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Better read than dead
When the LA Times had a San Diego edition a journo prof at SDSU once snootily told the class that the Copleys ran the paper of record while the Times ran the paper of analysis.— May 25, 2015 2:52 p.m.
Better read than dead
Is this a mass layoff under California law triggering the WARN Act for a 60-day notice to employees?— May 25, 2015 7:41 a.m.
On the value of fish wrap...
Tribune Publishing Company (TPUB) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of MLIM, LLC, owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as nine community weeklies and related digital properties in San Diego County. The purchase price was $85 million plus the assumption of obligations for a single-employer pension plan. At closing, Tribune Publishing paid $71 million in cash, after working capital adjustments, and issued $12 million in Tribune Publishing common stock.— May 21, 2015 2:16 p.m.
Former U-T head keeps rolling around the desert
Prior to the Copley sale, the UT was always top heavy with management throughout. This was part of the King & Ballow anti-union strategy to make the organization strike-proof. If workers went on strike there would be enough management to cover to get the paper out until replacements could be hired or temps sent in from papers where there were prior agreements. From the editors in news to the blackshirts in production, all management ... even former editor and UT-QT Karin Winner ... had to have a basic understanding of how to operate the packaging machines that insert coupons. In the Copley days, making and keeping the paper union free was the top management priority. No one was to be hired who had previously worked in a union shop or who mentioned labor unions during the interview process. All re-hires had to be vetted by CEO Gene Bell himself so no former union sentiment would be imported. Perhaps it's refreshing on some levels that there appears to be less visible union animus since the sale. Don, any word on whether King & Ballow still negotiate with the remaining organized areas (transportation and production)?— May 12, 2015 2:58 p.m.
U-T to be sold to L.A. Times parent for $85 million
> In the 1980s and into the 1990s, top > management was blissfully unaware of > demographic changes. I think MOST of the top management was aware of changing demographics -- certainly advertising, marketing and circulation were. The failure was editorial. It was that department that could and would not keep up with changing times in San Diego. I suspect the fault went squarely to Helen Copley, who froze the editorial content the moment her publisher husband died in 1974. Too much editorial time was spent on what was likely to please or displease Helen and far too little on asking what readers were now interested in. A similar fault was the paper's stubborn refusal to recruit top-quality journos from other papers (no offense, Don). This would have meant paying premium salaries. Couple that with the fact that heavy-hitters from more respectable papers wanted nothing to do with the UT's crummy rep and salaries. So the newsroom's new hires remained mediocre.— May 11, 2015 2:30 p.m.
U-T pressroom employees get raises
Merit pay implementation has long been the crown jewel of UT union busting: employees realize that only management, and not the union, can impact pay increases. The union is made toothless in the most critical arena, wages. The employees begin to ask what is the point of paying union dues – *et voilà* – decertification follows.— March 4, 2014 9:01 a.m.
UT-TV goes dark on cable
Don, the press release from the UT claims, "Each week, U-T San Diego products reach more than **96 percent of all San Diego County households** through the combined strength of its integrated media portfolio." Can this be true?— February 20, 2014 3:01 p.m.
Following disappointing year, management shakeup at U-T coming
Don, Tea Partiers ... moderates ... or Daily Worker. At the end of the day it doesn't matter because the UT and its website are dull reads. When newspapers dominated the field, it could afford to be bland, but the internet demands that papers evolve or die. It's probably too late for the fossilized UT to resurrect itself into anything like interesting. There is nothing there you can't find anywhere else. There's a parallel between Papa and Helen Copley: parvenu socialites trying to peddle the paper to the tasteful tastes of their La Jolla idols, while the tasteless bulk of the city continues to be bored by the whole thing.— February 8, 2014 7:37 a.m.
Following disappointing year, management shakeup at U-T coming
The UT made some efforts at employee communication under the Copley regime. There were quarterly Managers’ Dialog meetings offsite, where managers with direct reports were updated as to developments in the company. The managers were expected to report down what news came from it – though whether this happened regularly is open to debate. In theory, managers were free to pepper the higher ups with tough questions, and cards were distributed to ask anonymously. But for the most part the discussions were civil and subdued. The paper was making scads of money and no one was seriously questioning whether that would continue. The circulation and advertising departments were at least held accountable to quantifiable information, while editor Karin Winner would delight the audiences with slideshows of front pages that they presumably had already seen. On one memorable occasion, a newbie supervisor had the temerity to ask Winner what the newsroom could have done better in the previous quarter. A North County editor sitting at my table exclaimed, ashen faced, “But then we’d have to admit when we’ve missed stories!”— February 7, 2014 12:05 p.m.
Union-Tribune loses suit to carriers
No wonder Papa slashed the 401(k). If these carriers are now employees old Pappy may be paying hefty health insurance premiums on them. One of the reasons that the UT wanted to maintain these workers as independents over the years was the suspicion that they would be the most likely to form a labor union. Speaking of which ... it's surprising that no unions have arisen to protect employees from Papa and his measures.— January 23, 2014 10:22 a.m.