Singleton Outsourcing Comments Draw Fire

By: Joe Strupp Several unions representing workers at MediaNews Group newspapers in California reacted angrily to CEO William Dean Singleton's announcement this week of likely further consolidation at his newspapers, particularly among copy desks.

In a joint statement, the Northern California Media Workers Guild,? Southern California Media Guild/Local 9400, and ?the San Jose Newspaper Guild slammed comments Singleton made Monday in Atlanta, in which he said consolidation is probable in the future.

"A MediaNews proposal to wipe out copy desks at newspapers across the country threatens not only hundreds of jobs, but also quality and credibility -- values the beleaguered newspaper industry needs now more than ever," the statement, posted on a guild web site stated. Later it added, "The notion of copy-desk consolidation has prompted influential industry experts and professional news associations to question whether MediaNews management may be going too far with its cost-cutting strategies."

Also blasting the idea is the American Copy Editors Society, which issued a statement declaring: "Some things just can't be measured in terms of money. It's easy to say that you'll save thousands of dollars by hiring overseas workers to edit your copy. It's not so easy to say how much that loss of credibility is going to cost you when they miss errors a local person would have caught. But cost you it will."

The statements were in reaction to Singleton's comments to a publisher's group, which included his saying, ?One thing we?re exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers in MediaNews ? maybe even offshore."

Singleton, whose California dailies include the Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury News, has already drawn attention for consolidating many production and back-office functions among his San Francisco Bay Area newspapers.