'Post-Dispatch' Cuts Nearly 12% of News Staff Through Buyouts

By: Joe Strupp Nearly 12% of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch news and editorial staff has accepted a voluntary buyout that the paper claims will save it up to $7 million a year, according to a story in Tuesday's editions. The one-time offer was "designed to cut operating costs amid an advertising slump that has rattled newsrooms from New York to Los Angeles," the paper reported.

The Post-Dispatch proposed the buyout in August, opening it up to most employees age 50 and older with at least five years of service. The newspaper's new owners, Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa, will see an initial cost of about $17 million, with $8.9 million recognized in Lee's fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Post Dispatch Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger told the paper. The rest will be reflected in the current fiscal first quarter.

Some 130 Post-Dispatch employees took the buyout. Among those eligible were technology, administrative, and security workers. Both union and management employees were eligible.

"This was a pretty generous buyout offer," said Jeff Gordon, president of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild. "From a member standpoint, it was a great development."

Gordon added that some older employees were uncertain about their future after the Lee takeover, but now can have some security. "The challenge," he added, "is a smaller workforce."

Among the newspaper's 1,300 employees, those accepting the offer include 41 full-time and part-time employees in a newsroom of 351. The net reduction isn't known because some vacancies are expected to be filled, the paper reported.

"The positive thing is that you don't have anybody who is being forced to leave," Post-Dispatch Editor Ellen Soeteber told the paper. "Bittersweet is the word that keeps getting used over and over again. We're happy for our colleagues who are happy, but those of us who are here are concerned about what the work volume is going to be and the challenges of not only maintaining but improving our quality with reduced tools."

The paper joins a growing list of major dailies that have sought to cut dozens of jobs to save money this year, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inqurier and Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News.

A number of those departing the St. Louis newsroom have at least 20 years of experience as reporters, editors, photographers, and copy editors. "The last two weeks at the paper have been a series of fond farewells over drinks, sheet cakes, and potluck lunches as those leaving prepare for retirement or a second act," the paper reported Tuesday.

Soeteber claimed that the paper still has many staffers who know St. Louis' history and traditions. Originally, 140 newsroom staff were eligible to take the buyout, and 70% of that number will remain at the newspaper, she said.

The departures come about five months after Lee bought Post-Dispatch owner Pulitzer Inc. for $1.46 billion. Shares of Lee are down 15% this year, the paper reported, but added, "the company's stock has fared much better than larger newspaper companies. New York Times Co.'s stock is off 33%, for example."