USA Today, the second-largest newspaper in the US, is making the most dramatic overhaul of its staff in its 28-year history as it de-emphasizes its print edition and ramps up its effort to reach more readers and advertisers on mobile devices.
The makeover outlined on Thursday will result in about 130 layoffs this fall, USA Today publisher Dave Hunke said.
That translates into a 9 percent reduction in USA Today’s work force of 1,500 employees. Hunke didn’t specify which departments would be hardest hit.
The management shake-up will affect both the broadsheet newspaper’s business operations and newsroom.
“This is pretty radical,” Hunke said of the shake-up. “This gets us ready for our next quarter-century.”
In the first wave of change, USA Today, which is based in Virginia, will no longer have separate managing editors overseeing its News, Sports, Money and Life sections.
The newsroom instead will be broken up into a cluster of “content rings,” each headed up by editors who will be appointed later this year.
The newly created content group will be overseen by Susan Weiss, who had been managing editor of the “Life” section. As executive editor of content, Weiss will report to USA Today editor John Hillkirk.
“We’ll focus less on print ... and more on producing content for all platforms [Web, mobile, iPad and other digital formats],” according to a slide show presented on Thursday to USA Today’s staff.
The slide presentation also said USA Today’s restructuring will “usher in a new way of doing business that aligns sales efforts with the content we produce.”
In separate interviews, both Hunke and Hillkirk said the newspaper would not allow its need to generate more revenue interfere with its commitment to journalism.
Although USA Today still makes most of its money from its print edition, the reorganization revolves around smartphones and computer tablets such as Apple’s iPad, which are creating new ways to sell subscriptions and advertising.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique