McClatchy budget-slashing cuts deep in the South

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. announced today that it was slashing 1,400 jobs -- 10 percent of its national workforce -- in the largest budget cuts in its history.

The issue was the same facing other newspapers -- loss of print advertising revenue. The impact will be felt especially in the South, where McClatchy owns 15 newspapers -- more than any other part of the country.

News rooms and reporting budgets will feel the knife, although McClatchy insists cuts in news reporting will be less than that seen at Gannett and other chains.

A survey of the cuts at various Southern papers shows some will be affected more than others:

[The] Charlotte Observer plans to cut 123 jobs, or 11 percent of its work force, the paper reported on its website on Monday. The Miami Herald plans 250 job cuts, or 17 percent of its work force [...]. The Herald-Leader in Lexington, Kentucky, by contrast, is dropping 17 positions, or about 4 percent.

The McClatchy saga echoes the realities behind the broader newspaper shake-out. The problem isn't necessarily declining readership -- online readership grew 41% in the first quarter of 2008 at McClatchy papers -- but an economic mis-match between declining ad revenues and shareholder demands for high profit margins on one hand, and the money needed for in-depth reporting on the other.

As Thomas Jefferson said, "Information is the currency of democracy." In-depth investigative reporting is vital to the health of our politics and culture whether it turns a buck or not. The newspaper business model may be on the way out, but the need for fearless, independent media -- like this blog and others -- is needed now more than ever.