From Editor & Publisher:

Tribune executives sketched out the future of its publishing division during a Q1 conference call with media and investors Thursday afternoon — including accelerated plans to “right-size” its newspapers.

One of the main strategies outlined by Tribune Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels involves measuring the productivity of journalists. “This is a new thing,” he said. “Nobody ever said, ‘How many column inches did someone produce?’”

Michaels knows, and then proceeded to tell listeners, that in Los Angeles the average journalist at the Los Angeles Times produces about 51 pages a year, while in Harford, Conn., the average is more like 300 pages a year.

Michaels acknowledged that different reporters, such as those dedicated to investigative stories, turn out various amount of copy depending on job descriptions. He did not mention if online contributions are included in the count.

“You find you eliminate a fair number of people while not eliminating very much content,” Michaels explained about the strategy. “I understand there are other factors. … If you work hard and are producing a lot for us, everything is great.”

| READ MORE |

Wow, this is really unprecedented. No mention of quality of content or quality of service to the public. Just pages and ads. Apparently the newspaper is just another widget to these folks.