MoveOn.org Launches Petition Site to Protest Tribune Job Cuts

By: Miki Johnson The grassroots political group MoveOn.org has launched a national petition and e-mail drive to protest Tribune Co. job cuts at four large newspapers.

In the 24 hours following a letter sent Dec. 1 to MoveOn.org members in Southern California, more than 17,000 Los Angeles-area residents signed a petition to deter the Los Angeles Times from cutting 85 newsroom positions.

"By the time this is over, this is going to be one of our most in-depth campaigns on media issues," Adam Green, civic communications director at MoveOn.org Civic Action, told E&P. "Corporate owners know that the readers of their papers care about quality news but don't follow the intricate media issues. Part of our goal here is to really increase public awareness and send a strong signal."

In Orlando, according to the group, within 24 hours over 1,800 local residents signed a similar petition relating to 54 jobs cuts at the Orlando Sentinel. The group placed the number of local petition signers concerning the Chicago Tribune at 4,200 within 24 hours, and it said 2,400 signed the petition protesting cuts at The Sun in Baltimore.

The group plans to extend the campaign to Tribune properties Newsday, The Morning-Call in Allentown, and the Hartford (Conn.) Courant.

At the same time, the group is urging members to send e-mails, which read in part: ?As corporate owners in Chicago reap large profits from the [[name of paper]], there is no excuse for them to force our paper to abandon its responsibility to deliver strong watchdog journalism to the public.?

In the letter sent to MoveOn members, Noah T. Winer portrays the Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, as a profit-hungry corporation using industry-wide newspaper trouble to hide its real reasons for job cuts.

Green told E&P the e-mails are just "the opening salvo." In the coming months, MoveOn will organize door-to-door petitions and may even attempt to engage shareholders.

"Despite reaping huge profits that most businesses would envy, The Times' corporate owners in Chicago simply aren't satisfied -- they want more," the letter reads. It also complains that these newsroom cuts will lead to "watered-down coverage."

"Politicians and corporations who should be held accountable by vigilant watchdog journalism will instead be covered by a staff that is stretched too thin," Winer writes.

Tribune is just one of many companies that have slashed jobs in the past several months.

The letter provides a link to the MoveOn.org petition site, which provides an easy-fill form to be sent to the Times and encourages members to forward the e-mail.