They’re not really talking about it on the AnnArbor.com site, but on Friday they laid off 14 employees. According to Michigan Radio, this leaves about 20 or so people in their newsroom. (The old Ann Arbor News, from what I’m told, had approximately 75 reporters in their newsroom.) Among those let go were lead blogger Ed Vielmetti, photographer Lon Horwedel, entertainment clerk Renee Tellez, and Kaleb Roedel, Jeff Arnold, Bison Messink and James Dickson from the sports department. Furthermore, this comes right on the heels of last week’s departure of editors Stefanie Murray and Amalie Nash, and higher-ed reporter David Jesse, all of whom joined the Detroit Free Press. Clearly, big changes are afoot. The question is, why?
I could well be wrong, but it looks to me as though, now almost two years into the “experiment,” the folks on the east coast who write the checks have said that they’re tired of losing money. (Or, maybe they are making money, and just want to make even more.) A friend with some knowledge of the situation says the timing would indicate as much. As he recalls, Content Director Tony Dearing said in May of 2009 that they had two years to demonstrate to their superiors at Advance Publications that the new model could be profitable. (As you’ll recall, representatives from Advance Publications, when it was announced that the Ann Arbor News would be significantly downsized and recreated as AnnArbor.com, said that this was an important test for the company, and may well decide the futures of the other daily publications in their Newhouse Newspapers division.) Well, as they formally launched AnnArbor.com in July of 2009, that gives them a little over one quarter to get into the black and demonstrate success.
From what I’m told, Matt Kraner, AnnArbor.com’s CEO, when informing the staff of the cuts, told them that people were only being let go who worked in areas not receiving sufficient online traffic. This does not, however, address the loss of the three individuals a week or so prior, who defected to the Free Press. Cumulatively, these changes are going to have an enormous impact, not only on the quality of the journalism, as the company becomes even more dependent on the reporting of amateur, freelance bloggers, but on the way they manage online dialogue.
Some are suggesting that all of this is evidence of the venture’s imminent demise. I have my doubts, though. I think that as long as they keep the Sunday circular business, they’ll find a way to remain in business in some way, shape or form. As I understand it, it doesn’t bring in as much as it once did, what with the dropping number of subscribers, the rising price of newsprint, and the fact that companies aren’t advertising like they once did, but, relatively speaking, The SUnday ad business is still something of a cash cow. (On the subject of paid subscribers, the site A2 Politico says Sunday print circulation has dropped from 52,000 in July of 2009, to just about 40,000 in July of 2010.) So, as long as they can generate enough content to support a Sunday print version, I think we’ll have something. I don’t think, by and large, it’ll be what we’d consider journalism in a traditional sense, though. Which isn’t to say that it won’t be good and useful. It just won’t be the kind of “functioning, active press with the resources to conduct real investigations and hold people’s feet to the fire when necessary” that I’s hoped for when AnnArbor.com launched. And that depresses me. I wanted for them to be successful. I wanted for them to find a way to make money, so that they could provide the kind of coverage that I think we all need, especially in these very rapidly changing times in which we live. If we ever needed a vital press, it’s now, and, sadly, this news of layoffs doesn’t give me reason for optimism.
Now, at the risk of losing some of you, my faithful readers, forever, I’d like to suggest that you make your way over to The Ann Arbor Chronicle, where my friend Mary Morgan, a former editor at the Ann Arbor News, does a wonderful job of putting these recent cuts in perspective. And, while we’re on the subject, I think this is a great place to once again applaud the efforts of Mary and her partner, Dave Askins, who have stepped in to fill the void relative to local civic coverage. What they’ve done at the Chronicle over the past few years is nothing short of amazing. I just hope for their sake that they’re able to sustain the pace, and that local businesses continue to support them with their advertising dollars.
And, lastly, I’d like to wish the 14 folks who just lost their jobs at AnnArbor.com the best of luck as they move on with their lives and look for new opportunities. I know the economy sucks right now, but, when I look around at all of my friends who used to work at the Ann Arbor News, and what they’re doing now, I’m encouraged. At any rate, I hope that these new folks, who I suspect are all very talented, find good, rewarding jobs that suit them.
Oh, and one last thing… While AnnArbor.com didn’t publish a story on the subject of their layoffs, Tony Dearing did leave the following comment in response to a reader’s question.
While personnel issues are an internal matter and we don’t discuss them publicly, I can confirm that we reorganized our newsroom this week to put our focus more squarely on local news coverage. As a new organization, we have tried a lot of things. Now that we are well into our second year, the community has told us very resoundingly that what it wants most from us is hard news coverage, particularly in the areas of government, education, police, courts, health, the environment, University of Michigan sports, and business. These areas of coverage account for all but a tiny percentage of our readership and revenue. Meanwhile, we also have put a lot of effort toward other things — including lifestyle topics like Passions and Pursuits, The Deuce, Homes and some areas of Entertainment coverage — that our community has shown much less interest in, and we are scaling back in those areas.
We have made tremendous progress since we launched, and we continue to be very happy with the growth we’re seeing in audience and revenue. But from the beginning, we said that we would be shaped by what the community wants, and the community wants us to focus more sharply on local news reporting. We have repositioned ourselves to throw our energy and resources into our local news coverage and that is how we will operate moving forward as we continue to grow.
