Free Republic

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...

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

After news came out about mass layoffs at HuffPost, Buzzfeed and Gannett -- in the midst of the media's relentless smear-job against the Covington Catholic students -- right-wing Twitter had a field day. Tons of leftist journalists announced they were laid off on Twitter and the top meme was telling them to "learn to code" -- which is the same advice the media gave middle Americans whose jobs are being taken in traditional industries. Talia Levin, who was hired by Media Matters last year after being fired by the New Yorker for smearing an ICE agent as a Nazi because...

The publisher of USA Today has received a $1.36 billion takeover bid from a media group with a history of taking over struggling newspapers and slashing costs. MNG Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media, said in a letter to Gannett Co. Monday that its leadership team has failed to show that it can run the company effectively. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that the hedge-fund backed MNG has built up a 7.5 percent stake in Gannett, and that it has been rebuffed repeatedly by the company about a sale. Gannett said Monday it received the letter,...

USA Today isn't known for its blistering opinion pieces. Which makes the one the paper's editorial board just published on President Donald Trump all the more savage.

Gannett on Tuesday walked away from its attempted takeover of Tronc, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other major dailies. USA Today publisher Gannett’s target was elusive from the beginning, with a publicly contentious back-and-forth between the two companies. Tronc, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, rejected at least two bids from Gannett because it said it preferred to go it alone, focusing on tech-driven initiatives involving artificial intelligence and global expansion in entertainment news and video. Shares of Tronc Inc. plunged 20 percent in early trading. …

USA Today publisher Gannett, suffering from the ongoing print-ad declines that have hurt the broader newspaper industry, is cutting jobs as it reported a loss in its latest quarter. The company said it is cutting 2 percent of its staff. Gannett had nearly 19,000 employees at the end of 2015, suggesting more than 300 jobs were lost. Gannett spokeswoman Amber Allman did not reply to a question asking how many employees are losing their jobs. …

Link only as the Democrat controlled USA Today does not allow Free Republic to use their stories. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/08/23/hillary-clinton-foundation-donna-shalala-editorials-debates/89231806/ Note the footnote to the story

ITHACA NY--A Gannett-owned Ithaca newspaper will refuse to participate in a gubernatorial debate in that city, after the event's organizers rejected its questions including one that seemed to advance 9/11 conspiracy theories.According to the Ithaca Journal, the rejected questions for the debate included the following: Thousands of New Yorkers continue to suffer from the 2001 terror attacks in NYC. Families and surviving victims have sought additional investigations on the attack that were never addressed by the 9/11 Commission Report. Do you accept the findings of that Commission, or are there areas of that investigation that still leave you with unanswered...

On the day that Digital First Media completed its purchase of Freedom Communications — parent company of the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise — a wave of layoffs hit the Register. Rob Curley, editor of the paper, confirmed Thursday that it would be his last day. He was among 70-plus staff members who were being let go from the editorial, circulation, advertising and marketing departments, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing the Register.

Digital First Media will be the next owner of The Orange County Register and The Press-Enterprise, a bankruptcy judge ruled Monday. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Mark Wallace approved a request from Freedom Communications to approve the newspaper company’s sale to Digital First Media, the second-highest bidder in last week’s newspaper auction, a deal worth around $52 million to creditors. None of the major players objected to the deal. Digital First Media, the nation’s second-largest newspaper company by circulation, won after the auction’s top bid by Chicago-based Tribune Publishing, owner of the Los Angeles Times, ran into antitrust problems. Digital First...