Testing Grounds The latest industry being outsourced to India is clinical drug trials. And any number of tragic things can happen on the way to your medicine cabinet.
Friday Night Rewind It doesn't matter which team you cheer for. We've got video previews of every high school football program in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando County.
The Tampa Tribune has confirmed several significant changes coming this week and next, from the layoff of a well-known columnist to a redesign coming Monday that will significantly reduce the size of the weekday newspaper.
Executive editor Janet Coats said editorial writer and columnist Joe Brown was laid off Monday, among four editorial staffers let go. Tribune owner Media General said earlier this year it planned to eliminate 250 jobs in 2008 at its Florida outlets, including Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA-Ch. 8 and TBO.com.
Coats would not detail the changes coming in the newspaper's Monday edition; rumors persist that the Tribune will present a two-section edition weekdays. These changes come as the company completes a sweeping reorganization and merging of the newsrooms at the Tribune, WFLA and TBO.com, focused on gathering information first for the Web site and later for the newspaper and TV station.
The changes at Media General come as falling advertising revenue and rising expenses force news outlets across the state and the nation to consider serious changes to their business and editorial structures.
On Monday, the Tampa alternative newspaper chain Creative Loafing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while struggling to pay a $40-million debt. The 6-year-old New York Sun newspaper published its last edition Tuesday after substantial losses.
And three South Florida newspapers that usually compete against one another — the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale — announced this year they would share some news material to shave costs.
At the St. Petersburg Times, 201 people accepted an enhanced retirement package offered by the company earlier this year, including 26 newsroom staffers. The paper had already instituted a yearlong pay freeze and reduced the size of its weekday editions to curb costs.
Brown, 58, is likely the best-known name among Tribune staffers laid off this year, a 14-year employee who is also the paper's highest-profile columnist of color. He said he had no idea what he might do next.
"The old (economic model) for newspapers is fading away … (but) I don't think the Internet will save newspapers, either," he said. "You need 22 Internet readers to produce the same revenue as one newspaper reader."
But Coats said the coming changes balance reduced resources with the new ways readers use the newspaper.
"People tend to be skimmers during the week, reading more in depth in the weekend," she said. "People use the paper differently now, and we have to reflect that."
[Last modified: Oct 08, 2008 03:58 PM]
Comments on this article
by Samuel
Oct 8, 2008 3:58 PM
I am a 50 year Tampa Trib reader. The new weekday edition is a mishmash of ads, pictures and minimal verbiage - only one person can read the section at one time. Clean up the mishmash and have all sports in a separate section. Put obits in first sect
by Martha
Oct 7, 2008 10:38 AM
My family likes to share the morning paper. your new format makes this very hard. I see no need to renew my subscribtion. I've been a faithful reader for over fifty years. I understand we must all cut back,my next cutback will be the Tribune. Thanks
by jimmy
Oct 3, 2008 7:23 PM
Both local dailies are sinking. The Trib was once a decent paper; today it's increasingly morphing into the Lakeland Ledger. The Times is an excellent paper that is so skewed by leftist ranting that it will alienate sensible readers.
by James
Oct 3, 2008 6:35 PM
Print media is having a difficult time adjusting to the business model changes required by the Internet . Readers have lost interest in how you report the news . Heck most of us read 10 or 15 news sources a day . Too many character assinations !
by Trunk
Oct 2, 2008 5:32 PM
Barbara, I pretty much agree, but I think the SPT does more original reporting/stories. Also, the Tampa Tribune raised its newsstand price 100% the last couple weeks. Wonder what genius at Media General thought that move would increase circulation?
by barbara
Oct 2, 2008 3:50 PM
Trunk, what paper doesn't do that now? The newspapers are working hard to bring about their own demise. I don't read the Tampa Trib, but I've been nothing but disappointed in the new tabloid St. Pete Times. Used to be a joy to read, now it's trash.
by Bob
Oct 2, 2008 3:35 PM
Perhaps the Bush administration and Congress will step in and bailout the newspapers!
by Brian
Oct 2, 2008 1:59 PM
Creative Loafing described the changing economic reality nicely in its recent Letter from the Editor. Namely, the paper serves as a tool to drive readers (consumers) to the website. How about including url links to articles in the bylines?
by Jill
Oct 2, 2008 12:31 PM
There are a lot of hardworking journalists at both the Trubune and the Times. None of them deserve to lose their jobs.
by Holly
Oct 2, 2008 10:58 AM
There is never a good time to lose your job. Good luck to Mr Brown!
by Marie
Oct 2, 2008 10:57 AM
Times you should pick up Joe Brown, IMO he was one of the best columnists at the Tribune.
by Redfern
Oct 2, 2008 10:56 AM
The Times also had layoffs. Why not report that as well?
by Trunk
Oct 2, 2008 10:53 AM
This is just the next chapter in the death spiral of the Tampa Tribune. Awful newspaper anyway; basically relies on reprints of articles from AP, WSJ, NYT, Wash Post, and other news sources.
Subscribe to the Times
Click here for daily delivery
of the St. Petersburg Times.
News
