Chronicle to trim its work force2
The Houston Chronicle is cutting about 5 percent of its work force through layoffs and the elimination of open positions as it restructures the operations of the newspaper, Publisher and President Jack Sweeney said Monday.
Approximately 70 employees will be affected by the changes.
“Even with our core newspaper and extensive lineup of print and online products, our ad revenues have trended down over the last five years,” Sweeney said. “Projections for 2008 also show a downturn.”
The Chronicle is the seventh-largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the U.S. and the eighth-largest on Sunday. Its Web site, chron.com, averages nearly 70 million page views and 6 million unique visitors each month.
Revenue for most U.S. newspapers has been in decline, hurt by the Internet and by declines in advertising. The San Antonio Express-News, also owned by the Hearst Corp., announced last week that it would eliminate 40 to 50 positions across the company in order to focus on online and niche products.
Sweeney said the Chronicle needs a different structure to meet current needs.
“We need to operate differently, and at less cost, in order to devote more resources to new technology and product development,” Sweeney said.
Footnotes
2 = reported in the Houston Chronicle; article may expire after a few weeks
