Star publisher says paper will cut 150 jobs

A Wall Street Journal article this morning reports that The Kansas City Star‘s parent company, McClatchy, will cut 1,600 jobs. We just received a copy of Star publisher Mark Zieman’s letter on the cuts today. Here’s Zieman’s spin:

To all employees:

Last month, McClatchy announced plans to

further reduce operating expenses as a result of the ongoing economic

downturn and unprecedented decline in advertising revenue. Today,

McClatchy released additional information about these expense cuts,

including a workforce reduction of about 15 percent and wage cuts

across the board. The press release is available on McClatchy’s

corporate website.

As you know, The Star is also experiencing

advertising losses greater than any of us have ever seen. Like all

other companies and industries, we are making dramatic changes to

survive this recession and come out safe and profitable on the other

side.

We are in the final stages of our expense reduction

plans and expect to implement our cuts within a week or so. But it’s

safe to assume our workforce reduction here at The Star will be in line

with the overall McClatchy number of 15 percent, or about 150 people

locally.

In addition, we are implementing wage reductions for

all employees. Most whose compensation is less than $100,000 annually

will receive a wage reduction in the 5% range, beginning on April 20.

Those above that amount will receive a 10% reduction. We also are

eliminating bonuses for all senior managers and certain other

employees. Every employee affected by a wage reduction will receive a

letter detailing the impact of the reduction on their pay and will have

the opportunity to ask questions.

I fully understand and

appreciate how disruptive the last several weeks have been and how

announcements by other McClatchy papers, and by newspapers owned by

other companies, increase concerns about our future. Saying goodbye to

good friends and colleagues is heartbreaking, and I apologize that we

must still wait a bit before notifying the employees involved. And I am

sorry that wage cuts for the rest of us are necessary. We have worked

extremely hard these past few weeks to minimize such cuts by reducing

other expenses in areas across the company.

I know this

ongoing restructuring is discouraging and disruptive. But your efforts

during this time to keep this company stable and successful have been

absolutely outstanding. Not only have you kept our newspaper safe, you

have made heroic progress toward successfully transitioning The Star to

a multimedia, multi-platform future. Even during this difficult time,

we remain far and away our region’s preeminent source for news and

advertising. When the economy recovers we will be well-positioned for

future growth.

Thank you for everything you are doing. As

always, if you have any questions about this announcement or other

issues, please contact your department manager or human resources.

Regards,
Mark

Who will be left?