Scripps is shuttering the afternoon Albuquerque Tribune, and unlike its previous closure of the Cincinnati Post there seems to be no plan to continue with a Web operation. Up in Wisconsin, the afternoon Capital Times is killing its daily edition and will continue to publish on the Web, as well as producing a couple of free entertainment products each week. Between the short-term economic cycles and the long-term restructuring of the news business, anyone working for a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) newspaper should see the writing on the wall: Have a Plan B.
There have been about 30 JOA markets over the years, and fewer than 10 are left.
In most lines of business, you have to be pretty careful about teaming up with your competitor, lest you run afoul of federal antitrust law. The penalties for price-fixing can be brutal.
But for many decades newspapers have been allowed to combine, first under a series of informal or court-backed exemptions, then under the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970. The rationale is that if a newspaper is failing, it's in the public interest to preserve at least its independent editorial voice and journalism. Printing, distribution and ad sales can be combined.
But there's a big hole in the donut: The JOA company isn't actually required to continue to publish two papers. And when a Pulitzer prize-winning 42,000-circulation afternoon daily sinks to 9,600 in a robust, growing market -- which is what happened in Albuquerque -- you can expect the ax to fall. In this case, as I understand the story in the Tribune, the profits will continue to be split by Scripps and the morning Journal's owner.
Those facing layoffs at the Tribune and the Cap Times have my sympathy. One night in 1983 I got a phone call at home saying my employer, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, was shutting down. The afternoon Post-Dispatch, with which we were partnered, would get our morning publishing slot. Bad timing: I was remodeling my house, and I had removed all the windows and torn out much of the drywall, and I was trying to go to school, and I had a little baby. That was just the last thing I needed to hear.
The best advice I can give is: Don't let it beat you. This isn't the end of your career, and it isn't the end of journalism. Everything that lives has to change.
And if you're still at a JOA: Have a Plan B. It should include the Internet.