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Oakland Press staffers have sacrificed
Recently, I received two anonymous comments on my blog concerning the not-so-popular, to say the least, half-page wrap around advertisements and dividing the A-section into mini-sections.
One comment was particularly critical and so I am responding in this blog.
The comment read: “Count me amongst those who detest that half page wrap around, and everybody I know that reads the Oakland Press hates it as well. You're supposed to be putting out a product that's pleasing to the readers, remember? If it's a matter of revenue, perhaps the staff at the Oakland Press should make concessions and tighten their belts to make ends meet, like they advise everybody else to do. Funny how you never run an editorial about that.”
First, let’s talk about the multiple A-section sections and the wrap around ad. As you might expect, they are related to revenue. The capacity of our press requires the smaller sections to accommodate advertisers who wish to run color ads. It gets a bit technical as to why but that is the basic reason. The advertisements, in whatever form they may take, supply badly needed revenue. So please, bear with us.
Also, The Oakland Press editorial staff has been cut by 50 to 55 percent over the past few years, from a high of about 105 full-time staffers to roughly 45 full time and five part-time workers now in all areas of the Editorial Department — news, photo and copy desk. The figure includes editors.
Obviously, because of the reductions, all staffers, including editors, are doing multiple tasks. Reporters are not only writing stories but editing the stories of other staffers. They also are taking videos of news sources. Often videos, which go online, also yield a still photo to run with the story. Likewise, editors not only read the copy of other staffers but also write from time to time. And we have reporters and editors also doubling on electronically laying out pages.
As far as salary, all Oakland Press staffers have been on a wage freeze for the past three years. In addition, our health care premiums, co-pays and deductibles continue to rise.
We feel we are doing our part to help the company survive the recession. And we are also feeling the bite of the poor economy. So, when we write about sacrifices, we may not have suffered as much as some people who have lost their jobs but we are feeling the pressure and can sympathize.
One comment was particularly critical and so I am responding in this blog.
The comment read: “Count me amongst those who detest that half page wrap around, and everybody I know that reads the Oakland Press hates it as well. You're supposed to be putting out a product that's pleasing to the readers, remember? If it's a matter of revenue, perhaps the staff at the Oakland Press should make concessions and tighten their belts to make ends meet, like they advise everybody else to do. Funny how you never run an editorial about that.”
First, let’s talk about the multiple A-section sections and the wrap around ad. As you might expect, they are related to revenue. The capacity of our press requires the smaller sections to accommodate advertisers who wish to run color ads. It gets a bit technical as to why but that is the basic reason. The advertisements, in whatever form they may take, supply badly needed revenue. So please, bear with us.
Also, The Oakland Press editorial staff has been cut by 50 to 55 percent over the past few years, from a high of about 105 full-time staffers to roughly 45 full time and five part-time workers now in all areas of the Editorial Department — news, photo and copy desk. The figure includes editors.
Obviously, because of the reductions, all staffers, including editors, are doing multiple tasks. Reporters are not only writing stories but editing the stories of other staffers. They also are taking videos of news sources. Often videos, which go online, also yield a still photo to run with the story. Likewise, editors not only read the copy of other staffers but also write from time to time. And we have reporters and editors also doubling on electronically laying out pages.
As far as salary, all Oakland Press staffers have been on a wage freeze for the past three years. In addition, our health care premiums, co-pays and deductibles continue to rise.
We feel we are doing our part to help the company survive the recession. And we are also feeling the bite of the poor economy. So, when we write about sacrifices, we may not have suffered as much as some people who have lost their jobs but we are feeling the pressure and can sympathize.
posted by Allan Adler at
12:18 PM
6 Comments:
I find your reply to the anonymous commenter at best severely lacking, and at worst, flat out bull. As a long time subscriber to the OP I have witnessed countless A-sections over 20 pages,in ONE section, so please spare us that your press can't handle it. It's about the OP bowing to advertisers who wish their solicitations to be next to worthwhile stories, the better to get noticed. Who's kidding who? In the meanwhile, your readers are obviously not liking the format, so you have some hard decisions to make. Why not put all the ads in their own section, like the classifieds, and appease the readers? The OP has been fortunate, given the Detroit papers backing off their territory and no one else coming along to fill the void. Yet that worm might turn someday. I suggest you side with your readers, because without them, nobody will see the ads anyway.
As for your staff sacrificing? A 3 year wage freeze sounds nice, but considering employees elsewhere, specifically General Motors, that are now making half of what they used to and have seen their dental, vision, and medical plans all but obliterated, while you may sympathize, you're hardly feeling the same pain.
And what has the OP done over the past few years? Gradually raise their prices.
You folks might want to do some serious soul searching, because you're leaving yourselves wide open to being swept away if somebody comes along and gives the readers what they want.
Employees working at General Motors who are now making half of what they used to make are still making more money now than the average reporter at a newspaper the size of The Oakland Press.
TV journalism may pay well, and old timers in the J-biz may be doing OK, but for those young professionals who decide to go into print journalism, it's because of a passion for the job, not the money. Trust me, the money is not there.
The average starting salary for a print journalist is right around the $30,000 mark. Try paying back student loans for the 4-year degree you're required to have for the job and supporting yourself on that, while your cost of living and insurance increases annually and at the same time, having absolutely no increases to your salary for years on end. Print journalists struggle and it's not specific to The Oakland Press.
To anonymous who posted on Feb. 2, perhaps the reason you find Mr. Adler's reply lacking is because while you may think otherwise, you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Mr. Adler didn't say the presses couldn't handle 20-page A sections, he said the presses require smaller A sections to accommodate the volume of color ads being requested. The 20-page A sections you used to see didn't contain the same volume of color ads.
As a former journalist, I, too, hate the idea of advertising dominating the content of today's newspapers. My guess is that every person in the OP newsroom shares the same view. The simple fact is that advertising is what supports the newspaper industry. The gradually rising subscription cost you mentioned barely covers the cost of delivering the paper, and this has always been the case.
So why not just shove all the ads in their own section to appease the readers? Perhaps because advertisers would refuse to buy ad space, knowing that readers could so easily set aside those sections and ignore their ads. And when advertisers back out, there's no money to support production of the paper. How would that appease the readers?
Any newspaper reader who's been half conscious over the last decade has noticed that publications are scaling back and closing up shop because of vanishing advertiser revenue. And on a related note, the Detroit papers didn't back off the OP's territory as a gesture of good will. They did so because maintaining traditional production levels was no longer financially viable. This would also explain why "somebody" hasn't come along to "fill the void" and appease the readers.
Finally, the comment about OP staffers not knowing the pain of their insurance plans being gutted is laughable. Along with marginal pay, the benefits afforded to the average journalist were marginal years ago, and have only been cut since.
What's happening to the newspaper industry is a shame, and anonymous posting on Feb. 4 got it right – it's hardly a phenomenon exclusive to the Oakland Press. The industry is in the midst of a critical transition, and what it needs is new ideas to generate revenue without compromising the quality of relevant, insightful and valued journalism. The last thing it needs is ignorant buffoons patting the backs of corporate profit mongers as they squeeze the last drips of blood out of the people who actually produce the product readers want.
To the first anonymous on Feb. 4, I made far less than $30,000 as a print journalist at my first job. I was practically homeless, living with a relative and falling behind bills. I made less than $20,000 out of college.
Anyone going into journalism these days is thick-headed and EXTREMELY passionate about their work. These days I make above the $30K mark, but I work 50-60 hours a week with no overtime. I don't want to hear it about Big Three workers cutting back. I have family who are a part of that. Yes, they have suffered a lot to continue their product, but unlike print journalists, their industry does not require them to do the job of four people and adapt to an industry that has been turned upside down by the Internet.
To the second anonymous Feb. 4 poster, yes, it is a damn shame -- especially because most of these new ideas to create revenue compromise everything else, especially the quality of news.
I agree with the first anonymous commenter. At least he or she was objective. It sounds like the rest are working in the newspaper industry with an axe to grind for their own selfish reasons. I don't want to hear about the press not being able to handle color ads and advertisers backing out if they don't get their way. The product should be appealing to the readers and obviously it is not. Student loans and making $30,000 a year? I should be so lucky. Try making it on $15,000 with a wife and 2 kids and ZERO benefits. Here's a thought. The OP has no problems with reporting the salary and benefits of others, so in the interest of open and honest journalism, why not publish their own once a year? Am I to believe Allan Adler, the editor who wrote this blog, with over 30 years in the newspaper business, is struggling to make ends meet? I think not. Let's not forget the Oakland Press was the original union busters. Years later when the Detroit papers had similar labor issues, nobody in Pontiac, at that time a heavily unionized town, would buy their papers. So what did the OP do? Doubled their price because they were the only game in town. Now days, the OP has a basic monopoly in most areas of Oakland County with their paper, and the readers are not happy. I suggest they get with the program. If they can't figure that out, then maybe they should fold up. If that happens, somebody else will quickly fill the void and life will go on.
Yes to the last comment. Despite the hard economic times, the Oakland Press is lucky to reside in one of the richest counties in the country, and yes, they have a monopoly, so they don't care. Other newspapers with far longer histories than the Oakland or Pontiac Press have disappeared and the world is just fine. If they don't care about what readers want, then they're picking their own poison. With as much money as there is in Oakland County, it wouldn't be very long before somebody else moved in and gave the readers what they want. Please spare me the passion of print journalists working for peanuts. If they have that much passion, they should write a book or start taking computer classes, because the printed newspaper is on the endangered species list anyway.
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