:: suzanne yada ::

Trying to nail down specific operating costs from one newspaper is next to impossible. That information, naturally, is proprietary and confidential, as I came to find out in my handful of phone calls. But that doesn’t help anyone who is trying to analyze a newsroom’s business plan from afar. I know I will not be hired as an accounting consultant any time soon, but I really want to understand just how tough it is to survive as a newspaper in 2008. Are these massive layoffs necessary? Where else could be cut before personnel have to go?

I shot an email to Paul Kauppila, a reference librarian that works specifically with the school of journalism here at SJSU. The resources he pointed me to were invaluable (a list of which I will post PDQ), and I ended up crawling on my hands and knees bookhunting through the section of the library that dealt with newspaper issues.

I found something.

(more…)