Real-Life Math
Byron is the managing editor of a mid-sized city daily. As managing editor, he of course must be involved in the paper's content. He must also deal with staff and ownership. His position in unique at the paper. He is part of the management team and is an important part of the production staff, too.
As with most managers, Byron has to juggle his resources. These can be staff, equipment, time and, of course, money.
Newspapers must constantly keep ahead of their competition. They have to be there when news happens. Byron's staff has to be ready to get on a story quickly. Careful planning and budgeting are necessary to make sure the people and resources are there when they are needed.
Editor Kirk LaPointe talks about math issues in his job. "To be a good editor, you have to know how to manage funds. My multimillion-dollar budget, my 135 staff and my 60 or so freelancers all rely on my direction on how to spend and economize."
In actually editing a newspaper, the piecing together of stories and ads, math can play a significant role. "I edit some stories about town budgets...or how public money is being used in various ways, so knowledge of percentages is important," says editor Julie Murchison Harris.
In 3 weeks, the paper's managers present their requests for money for the upcoming business year. They have to balance their objective needs with needs that are, well, a little harder to predict. All this has to take into account factoring in emergency funds, past performance (how well was the money spent last year) and the advertising money the paper will generate.
One component of Byron's budget is predicting staffing costs and the costs of 2 very important resources. One is the paper's helicopter, invaluable in getting a reporter to the scene of a story fast.
The other is the pool of on-call reporters and writers. They can jump on a story or do background research at a moment's notice. This is where the crystal ball could really help. It is nearly impossible to predict how much you will use these two resources.
Byron has to come up with a yearly estimate for his budget. Here are the facts he has to deal with:
Salary for 2 full-time senior reporters per month -- $4,700 each
Salary for 4 full-time beat reporters per month -- $3,200 each (1 each for sports, lifestyles, city hall and national)
Salary for a full-time copy editor per month -- $4,400
Salary for a part-time copy editor per month -- $2,150
Daily rate for freelancers -- $110 per day (doubles if services are requested on less than 24 hours' notice)
Hourly rate for use of company helicopter -- $890
Byron knows a few things about past budgets. First, the paper has resisted hiring more full-time staff. So the amount spent on freelancers has risen 22 percent for the last 3 years running. (Last year, you used freelancers for 64 days at their regular rate and 29 days at the doubled rate.) He also knows that last year, the paper had to dip into budget reserves to cover hiring more freelancers.
Second, although the helicopter is very useful, it has never been taken out more than 60 hours in a year. But this year he must factor in the phenomenal rise in fuel costs in operating the helicopter. (Fuel and lubricants account for 24 percent of operating costs. It is expected that fuel prices will rise 70 percent over last year's price.)
Can you come up with 2 budgets that Byron might use?