Gannett to lay off 700 newspaper workers

One of my frequent blog-visitors sent this article to me, indicating that he really “loved” this particular statement made by one of Gannett’s division chiefs - - “We have made continued progress on the many initiatives underway to seek new sources of revenue….”

Gannett to lay off 700 newspaper workers

The Business Journal - by Business First of Louisville, Business First of Louisville, Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 1:53pm CDT - Last Modified: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 3:31pm CDT

Gannett Co., Inc., owner of a national newspaper chain that includes the Green Bay Press-Gazette and other Wisconsin newspapers, is planning to cut about 700 positions from its newspaper division, about 2 percent of the division’s work force, according to an industry blog.

Jim Romenesko, who covers the news business for the Poynter Institute, reproduced an internal Gannett memo dated Tuesday in which the planned layoffs were announced to employees of the McLean, Va.-based company’s U.S. Community Publishing division. The division includes the operations of the Press-Gazette and other dailies serving Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Wausau and a half dozen other Wisconsin cities.

It was not clear how many positions, if any, would be cut at any individual paper in the Gannett chain.

“As we reach the mid-point of the year, the economic recovery is not happening as quickly or favorably as we had hoped and continues to impact our U.S. community media organizations,” the memo from division chief Bob Dickey says.

“We have made continued progress on the many initiatives underway to seek new sources of revenue, build a world class sales force and better serve our customers through watchdog reporting and stronger Sunday newspapers. While we are seeing improved circulation results and audience growth, weakness in the real estate sector, slow job creation and now softer auto ad demand continue to challenge revenue growth in the division.”

The memo said publishers of the newspapers would be notifying affected employees by the end of Tuesday.