Newspapers have sent hundreds of reporters, photographers and other personnel to cover the war in Iraq, but the conflict had far less impact on newspapers’ production departments.

In an informal survey conducted by Newspapers & Technology, only a handful of newspapers said they lost production personnel to active military service.

One paper that did, The Dallas Morning News, was able to cushion the loss of a production support machinist called up by the U.S. Army, said Paul Webb, The News’ vice president of production.

“We miss him and we look forward to him returning,” he said. “Fortunately, our staff is large enough we can absorb something like that.”

Tribune Co., meanwhile, had nine employees called to active duty across its media properties, said a corporate spokesperson. Of the nine, one has already returned.

Pay, benefits continue

Those production staffers recalled to active duty are covered by federal legislation that protects their jobs. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, signed into law in October 1994, requires that companies have in place policies that govern how they will treat employees called into service.

USERRA doesn’t require employers to compensate employees called up, but all the major group publishers contacted by Newspapers & Technology said they would continue to offer salary and benefits as their policies dictate.

At The Morning News, for example, Webb said Belo Corp., which owns the newspaper, will pay the machinist full pay and benefits for a one-year period.

The Tribune offers full salary for 90 days and will pay the difference between an employee’s military compensation and his normal Tribune pay for an additional 90 days beyond that.

The New York Times Co. pays its called-up reservists full salary and benefits indefinitely, according to a spokesman.

Low impact

For every paper that had to rearrange its staff scheduling to accommodate personnel shipped overseas, dozens of others felt no impact.

“We haven’t lost anybody,” said Frank Anthony, vice president of production at the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press. The paper, with more than 500 staffers, could handle the loss of “a number of people” across multiple departments without severe impact, he said.

That’s the same situation experienced by the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, according to Bernie Szachara, the daily’s vice president of production. “Fortunately, we’ve been pretty lucky here,” he said. “We had some early warnings that one or two employees might get called up, but none actually came to pass.”

Szachara said Gannett Co. Inc., which owns the newspaper, has “supportive” guidelines governing how its properties should handle various situations in the event circumstances change.