Newspaper Roundup: NAA; Star-Ledger; Spokesman-Review; Fairfax

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by David Kaplan.

---

-- NAA forecast shows small hope for online in '09: As is still often the case with newspaper revenues, the online portion is expected to do slightly better than the whole operation. The Newspaper Association of America expects print to be down 12.5 percent this year, while online revs will be up a paltry 1.8 percenta considerable reversal from 2007's 18.8 percent gains. And next year can hardly be called a resurgence, as the NAA forecasts online to grow 9 percent, while print will fall 6.8 percent.

-- Prognosis good for Star-Ledger's survival (via Romenesko): After months of being on "life support," Advance Publication's Newark, NJ, daily might just liveat least for the moment, now that 200 employees have agreed to take buyouts. In July, the paper's publisher said that if 200 non-union employees didn't step forward to accept a buyout by Oct. 7, the Star-Ledger would either be sold or closed. It just has one more hurdle left: the paper still has to sign a new contract with the drivers' union, but talks are said to be progressing.

-- Washington's Spokesman-Review Hit With Layoffs, Editor Resigns: About 21 jobs out of 104 in total could be lost at the Spokane paper, though the full number won't be known until Oct. 16. In announcing the list, editor Steve Smith will resign after six years at his post effective Friday. The announcements were made amid other coming changes at the Spokesman-Review, including the transition to a more compact page size set for next June, and a website relaunch next month. Looking ahead to next year, the company announced (PDF) that the total company's workforce will be 470, down about 60, with about 25 less posts in the newsroom staffers.

-- Fairfax increases cuts, bosses earn record pay: Nearly a month after the Aussie news giant announced it would cut 550 jobs across its corporate and publishing units, Fairfax has increased cuts at Sydney Morning Herald from 60 to 70, while its bosses earned record pay for the year to June. CEO David Kirk received a total of $3.41 million in salary, bonuses, superannuation and shares, a 24 percent rise over last year. Australian boss Brian McCarthy's pay package, for his first full year at Fairfax, stood at $2.43 million. The number was about 70 percent above the $1.43 million he earned in 2005-06 at his final year at Rural Press, which Fairfax bought last year. Kirk recently said classified ad revs have been "leaking out of the bottom of the bucket."


By David Kaplan