary cut. Unless you think you didn't deserve a raise, and none of your expenses have increased."

Is this really the end of staff cuts? With a comparison to Keller's pledge after last year's 100 cuts, The NYTPicker blog has doubts.

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[Image: today's front page, Newseum]

NYT's Andrews: foreclosure didn't force buyout

Edmund Andrews revealed an embarrassing truth earlier this year: The New York Times reporter who covered the mortgage meltdown was a victim of the crisis himself. His Busted: Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown "explained how he became entangled in the mortgage crisis that has swept the country, purchasing a house he couldn't really afford and piling up debt," The New York Observer says today.

Andrews is among 74 NYT staffers getting a buyout this week, as the paper jettisons 100 newsroom jobs.

"The only value for the buyout was that it essentially provides me with enough money to do a thoughtful exploration of new possibilities,'' he told the Observer. "My economic problems-which are not over-are not really changed by buyout."

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Documents track annual NYT Co. employment cuts

As The New York Times draws closer to cutting 100 newsroom jobs, a review of the parent company's total employment reveals a declining workforce in recent years. The chart (left) shows total employment for the New York Times Co. at the end of each year, based on annual reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The especially big decline between 2006-2007 reflect the sale of the company's nine-station broadcast television division.

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NYT | Guild says arbiter upholds seniority rights

"Under the ruling," the Newspaper Guild of New York says in a statement today, New York Times newsroom employees "laid off in inverse order of seniority will receive three weeks per year of severance pay, instead of two weeks, the same rate as employees who are involuntarily laid off out of order, and will have to sign a release, as they currently do. Employees with the least amount of seniority are generally most vulnerable to layoffs, but management can pass over more senior employees if it determines that a less senior employee’s qualifications are 'superior.'"

Monday's ruling comes a day before management is expected to lay off about two dozen editorial workers, the Guild notes, as part of a broader cut of 100 newsroom jobs.

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Indeed, the ax is falling well outside the newsroom

Regarding my post about non-newsroom job cuts at The New York Times, I received the following via a reader:

The current layoffs are a sign of an unhealthy company because they are clearly cutting MUCH deeper than the 100 positions that keep making headlines in the news. News Service's cuts, advertising cuts, biz-side cuts are all going on without being included in the tally. I also understand that Editorial has been ordered to cut 8% just as the newsroom is cutting 8% (which is equal to 100 jobs). So Editorial has to lose 3 jobs and they still don't know who is being affected. I just know that nobody volunteered for the buyout. I think it's just awful.

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In ongoing layoffs, what about non-editorial staff?

As The New York Times prepares to lay off several dozen in its newsroom, I'm reminded that many of the newspaper industry staff cuts made public are dominated by those involving editorial workers. That's often because those reporting layoffs are mostly newsroom employees -- the same group that tends to dominate readership of blogs like Romenesko and New York Times Co. Blog. But what about job cuts in advertising, production, finance and other departments? Surely some of those workers are getting the ax at the NYT, too.

Ditto for USA Today, which recently cut an identical number of newsroom jobs -- 26. When I've covered layoffs at Gannett's marquee title in the past, I rarely got reports of cuts outside the newsroom.

So, questions:

• Did any staff reductions hit non-editorial workers at USAT?
• And what about severance? The New York Post's Keith Kelly says that many of the NYT staffers getting buyouts left with two years of severance. What are the terms for those getting forcibly laid off?

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Buyouts: Silicon Alley Insider, Gawker float names

And some of the purported volunteers are marquee players, including economics reporter Louis Uchitelle and financial news reporter Geraldine Fabrikant. Media gossip blog Gawker is keeping a running list today, the deadline for buyout applications.