Dallas offers buyouts

DALLAS — The Dallas Morning News is planning a voluntary severance program for newsroom employees as part of an ongoing effort to continue to compete in an Internet-centric market place, according to parent company Belo Corp.

Program details and timing, as well as the number of employees affected, were not available.

At the Newspaper Association of America’s Mid-Year Media Review this month, Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Belo., said, “We are launching new products, reengineering our cost structure and reallocating human, financial and capital resources to match the company’s forward strategy, while constantly looking to take costs out of our business overall. We are determined to remain the content provider of choice in our local markets and are confident that we have the assets and management talent to succeed.”

Earlier last month Belo completed a round of layoffs at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., in a similar restructuring with more than 80 positions eliminated or consolidated and approximately 30 new positions created, Belo said.

Fort Worth publisher buys Pennsylvania daily

FORT WORTH — Richard L. Connor has added an out-of-state newspaper to his publishing resume.

The publisher of The Business Press in Fort Worth returns as publisher of the daily Times Leader in northern Pennsylvania, which he previously headed in from 1978-86.

The McClatchy Co. sold the newspaper to former publisher Connor and a group of local investors, according to sources close to the transaction.

A new company, Wilkes-Barre Publishing Co. Inc., was formed by Connor in partnership with Wilkes-Barre area investors and HM Capital Partners, a Dallas investment fund.

SA daily joins partner to publish Spanish paper

SAN ANTONIO — The Spanish-language publication Cancha launched here last month as a partnership between the San Antonio Express-News and Grupo Reforma, Mexico’s largest newspaper chain.

The Express-News will publish Cancha on Mondays and Fridays, with news and feature stories as well as sports.

Copies will be distributed for free at newsstands in locations around Bexar County where there are large numbers of Spanish-speaking people.