The strategy led by News Corp. to remove free news content from the web is now under threat with news that one of the United States’ largest newspaper groups will be keeping their links in Google, and their content free.

McClathchy CEO Gary Pruitt said in a speech Tuesday that McClathchy is “very comfortable with free content supported by advertising,” and that “We don’t view [the free model] as fatally flawed.”

Pruitt also discussed their relationship with Google, Yahoo and others, saying that strategic arrangements with Yahoo and Google drive 20% of traffic to the company. “To disengage is to risk marginalization,” Editor & Publisher reported Pruitt as saying.

Without the support of McClatchy, News Corp’s strategy faces stiff competition from free online news sites covering large sections of the United States market. The move may also encourage other media companies to remain free, positioning News Corp and its supporters as online pariahs that bleed traffic to media companies that aren’t joining the pay wall frenzy.

McClatchy operates 32 daily newspapers in 29 markets, and a range of smaller community newspapers, and is the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States.

McClatchy Will Not Implement Pay Walls, Happy With Google Links is a post from: The Inquisitr

Emails between disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his Argentinean mistress obtained by The State Newspaper have been published online today, despite the newspaper having obtained the emails in December 2008.

The emails, dated July 2008 clearly show Sanford was in love with his mistress, with the two making arrangements to meet and sharing sweet words. You can read the emails on The State website here.

Putting the Sanford scandal aside for one minute, there’s another serious issue here, and that’s the relationship between Sanford and The State newspaper. Why did a McClatchy owned newspaper sit on a big story like this for 6 months when they had hard evidence that the Governor was undertaking an affair, but better still (and here’s the public interest angle) was arranging to meet his mistress while on, or as an extension of public trips. The emails even include Sanford discussing a trip to see John McCain during the Presidential campaign. It beggars belief that the newspaper didn’t publish the story until now.

Likely yet another example of how the so-called free and fair mainstream media are nothing of the sort.

Sanford affair emails published, local newspaper sat on them since December is a post from: The Inquisitr

McClatchy Co. has announced it will cut 15% of its workforce for a total of 1,600 jobs in a new round of cost-cutting. The new cuts bring total job losses at McClatchy to 33% of its workforce since June 2008.

The layoffs will start before April and occur throughout the company’s network of daily newspapers, although newspapers will individually be allowed to determine the best way to achieve the company’s savings targets. Wages for remaining workers will also be cut, with CEO Gary Pruitt taking an initial 15% cut.

The new cuts will bring total cost savings for McClatchy to $300 million annually, and will leave the company with 9,200 full-time workers.

McClatchy owns The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and 28 other daily newspapers.

McClatchy cuts 15% of Workforce is a post from: The Inquisitr

The McClatchy Company reported a 20.7% drop in advertising for the 4th quarter of 2008, although a rise in online advertising.

Advertising revenues were $388.3 million, down 20.7% from the same quarter in 2007, showing a slight reduction in decline vs November alone (22.4%). The only good news for McClatchy was 10.3% growth in online advertising for the quarter, with online now accounting for 10.9% of total advertising revenues vs 7.8% for the same quarter last year.

Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $470.9 million, down 17.9%.

The company highlighted the online result in their release

Still, 2008 was a good year for our online business; online audiences and revenues rose sharply. In the fourth quarter, average monthly unique visitors to our websites were up 25.3% and were up 33.5% for all of 2008. Online advertising revenues grew 10.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and were up 47.3% excluding employment advertising, a category that has been impacted both online and in print by the nationwide decline in jobs.

The market reacted somewhat positively to the news, pushing McClatchy stock (NYSE:MNI) up 7.58% for the day.

While McClatchy’s web growth strategy off the back of driving traffic is a solid one, I’d be surprised if they continued to report growth in their online figures given the rapid decline in overall online advertising spending. We’ll see come next earnings report.

McClatchy reports 20.7% drop in advertising for the 4th quarter is a post from: The Inquisitr

How bad was 2008 for the newspaper industry in the United States? E&P calculated the stock price movements, and massacre doesn’t fully describe it:

GateHouse, down 99.55%
McClatchy, down 93.6%
Lee Enterprises, down 97.3%
Journal Register Co., down 99.58%
Media General, down 92.47%

Gannett Co which owns non-newspaper assets as well as newspapers dropped 80% and the New York Times Company was the best performer losing only 59% of its value. Notably the Dow only dropped 36% for the year.

Of those, Gatehouse Media now has a market cap of only $2.3 million, despite publishing hundreds of papers.

The only question now is: how many will be left on the list by the end of 2009.

2008: The Year Newspaper Stocks became worth less than the paper they were once printed on is a post from: The Inquisitr

Shares in media company McClatchy dropped 30% today after the release yesterday of more bad news on the advertising front.

Shares in McClatchy (NYSE:MNI) opened the day at $1.47 dropping to $1.05 at the close of trading after hitting a low of $1, for a 29.53% drop.

Print advertising in McClatchy dropped 22.4% in November, but was partially offset by a 7.5% gain in online advertising for a net drop of 19.4% year on year. Notably the figures showed increasing declines in circulation that may further erode McClatchy’s advertising revenue in December.

McClatchy shares hammered on bad advertising figures is a post from: The Inquisitr

The McClatchy Company reported that consolidated revenues for November 2008 decreased 19.4% off a fall in print advertising of 22.4% compared to the same month last year.

The decline in print advertising was partially offset by a 7.5% gain in online advertising revenues for the month. For the first eleven months of the year, total revenues for the group have declined 15.9% and advertising revenues declined 17.8%.

Worst hit was employment advertising, dropping 58.6%, followed by Real Estate down 45.8% and automotive down 42.6%. National Advertising dropped 33.2% and Retail 17.6%.

McClatchy spun the results as being in line with the recent downward trend in a tough marketplace.

Notably circulation was down 6.7% weekdays and 5.9% Sundays.

McClatchy Advertising down 22.4% in November is a post from: The Inquisitr

In another step forward for resource sharing between newspapers, McClatchy and the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) has announced a content sharing deal for their Foreign Bureaus.

Under the deal, McClatchy will provide CSM with stories written by its correspondents in Venezuela and Africa, and the CSM will offer stories to McClatchy from its reporters in Mexico and India.

McClatchy said in a statement that the move allows “both news organizations to expand coverage even as they struggle to cope with declining circulation and advertising revenues.” It’s also being spun as a way to better maintain foreign news:

“Cooperation between McClatchy and the Monitor supports the continued professional coverage of international news,” said Monitor editor John Yemma. “That’s important because readers need independent and trustworthy sources of news to understand complex issues around the world.”

The interesting part of the deal besides the cooperation angle: the deal involves no money changing hands, and is a true sharing agreement. It’s a sensible way for newspapers to cut costs without reducing coverage, so expect to see more deals like this in the year ahead.

McClatchy, Christian Science Monitor announce Foreign Bureau content sharing deal is a post from: The Inquisitr

Newspaper group The McClatchy Company has reported a 20.4% drop in advertising for October.

Overall revenue at McClatchy decreased 17.8% for the month off the back of the 20.4% drop year on year (October 2007 vs October 2008) in advertising. The one bright spot for the company was a 12.4% gain in online advertising revenue year on year, which partially offset the decline in print advertising.

For the first ten months of the year, total revenues declined 15.5% and advertising revenues declined 17.4%.

It’s more bad news for McClatchy, although it would appear at least at the moment the rapid decline may have slowed, with the group reporting a 19.9% drop in September. This may be temporary as October was the run up to the election, so political advertising would have been exceptionally high for the period.

McClatchy owns The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and 28 other daily newspapers.

(img credit: Daylife)

McClatchy Co reports 20.4% drop in advertising for October is a post from: The Inquisitr

Lesjeudis describes itself as one of the most visited job sites in France, featuring six separate sub-sites focused on different career fields. The company will keep its name and CEO as it goes under CareerBuilder’s control.

The two companies hope the merger will give Lesjeudis more power in the French market. It’s the latest of a string of international acquisitions by CareerBuilder, following purchases in Sweden (Jobbguiden.se), The Netherlands (JobbingMall.nl), and Greece (Kariera.gr).

CareerBuilder Buys French Job Site is a post from: The Inquisitr