USA Today shaking up staff in 'radical' overhaul

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — USA Today, the nation's second largest newspaper, is making the most dramatic overhaul of its staff in its 28-year history in an effort deliver stories more quickly to mobile devices and produce more coverage likely to sell advertising.

The makeover outlined Thursday will result in about 130 layoffs this fall, USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke told The Associated Press. That translates into a 9 percent reduction in USA Today's work force of 1,500 employees. Hunke didn't specify which departments would be hardest hit.

Like most newspapers, Gannett Co.'s USA Today has been cutting back in recent years to offset a steep drop in advertising that is depleting its main source of income. To compound the problem, fewer readers are paying for newspapers as free news proliferates on the Web.

Those challenges triggered the most dramatic reorganization since USA Today first hit the streets in 1982 with a then-unique blend of shorter stories surrounded by colorful graphics and pictures.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j5qqSYmjDdJs6syeIugPf5J50p9AD9HRI8F02

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Alternative News http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[izquierdista]

1. They charge for it?

I wondered why motels had so many pages to their napkins.

[Brickbat]

2. "Hunke didn't specify which departments would be hardest hit."

Hmmmm....let me guess....hmmmm.....

[LiberalFighter]

3. It has been about 4 years since I was a regular reader.

It was .75 then. Don't know what it is now.

[tularetom]

4. Hope they don't fuck with their crossword puzzles and sudokus

I do them online every chance I get. It's the only part of that fish wrap that has any value to me.

[alp227]

5. Stop doing frontpage stories about the Tea Party all the time!

Happened twice this summer: July 8 "What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind" and August 13 "'Tea Party' members offer a ground-level view".

My father once told me that USA Today was written at a really basic nearly 3rd grade reading level.

That Tea Party remark is just one suggestion to improve USA Today. Otherwise I'll read it only if I'm on vacation and there's no other available paper and I can't access DU.

[quakerboy]

6. If I were a betting man

I would bet they will try the opposite.

[PSPS]

7. .

.

[PSPS]

8. "more coverage likely to sell advertising"

USA Today, the nation's second largest newspaper, is making the most dramatic overhaul of its staff in its 28-year history in an effort deliver stories more quickly to mobile devices and produce more coverage likely to sell advertising.

That says it all. USA Today has always been the "McNews," but I guess they'll have to become more tabloid and "infotainment."

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Cutting staff to improve service . . . Uh huh.

As squirrel asks moose, "again?"

[elocs]

10. When I first read this I was waiting to go pick up my bundles of USA Today.

I have a motor route that takes me about a couple of hours to finish.

Front pages sell newspapers and the USA Today is so often plastered with doom and gloom that people just get weary of it. Funny that last Friday the front page prominently featured a story about bedbugs in the office--I'm sure lots of people bought a copy just for that.

The USA Today now sells for $1 a copy. Compared to my local paper in my city of 50,000 which can be read in about 5 minutes there is a lot to read in the USA Today. It sells well at hospitals and restaurants where people want something to read that takes a lot of time. But ultimately it is more of a luxury item because compared to last summer I have seen my sales drop. Who really "needs" a copy of USA Today and a buck saved is a buck saved.

[KurtNYC]

11. Hope they stop those stupid graphs on page one

they had one showing that people spend more on breakfast outside the home than they did 20 years ago -- it did not account for inflation.

They should just merge with The Onion since USA Today is a joke.

[Evasporque]

12. SInce 1982...I have never read USA Today.

I thought it was fluff from day one.