Keller: End of Election Will Create ‘Significant Cost Savings’ For Times

By Matt Haber 11/04/08 4:11pm

Writing for The Big Money, Chadwick Matlin, asks, "The election is over. What happens to the political press?" (This comes via Jim Romenesko.)

To find out, Mr. Matlin asked The New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller what happens after November 4th. Mr. Keller once again asserted that there will be no more job cuts at The Times. He also explained how the paper will save money starting November 5th:

[t]here will be some significant cost savings, mainly thanks to the fact that we are not traveling with a whole constellation of candidates, often sharing the pooled cost of pricey private campaign aircraft.

How much does it cost to fly with a candidate?

On Friday, Politico’s, Kenneth P. Vogel and Michael Calderone reported on the sky-high cost of covering the campaigns. Apparently media organizations have paid $9.6 million to the Obama campaign in travel expenses. (By contrast, they spent $4.4 million to travel with Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin.)

Messrs. Vogel and Calderone got even more granular, calculating how much Mr. Keller’s paper spent:

The New York Times dropped $422,000, the most among daily papers. Other big spenders included The Washington Post ($325,000), The Los Angeles Times ($184,000) and The Wall Street Journal ($205,000).

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topics: Barack Obama, Bill Keller, Elections, John McCain, New York Times, The Big Money, The Media Mob
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