Palisades' Newspaper Owner Says Staff Working on Furloughs

Among the many changes happening at Pacific Palisades' 84-year-old newspaper the Palisadian-Post, new owner Alan Smolinisky told the community council the staff is working under a furlough.

"What I promised the staff, the minute we turn a profit this year, we're returning it to the staff," he said at the council's last meeting in the Palisades Branch Library.

As has been a national trend with smaller newspapers reinventing their business models with the continued growth of online news and readership, the Post reported on Dec. 7 the Small Newspaper Group (SNG) of Kankakee, IL sold its office building at 839 Via de la Paz and its commerical printing space.

"The paper's been losing money," Smolinisky said, noting they will look to cut various business expenses and grow circulation revenue. "We’re going to deliver a product that no one can deliver."

He said the Post has 3,963 subscribers out of a potential 9,500 household circulation.

"That's decent penetration, but that's not good," Smolinisky said.

Council President Barbara Kohn said she's known for years that circulation is not what it should be at the Post.

"And wondered why it's not at the level it's at," she said. "Are people just cutting back? We've got to get new people to subscribe."

Since early December, the Post closed its printing department and now contracts with Southwest Offset Printing, located in Gardena, to print their weekly hard copy.

"This paper is safe forever," he told the council. "We will keep printing it."

Handing out the latest weekly issue to council members and the audience, Smolinisky said, unlike major news publications decreasing the size of their hard copies, they will provide more pages for local readers, including a minumum of eight color pages each issue.

In addition, Smolinisky said they are working with a vendor for online breaking news email alerts, and are working to get all 85 years of the paper's archives uploaded online, with unlimited access.

For more information on the latest changes at the Palisadian-Post, click here.