Times Makes it Official: Sections Eliminated, 'Millions' Saved

Bill Keller made it official moments ago: The City section, the regionals and the Escapes section will be eliminated as stand-alone sections in The Times.

Instead, they'll just use material that may have appeared in those sections in a Sunday metro report.

"We will consolidate Sunday Metro area coverage in a new Sunday feature section, which will be a showcase for news and features from the city and beyond. (Metro area breaking news will be incorporated into the A-book.)," he wrote in a memo this morning. "The new section will include zoned pages for Connecticut, New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island. Joe Sexton and Jodi Rudoren have taken on the project of developing a prototype, and we hope to launch the new section on May 24, replacing the City section and regional weeklies."

Likewise, as we reported three weeks ago, Escapes will be eliminated as well, and starting May 1, "two pages of its best content will be incorporated into the Friday Weekend section."

The Sunday Times Magazine will cease producing style coverage starting May 3. From here on out, fashion and style will be reserved for the T magazine supplements and the Thursday and Sunday Style sections.

Mr. Keller said that the freelance budget, as planned, will be cut significantly because of these moves and that it will "save millions of dollars -- savings that would otherwise have to come out of payroll."

He also outlined the general plan for The Times this year which is, essentially, let's get through this year and hope for the best. "The hope and expectation remain that the pay cuts and the spending cuts outlined above will get us through the year without the need for other significant reductions," he wrote.

Here is the entire memo:

Colleagues,
It's been three weeks since we talked about the cuts facing the newsroom budget. Since then there has been progress on several fronts. This is an update.
1. We have reached agreement with the business side on our proposals for consolidating, reconfiguring or eliminating some features.
-- Pages 2, 3 and 4 of the A-Book. Tom Bodkin has redesigned the pages. Page 2 will contain a condensed index and the daily corrections. Pages 3 and 4 will take jumps from the front. The new format begins on Tuesday, April 21.
-- The weekly fashion spreads will no longer appear in the main magazine; instead we will focus our fashion coverage in the T Magazines, and the Sunday and Thursday Styles sections. The last day the weekly magazine will run a fashion spread is May 3. The Sunday magazine plans to run T supplements several times a year.
-- We will consolidate Sunday Metro area coverage in a new Sunday feature section, which will be a showcase for news and features from the city and beyond. (Metro area breaking news will be incorporated into the A-book.) The new section will include zoned pages for Connecticut, New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island. Joe Sexton and Jodi Rudoren have taken on the project of developing a prototype, and we hope to launch the new section on May 24, replacing the City section and regional weeklies. National Edition Metro coverage will be unchanged.
-- Escapes will no longer be a free-standing section after the issue of April 24; two pages of its best content will be incorporated into the Friday Weekend section beginning May 1, much as Circuits appears inside Thursday's Bizday.
-- We expect to roll out a trim of freelance budgets within the next few weeks.
Taken together, these moves will save millions of dollars -- savings that would otherwise have to come out of payroll.
2. As you all know, the Guild has held meetings and is conducting a survey of its members regarding the 5 percent pay cut. Following the survey, the Guild leadership has said they plan to submit a specific proposal or proposals to a vote of the membership. For all non-union staff, the 5 percent pay cut took effect April 1.
3. The committees examining the future business model for The Times online presented a progress report to top management this week. We're still some time away from final decisions about ways to generate more revenue from our journalism online, but I can say that every promising idea has been given intensive study, and the newsroom participation has been appreciated. We've also received a number of cost-saving ideas not related to the online business model, and those are also getting serious attention.
4. Finally, I know the confrontation at the Boston Globe has raised anxiety levels here, too. How that will be resolved I have no idea. But I can say that the financial forecasts for The Times have not changed since our meeting last month. The hope and expectation remain that the pay cuts and the spending cuts outlined above will get us through the year without the need for other significant reductions. As I have said on past occasions, there is nothing sacrosanct about the current size of the newsroom, but if the day comes when we decide to undertake a cut in the staff it should be driven not by the temporary crisis of a recession, but by a careful calculation of our long-term priorities.
In the meantime, the world continues to deliver up a rich bounty of news, and we have been covering it with a level of journalism that demonstrates, every day, why we matter.
Best,

Bill