Letter to employees from Mark Zieman, president and publisher of The Kansas City Star

Feb. 5, 2009

To all employees:

This morning, McClatchy announced that it is freezing its pension plans and temporarily suspending the company match to its 401(k) plans, effective March 31. McClatchy also announced that it will cut an additional $100 million to $110 million in expenses over the next 12 months. The press release is available at www.mcclatchy.com. McClatchy will send more details on the retirement changes to each of us directly, both by e-mail and information mailed to our homes.

At The Star, we are still developing our plan to address these expense cuts. Unfortunately, we know these cuts will include job eliminations. But we also are exploring several other alternatives to limit the number of layoffs. We will share these details with you just as soon as they are final.

I understand how disruptive it is to receive these announcements without more specific information. I also understand that today’s announcement is especially discouraging given all the cuts made in 2008.

We had hoped that previous cuts would be sufficient to see us through the sharp revenue declines affecting our newspaper and our industry. Instead, we have seen the Kansas City economy continue to worsen, with many of our major employers and retailers slashing jobs, suspending their marketing efforts or even going out of business. Help wanted ads have dropped to record lows, and sales of homes and autos remain weak. Our new ventures have helped us tremendously, especially our fast-growing online and niche products. But our core newspaper continues to suffer from a deepening downturn that has touched almost every sector of our economy.

The decisions we now need to make are difficult, but are necessary to keep this paper financially stable and positioned for the future. The efforts we have taken in the past year, and will continue to take, have helped us succeed in a demanding, competitive and more integrated media environment. The Star remains our community’s most dominant and comprehensive source of news and advertising, and our readership reach in print and online remains unrivaled.

As in the past, we will work quickly to notify employees who may be affected by staff reductions. As we have just begun work on these plans now, you may not hear more from us for a few weeks. Employees whose positions are eliminated will be provided with a transition package that will include severance pay and benefits continuation. We also will provide outplacement services and do everything possible to make their transition as smooth as possible. 

The Star continues to succeed in today’s difficult environment because of the talent, innovation and dedication of our staff. You have responded to this unprecedented time in exceptional ways. I deeply appreciate all that you do, and I am certain that future generations of readers and advertisers will appreciate it, too.

Regards,

Mark Zieman
President and publisher