In another blow to U.S. newspaper workers, the San Francisco Chronicle’s parent company, Hearst Corp., announced Feb. 25 that if it does not turn around an estimated $50 million in losses through significant job cuts and other measures, it would seek a buyer within a few weeks. If that is unsuccessful, Hearst says it will shut down the paper.
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The statement issued by Hearst executives said in part: “Survival is the outcome we all want to achieve.
“But without specific changes we are seeking across the entire Chronicle organization, we will have no choice but to quickly seek a buyer for The Chronicle, and, should a buyer not be found, to shut down the newspaper.”
Pending layoffs would affect union and non-union employees. Negotiations with the unions are now under way. Those unions include the Northern California Media Guild Lo. 39521, which represents reporters, graphic specialists, customer service and other office workers, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 853, which represents drivers, pressmen and mailers. Unionized janitors and electricians are still working at the paper, but were subcontracted to other companies in 2005.
The San Francisco Chronicle is the major daily paper of the Bay Area, with a weekday paid circulation of over 339,000. It is the 11th largest in the country.
Hearst Corp. is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world. It owns 16 daily newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle, 49 weekly papers and almost 200 magazines. Among them are Cosmopolitan, Esquire, O and Good Housekeeping. Hearst’s majority-owned Hearst-Argyle owns 28 TV channels, including Lifetime, A&E, ESPN and the History Channel.
The huge media empire is privately held.
Across the country, major newspapers are facing a virtual free fall due primarily to advertising losses—and the worst is not even close. The newspaper industry’s economic decline began several years ago, before the precipitous fall of housing, retail and other industries in 2008. Dramatic losses of advertising—much of it to the Internet—and loss of readership have contributed to the massive layoffs in the newspapers. But high delivery and newsprint costs have compounded the losses.
In mid-January, the Gannett newspaper conglomerate announced a mandatory one-week furlough—one week off without pay—for all its 53,000 workers. Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain, owns 101 newspapers, including USA Today, and 20 TV stations. Its fourth-quarter 2008 profits fell 36 percent over 2007. Still, fourth-quarter profits were $158 million.
Then on Jan. 28, Media News Group, a chain of 61 dailies, announced a similar one-week furlough for all workers and management in California. According to management, the furlough may also extend to its other newspapers, including the Denver Post.
Every newspaper across the country has been hit hard by the crisis: The Tribune Co., owner of The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, declared bankruptcy in early Dec. 2008. Those dailies are two of the eight largest newspapers in the United States.
The Tribune Co.’s and Media News Group’s woes were also fueled by the owners’ merger frenzy and monopolization of the media. After multiple mergers, acquisitions and consolidation, the media barons are finding themselves over-leveraged and unable to pay billions of dollars in debt.
As is true across the full spectrum of the capitalist system, it is the workers who pay the price.
One case in point is Media News Group. In 2006, Dean Singleton, MNG’s principal owner, purchased 12 newspapers from McClatchy newspapers. Those 12 papers were a spin-off from the earlier purchase by McClatchy of 32 newspapers from the now-defunct Knight-Ridder conglomerate.
Singleton’s favorite tactic to maximize profits, starting way before the current economic crisis hit, has been to close papers, lay off workers, consolidate news staff and production, and rehire on a non-union basis. In 2008, dozens of workers from his union and non-union ad production department were dismissed, and ad production was outsourced to India.
As the capitalist crisis deepens, direct attacks against workers will intensify.
For example, Express KCS is a U.S.-owned corporation operating in India that specializes in outsourcing electronically produced media work. And true to the laws of capitalism, if one company adopts a labor-saving device or process, the others must follow suit or fall behind at the expense of their own profits.
The sudden announcement and dire prediction by Hearst of possible eminent sale and/or closure is intended to put the unions on the defensive. It may be a precursor move to further consolidate the San Francisco Chronicle with other media companies—perhaps Media News Group operations.
What is evident is that the books must be fully revealed to the unions. But the unions also have an obligation to join together and fight to save as many jobs as possible.
With every new corporate and government announcement, it becomes clearer that the corporate owners who created the crisis are seeking to protect profits by directly attacking workers. It is imperative that workers broaden the scope and intensity of their fight back.
