Gannett Plans 10% Cut in Workforce

south west | media and culture | news report Saturday November 08, 2008 11:49 by MediaWatch - SouthWestWatch

SouthWestWatch - Newsflitch in your brain and on your PC.

Our MediaWatch desk has published a couple of stories about the SW media scene - how local newspapers are struggling. Now US giant corporation Gannett, who owns the UK Newspaper company Newsquest, has announced a 10% cut in staff.

Not heard of Gannett? They are a huge media corporation based in the US, owning everything from the national newspaper USA Today to the fun sounding Army Times Publishing Company to the sunny Hawaii.com. They also own the UK outfit Newsquest, who in turn own a huge chunk of local papers across the UK and in the South West. So for example they own the Swindon Advertiser, the Cheltenham Independent, the Dorset Advertiser, the Mid Devon Star, the Bridgwater Mercury and the Somerset County Gazette to name but a few.

However all is not well in the global world of media; Gannett Co., the [US]'s largest newspaper publisher, said Tuesday it will lay off another 10 percent of the work force in its local newspapers division as advertising revenue continues to plummet during the economic downturn. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D943R3KG3.htm

That is not to say Gannett have not been trying to adapt to the new media enviroment; they have been pushing the idea of "advertainment" - in their radio division in the US, a new programming format that consists of "hybrid shows, which mix entertainment with commercial content (in addition to regular commercial breaks). Sounds like fun?

Still any local newspaper journalists who get their P45 as the company downsizes can take comfort from the fact that Gannett Chairman, President and CEO Craig Dubow says he wants to share the “deep sacrifices” of employees by announing that he will take a voluntary salary cut of $200,000 from now through 2009, a 17% reduction from his $1.2 million base salary. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...86604

We feel his pain.

More SouthWestWatch articles;

Red Faces at the Evening Post & The Decline of the Local Press
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688859

Nuclear Power - Full of Wind?
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688931

The Ongoing Decline in Local Media: ITV Cuts
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688980