Thursday, May 29, 2008

Reader: Are New York papers now facing layoffs?

Regarding reports of layoffs today at Gannett's troubled group of six N.J. newspapers, a reader asks: "What do you hear about the New York papers? Don't they have bigger staffs to cut than the New Jersey chain? Or is the N.Y. chain next on the list?''

8 comments:

  1. When the readers ask about the "New York Papers" they are really just asking about The Journal News in Westchester, it is the closest property to the NJ mess and run just as poorly as the NJ papers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, the saga in NJ continues. Maybe we can have that thorne in everyone's side transferred up to the NY papers to help them out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gannett needs to sell the Westchester franchise. It is failing.

    Yonkers is the 5th largest city in the state but have never been able to sell papers there. Its newspaper in Rockland, once a lucrative profit center, is now only a shadow of itself with no grip on local news.

    There is no community presence in either county.

    They should cut their losses and sell.

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=d167c68f560146a9b0297fff8fae4731&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=d167c68f560146a9b0297fff8fae4731&plckPostId=Blog%3ad167c68f560146a9b0297fff8fae4731Post%3a2de406a0-991d-4fef-9787-2726d49a5029&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest Its looked like Gannett"s Ohio newspapers, are going that route.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jim,

    My question would be, is there any Gannett newspaper not facing layoffs right now. The people I talk with in Gannett land are saying everyone is going to be faced with layoffs in the future. It is not a matter of if they will happen, but when they will happen.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unless Dubow has the guts to expound on a new profit margin expectation. So far the silence is deafening. No word on the Big G website on any of the buyouts or layoffs.

    Wall Street is listening.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Journal News has already experienced scattered layoffs and many early retirement/buyouts -- and may well see more -- but to say it's failing is just wrong. They still absolutely dominate the local news agenda and make plenty of money doing it. The first thing some smart entrepreneur would do if TJN shut down tomorrow is buy every last bit of it, from the printing press to pencils, and start printing money, er, his or her own newspaper, by the end of business that day.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would love to know if there are any layoffs planned for Westchester, but it's hard to get any sense of doom and gloom from the management when the "information center" transformation at TJN is being touted across Gannett as a model to follow. So, I personally don't see layoff from my vantage point, but would love to hear what others think.

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.