– Chicago Tribune: The Tribune Company-owned paper is ceasing weekday print classifieds as it seeks to cut costs and better integrate its web listings with CareerBuilder and the paper’s Sunday edition. The new listing is called “Careerbuilder QuickFind,” according to E&P. Readers will be referred to the full recruitment ads on its classifieds site, Chicago Tribune/CareerBuilder. The new Sunday section debuts Jan. 20, with the weekly QuickFind launching Jan. 22.
— Scripps: Just as the Democratic and Republican parties’ primary races are in full swing, Scripps’ (NYSE: SSP) newspaper unit has unveiled a social net site called RedBlueAmerica. Aimed at political junkies on both sides of the debate, the site features a fairly typical mix of breaking news, blogs, videos, polls and of course, forums for partisans to battle it out. While tied to the 2008 presidential, Scripps says that the site will also be flexible enough to include issues and news outside of the election. That could leave room to continue beyond 2008. Release.
— Sun-Times: K Capital Management, which has a 9.7 percent stake of the Sun-Times’ stock, wants the paper’s parent Hollinger, to cut the 11-member board by more than half, AP reports. K Capital is one of the Chicago-based Sun-Times’ largest shareholders and has characterized the board as “inefficient.” The Canadian publisher is in the middle of a major cost-cutting drive, attempting to slash $50 million in operating costs this year and has been laying off scores of employees at its publications.
— CareerBuilder: The online jobs site is branching out into human resources consulting with a new, independent firm it’s calling Personified. The company plans to market CareerBuilder’s data on job seekers for companies looking for “talent management solutions.” CareerBuilder, which is jointly owned by Gannett (NYSE: GCI), Tribune, McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), thinks the timing for the new venture is just right, given the fears of recession and increasing Baby Boomer retirement. Release.
— Tribune: Over the last few years, Virginia’s Daily Press has attempted to deal with its struggles through a series of layoffs and hiring freezes. The Tribune-owned paper has just laid off 14 staffers, bringing total job cuts to 100. The layoffs were felt across the paper’s newsroom, operations, finance and advertising departments. Like many papers these days, the Daily Press has reported rising online ad revenue; and just as similar, these revenues haven’t sufficiently replaced the decline in print ad revenues. More details on the Daily Press site (via Romenesko).
— McClatchy: Hispanic media company ImpreMedia deals with McClatchy’s Spanish-language pubs to create an online and print advertising network. The ad service will give national marketers access to 18 Hispanic markets, including nine of the top 10 Hispanic markets, ImpreMedia claims. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Release.
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