August 16–23, 2001

news

Fuzzy Math

On Aug. 8, Knight Ridder Inc. chairman Tony Ridder came to town to address his beleaguered troops at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. His speeches were not exactly as inspiring as Washington’s words to his army at Valley Forge. Of course Washington had the luxury of blaming the harsh winter weather for the decimation of his army, whereas Ridder had only himself. Through a combination of layoffs and buyouts, the Inquirer staff has been winnowed down as part of Ridder’s attempt to keep profits growing despite the current economic slowdown.

In anticipation of the corporate fly-by, combative Newspaper Guild President Henry J. Holcomb sent a letter to the rank and file. His message: tomorrow’s meeting "is a time for tough questions."

For the Knight Ridder chain, its Philadelphia papers are a liability. The city and region are stagnant and must look hopelessly backward to the Silicon Valley-based management. Where are the palm trees? Where are the Palm Pilots? In its latest corporate broadside, the parent company singles out Philly and Detroit for particular scorn. Those cursed shrinking cities are hurting, dragging down the company’s overall circulation numbers! Why can’t those spoiled reporters just accept their downsizing with grace and dignity?

When the tough questions started rolling in at the meeting, Knight Ridder brass attempted to justify their job cuts. They claimed that the Inquirer, with a weekday circulation of little better than 360,000, still had a bloated staff for a paper of its size. Their message: quit complaining; you folks have it better than you realize — or deserve.

There’s one problem with that rationale. According to Knight Ridder’s own figures, which they recently reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Inquirer has a weekday readership of more than 390,000, nearly 10 percent higher than the figure quoted at the meeting. Whether the fuzzy math was due to the Knight Ridder bosses’ obsession with shrinking circulation or just a low-ball number meant to belittle the staff is impossible to say. What is clear is that their numbers were just dead wrong.

The union leadership believes that solid journalism — getting the story right and reporting it with flair — can boost profits better than any Tony Ridder job-cut plan. They accuse management of sacrificing good reporters (and their good reporting) in the interest of higher profits. This circulation numbers snafu may be just the latest example of the KN honchos putting their profit-boosting plans ahead of the journalistic commitment to getting the facts straight.

PNI spokesman Pam Browner said she could not recall any quotes about circulation. Efforts to reach Ridder by press time were unsuccessful.

—Daniel Brook