Killing the Times and Call to save them?

Barry Mechanic, publisher of the Times of Pawtucket and the Call of Woonsocket, tells the Providence Business News (h/t rireport.com) that reporting resources will be beefed up at the papers in the future. But as the PBN article describes, the two dailies -- which once offered robust, must-read local coverage -- seem trapped in a cycle of diminished revenue and reduced staffing.

As of today, The Times of Pawtucket has a total of two news reporters, three sportswriters and one photographer. Four of their colleagues – a photographer and three reporters – left last week after taking buyouts from the newspaper’s owner, RISN Operations Inc.

Its sister paper, The Call, in Woonsocket, already has lost nine people in news and advertising, but Tim Schick, executive director of the Providence Newspaper Guild, which represents much of both staffs, said he expects about a half-dozen more jobs to be lost.

Altogether, the Times will be down six editorial jobs, to about 20 (two copy editors were also laid off), and the Call, which also operates the presses for both papers, is down to about 40 so far.

There remains a strong appetite for local news, as demonstrated by the success of the Valley Breeze in northern Rhode Island. (As the PBN story notes, the Breeze stepped in when the ProJo last year abandoned its long-time support of the RI statewide selling bee.) Yet as reported here, the dailies in Pawtucket and Woonsocket missed a chance to step up when the Journal last year cut way back on its once-vaunted statewide network of bureaus. The ProJo, of course, remains on a vastly different financial footing, yet it has also alienated some readers by trimming resources and putting out a thinner product.

The appetite for local news will persist. The bigger question is who, will have the best vision for delivering it?