More bad news on the newspaper front

Word is out that the Chicago Tribune will shrink its size to a three-section newspaper -- one section devoted to news, one to features and the third for sports -- within the next couple of weeks. The Tribune, like the Dallas Morning News, currently has separate business and local news sections. Those sections would be incoporated into the front section which will also contain national and international news and the editorial pages, according to sources inside the Tribune. Sam Zell, the chairman of Tribune Company, has ordered similar reductions in the company's newspapers due to steep declines in advertising. The advertising-to-news ratio at the Tribune is currently 50-50, so I've been told. When I was at the Dallas Morning News, the formula it strove to achieve ws 65 percent advertising (much of that classified ads) to 35 percent news. I have no idea what that ratio is today and if anyone out there does, I would appreciate it if you added that information as a comment.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News announced yesterday that 270 additional employees of the paper had accepted a voluntary buyout offer.