Newsroom Cuts Continue in Lee Newspapers in Montana

By Robert Struckman, 9-04-08

Cutbacks at Lee Enterprises newspapers in Montana continue today with six newsroom layoffs at the Ravalli Republic in Hamilton.

The layoffs amounted to three full-time and three part-time positions, although the weekday paper also added a position, hiring John Cramer, a seasoned reporter laid off by the Missoulian last week. In a story on the newspaper’s Web site, publisher Kristen Bounds said she intends to make another hire for the newsroom in the coming weeks, giving the paper a total of six editorial positions. The newspaper has a total of 17 employees.

Insiders say Lee’s newspapers in Montana remain profitable, but the corporation has been struggling under $1.3 billion in debt from its purchase of the Pulitzer chain of newspapers more than two years ago. Previously, the company specialized in making huge revenues in small markets. Since then, Lee’s stock price has plunged more than 90 percent, from more than $40 per share to less than $4.

For those watching the national newspaper industry reel from plunging revenues, higher operating costs and increased competition, these layoffs may seem minor, especially when compared, say, to the cuts happening at major dailies across the country.

After all, today the Tulsa Oklahoman announced 150 layoffs and a Boston-area suburban newspaper chain cut 50 jobs. That’s just one day. Cuts like these seem to be announced every two or three days. In addition, newspapers across the Lee chain have been slashing jobs across its 50-plus newspapers. Few of Lee’s papers are unionized, but here’s the union blog from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Here’s a press release about earnings and restructuring issued by the Davenport, Iowa-based chain in late July.

Sources say to expect more layoffs at Lee papers across Montana, including the Helena Independent-Record, the Billings Gazette and the Montana Standard in Butte. Other papers have recently had layoffs or have cut staff by attrition and hiring freezes, including the Bozeman Chronicle and the Great Falls Tribune.

Looking at the state’s workforce as a whole, these cuts will add up to perhaps several dozen positions, total, and may seem minor. But a seismic shift is underway in news in Montana and the country. Newspapers produce most of this country’s in-depth and comprehensive news. Column-inches are the raw product that the other segments of the industry use as fodder for their own material—everything from magazines and cable news channels to radio and the Internet. Newsrooms are also the training ground where beginning reporters learn how to handle complex and awkward news stories. Those are the skills that allow young reporters to become true watchdogs for the public interest.

As this shift continues, the main open question is whether other media—such as Internet-based offerings including NewWest.Net—can fill that gap.

Click here for other recent coverage of the newspaper industry in Montana.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.