New York Times Co. Threatens to Shut Down Boston Globe

The New York Times Co. has told officials at the Boston Globe, which it owns, that unless the newspaper's unions swiftly agree to $20 million in concessions it will shut down the publication, union leaders said in a Boston Globe story written tonight by Robert Gavin and Robert Weisman.

Executives from the Times Co. and Globe made the demands Thursday morning in an approximately 90- minute meeting with leaders of the newspaper's 13 unions, union officials said. The possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees, said Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's biggest union, which represents more than 700 editorial, advertising and business office employees.

The concessions will be negotiated individually with each of the unions, said Totten and Ralph Giallanella, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Local 259, which represents about 200 drivers who deliver the newspaper.

"We all know the newspaper industry is going through great transition and loss," said Giallanella. "The ad revenues have fallen off the cliff. Just based on everything that's going on around the country, they're serious."

Catherine Mathis, a Times Co. spokeswoman, declined to comment. Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley also declined to comment.

Obama Offers Condolences to CBS's Reid

CBS White House correspondent Chip Reid's father past away just as Reid went overseas to cover President Barack Obama at the G-20 summit. He had wanted to return home, but family members urged him to stay as that was what his father's would have wanted. Obama offered his condolences, as we do too.

White House Press Office Dials Up an Odd Briefing

The White House press office gave reporters a little more than what they were expecting yesterday when it distributed a phone number that was meant to be a conference call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones to discuss the NATO summit.

The number was a porn line.

Reporters were greeted with a woman's voice that was most definitely not the secretary of state. The Washington Post has the audio.

This is not the first misstep for the new press office, but unlike some of the others, this seems to fall under the "oops, my bad" category.

Schieffer Symposium: Journalists Have a Bias Toward Obama

Panel members at the fifth annual Bob Schieffer Symposium at Texas Christian University told their audience last night that up to 90 percent of journalists voted Democratic and have some level of bias in favor of President Barack Obama.

The panelists included David Brooks, Gwen Ifill, Trish Regan of CNBC's "The Call," and Mark Shields.

On the topic of how well the media are doing to cover the Obama presidency, every panelist agreed that there is some form of bias, regardless of whether it is conscious. This can't be a surprise to anybody, but what is noteworthy is that you have a group of high-level journalists willing to admit it publicly.

Callie Mason of the Daily Skaiff writes:

Ifill said in a press conference held before the event that the media are obsessed with whatever makes the most interesting story.

"The press is obsessed with everything he says and everything she wears," Ifill said of Obama and his wife, Michelle.

Shields said the media have a tendency to favor the winner in any campaign.

Brooks said the majority of the people he works with are in favor of Obama.

"Among my colleagues, 90 percent vote democratic," Brooks said.

Brooks went on to say that even if journalists are not aware of their biases, they have them. However, he said he believes the press is being fair in covering Obama and that most reporters are committed to journalism, not personal politics.

Shields said he doesn't think Obama is getting a free ride, but part of problem is that Republicans are currently voiceless.

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At Least 3,943 Newspaper Employees Laid Off in March

March was the most difficult month of the year so far for newspaper employees as at least 3,943 people were laid off. Some news organizations announced layoffs and did not release information on how many people got pink slips. Most of the damage came from the McClatchy chain as more than 1,200 workers were told to leave. In addition, we said good-bye to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

This figure is more than double the total of January and February. The total as of March 31 is 7,546.

Erica Smith's blog, Paper Cuts, is a great resource for this information as well. Her blog has a map that pinpoints these layoffs and more.

March 31: The News Leader of Stauton, Va., 23 people.
March 30: Florida Communications Group, owner of The Tampa Tribune and other holdings, 53 people.
March 30: The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, 23 people.
March 30: The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va., six people.
March 30: The News Virginian in Waynesboro, Va., one person.
March 29: Palisadian-Post of Pacific Palisades, Calif., two people.
March 29: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 12 people.
March 27: Boston Herald, 24 people.
March 27: The Buffalo News, 46 people.
March 27: The Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, Pa., shut down its printing plant and laid off 30 workers, via tips to News Cycle.
The Easton (Pa.) Express is eliminating its delivery staff and laid off 18 people, via tips to News Cycle.
March 27: The Daily News of Arlington Heights, IlI., 24 people.
March 27: Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen faces closure, tentatively 60 people until a possible sale agreement is reached.
March 26: The Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, 19 people.
March 26: Flint (Mich.) Journal, 82 people.
March 26: The New York Times, 100 people on the business side.
March 26: The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, 18 people.
March 25: The Bakersfield (Calif.) Californian, 26 people.
March 25: Houston Chronicle, 200 people.
March 25: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 90 editorial staffers, and 107 people in circulation.
March 24: Glens Falls (N.Y.) Post-Star, 11 people.
March 23: Ann Arbor (Mich.) News announces it will cease publication in July, 272 people.
March 23: The Oregonian in Portland, Ore., 33 people.
March 23: Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, part of the McClatchy chain, 53 people, including the 14 newsroom workers whose union agreed to job cuts on March 19.
March 23: Charlotte Observer, part of the McClacthy chain, 82 people.
March 21: St. Cloud (Minn.) Times, 10 people.
March 21: Orlando Sentinel, 36 people.
March 20: The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass., five people.
March 20: Denver Newspaper Agency, the agency that handled business operations for the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post under a JOA, 200 people.
March 20: The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., 48 people.
March 19: Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, part of the McClatchy chain, 14 people.
March 19: Centre Daily Times of State College, Pa., three people.
March 19: Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle in Milwaukee, Wisc., four people.
March 19: Skagit Valley Herald of Mount Vernon, Wash., 10 people.
March 19: Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 10 people in sales.
March 19: The International Edition of The Miami Herald ceases publication on June 11, four people.
March 19: Anchorage Daily News, 45 people, part of the McClatchy chain.
March 17: Crain Communications business news publications, 150 people.
March 17: The Daily Republic of Mitchell, S.D., one person.
March 17: Minneapolis Star Tribune, 24 people.
March 17: Connecticut Post, News-Times of Danbury, The Advocate of Stamford, Greenwich Time and the Brooks Community Newspapers, all part of Hearst Newspaper Group, 48 people.
March 17: Seattle Post-Intelligencer ceases print publication, 140 people.
March 17: Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News, three people.
March 16: Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald, part of the McClatchy chain, nine people.
March 16: Bradenton (Fla.) Herald of the McClatchy chain, 15 people.
March 16: Idaho Statesman of Boise, Idaho, part of the McClatchy chain, 25 people.
March 16: Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat, part of the McClatchy group, 30 people.
March 15: Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, 71 people "retired."
March 15: The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., part of the McClatchy newspaper chain, 78 people.
March 15: The News Tribune, a McClatchy newspaper in Tacoma, Wash., 30 people.
March 15: The Olympian, a McClatchy newspaper in Olympia, Wash., 15 people.
March 14, San Francisco Chronicle, 150 people.
March 13, The Daily Record of Wooster, Ohio, seven people.
March 13: Sonoma Valley (Calif.) Sun, four people.
March 13: Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, one person.
March 13: Media General's Washington Bureau, six people.
March 12: The Modesto (Calif.) Bee, 40 people, including the 11 announced on March 10.
March 12: The Forum in Fargo, N.D., 25 people.
March 12: Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, eight people.
March 12: Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, 65 people.
March 12: Boston Globe, 32 people in advertising.
March 11: The Seattle Times, eight people in advertising.
March 11: Fresno (Calif.) Bee, 63 people.
March 11: Grand Island (Neb.) Independent, eight people.
March 11: Miami Herald, part of the McClatchy chain, 205 people.
March 11: Fort Collins (Colo.) Coloradoan, 48 people.
March 11: The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette and The Island Packet in Hilton Head, S.C., part of the McClatchy chain, 17 people.
March 11: State Media Co. of Columbia, S.C., part of the McClatchy chain, 38 people.
March 10: Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, 20 people.
March 10: The Sun-Star, Los Banos Enterprise and Chowchilla News, McClatchy newspapers around Merced, Calif., 10 people.
March 10: The Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald, six people.
March 10: Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, 14 people.
March 10: The Modesto (Calif.) Bee, 11 people.
March 9: The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Calif., seven people.
March 9: The News & Messenger of Woodbridge, Va., 22 people.
March 9: The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, 150 people.
March 9: Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, 128 people.
March 6: The Stockton (Calif.) Record, 12 people.
March 6: Tri-City Herald of Kennewick, Wash., three people.
March 5: Ft. Worth (Texas) Star Telegram, 130 people.
March 4: The Washington (N.C.) Daily News, six people.
March 3: The SunPost of Miami, two people.
March 3: Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, 38 people.
March 2: The Sun News of Myrtle Beach, S.C., 20 people.
March 2: Bellingham (Wash.) Herald, 10 people.
March 2: Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 45 people.
March 1: Fox Valley Publications, a group of weeklies in the Joliet, Ill., area, 155 people.

Here are News Cycle's month-by-month lists of newspaper job cuts this year:

December -- 752 people.
November -- 293 people.
October -- 375 people.
September -- 347 people.
August -- 425 people.
July -- 2,505 people.
June -- 318 people.
May -- 1,084 people.
April -- 1,350 people.
March -- 3,943 people.
February -- 1,492 people.
January -- 2,256 people.

Email me to report any job cuts in the newspaper industry.

Obama's Dubious Claims at His Press Conference

FactChecker.org had this observation concerning President Barack Obama's recent White House news conference:

President Obama sometimes strayed from the facts or made dubious claims during his hour-long evening news conference March 24.

•He said his budget projections are based on economic assumptions that “are perfectly consistent with what Blue Chip forecasters out there are saying.” Not true. The average projection by leading private economists is now for substantially less economic growth than the administration’s forecast assumes.

•He said he is reducing “nondefense discretionary spending” to less than it was under the past four presidents. Not true. His own forecast for the final budget of his four-year term puts this figure higher than in many years under Reagan, Clinton or either Bush.

•He said he was “angry” about “inexcusable” bonuses paid to AIG executives. But he glossed over the fact that his own aides insisted on watering down a Senate-passed amendment that might have prevented payment of such bonuses.

•He repeated that his budget is projected to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his term. That’s true, but deficits also are projected to shoot up again later unless big policy changes are made.
One of the most dramatic claims came not from Obama but from a reporter who asked about children “who are sleeping under bridges and in tents across the country” and who said 1 child in 50 is “homeless.” The truth is far less dramatic. The study he cited doesn’t just count children with no roof over their heads. It also includes those whose families are staying with friends or family members, in hotels and motels, in trailer parks or in housing deemed to be “substandard.”

Obama Forces GM's Top Executive to Resign

The Chairman of the Board has spoken, and the CEO is gone.

President Barack Obama asked for General Motors chief executive officer Rick Wagoner to resign, and he has done so effective immediately, White House officials are telling national news outlets tonight.

Obama is expected to announce his latest auto industry strategy tomorrow, including a response to GM and Chrysler's plea for more federal money.

"We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration regarding the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement," GM said Sunday night in an official statement to media.

Wagoner has been CEO for eight years and at GM for more than 30. It is not yet clear who would replace him, or what role the administration would play in that process.

Reaction has been swift to the surprise move. "Mr. Wagoner has been asked to resign as a political offering despite his having led GM's painful restructuring to date," said U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a Michigan Republican and member of the House Financial Services Committee, told Reuters.

We had feared the Obama administration may force some of the executives out. But we don't really see how this would make GM the better, stronger company that Obama wants it to be," said Rebecca Lindland, director of IHS (nyse: IHS - news - people ) Global Insight.

University of Maryland economist Peter Morici, a one-time critic of Wagoner who had called for him to resign but more recently thought he was doing a better job, said the administration has a "PR problem" regarding corporate bailouts.

"They are bailing out just about anybody that shows up and says they need cash. The public has grown weary of it and instead of throwing a banker to the wolves they have decided to throw Wagoner to the wolves," Morici said.

There was no indication on who would succeed Wagoner, or what Obama's role would be in picking the new leader for the auto giant.