Louisville Courier Journal Continues News Print Trend, Lays Off 50 Employees,
The Courier-Journal lays off 50 as revenue slumps
Written by Chris Otts
The Courier-Journal laid off 50 employees Tuesday — about 10 percent of its staff — in response to declining advertising revenue.
In Louisville, 24 were laid off from the newsroom. The job cuts were part of 700 eliminated across Gannett, the parent company of the Courier.
With the reduction, the weekly publication Velocity will be integrated into the main newspaper.
About half the staff assigned to Neighborhoods, was laid off. Neighborhoods, which currently publishes 12 weekly editions based on geography, will continue but possibly with fewer zones, C-J Publisher Arnold Garson said.
“That’s not a decision that’s been totally made yet,” he said.
The 700 job losses represent about 2 percent of Gannett's 32,600 employees. The cuts were targeted at the media company’s community newspaper division, which runs about 80 newspapers including The Indianapolis Star and The Arizona Republic, but not USA Today.
Previously, The Courier-Journal laid off 51 in 2008 and 44 in 2009. It was the biggest staff cut in two years for Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher.
It’s the latest austerity measure triggered by a steep drop in newspaper advertising that began in 2006.
Gannett's annual revenue has fallen more than $2 billion, or nearly 30 percent, since then.
Garson said 98 percent of the free Velocity tabloids were picked up from racks each week, but advertising never bounced back from the depths of the recession. “The pinch has gotten tighter and tighter each year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the small advertisers Neighborhoods depends on “have been hit very hard.”
Garson said the future of the paper depends on the local economy, which hasn’t rebounded as fully as hoped.
“If we get a break, we’ll be fine,” he said.
Update:
Written by Chris Otts
The Courier-Journal laid off 50 employees Tuesday — about 10 percent of its staff — in response to declining advertising revenue.
In Louisville, 24 were laid off from the newsroom. The job cuts were part of 700 eliminated across Gannett, the parent company of the Courier.
With the reduction, the weekly publication Velocity will be integrated into the main newspaper.
About half the staff assigned to Neighborhoods, was laid off. Neighborhoods, which currently publishes 12 weekly editions based on geography, will continue but possibly with fewer zones, C-J Publisher Arnold Garson said.
“That’s not a decision that’s been totally made yet,” he said.
The 700 job losses represent about 2 percent of Gannett's 32,600 employees. The cuts were targeted at the media company’s community newspaper division, which runs about 80 newspapers including The Indianapolis Star and The Arizona Republic, but not USA Today.
Previously, The Courier-Journal laid off 51 in 2008 and 44 in 2009. It was the biggest staff cut in two years for Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher.
It’s the latest austerity measure triggered by a steep drop in newspaper advertising that began in 2006.
Gannett's annual revenue has fallen more than $2 billion, or nearly 30 percent, since then.
Garson said 98 percent of the free Velocity tabloids were picked up from racks each week, but advertising never bounced back from the depths of the recession. “The pinch has gotten tighter and tighter each year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the small advertisers Neighborhoods depends on “have been hit very hard.”
Garson said the future of the paper depends on the local economy, which hasn’t rebounded as fully as hoped.
“If we get a break, we’ll be fine,” he said.
Update:
Labels: General information
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 10:36 PM
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