Herald reports staff cutbacks; 19 are affected

"You hate to do this," Purcell said in an interview, adding that it had been almost a decade since the paper made similar reductions. "I was holding off as long as I could. Before we did this, we scrubbed every other dollar throughout the organization. . . . We were hanging on and hanging on, and finally we had to bite the bullet."

The Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston responded to the cutbacks with a statement: "We remain deeply troubled that Guild ranks at the Herald have been depleted by nearly 10 percent in recent months through layoffs, buyouts, and attrition. However, we appreciate that Publisher Patrick J. Purcell has made sincere efforts this week to spread the pain of staff reductions across the board."

Purcell said the reductions included 12 full-time newsroom employees who took "buy-out agreements," one part-time newsroom employee who was laid off, and six staff members in other departments. The Guild, which represents editorial and commercial workers, said eight of its members took voluntary buyout packages, two were laid off, and two were reclassified to other positions. (A Guild source estimated that the paper employed about 200 newsroom employees before the cuts.)

Purcell also said that there had been cutbacks in his Community Newspaper Company operation -- which primarily includes local weeklies -- but that no layoffs had been required. He declined to put a dollar figure on the total savings generated by yesterday's moves.

At the Herald, two mainstays learned that their contracts were not being renewed after long and distinguished tenures there. Collins, the television writer and critic who had spent 18 years at the paper, will lose that post but will continue to write her "Downtown Journal" column once a week on a freelance basis.

Woodlief, a political writer and 27-year Herald veteran, said yesterday: "I'm retiring a little bit earlier than I wanted to. I had hoped to cover this campaign fully." Woodlief, who will write a weekly politics column, added: "I've had a great run, and I got a good [severance] package."

The difficult economy, declining circulation, and a drop-off in advertising have led to cuts at many newspapers in recent years. In 2001, about 185 employees from various departments at The Boston Globe accepted voluntary buyout packages. "Put us in context with every other newspaper company," Purcell said. "I think we're the last newspaper company to do this."

Speculation that Purcell might sell the Herald, which he bought from Rupert Murdoch in 1994, has increased recently, particularly in light of the Federal Communications Commission's decisions to deregulate some media ownership rules. Asked whether the cuts were designed to streamline the paper for a sale or whether he intended to continue as owner, Purcell responded: "We are profitable. We are now poised to move forward like other companies. We're poised for the rebound."

Yesterday's moves followed months of uncertainty in the Herald newsroom. Early this year, former editor Ken Chandler returned as a consultant with a mandate to examine content and presentation. At the same time, the paper evolved into a flashier tabloid with a higher quotient of sin, skin, and screaming headlines. In May, Purcell spoke to the staff and described those changes as part of a strategy to combat circulation and revenue problems. Since then, there's been a growing expectation that some budget tightening was coming, a sentiment that was affirmed when the paper announced in September that it was offering voluntary buyouts.

Yesterday, Purcell indicated that there would be no further job cuts. "This is painful enough," he said.