Latest sign of an ailing industry: Star Tribune cuts more jobs

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Rarely will a newspaper welcome getting its own headline.  Not on a normal day, not when your paper just emerged from bankruptcy a little more than a month ago.

But on Monday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune again made news: after two years of slashing jobs, the paper's management says it's cutting another 100 positions.  Of those positions, management says 30 will come from a newsroom currently staffed by 290 people.  Management will decide who to cut over the next two months.

"There have been so many shocks over the last year and a half.  I think people are very concerned about it, they take it very seriously," said Graydon Royce, an Arts Reporter and Co-Chair of the Star Tribune Guild Unit.

Royce says what happens next at the paper will require restructuring -- changes everyone hopes won't hurt the final product.  That's precisely why he and others are pushing for the paper's guild unit to be involved in the process.

"Somehow, we have to do this smartly enough so that we can still protect that franchise," Royce said.

But industry experts fear the Star Tribune -- like papers around the country -- may have already cut to the bone.

"They've chewed the staff down to the gristle," said St. Thomas Journalism Professor, Mark Neuzil. 

Neuzil predicts consumers could soon see a difference.

"I don't know if it's what you'll see, it's what you won't see.  What stories won't get covered, what issues go unexplained to the public," Neuzil said.

Neuzil and others say they're also not surprised the Star Tribune is surrendering to further cuts, particularly in a climate of seeking significant changes to the bottom line.  Experts say the recent weekend editions of both the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press -- both boasting a front page filled with advertisements -- provide further proof of the tight economic times.

"Newspapers used to have ads on the front page before you and I were around, and it's anything for a dollar at this point," Neuzil said.

Experts and industry insiders hesitate to predict what's next for the industry.  But they hope the days of newspapers making their own headlines may be nearing the end.

"I certainly hope this is the last blow.  I seriously hope.  Just for the well-being and sake of people in the building and for the survival of the newspaper," Royce said. 

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