Bergen Record lets editorial page editor go

The (Bergen) Record today axed editorial page editor Bruce Lowry, the latest casualty in layoffs occurring throughout the Gannett organization.

“Regretfully, I’ve been informed today is my last day at The Record and North Jersey.com,” Lowry said in a Twitter post.  “Thanks to all my swell colleagues over the years and to all the readers, and all the folks in North Jersey community who kept me going these last 15 years. I’ve enjoyed every minute.”

The move comes four weeks after Gannett began furloughing employees due to the economic effects of the deadly coronavirus.

Gannett Statehouse bureau chief John McAlpin is on furlough this week, along with columnist Charlie Stile and reporter Ashley Balcerzak.

“That’s 3/5’s of Gannett NJ’s Statehouse idled at home when people want and need information the most,” tweeted Bergen Record reporter Dustin Racioppi.

Jennifer Jean Miller, who broke a huge story this month about 17 bodies being found at the Andover Subacute facility was laid off from her job as a reported for the Gannett-owned New Jersey Herald.

Other Gannett New Jersey reporters have also lost their jobs over the last three days, including one journalist who is pregnant with a due date in the next two weeks.

Gannett also owns the Asbury Park Press, Herald News, Daily Record, Courier News, Home News Tribune, Courier-Post, Daily Journal, and Burlington County Times newspapers.

Dan Sforza, the executive editor of The Record, has not replied to four direct messages seeking comment on Gannett layoffs since Friday, the most recent at 11:49 AM.

Lowry is the second Bergen Record editorial page editor to be tossed since 2018, when the paper fired Alfred P. Doblin after eighteen years when they found out he was seeking actively seeking public sector employment with those he was writing about.

Last summer, GateHouse Media acquired Gannett for $12.06 a share.  The deal was structured to include a massive debt that would require hundreds of millions in cuts to pay back a $1.2 billion loan that was part of the deal to keep them afloat.

Gannett stock plummeted to 64 cents a share almost three weeks ago, signaling immense problems ahead for the company that operates ten daily newspapers in New Jersey.  The stock is currently trading at 78 cents a share.