Gannett to cut 1,000+ more jobs, but what's left to cut?

News yesterday that the country's largest newspaper chain, Gannett Co., is planning to cut thousands more jobs in the next week -- have a happy Independence Day weekend, staffers! -- leaves me asking one question:

Is there anything left to cut?

Last fall, the company laid off 2,000 people, bringing massive cuts to already struggling papers such as the Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press and Asbury Park Press. One of the best sources of news on all this is Gannett Blog, a great, incisive look at the media chain. Unfortunately, the blog is going away on July 10.

According to the Wall Street Journal, about 1,000 jobs will be cut, with 600 eliminated through layoffs -- with the reductions coming at its community news division outlets, which do not include flagship USA Today.

In Florida, the Gannett-owned papers include Florida Today in Brevard County, the Fort Myers News-Press, the Pensacola News Journal and the Tallahassee Democrat. Gannett also owns St. Petersburg-based CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10.

The story is a depressing walk through the recession that continues to disintegrate great newspaper outlets, noting that rival McClatchy Co. instituted a company-wide salary freeze and Gannett saw a 14 percent drop in publishing revenue in the second quarter.

This will make for an excruciating week for Gannett employees and media watchers, as we wait for the drip, drip of news revealing where the job reductions are, how many people have lost jobs and how many have come from the newsrooms.

Gannett sure knows how to spend a summer holiday.

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Comments

[Jim Johnson]

Anytime people are fired is a sad occasion. I do not wish that to happen to anyone, and it's really not the fault of those being laid off that the big news organizations have not been able to adapt their business model.

Unfortunately, we will be seeing this again and again and again. Gannett, McClatchy, Tribune, NY Times, and other large newspaper organizations are still selling buggy whips when more and more people are buying cars.

Mark Cuban has a GREAT post about "Free" -- and draws the best comparison I have seen for news organizations: the music industry.

Newspapers are going through the same violent changes the music industry saw over the past 10 years.

http://bit.ly/x8fhh

[Bill]

This is, of course, very troubling and sad. However, we shouldn't be too quick to assume that things like this are occurring simply because of the economic down turn. Papers, especially small local papers, were facing problems before the economic crisis and we should ask why. One reason for this is, in my opinion, that local news papers have more and more ignored local needs and local concerns. They have, instead, sought to offer "general" big news items everyone else is also offering. We need to move in the direction of specialization and particularized local concerns. There are some great interviews with top journalists about the future of journalism which I have found useful on these subjects at http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid69

[Wenalway]

I'm not sure anyone wants what they have to sell.

Even if the economy weren't lousy, the properties likely have been slashed to the bone.

[no knock]

Gannett should sell it's broadcast properties. A once proud broadcast group has been turned into campus tv. Will they be doing local news two years from now?

[Wenalway]

Sorry, Doug. No axes to grind. But that is the convenient "argument" of someone with no argument.

http://www.gannett.com/gciflash/gciflash2.swf?filename=corpcom/flash/09shmtg

Watch that and report back. I'm not going to copy the likely actionably libelous posts here, but you can find those yourself at the blog.

Now -- go forth and educate yourself. It is not my job to educate the ignorant, such as yourself, for free. May your feet be like wings as you chase the knowledge you lack!

[Lin Young]

Well, it's sad that so many people are losing their jobs right now. But it isn't just media. We are still seeing 600,000+ Americans lose their jobs every month, month after month. People in every field are losing their job and paycheck. What I find interesting is all the politicians, economists and analysts trying to persuade us that the recession is almost over while companies are still laying off people by the thousands.

[Doug]

The Gannett Blog has been a far more timely and factual source of information than Gannett itself. You sound like you have your own axes to grind.

[Eric Deggans is lame]

I wish Eric Deggans job would be cut.

[Eric Deggans is lame]

I wish Eric Deggans job would be cut.

[BlackJack]

Where they can cut? They can start with the bloated management staff they added over the past five years. After the recent round of layoffs of hourly employees some departments have as many supervisors as employees.

[James Maas]

What about The St. Pete Times? Congressional Quartley sold yet? Is the Times' pension fund still underfunded? It's sad about Gannett but we all wonder what will happen to the Times.

[Wenalway]

Actually, the Gannett Blog has been a very poor source of factual information. Anonymous sources post exaggerated numbers and details -- when they're not attacking Gannett people by name. Much of this likely would be actionable, despite the beliefs of buffoons who think nothing on the Internet is actionable. Many of the posts are filled with bad writing and misspelled words. The moderator has an ax to grind. He also exposed his lack of credibility with his embarrassing behavior at the Gannett stockholders' meeting in the spring.

It's good the blog is going away on July 10. If it's an indication of the future of journalism, then we're all in trouble.

[nancy jean]

grammar alert - the blog is going away, not the newspaper chain. you might want to clarify that sentence.