New York Times Panic: Staffers Told To Rein In Spending While They Await The Bloodbath

The New York Times recently announced that it would likely have to resort to newsroom layoffs since too few staffers had accepted voluntary buyout offers. The paper is now in a state of panic, with the newsroom "bracing for a bloodbath," according to the New York Post's Keith Kelly:

The New York Times' news room is bracing for a bloodbath in the next 10 days.

The word from inside is that approximately 50 unionized journalists have accepted the buyout proposal, and only another 20 non-union editorial employees have gotten on board.

That means the ax could fall on as many as 30 editorial people in the company's first-ever mass firing of journalists in its 156-year history....

"We're bracing for it," said one insider with some knowledge of the developments. "There's a lot of anxiety."

At the same time, Times managers are attempting to rein in staff spending, urged in a memo to take public transportation when possible, to limit meal expenses (and to take advantage of the paper's "zippy new cafeteria," and not to expense snacks and water while working in New York. The memo, obtained by the New York Observer's John Koblin, is excerpted below:

Dear Colleagues,

Here's a friendly reminder to keep spending in line. This year and for the foreseeable future we should try especially hard.

For some reason, although we have a glorious range of local restaurants to choose from, lunch and dinner expenses have gotten stuck on posh. Lunches should run about $25 a person, no more than $30; dinner should not exceed $40 a person. Our zippy new cafeteria is great for coffee, breakfast or other meals.

And hold on to those receipts as if your reimbursement depends on them because it does indeed. Any expense over $25 requires a receipt (no bottom-of-the-check tabs, please). Yes, expense your snacks and water if you are traveling. But if you are not traveling, do not submit for food, snacks or water you would ordinarily buy for yourself....

Leaning toward taking a cab somewhere? Try taking public transportation whenever possible. How about trips late at night or to unfamiliar neighborhoods? Sure, get a medallion cab or reliable livery service. On deadline? You got it. But in most cases, the subway gets you there and back in a jiffy.

Read the entire memo here.

Comments

[rainydaypeople]

Oh snap!

[Horst]

The Times is dying because it is boring to read. Compare the writing of the Econimist or Financial Times and you'll see what I mean.

[trevorfsj]

Their new policy on expense allowances seems more than reasonable to me. I fail to see how anyone could possibly disagree with it.

[crazylikeafox]

Baby we are screwed. More and more Americans have no access to what is really going on. We are kept ignorant and therefor powerless.

Get used to the new world order. Same as the old world order.

[garcohsf]

Anyone notice how often HuffPo has links to stories in the New York Times. Yes, the paper has sometimes failed miserably, especially on WMD, but it is also responsible for breaking more stories on, e.g., warrantless wiretapping, torture, manipulation of intelligence, manipulation of science, etc. than any other news outlet.

We should encourage the Times to be better, but we should never forget that it is a precious resource.

[mikecal]

The comments here discount by a long shot the value of a paper like the New York Times, with all its flaws. For instance, a financially healthy New York Times can afford to pay a staffer to spend a year investigating things like....how cable news military experts are compromised by their relationships to the Pentagon and to military contractors...for instance.

Internet bloggers cannot afford to spend that amount of time investigating something that is as vital to our national interest.

Those who are saying "good riddance" here do not have a plausible alternative. This is a serious crisis, not an occasion to pillory the Times for its many mistakes (most notably about Iraq).

If we the American public are not willing to support independent media with subscription fees or even a media tax (like they use in Britain), we don't deserve to live in a democracy anymore.

[sammy333]

Nobody needs NYT. Its "opinions" are being broadcast in essentially all media outlets with a scary consistency and redundancy.

What we really need is re-enforcing anti-monopoly laws in Media and guaranteeing freedom and diversity of press.

[wayoutleft]

can friedman expense the dry-cleaning after getting the pie in the face?

[MPeter]

The only sensible person at NYT is Frank Rich. The rest could go to hell for all I care. May be not Maureen Dowd. The rest are A**holes.

[truthbetold99]

Old Media is dying. It's all about HuffPo now.

[Jamesdean]

If you think any blog, including HuffPo, can do a better job than NYT, then you are living in la-la land. Nobody has the resources, the contacts or the reputation to match the big newspapers, especially NYT. It has made mistakes, some big ones, but that does not mean we should 'celebrate' its problems. Trust me, we need papers like NYT now more than ever.
PS to NYT guys: Do not let the bad phase get you.

[burnt]

There have been some behind the scenes blogosphere changes as well...

Late March-early April, a moderator at the NYT Caucus blog arena issued a subtle warning that the fierce debates that were raging among those who posted there, were having a negative affect on their subscriber base (and I assume advertisers as well). They were leaving.

Shortly thereafter, I noticed a tightening of moderation, to the point that I can hardly ever post a response to their blog stories. The last time I tried was a few days ago when all three were rejected, and they were some of the tamest that I had ever posted. They were relevant to the stories and also reference the NYT editorial condemning the negativity in the PA primary.

My conclusion... they knew that the red ink report was due and were attempt to squelch free debate as a means of ameliorating the subscriber complaints. My guess... their supported candidate didn't particularly like the opposing viewpoints expressed in her premier media endorsement, and this was a way to squelch them.

New York Times... you have disappointed me, much more than these few words can express.

[Village]

I guess one doesn't need as many staffer for propaganda.

[nellie]

Nice. :-)

[studlyguy]

I.ve said before newspapers it's over for you,the internet has killed what we use to get all are information from sorryit's called progress,once all the old timerare no longer around who still like the paper cause that's how they grew up getting their info,that'swhy newspaper circulation is declining majorly every year ,in about 2020 I'll be generous give it that much time,newspapers will be facing extinction.

[dana94591]

Another newspaper with questionable purpose bites.....

[Taaj]

Many of the News organization caved in to corrupted domination, assist in manipulating the American public instead of reporting the News.

Reported the lies that assisted in the destruction of our economy, allowing our civil liberties to be highjacked, created some of the spins that help to send our youth to an unjust war. Currently my news come from the Huffingtonpost, Rachel Maddox and Randi Rhodes. I would listen to Keith Olbermann, but he needs to leave MSNBC.

Corporate America is "kicking our butt", mainstream media is one of their mighty arms. Media have been ordered to pick the next President (McCain) and they are working diligently to destroy McCain's only competition.

Stay Smart America

[ProfessorDuh]

Yes. Let's just have Fox News and the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. Then, when Bush and Cheney start "disappearing," torturing and murdering innocent US citizens, no one will tell us about it so we won't have to worry.