COLUMBIA — The Columbia Daily Tribune said a drop in advertising revenue has forced it to
eliminate positions in recent months and some additional jobs may be cut.
"Like every other business, we are targeting some positions for
potential elimination based on what's happening (with the economy),"
Associate Publisher Vicki Russell said.
Russell said the
paper had eliminated "a few" of its approximately 260 full-time or equivalent employees in late 2008, including, she
thought, one in editorial and "some in production." She said she did not know the exact number.
Managing Editor Jim Robertson said the newsroom has chosen not to fill
2 1/2 vacant positions over the past year.
Russell said the newspaper's management was trying to systematically search for places to cut back.
"We are talking with our employees about possible changes, and we are
trying to be very open in our communication with them," Russell said. "I don't want to
create the impression that every week we're going to have a new
bloodbath."
"Where we believe we can downsize and not hurt our product, we will do
it," Russell said. "Where we will go from here totally depends on the
economy."
Russell
said revenue from employment ads had dropped as MU and other local
employers stopped hiring and retail advertising had also slipped,
with two major retailers and advertisers — Circuit City and Linens n'
Things — falling off the map entirely.
Russell said the Tribune's significant commercial printing operation had so far escaped the worst of the economic downturn.
"That side of our business happily has not seen the kind of changes that are happening in newspaper advertising," Russell said.
Russell said advances in technology had helped render some jobs obsolete.
"We're working very hard to make sure that any jobs that are eliminated
are not jobs related to the information we provide every day at our
newspaper or the quality of our work," Russell said.
"While the economy is taking its toll on one side, we see
opportunities in other areas," Russell said. She said that, despite the
cutbacks, the paper had already hired three new employees as part of a
project scheduled to launch within the next four to six weeks. She would not describe the project.