Deseret News Cuts 34 Positions as Ad Revenues Fall 32%

The Deseret News (the daily newspaper started more than 150 years ago by Brigham Young), has eliminated 34 editorial positions in a cost-cutting move following a 32 percent in advertising revenues since January 2008.

According to Paul Beebe’s story in today’s Salt Lake Tribune (the cross-town and cultural rival of the DNews), the Deseret News had had 200 journalists on its staff, which was pared down through layoffs, buyouts and attrition.

As part of the cutbacks, the DNews will no longer publish a separate edition in Utah County, arguably the most conservative county in the state that bears the nickname of “Happy Valley.” The paper will, however, continue to staff a pared back bureau in Utah County (currently based in Orem near the top of the so-called “diagonal,” the stretch of 1200 North that drops into Provo from the plot of land housing University Mall).

The DNews has, however, closed is bureau in Washington, D.C. It will also do away with its standalone business section, which will be moved into its “first” or A section of the paper.

According to Cision’s MediaSource, the Deseret News has a Sunday circulation of slightly more than 75,000, while the Tribune has nearly double that number of Sunday subscribers at 143,000.

Interestingly, the DNews now has 164 journalists on staff, while today’s Salt Lake Tribune article says the SLTrib has a ”staff of 170 people.”

Whether the Trib’s 170 staff members are all journalists or not, I think it’s fascinating to learn that at worst the staffing levels for the two newspapers are virtually identical, particularly when one considers the disparity between the circulation figures.

Interestingly, the DNews’ circulation numbers have held steady during the past couple of years. Not steady enough apparently to warrant having nearly double the staff for comparable circluation levels at the Tribune. 

The impact of such cutbacks should be clear to public relations and marketing professionals: Fewer journalists means fewer opportunities to pitch/place stories. It also means more work for the remaining staff members.

This is not just a Utah story, however, as newspapers around the globe are facing growing and ongoing revenue pressures as more and more advertisers allocate more ad dollars to the online world and away from such tradtional media properties as newspapers.

By all accounts, the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune have fared relatively well in this realm. (Cision research suggests that the Trib attracts nearly 600,000 unique visitors per month to its online editions; it has no such figures for the DNews.)

Regardless, many people still get their daily news fix from the morning paper. Unfortunately, getting a story placed in the 2nd greatest circulation paper in Utah just got a bit harder.

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