The New York Times is always looking for a way to save a little scratch, since the paper is losing revenue like a Bible store in a whorehouse, for lack of more time to think of a better metaphor. So today NYT publisher Arthur "Pinch My Moose" Sulzberger announced the paper is going to be combining the metro section with the main news section, and the sports section with the business section on most days of the week. This will save printing costs but will not shrink the news hole, they say. Full memo from Pinchy to the staff after the jump [UPDATE: And an even more detailed memo about the changes from Times editor Bill Keller]:

From Sulzberger:

To the Staff:

Given the business challenges we face, we are constantly looking for
ways to reduce costs that do not affect the quality or quantity of the
journalism we provide to our readers. Next month you will see one
such way in the metropolitan edition of The Times.

Beginning Monday, Oct. 6, we will introduce a new layout of the paper
by consolidating some sections. Metro will be integrated into the
Main News section Monday through Saturday. Business
and Sports will
be combined into one section Tuesday through Friday. There will be no
loss of content for readers. In fact, there will be some advantages
— a freestanding Saturday Arts section and a return to later
deadlines for Business news on Monday — and we are working to create
later deadlines for culture coverage. The cost savings, which are
significant, will come from the production savings of having a single
run on more nights than we do today.

We are not reducing the space devoted to Metro or Sports news. This
is simply a way to produce the paper more efficiently. These changes
will affect the New York edition only, as the national edition is
already configured in a similar fashion.

That said, we don't make these changes lightly. We care deeply about
what our New York readers think about their edition. We know that
many of our readers like and are comfortable with our current
layout.
But after a good amount of reader research and exploring various
options, we feel this is an effective way to reduce expenses while
providing our readers with the breadth and depth of high-quality
coverage they expect from us and we are committed to giving them.

Arthur

From Keller:

To the Staff:
As you've learned from Arthur's message, beginning next month the
paper will be reconfigured. Metro news will appear in the A-book along with
International and National news. Sports will be combined with Bizday,
except on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, when we will offer freestanding
sports sections. I just want to elaborate a little on what this means for
the newsroom.
The aim, of course, is to save money — and, importantly, to do it
without cutting back coverage. The savings come from eliminating an early
shift in the printing plants on some days. We do not expect to cut the
space devoted to these important and popular areas of coverage, or to
reduce the staff of journalists who deliver that coverage. For readers who
like to single out the Metro or Sports sections for the train ride to work,
the new configuration will be a little less convenient. But there will be
no less of the great news reports, enterprise, features and columns they
expect from those departments.
There are even few offsetting gains for readers:
— The new configuration will allow us to give readers a
free-standing Arts section in the Saturday paper.
— We will get some later deadlines, which will help us
competitively. Monday Bizday, which is now on the early press run with
deadlines in the afternoon, will be printed on the late run, something
business editors have long craved. Thus business news that breaks on Sunday
night can hereafter be displayed in its proper place, where readers most
expect it. We are working to assure that the Arts section can also move to
later deadlines most days of the week. We still have some details to work
out about the timing and mechanics of the later close, but our ambition is
to set deadlines so that late-breaking news from Hollywood or the art
auctions or awards shows can be included in the section.
— Metro stories that begin on A-1 will jump to Metro space. This
year, to ease navigation of our news pages, we have mostly eliminated those
annoying jumps from the front page into other sections. The result is that
front-page Metro stories mostly jump into National space, where they may
feel a little orphaned. Now they will jump into the company of other Metro
stories.
We have already begun a conversation with editors in Metro about how
we assure, in practice, that we keep the light of Metro burning bright when
there is no longer a freestanding Metro section. For one thing, I think we
will want to be more willing to front urgent Metro stories in the
metropolitan editions. For another, we will be looking for new features or
improvements to our Metro coverage to reaffirm our commitment to local
readers. We've also talked to Tom Jolly about using the front page more to
billboard sports coverage.
And then there are the opportunities the Web presents us.
It's worth remembering that these cost savings serve a long-term
purpose. While we are tightening wherever we prudently can, we are
continuing to invest in our journalism, especially online, where our
audience and revenues are rapidly growing. Metro and Sports have proven
among the most innovative departments in exploiting the possibilties of the
Web. Witness the Olympics coverage; witness City Room. My belief is that
our continuing proliferation of great coverage on the Web will erase any
questions about our commitment to Metro and Sports coverage.
The top editors at Metro and Sports have been briefed on this, as
have the members of the Masthead. If you have questions or thoughts about
this development, you know where to find us.
Best,
Bill