Trib Co. can pay bonuses, not severance

The Associated Press reports that a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the Tribune Co. can pay more than $13 million in bonuses to almost 700 employees for their work last year.
But the judge denied allowing the Tribune to pay more than $2 million in severance payments to more than 60 employees laid off shortly before the Chicago-based company filed for bankruptcy protection.
From the story:

"We need to motivate and incentivize the key people who will implement change," Bigelow said. "These are really good people we're talking about. They're the best and the brightest of the company."

NY Times union tentatively agrees to pay cuts

The Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom employees at The New York Times, has agreed in principle to a five percent pay cut on union employees, according to an article on the Times' website.

The company has said that the pay reduction would save $4.5 million and avert the elimination of about 80 jobs, mostly in the newsroom. But the union, in reaching the agreement, did not win assurances from the company that there definitely would not be layoffs through the end of the year. If employees are laid off during the period, however, severance packages would be paid based on employees’ salaries before the reduction.

Union members will vote on the pay cut next week. The move comes as the Times is looking for ways to save money after losing nearly $75 million in the first quarter of the year.
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McClatchy hit hard by 1st quarter ad revenue

McClatchy Co. announced its first quarter results Thursday, and reported a drop in advertising revenue of just under 30 percent, according to Editor & Publisher.
Overall losses also exceeded analysts' expectations:

McClatchy reported a loss of $37.7 million, or 45 cents a share, from a loss of $993,000, or 1 cent a share, in the first quarter of 2008. Adjusted for certain items, such as severance payments from a wave of layoffs, the loss from continuing operations was $22.9 million, or 28 cents a share. The consensus of analysts had been for an 11-cent loss per share.

In more positive news, print revenue increased slightly, and when employment advertising is excluded, digital advertising was up 28.7 percent.
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