NY Times Death Spiral Continues

More heart-wrenching news from the Old Grey Hag.

The New York Times is cutting sections and trimming its budget for freelance contributions in another round of belt tightening aimed at coping with a steep decline in ad revenue.

The newspaper's executive editor, Bill Keller, announced the cuts in a staff memo Thursday.

The Times currently produces zoned Sunday sections with different mixes of local news for New York City, New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, N.Y., and Connecticut. Now those will be reduced to zoned pages within a single regional section. Keller said the newspaper was still working on a prototype and hoped to launch the new section on May 24.

Keller also said the standalone Escapes travel section will disappear after April 24, with some content folded into the Friday Weekend section.

The New York Times Magazine will end its weekly fashion spreads after May 3. Fashion coverage will primarily appear instead in the Times' T Magazine and the newspaper's Thursday and Sunday Style sections.

Beginning Tuesday, the Times will condense its three-page daily index of stories into one page.

Keller said the newspaper will begin trimming its freelance budgets within weeks, though he did not elaborate.

"Taken together, these moves will save millions of dollars — savings that would otherwise have to come out of payroll," he wrote.

Here's a suggestion that would save them millions. Eliminate their op-ed page. Just think of the money saved by lopping off overpaid hacks like Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, Bob Herbert and Paul Krugman. Plus, you might salvage some credibility in the process.