Tribune Co. Redesign Could Kill More Book Coverage

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 6/27/2008 7:26:00 AM

The tough times in the newspaper industry could spell more trouble for print book review sections. On Thursday the Wall Street Journal reported that Sam Zell, the new owner of the Tribune Company, would likely try to sell the buildings that two of the chain's marquee papers--the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times--now occupy. The move, to cash in on highly valued properties in an attempt to ease the company's financial woes, comes after two Tribune-owned papers, The Hartford Courant and the Baltimore Sun, announced signifigant staff reductions in their newsrooms.

Amid the pending real estate sale and newsroom cutbacks, rumors have surfaced about book sections being cut at Tribune-owned papers. One freelance critic told PW that the Tribune Company is planning to slash overall page counts across the chain. Although e-mails to editors who handle the book sections at both the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times were not returned, Michael Dizon, the communications manager at Tribune, said the paper is currently redesigning its print edition. When asked if this meant the book review section might be cut, Dizon said that "as of now" the coverage "continues to be an important part of the newspaper." Dizon added that the redesign is scheduled to appear in September.

If the Tribune Co. does reduce page counts across its papers, history indicates that book review pages will likely be the first to go. For nearly eight years now book review sections have been steadily getting thinner or dropped altogether. In 2001 The San Francisco Chronicle downsized its book section; both The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Morning News lost their dedicated book editors (one was laid off and the other left because of cuts to his section); and, last year, both the Tribune and the L.A. Times moved their standalone book sections to different editions of the paper. (Cuts have also happened at mid-size papers like the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Raleigh News & Observer.)

Although nothing has been confirmed about the fate of any book review sections at Tribune papers, little seems to have changed in publishers' financial support for these sections. In a 2006 story, PW noted that the New York Times Book Review is one of the only book sections in the country that's well supported by ads. In that piece San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein offered this lament: "It gets harder and harder to justify something that has no ad support." Soon enough the Tribune Company may act on that sentiment.