Here is the three-graph WSJ story:Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher by daily circulation, will cut more than 1,000 jobs in response to continuing revenue declines, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking.
The cuts will come from the U.S. Community Publishing division, which consists of Gannett's more than 80 local dailies, the person said. They won't affect the flagship publication, USA Today. It wasn't clear exactly how many jobs will be shed, although the person said it will be fewer than 2,000.
Gannett, which like most newspaper publishers is suffering from steep advertising declines, cut more than 10% of its 41,500-person work force last year and was expected to make additional cuts after a dismal first quarter.
USA Today spared -- or not?
Writer Russell Adams covers the newspaper beat, and knows it well. But read the paragraph about USAT carefully: It says the cuts will come from the community newspaper division, which does not include The Detroit Free Press or USA Today. Adams' story does not explictly say that there won't be job reductions at USAT; only that the USCP trims "won't affect the flagship.''
There was similar confusion in December on whether that month's 10% job cut would affect Detroit and USAT. In the end, I believe, Detroit was able to squeeze past through buyouts. USA Today publicly acknowledged cutting 20 newsroom jobs. I never got a count on the other jobs eliminated in circulation and other non-editorial departments.
Now, he's writing on deadline. In later versions, he may clarify this point. Please help me watch for updates.
Other coverage, links
- All Gannett stories by USA Today
- Editor & Publisher quotes Gannett's Tara Connell: "We have been doing layoffs and we will be doing layoffs. In terms of a large-scale layoff, we have no comment."
- Romenesko has The New York Times story
- Leading New York media gossip blog Gawker
- paidContent, relying on the NYT story, says: "Gannett, which is a poster child for all the challenges newspapers are facing, had a particularly dismal first quarter, with profits down 60%."
Unclear if USA Today is spared? WTF!!!? Shouldn't the flagship take at least a proportionate hit? Just one of their copy desks (and there are several) is bigger than some newsrooms in this stinkin' chain. Not that I advocate cutting copy editors. But there has to be top-heavy management in that newsroom that can be thinned out a bit. I am also guessing they have their fair share of lower-level morons who don't carry their fair share of the load. All Gannett papers have those people, and being that USA Today's newsroom is enormous for what little it produces, I would say there has to be double-digit incompetents spread around. I have heard many times that their hiring practices are a joke. So why protect these people while the rest of us are being mowed down?
ReplyDeleteWe used to have our fair share of lower-level morons. The ones that we didn't promote were cannon fodder for cost cuts long ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat about "won't effect the flagship" is unclear. No cuts at USAT. The company is already lean and has no huge union legacy overhead like some of the community papers.
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