Dec 17, 2007 11:09 pm US/Central
Sun-Times Planning Job Cuts As Budget Tightens
Could Latest Round Of Cutbacks Lead To End Of Newspaper?
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Morale among employees at the Chicago Sun-Times is taking another slip. Company e-mails on Friday notified workers of drastic budget cuts that will lead to lost jobs.
As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the Sun-Times was devastated by owners David Radler, sentenced Monday to two years in jail; and Conrad Black, who last week got six years for stealing millions. Some say the tailspin the paper is taking could be fatal.
"One person I know in the newsroom said this is the end of the paper," said Chicago Reader media critic Michael Miner.
In an effort to recover from damages caused by Radler and Black, and keep the presses rolling, the Sun-Times' Board has ordered $50 million in cuts.
As CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, a lot of reporters are wondering about the future of the Sun-Times. A memo from the editor e-mailed to the staff on Friday said newsroom positions would be eliminated, but company officials will not say which jobs or how many.
The first e-mail, from the editor of the newspaper, says it has no choice but to make the cut because of declining advertising and circulation revenues.
Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke, who declined our request for an interview, said in a memo to his staff: "I cannot yet tell you the answers to the three most pressing questions: How many? Who? And when?"
Miner says he's heard 40 jobs will be lost in the Sun-Times newsroom.
"It's a serious bloodletting. It will certainly constrain," Miner said. "It will limit what they're able to do in the future. There can't be any pretense. When this is over, it'll be a leaner, meaner paper."
Cooke did respond by e-mail to a Chicago Reader claim that 40 people, a quarter of the newsroom, would lose their jobs.
"Even if the 40 number was true," he wrote, "that would be less than a fifth of the newsroom."
"I don't know where they could find 40 people," Miner said.
With more and more cuts, a leaner and leaner paper, and the tabloid Sun-Times already being challenged by the Tribune's free Red Eye newspaper, justifying the 50 cent newsstand price could become more difficult.
The question is whether the Chicago Tribune, which already delivers the Sun-Times each morning, will someday be the only game in town.
"A big city like Chicago needs more than one point of view," said area resident Donnell Ard.
One alternative to a Tribune monopoly would be for the Tribune and Sun-Times to join forces, combining business operations but maintaining separate news staffs. Newspapers in Detroit, Denver, Seattle and Cincinnati already have similar joint operating agreements.
No one's talking about that here -- yet. But it's clear that the time and resources the Sun-Times need to become profitable are running out.
CBS 2's Jay Levine and Pamela Jones contributed to this report. cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
Slideshow: Most Popular Videos Of 2007 Slideshow: Newsmakers Remembered Slideshow: They Really Said It! Quotes From Celebrities In 2007 Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now Slideshow: What A Way To Go Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
