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Gannett lays off journalists across the country
Poynter.org ^ | January 23, 2019 | Tom Jones

Posted on 01/24/2019 8:04:39 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi

Another brutal day for journalism.

Gannett began slashing jobs all across the country Wednesday in a cost-cutting move that was anticipated even before the recent news that a hedge-fund company was planning to buy the chain.

The cuts were not minor.

At the Indianapolis Star, three journalists were laid off, including well-known columnist Tim Swarens. At the Knoxville (Tennessee) News Sentinel, University of Tennessee women’s basketball reporter Dan Fleser is out after more than 30 years in sports. The Tennessean cut three positions, including high school sports reporter Michael Murphy. Traci Bauer, executive editor of LoHud (New York), was let go.

Six were laid off at The Record in North Jersey after nine took an early retirement buyout earlier this month. 

On and on it continued.

Four were let go at the Westchester (New York) Journal News. Four were let go at the Ventura County (California) Star. Five were let go at The Citizen Times in Asheville, North Carolina.

The Arizona Republic laid off two, including cartoonist Steve Benson, the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner for cartooning and a finalist for the award four other times.

News of the layoffs leaked out on Twitter and across newsrooms on Wednesday afternoon and continued well into the night, with reports of cuts at the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press and USA Today’s travel section. It’s still unclear how many journalists and how many news outlets were impacted. Gannett did not respond to a request for comment.

So, do Wednesday’s cuts have anything to do with the a possible sale of Gannett to Digital First Media? Probably not.

“I don’t know how many newsroom jobs Gannett is cutting, but the move it is hardly surprising with a bad fourth quarter financially to be reported soon and more of the same expected for the first part of 2019,’’ said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst for Poynter. “These cost reductions are typically planned at the end of the year, then carried out in January.  So I doubt the layoffs and buyouts have anything to do with the Digital First takeover bid.’’

However, Bernie Lunzer, president of The NewsGuild-CWA, laid the blame partly on Digital First Media.

In a statement to Poynter, Lunzer wrote, “Gannett is choosing the low road here — a direct result of the hostile efforts at a takeover by Digital First Media. DFM is once again causing grievous harm to an industry it pretends to be a steward of. Both companies have lost sight of the critical product they are meant to provide — journalism. Newsrooms that could be preserved are being decimated for Wall Street when there are productive paths forward. Let’s find a way to sell these properties to the communities they serve before it’s too late.”

Whom to blame didn’t make the news any less depressing for those in the business and, particularly, those impacted.

Jaci Smith, who worked at the News Journal Media Group in Delaware, tweeted:

“25 years in the industry and it’s over after a 10-minute chat in a sterile conference room. My heart aches for journalism and all my fellow #gannett colleagues who were laid off today. #journalismmatters’’

Kristi Nelson, president of the Knoxville Newspaper Guild, told the State of Newspapers, “It’s distressing to once again be mourning staff cuts in our newsroom. Not only do our hearts go out to our colleagues, we acknowledge that the loss of any trained, professional journalist is a loss to our readers as well; one less voice speaking on behalf of the community we cover.’’

Nelson said the News Sentinel has lost more than 45 journalists and editors through layoffs and early retirement buyouts since 2007. Also included in Wednesday’s cuts were content strategist Amy McDaniel and Charlie Daniel, a cartoonist who had been at the paper since 1982 and has been writing and drawing cartoons in Knoxville for 50 years.

“There is no way to overstate the impact of these Gannett-wide cuts on our ability to cover the community with the depth and breadth we expect and that our readers deserved,’’ Nelson said. “While those of us still in the newsroom remain committed to cover this region the very best we can with the resources we have left, we have to ask: How many more?’’

In Indianapolis, Swarens tweeted out:

“I was told a few minutes ago that @indystar has laid me off. I’m in shock. Not how I wanted 35 year journalism career to end.’’

Another big name is out at the IndyStar: writer and editor Amanda Kingsbury, a 10-year veteran of the paper, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.  Just a few weeks ago, six longtime IndyStar employees took buyouts.

On her Facebook page, Kingsbury wrote a lengthy touching post despite being laid off. In it, she wrote:

“I know it sounds cliche, but please support your local journalists by subscribing. Try to overlook the typos. And all the ads that slow down your reading experience.”

She went on to write that without the work of the IndyStar, former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar would still be molesting young women. She concluded by urging people to subscribe to the paper, with a link to how to subscribe.

“Don’t tell me you can’t afford it,” she wrote.

The layoffs also reached the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, New York. Reporter Sean Lahman tweeted out:

“Layoffs at Gannett papers across the county today, including here in Rochester.’’

Wednesday’s news comes just two weeks after Gannett received an unsolicited proposal to be bought by MNG Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media. Gannett owns USA Today and 109 other local media companies. Digital First, which owns the Denver Post and Boston Herald among other papers, wants to buy Gannett for $1.36 billion.

Correction: An earlier version of this story included information about buyouts at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which is not a Gannett property.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Local News
KEYWORDS: alreadyposted; cantbepostedenuff; dbm; digitalfirstmedia; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; gannett; learntocode; mediawingofthednc; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I believe she has a degree in economics. And bartending.


41 posted on 01/24/2019 8:34:13 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi (NOPe to GOPe)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Good. I would love to read a daily paper, but not when it makes me want to rip it to shreds. May they all go out of business.


42 posted on 01/24/2019 8:35:04 AM PST by I want the USA back (Lying Media: willing and eager allies of the hate-America left.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

I can remember at the height of the paper news industry, there were at least three editions of the local rag in my large city. People looked expectantly for it: “Can you go out and see if the paper has arrived yet?”

I don’t remember it, but I was told that home mail delivery happened 2 or 3 times per day as well in most urban areas.

I would say it’s a shame that this industry is going down the tubes, but considering that they are largely now purveyors of lies, I won’t.


43 posted on 01/24/2019 8:35:05 AM PST by fwdude (Think about it: Blacks were made slaves in Africa, but were made free men in America.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Tears of joy!!!
Schadenfreude!!!


44 posted on 01/24/2019 8:36:30 AM PST by StAnDeliver ("Mueller personally delivered US uranium to Russia.")
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To: Buckeye McFrog

You need an IQ of at least 51 to qualify as a moron. I think 26-50 only puts her in the imbecile range.


45 posted on 01/24/2019 8:39:45 AM PST by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys all aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: fwdude

I carried the afternoon paper six days a week. 28 dailies. 125 Sundays.
Good thing my dad had a station wagon to help me...


46 posted on 01/24/2019 8:41:00 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: blackdog

Makes you wonder just how much taxpayer money has gone to propping up the MSM.


47 posted on 01/24/2019 8:43:41 AM PST by Texas resident (Democrats=Enemy of People of The United States of America)
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To: woweeitsme
My guess is the hedge fund is buying Gannett real cheap and expects to make a quick buck selling of the assets.

You can call that investing in the newspaper business if you like. ;)

48 posted on 01/24/2019 8:46:38 AM PST by Salman (Democrats. The other religion of peace.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Good. Now let the urinalists go get a real job.


49 posted on 01/24/2019 8:49:49 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Steve Benson was a daily cartoonist for the AZ ever since I moved to Phoenix in 1990 and the AZ Republic just laid him off.

AZ Republic must be doing badly.


50 posted on 01/24/2019 8:51:37 AM PST by marajade (Skywalker)
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To: pepsionice
But the use of papers for political platforms? No one has interest in picking up some 80-cent paper that blasts Trump on the front-page.

Our local paper that's been around since 1892 has gone from a 7 day print edition to five days ... Monday & Tuesday edition on line. This, according to the paper, to offset costs and avoid lay offs. Although the area they serve is one of the more conservative counties in Colorado (western Colorado) they insist on pushing forward their liberal agenda on a daily basis. The editorial page features writers from the NY Times & Washington Post writers group ... almost all bashing Trump and conservatives in general. Not to mention the almost daily Trump bashing letter-to-the-editor along with a Trump bashing editorial cartoon. This paper, not Gannet owned, is not attuned to the area they serve ... and in my estimation will continue to struggle ... and probably won't exist in 10 years.

51 posted on 01/24/2019 8:57:39 AM PST by BluH2o
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Mostly they brought this on themselves. Work overtime to make 1/2 your potential customers hate you and you might just find yourself working no hours at all.


52 posted on 01/24/2019 8:58:34 AM PST by jocon307
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To: Sasparilla

Quotation marks matter.


53 posted on 01/24/2019 8:59:10 AM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: woweeitsme

Makes one wonder why universities still have bloated Journalism departments. You don’t need a college degree to be unemployed.


54 posted on 01/24/2019 8:59:18 AM PST by txrefugee
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Good news.


55 posted on 01/24/2019 8:59:32 AM PST by RinaseaofDs
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

wheres that Boo Hoo girl...


56 posted on 01/24/2019 9:02:45 AM PST by sit-rep
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

The news business is undergoing a major change and newspapers more so than anything else. In the midst of this cultural and technological change, journalists decided that people would be willing to pay to have journalists lie to us. It turns out that we aren’t that stupid. Newspaper subscriptions have dropped by millions. Big city newspapers and USA today have become jokes. I won’t even read them in the doctor’s office.

It’s not over. TV media will be the next to see the bubble burst and the powerhouse online media aren’t far behind. As long as they continue to be the willing lackeys of the communist dominated Democrat Party and the inside the Beltway elitists, they are doomed. They have become the news and the news is good: they will be gone sooner than either they or we realize.


57 posted on 01/24/2019 9:03:49 AM PST by centurion316
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To: woweeitsme

It could only be for the underlying real estate value. When Bezos bought the Washington Post he paid $250M. But that included other properties (TV and radio stations, etc.) I saw analysts reports that suggested, after removing the value of those other properties, he paid close to $0 for the newspaper operations. That makes sense. The only buyers for newspapers today are either investors seeing value in other (non-print) assets, or uber-billionaires who want a megaphone to play with. Otherwise, it’s a dead industry.


58 posted on 01/24/2019 9:03:57 AM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: sit-rep

Hi sit-rep. Long time no read. Did you used to post to the Yahoo board at Titan Industries years ago? They irradiated beef to prevent E coli.


59 posted on 01/24/2019 9:04:55 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi (NOPe to GOPe)
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To: centurion316

excellent observations.


60 posted on 01/24/2019 9:06:37 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi (NOPe to GOPe)
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