FRONTIER REPORTER BUFFALO NEWSPAPER GUILD • CWA LOCAL 31026 • FEBRUARY 2020 Special Edition Bracing for change Guild takes action after sale of The News to Lee Enterprises By Sandy Tan employed a very templated we need to wait and see what There is still a lot we don’t website across all its other pa- changes may, or may not, apply t seems nearly incompre- know, but more answers are pers than what we have at The to us. hensible that after decades rolling out in the coming days News. They’ve also sold some of being owned by the as the transfer of ownership newspaper buildings. Now is not the time to make Butler family, and then by marches toward completion in any big decisions about the Ithe stable and hands-off Warren mid-March. But despite all the Buyouts, reductions through future until more information is Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway, uncertainty, there is one thing attrition, and layoffs have available regarding how the sale The Buffalo News will now be that we already know. And that occurred. Some papers even will directly affect us, our jobs owned by a corporate media is, there are far worse corporate reported lower rates of staff and our benefits. company for the first time in owners than Lee. reduction than under prior cor- history. porate owners. Consolidation We encourage all members to As has already been shared with of some newspaper functions attend the upcoming State of the Our time as an independently many of our members, all union have also occurred, with Lee News meetings on Wednesday run city newspaper is over. contracts at The Buffalo News Enterprises using hubs to handle and ask as many thoughtful carry over to the new owners. In particular kinds of work. Some questions as possible since our Publisher Warren Colville recent history, Lee has worked larger papers, though, have ac- publisher has offered to either announced the change in the productively with unions at tually become hubs and grown provide answers or try to get early morning hours of January the other papers Lee owns or in certain areas. answers to address employee 29th. In a few short weeks, Lee manages. concerns. Enterprises will become only This is what we know based on the third owner that our paper All of their larger papers still the work of many Guild mem- Finally, there is no better time to has ever had. publish seven days a week, as bers who called reporters and support the work of the Guild. do most of their smaller ones. editors at a dozen other newspa- As we learn more, we will share Our ties to Berkshire Hathaway They appear to place value on pers owned or managed by Lee. more. Our ownership may be are not completely severed, local journalism. changing, but the strength of the however, since Berkshire Ha- The Buffalo News will be one Guild and our union’s com- thaway is now the sole lender Of course, it’s not all roses and of the largest, if not the largest, mitment to its members isn’t for all of Lee Enterprises’ debt. sunshine. The company has newspaper in the Lee chain, so changing at all.

Editor’s Note: In response to the from Pulitzer in 2005. Before Benchmarks are set for news- Sandra Tan announcement that The Buffalo that, Lee primarily owned small rooms, and, according to a News will be sold to Lee Enter- and small-town papers. The P-D former employee, “if you don’t Lee has made very few notice- prises, several Buffalo Newspa- stresses content and watches hit them they cut fast.” able changes in the day-to-day per Guild journalists reached traffic very closely. They use a operations of the newsroom, out to newsroom and editorial centralized design hub, but want In a few years in her newsroom, and Lee has not interfered with employees at Lee publications reporters on the ground. she said she has lost 3.5 positions editorial decision-making or the across the country. We wanted to – about 25%of her small staff. union’s three-year contract. Lee find out how, exactly, the com- There have been a few layoffs, did, however, bring in a new pany oversaw operations, what and there have been buyout Lee does believe in quality work. publisher with a background in changes have been made under options on a fairly regular basis. Lee emphasizes that each paper marketing and sales, whose focus Lee’s leadership and how the But, buyout thresholds have to be specify and focus on key themes has been drawing more revenue. ownership has impacted those reached in order to avoid layoffs. and questions in local communi- newsrooms. ties, and does not try to impose The Times-Dispatch’s building The P-D relocated from its old a corporate coverage mindset was sold, but print operations Here are findings from 12 news- building two years ago -- the and emphasis, in the way that were retained – those are housed papers. Circulation figures were old building was deemed “too Gannett or Advance does. in a different building. compiled by the CWA research big.” It also outsourced security, department and distributed in phones, billing and classifieds. Lee has “channels” and has Lee took over much of the IT October of 2018. During the 2019 Stanley Cup collaboration across the chain side except for the help desk, playoffs, the copy desk went to – editors and reporters from and a bad website hasn’t gotten • • • Munster, Ind. Munster edits the different papers join together on better. Digital subscriptions are paper, off site, as does a hub in themed projects that would be on a sliding scale, without a set St. Louis Post-Dispatch Madison, Wisc. difficult, with smaller staffs, to cost for readers. Circulation: 150,278 do on their own. Mike Harrington, Kim Leiser • • • The newsroom got a 2% raise in • • • 2018 and a 1% raise in 2020, but The Post-Dispatch became the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald does not negotiate health care. largest newspaper in the Lee Circulation: 101,013 Richmond Times-Dispatch chain when it was purchased Sean Kirst Circulation: 94,776 Continued on Page 2 FRONTIER REPORTER BUFFALO NEWSPAPER GUILD • CWA LOCAL 31026 • FEBRUARY 2020 Special Edition Continued from Page 1 reporters left, and the buyout paid have merged; copy desk/page de- local content on the Journal’s one week per year. Personnel sign, accounting, production and website, but the rest of the digital Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) in the newsroom was replaced, classified. Also, the entire news work is handled by their regional Circulation: 65,046 but with younger reporters hired department at the Greensboro digital desk. Rachel Lenzi through a pipeline with a universi- News & Record is smaller than ty. Employees pay for health care, the copy desk was in 2008-2009. • • • The Daily Star is jointly owned by including dental and vision, and Lee and Gannett. Lee has owned get a 401(k). • • • Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune the paper since 1971, when it Circulation: 13,344 was purchased from Pulitzer. Lee • • • Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star Mike McAndrew owns the newsroom and advertis- Circulation: 40,235 ing operations. Gannett owns the Roanoke (Va.) Times Mike Pesarchick The newsroom has shrunk from remainder of operations. Circulation: 50,451 40 reporters to 16, which includes Lian Bunny Lee outsourced Lincoln’s printing three editors, since 2002, when The Daily Star has had one round to Omaha, Neb. – at least an hour Lee purchased the Star-Tribune. of layoffs in the last five years, Over the past year, three report- away. Also, in cutting costs, Lee Lee laid off the whole photo but has had at least 15 people ers left on their own and were has done it in the least harmful staff in the early 2010s, save for take buyouts since 2016. The not replaced. About two months way to the newsroom, and has one photographer. Lee has also newsroom is currently at 65 em- ago, senior management of the been a “hands off owner,” leaving eliminated three positions from ployees. At one point, sports was newsroom was “wiped out.” editorial and opinion decisions to 2017-2019 (two newsroom posi- eliminated through buyouts and The executive editor and senior the newsroom. tions and the features editor). No replaced with younger reporters design editor, both of retirement buyouts were offered. who are more multimedia savvy. age, got severance and left. The Lee offers no pension plan, but design editor was going to retire offers a 401(k) and “decent” Lee shut down the press in Casper There is a general concern in the anyway, but editor didn’t want to health benefits at a reasonable in August of 2018, and moved Daily Star newsroom about Alden retire. The managing editor was cost. There were buyout offers in presses two hours away, to Chey- Global Capital’s stake in the Lee/ terminated (angst between him the newsroom three to four years enne, Wyo. Casper’s copy editing BH transaction. and the publisher). There have ago, and one employee accept- and print design operations were been people who got severance, ed the buyout, but there was no outsourced to Madison, Wisc. The • • • but no buyouts. significant slashing of person- publisher recently eliminated ca- nel. The Journal-Star also has a ble TV service in the newsroom, Tulsa (Okla.) World Lee got rid of the publisher about significant digital subscriber base, and got rid of a digital metrics Circulation: 67,216 a month ago after the addition of particularly for a daily newspaper service as a way to save money. Mark Sommer an ad director and the whole ad/ of its size. There is no pension, and workers sales staff turning over within aren’t fully vested in a 401(k) Reporters got raises of 3% – the • • • first in memory – and said there two months. John Jordan is the until after six years. Reporters interim publisher, who is from also pay 40-50% ,of their health haven’t been many changes since Sioux City (Iowa) Journal Lee was brought in. Reporters Lee and also was with Berkshire insurance premium, depending on Hathaway. Circulation: 28,657 which plan he or she picks. are frustrated by a standard Lee Mike Pesarchick website that does not allow for The price of the paper went up, • • • any flexibility – the template is and the website was changed, Journal employees had no used by all Lee papers. and it is hard to find local stories complaints with Lee and were Auburn (N.Y.) Citizen generally satisfied with their pay Circulation: 5,876 The concern at the World is that because the emphasis on the website is what will get page and health benefits. There isn’t Sean Kirst, Aaron Besecker desk work may be consolidated, a concern for immediate layoffs that editing and design work may views – mainly nonlocal trending stories. Digital subscriptions are or buyouts, and haven’t been any The Citizen expects more cuts, af- be outsourced. The World’s em- buyouts in two years. A new re- ter a round of layoffs four months ployees are also concerned about a big push, but it hasn’t seen an increase. porter is coming in, out of college, ago, in which it lost two reporters Alden’s stake in the purchase. but the Journal also runs what a and employees in circulation and • • • reporter called “a skeleton crew.” advertising. Employees feel as if • • • operations have been cut to the Lee has been a no-nonsense Wisconsin State Journal Greensboro (N.C.) News & bone. There are nine newsroom Record negotiator that likes to stick with employees. Circulation: 59,969 two or three proposals and get Mark Sommer Circulation: 44,811 Scott Scanlon contracts settled efficiently. Talks Lee, however, kept existing man- Lee shares ownership with Capital in the past have been along the agement on the newsroom floor in Newspapers. Lee is hands-off BH Media bought the News & line of “we want to cut these place, and there is not a sense of from a news perspective, but Record in 2013, and the Win- costs; let’s make it happen.” anxiety in the newsroom with the hands-on when it comes to bud- ston-Salem Journal in July of announcement of the transaction. gets and allocating resources. 2012. Lee has run both since the Page design and digital desk summer of 2018. Lee is more work: There is an on-staff page “Keep your head on a swivel with There have been recent buyouts nimble and innovative than designer who lays out the cover Lee,” one reporter said. “Most of or layoffs – four to five rounds, previous owners, but has only pages, but otherwise the inside the time they’ll leave you alone including a round last summer. two or three design centers for 50 pages are handled by the regional and you won’t hear much with Buyouts were only offered to newspapers. design center in Munster, Ind. them. But the worst part comes people 55 and older, with 10-plus Same thing for the digital desk. when they decide to make cuts. years of experience. Five to six Since BH’s purchase, departments A staff online editor handles the It’s a reflection of their priorities.”