Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Revenue Still Down, Gannett Lays Off 700 Employees

Gannett confirmed on Tuesday what many newspaper publishers and employees across the country have feared since the recession officially ended two years ago: that the lagging economic recovery will force more downsizing.

Gannett said it would let go 700 people in its Community Publishing division, or 3 percent of its employees across newspapers like The Courier-Journal of Louisville, The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Indianapolis Star.

The company’s flagship paper, USA Today, just went through a round of cuts last summer and will not be affected by the layoffs. Employees who lost their jobs were notified on Tuesday.

Robert J. Dickey, president of the Community Publishing division, said that as the company looked at its disappointing mid-year advertising figures, it was left with little choice.

“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,” Mr. Dickey wrote in a memo to Gannett employees. “With many of our local advertisers reducing their overall budgets, we need to take further steps to align our costs with the current revenue trends.”

Many of the advertising categories that collapsed during the recession continued to lag at Gannett papers. Real estate, help wanted and even auto ads, which had rebounded somewhat, remain depressed.

More

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do not see how The Daily Times can distribute newspapers much longer. I heard the other day that Superfresh had not even paid them for past delivered editions - and that they are implicated in their bankruptcy filing.

How much longer can they sustain themselves? It is truly amazing that they are still in business.

Anonymous said...

I hope that lying rag goes under.

Anonymous said...

Are they the company that weekly deliveries some kind of paper, puts it in a red bag and throws it in my driveway? If so, no wonder they are going broke! Everyone on my road either leaves in laying there, or, like me, picks it up and takes it directly to the trash can.

Anonymous said...

Not just the DT in trouble.
All newspapers are in a struggle to survive , a little like using a telegragh message competing with the internet.

Anonymous said...

Still like the feel of a newspaper with morning coffee.

But not the Daily Times. Terrible paper.

Anonymous said...

We already have another -- and much better newspaper -- the Dispatch.

Bye-Bye Bassett.

LadyLiddy said...

I too like having a paper in my hands to read. Unfortunately, The Daily Times isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Maybe they should just throw in the towel already. The stories that are printed in the paper, I've read elsewhere several days earlier.

Anonymous said...

Daily Times let 5 people go from their offices yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Too bad it wasn't Sahler and Bassett

Anonymous said...

Party time! The Daily Slimes is in trouble!

Anonymous said...

5:55
Mine gets thrown in the trash also. I don't know how they can get away with throwing their garbage on my property and it be legal. What about litering? No use trying to get them to stop. I have thought about throwing it back at them but I seem to be busy and never see them dump their garbage.