Is Long Beach losing its daily paper?

JOE SEGURA by RUSS ROCA

The Press-Telegram is officially approaching its 10th birthday. If that number sounds a bit unbelievable for an institution that’s been around for more than a century, well, that’s the way Long Beach’s daily paper does things under the regime of its Colorado-based corporate owner, Dean Singleton, who is infamous for crunching numbers and journalism.

Reporters and photographers, whose contract negotiations are headed for federal mediation later this month, are fighting as hard to preserve what’s left of the Press-Telegram’s newsroom as on their ability to keep roofs over their heads.

“There are only 11 news reporters left, and they are supposed to cover 19 cities,” says local union president Joe Segura, whose 33 years with the P-T make him one of the few remaining reporters with long-term knowledge of the Long Beach area. “All of our contract proposals are designed to bring stability to the newsroom. The main thing we’re asking for is that the company be restricted from reducing the staff any more.”

Unfortunately, the small union local is negotiating with the Press-Telegram’s huge corporate parent, MediaNews Group, a national chain whose holdings include a cluster of suburban daily newspapers throughout Southern California.

These papers commonly share content—frequently at the expense of truly local coverage. For example, the recent campaign for Long Beach’s congressional seat was covered by a reporter from the South Bay Daily Breeze. This approach is consistent with Singleton’s longstanding philosophy, which he most memorably expressed in a 1995 interview with the American Journalism Review: “If I had my choice between pleasing one banker or 1,000 journalists,” said Singleton, “I’d rather please the banker.”

Singleton brought that philosophy to Long Beach in 1997 when he bought the Press-Telegram—coincidentally, during the paper’s 100th anniversary. Most employees had signed the latest in a half-century’s worth of union-negotiated contracts, which guaranteed the kind of good pay and benefits that attracted and retained top reporters and photographers. Those contracts included a clause—negotiated in exchange for some healthcare benefits—that made the pacts binding on the new buyer.

Singleton wiggled out of that obligation by describing his purchase of the paper as an “asset sale.” By his definition, those assets included things such as desks, computers, and subscriber lists. They did not include contracts or employees who were suddenly jobless—although invited to re-interview for their old positions at reduced wages and benefits. In essence, Singleton claimed he was starting an entirely new paper—which he just happened to decide to name the Press-Telegram.

The employees’ reconstituted union is smaller and weaker, due to a continually downsizing staff, which is less experienced and loyal because of increased turnover prompted by poor pay, benefits, and working conditions. Since 1997, the size of the bargaining unit—which also includes circulation workers—has dropped from 220 employees to 90, and top of the pay scale has dropped from $851 a week to $811. At the bottom of the scale, new employees sometimes have to choose between owning a car and renting an apartment; some live with their parents.

Those trends have been reflected in the size and significance of the Press-Telegram. Not only does the paper flutter onto driveways where it used to thud, but its role as a pillar of the community has crumbled to the point that it has gone three months without a city-hall reporter. Additionally, staffing of the newspaper’s archives was eliminated when the last two librarians retired—a blow not only to reporters but to a service that newspapers have traditionally provided to people and agencies doing research, not to mention readers seeking back copies of issues that maybe ran an article about their kids.

“Our problem is that we have lost control of our local paper,” says Segura. “It has been gutted and operational controls are not in Long Beach—they’re in Denver.”

When the Press-Telegram’s longtime executive editor, Rich Archbold, was called for comment on contract negotiations, he referred questions to Jim Janiga, MediaNews Group’s senior vice-president for Human Resources. It took Janiga a few days to respond to repeated interview requests, but he immediately apologized for the delay. “I didn’t get my messages,” he said, “because I was in Denver.”

However, Janiga insisted that MediaNews is not influencing or inhibiting the Press-Telegram’s coverage. “Our company structure emphasizes autonomy and coverage that is local, local, local,” he said. “Decisions like as hiring a city-hall reporter or investing in equipment are made by the executive editor and the publisher.”

However, Segura cites a recent battle by the union to get Internet access—an essential research tool—on Press-Telegram computers.

“Our publisher indicated he was working as hard as he could to get it,” recalls Segura. “Yet controls were so tight out of Denver that he was unable to do anything for the longest time.”

Segura finds it ironic—and enraging—that the Press-Telegram’s tiny union is the only voice being raised in support of local journalism. He castigates Archbold and other executives for their failure to speak publicly.

“They have a responsibility to their community and their employees, and it really pisses me off that we have to do their work for them,” says Segura. “Singleton has gone too far. He doesn’t care about Long Beach. We would really like to hear some concern from management. We all need to find a way to have the paper become a local paper again and meet its responsibilities in terms of coverage.”

Dave Wielenga worked for the Press-Telegram from 1972 through 1995, and he served one year as president of its former union local, the Newspaper Guild.

Tags: dean singleton, Long Beach, medianews, press telegram, unions