Jim Moroney sent a letter yesterday to everyone at the DMN. To me, it reads like a preamble to more layoffs. “Looking back,” he said, “we went into 2008 with more optimism than was prudent.” Read the entire memo after the jump.
“The waters are choppy and the visibility is poor.” That’s how a ship’s captain might describe it. For us in business, we know the economy is wobbly and there is no expert who can tell us with certainty when it will stabilize.
So expect 2009 to be a very difficult year financially. Probably more difficult than 2008. Looking back, we went into 2008 with more optimism than was prudent. Perhaps we are going into 2009 with more pessimism than is necessary. Yet it is always far easier to deal with a bit of prosperity that comes your way than it is to react swiftly to unanticipated adversity.
Having said all that, we will make it through 2009. We will make it through because we believe what we do is important. And because we believe what we do is important, we work the extra hours, make the extra sacrifices and endure the extra hardships to be certain the enterprise continues to thrive.
We have area city councils facing important decisions regarding regional transportation. We have significant decisions to be made regarding the quality of our air and the availability of our water supply. We need our largest school district to succeed. The development of Southern Dallas must remain a top priority for everyone. Will the Texas legislature fund a public law school or a “Tier One” research university in our area? Who are the best leaders for our top statewide offices? These are just a few of the important issues of concern that will be discussed, debated and maybe even decided during 2009. These are but a few of the important issues that no local media organization can or will cover with the breadth, depth or expertise as will our company.
And then there are those without means and without power to redress wrongs. When they have no place left to turn, they turn to us. And we answer, thoroughly and more often than any other local media organization. Once again, this is why what we do is important.
You can work for many companies. And those companies can produce very fine products. Yet there are very few companies which operate for a profit that can state that a part of their mission is to improve the community in which it operates, to hold elected officials and public institutions accountable for their actions and to bring attention to the needs of the neediest in our society. And none of them have been granted a constitutional right to do what they do.
I could spend another few paragraphs extolling the many ways we help our business customers grow their businesses. We do it well and we do it every day. More on this in a subsequent communication. Everything we do — everything each one of you does — in every part of our company is important to the collective strength of our organization. I am asking all of you and each one of you to remember the important mission we have and to let this thought strengthen our resolve through 2009.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to work for such committed leadership and dedicated employees.
Jim
33 comments
“These are but a few of the important issues that no local media organization can or will cover with the breadth, depth or expertise as will our company.”
I would argue the opposite and say that I personally believe the DMN does a disservice to our community in their covering of important issues, particularly their editorial board.
They could start saving money if they STOP dropping the d*mn “Briefing” in my front yard every morning. And yes, I’ve contacted them numerous times to ask them to stop.
My neighborhood electronic bulletin board has multiple threads of complaints over the trashing of our yards with the stupid Briefing being thrown there every day.
“And then there are those without means and without power to redress wrongs. When they have no place left to turn, they turn to us. And we answer, thoroughly and more often than any other local media organization….”
…by checking the wire services to see what news we can lift off to print.
Julie, there are still a lot of hard-working journalists at the DMN who show up every day and try to do informative, solid reporting despite the black cloud that hangs over the newsroom. I don’t work there, but I feel for everyone who still does. If you’re going to criticize, blame the leadership for their decisions, not the desk editors and reporters who are still toiling to get a paper out every day.
New Years prediction: No such thing as a print DMN by this time next year.
That’s a bold statement.
I’m with Julie re: the Briefing.
Instead of using the money to throw litter on our yards, why can’t DMN use it to save a job at their company? It would certainly save me the hassle of having to throw the Briefing away.
In my neighborhood — it is “Al Dia” which no one reads and it just lays there until someone on their walk, usually me picks them up and throws them away. So far as I can tell, not a single person on my street reads it. I have enough problems fighting litter without the DMN contributing.
sorry I was speechless for a second. I’m better now.
The MAIN problem at DMN has nothing to do with editorial. It has everything to do with the weight at the top of the sales organization. Too many non-selling managers, directors, sr. directors, VP’s etc.. No one wants to take accontabilty for sales so they keep adding layers and more layers. If they could find one person to accept the entire responsibilty of running ALL of sales, they might see better results. As it is now there are far too many scapegoats passing the buck.
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It seems D Publishing considers the DMN its #1 rival for eyeballs and ad dollars given its consistency and volume of DMN-related posts.
I second the motion made my Julie.
I have requested that DMN stop dropping the
Briefing or any of their religious propaganda in my front yard. We have a lot of dogs in our neighborhood and the publication takes up a lot of space that could be used for dog ****e.
I take the DMN and yet for months have also received briefing. On my daily dog walk I have noticed six empty houses with dozens of decomposing Briefs. This was the same scenario with several homes of the elderly neighbors, who don’t get out much. I had made two calls where they claimed it would be fixed, it was not. I left a message for a manager last week that was not returned. Yesterday,after still receiving them, I finally spoke with a manager, who explained they used an outside vendor and he would contact them. That evening I
noticed they they came out and cleaned it all up.
My suspicion is they inflate their readers numbers so they can charge more for Ads.
@ ll: So you’re the Al Dia removal fairy on my street. Thanks!
I started to write something harsh about management, but, you know, those people are frightened. They are going to be known as the people who killed the great newspaper. To borrow from King Kong (more appropriate than Citizen Kane): It wasn’t beauty that killed the beast, it was the relatives.
I wonder how far circulation will drop now that DMN cost $1.
@ Ken “The Snake” Blogfield: No, that’s not it at all. How and whether the DMN survives is one of the biggest stories in Dallas right now.
Back when we put up a bunch of posts about Sandra Crenshaw, did you think we did it because we view her as a competitor?
Were he the company leader at any other organization, Mr. Moroney would have been released years ago.
I shake my head in disbelief when I read the DMN’s calls for Wade Philips’ job at the end of a season in which the Cowboys won more games than they lost. By using this performance-based formula, it is astounding Moroney still has an office, let alone a broom closet. Nepotism is a wonderful thing.
Let’s never forget the non-economy related factors during the last 10 years that have heavily contributed to put The News in this predicament and dozens of great employees on the street.
You can point all you want at ad reps, managers, and execs, but from what I hear, the newsroom is a hopeless bureaucracy fattened with lazy lifers who jockey to maintain the status quo. Plus, the ratio of good stories to the most boring, un-readable crap is about 1:27. The whole tone of the paper is clipped, careful, old, and bought-out. It’s about as exciting as Tom Leppert’s rhetoric.
Tim, please don’t mention Sandra Crenshaw unless it’s an emergency. You know what could happen.
“And then there are those without means and without power to redress wrongs. When they have no place left to turn, they turn to us.” — Every Marvel Comic book character, after removing eyeglasses and changing into colorful hero costume, circa 1951.
“Redress”? Mr. Moroney, can you please redress all these Al Dias off my lawn?
Thanks, al. You have just made my day, week and month!
I am sorry but if the DMN folds all of you on here complaining about it are going to be pissed off. It’s ridiculously sad that anyone from Dallas or Texas would call for the end of one of the oldest industries in the country, much less one of the oldest papers. When there’s no way to get your news except to print it off your computer, I don’t think a lot of people are going to be thrilled. The amount of hate generated on here is stupid. If you don’t like the DMN, that’s fine, but seriously advocating for the end of tons of people’s jobs and all that the Belo company contributes to Dallas is ludicrous. The paper may fail but waiting in anticipation and cheering for the end of it is PATHETIC… I REPEAT PATHETIC.
“We need our largest school district to succeed.”
Now THAT would require a dramatic and welcome change in reporting practices.
“Julie, there are still a lot of hard-working journalists at the DMN who show up every day and try to do informative, solid reporting despite the black cloud that hangs over the newsroom. I don’t work there, but I feel for everyone who still does. If you’re going to criticize, blame the leadership for their decisions….”
@Mediawonk: the leadership and management are exactly who I blame. I seriously doubt the reporters say to themselves, “Oh, I think I’ll make the decision today to just get this story off the wires instead of going out and writing my own story.” Those kinds of decisions are not made at the reporter level.
I say, keep the reporters, and fire whoever came up with the idea of The Briefing.
I noted with interest the editorial board’s calling for a higher food sales ratio for bars (where people go to drink, not generally eat) because there are some establishments in the south that aren’t good neighbors http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-gapagenda_08edi.State.Edition1.2d459eb.html . Never mind that it would put people who work in legitimate, neighborly, law-abiding bars out of work throughout the rest of the city. Never mind that in a declining sales tax environment, these establishments generate more city tax revenue per-square-foot than most other industries. Never mind that families may have invested their lives in a small business, have run it right, and have their livelihood and capital taken away.
But perhaps that just synopsized their business model.
Aside from all the idiotic things the managers at the DMN are doing to sink the paper, I have a much broader question to ask: will local newspapers and local TV/radio news exist in 20 years?
Today’s generation of young adults have no use for the news. They have little need to watch a local TV station. Much of their time is spent with downloaded material, the internet, video games and the occasional cable TV program. The absolutely do not read the newspaper. (Yes, I’m sure your newphew, son or daughter does, but they’re the rare exception to the rule) They don’t watch much local TV news. If they don’t change their habits as they grow older (and who knows if they will) there will not be enough advertiser support for local TV news. Local news on the radio is just about dead now anyway.
So the question is, will any of these outlets for local journalism be around in 20 years? If not, what – if anything – will have replaced them?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Briefing is the future of newspapers. And that is not meant as a compliment.
Dear Kent and Tawnell: It’s perceived above that somehow you two are the impediment to DISD being a successful school district.
Shame on you for telling all of Dallas about the $80 million deficit. Shame on you for writing about Ruben. Shame on you for writing about the P-Cards. Shame on you for, well, I’m sure there are other topics.
I’m so relieved to know that it’s been your work that’s kept the largest school district from being a success.
Quit doing what you’ve been doing and don’t mention the bond business people benefit from as a reason to keep on hiding their heads in the sand.
Donny’s sarcasm is right on. As much as I have knocked the DMN and predicted its demise above, what will ultimately be most missed are the beat reports the daily newspaper provides – cops, schools, city hall etc. – who can work sources and stay tuned into the city’s vital institutions when no one else has the time or desire to. The daily goes and so do these watchdogs. Unfortunately for the DMN, this is about the only part of their paper that still has value (Kent and Tawnell, Levinthal, Jason Trahan. Columnists: no. Editorial page: no. GuideLive: boring. Points was fun when Dreher was running it. But since everyone seems to agree the DMN is going, the question should be: what is the financial model that can support beat reporters in the future? Maybe it’s more of a non-profit, civic stewardship approach. If there is a model that could work, and we get that info without the other 90% of the DMN that sucks, then we’re all the big winners in the long run. Prophets of doom and gloom be damned.
Carl almost identifies what I see as the problem here. Down the road we’re going to lose local newspapers and local TV news. We’re going to lose local journalism. No one will report on the good and bad that’s going on in our community. Worse, the public won’t care that they’re missing that information.
The youngsters of today are not consumers of local journalism. When they’re adults, most of them won’t all-of-the-sudden decide to watch, read or listen to the news. They are very self-centered and don’t care about anything that doesn’t directly effect them.
Politicians and businesses will be delighted to see local journalism go. There will no longer be embarrassing questions and news conferences or journalists poking around asking questions about what the businesses are up to.
We’ll still have some regionalal newspapers that cover a little bit of that stuff, but not nearly in the numbers that we do now. Cable news is full of talking heads and they haven’t covered the news for years. Local broadcast TV stations are dying. CBS is even openly talking about the day when their network moves off of broadcast stations and becomes just another cable network.
I’m not offering a solution or suggestion of how to fix this problem. I’m saying this is the future. It’s not a pretty picture.
I fear that newspapers are in the same situation as Sears. For decades, Sears had a successful mail-order business that withered with the spread of WalMart, Target, K-Mart, and the like to every town in America. Bad timing, because if Sears had moved faster or held on a little longer or looked more to the future than to the past, they could have beaten Amazon to the punch. Instead, they turned into bad versions of WalMart and KMart, even as KMart was dying.
Newspapers similarly aren’t making the jump to the future. Something WILL replace the daily paper landing on your porch as a source of local news. The problem, people, is not that no one cares about local news, it’s that the local paper doesn’t provide much of it, and that no one wants a house full of boring recyclable material every week.
Newspapers are going to have to come to terms that what they produce won’t be printed on huge presses and thrown into yards every day. They are going to have to figure out the journalistic equivalent of jumping from mail-order to online ordering without going through the mall phase.
Start by getting rid of the columnists, local and syndicated (which now means “available from many sources other than this paper, so why are we paying them?”) and half-page “world” stories about (for example) museums in Hamburg, Germany. Publish only what you produce locally, and your paper will be worth reading, and will be consumed locally. Now, figure out what replaces the word “paper” in the previous sentence, or follow Sears into the sunset.