Deseret News set to lead, innovate

SALT LAKE CITY — The Deseret News announced Tuesday work force reductions and unveiled a plan to refocus the quality and reach of its product.

"Changes in the industry have forced some newspapers to fade or even close," said Clark Gilbert, Deseret News CEO and president. "At the Deseret News, we choose to lead and innovate."

Part of that leadership, he added, is the willingness to make hard choices.

"Today we have announced the reduction in our print work force by 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees, which reflects just over 43 percent of our work force," Gilbert said.

Gilbert called the decision to reduce staff "enormously difficult."

"We honor all the outstanding contributions that have added to the great heritage of the Deseret News," he said. "This makes these decisions even more difficult."

At the same time, he said, the Deseret News is now positioned to print a daily newspaper into the foreseeable future and expand its reach and influence throughout the world.

These changes, Gilbert added, make one thing certain: "The Deseret News will run as a daily newspaper for the foreseeable future."

Other leading industry executives recognize the need for change.

"All of us involved in the newspaper business have been challenged to adapt our traditional newspaper business model to our new realities," said Mark Contreras, senior vice president of E.W. Scripps, chairman of the Newspaper Association of America. "The Deseret News team has showed courageous leadership, not just to make the difficult decisions around costs, but to define a broader and more digitally focused future."

Gilbert said change is necessary because innovation and technology have fundamentally changed the newspaper industry.

"There are exciting and wonderful elements to the Internet as it has expanded the reach of news and information to a level never before possible. But those same changes have altered the fundamental business model and print publishing. In particular, classified advertising nationally has collapsed in most markets."

In response, the Deseret News unveiled a five-part plan "to become a leader in the industry and a model for change," said Gilbert.

 First, the newspaper will integrate its newsroom with KSL, creating the market's largest news coverage team. This integration gives both organizations more reporters on the ground covering more stories than any other local news source. As part of the integration, the Deseret News staff will move to the Triad Center "to promote greater synergy in coverage and operations," said Gilbert.

 Second, the Deseret News will increase in-depth coverage from the organization's strong journalists on relevant issues audiences care most about.