Gannett nationwide layoffs at 566 as company reports drop in earnings

Gannett announced layoffs of 91 employees, including 42 newsroom jobs, at newspapers across the U.S. this week, although none came from their ten dailies in New Jersey, according to a spreadsheet maintained online.

That brings the total number of Gannett employees who have lost their jobs since they were acquired by GateHouse Media to 566.

“Once again, Gannett has shown it doesn’t care about the role journalists play in democracy,” tweeted Andrew Pantazi, a reporter and the president of the Florida Times-Union Guild. “Today, across the country, the company is laying off hard-working journalists critical to their communities.”

In New Jersey, just one newsroom job has been cut so far – at The (Bergen) Record.  Gannett has also cut one IT and sports planner position at The Record, and three advertising sales jobs at the Asbury Park Press.

Gannett announced on Thursday that their revenues were down 10% and their print advertising has dropped by more than 18% during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Gannett chairman and CEO Michael Reed said that he expect so implement about $60 million in annual cost-saving measures by the end of March.

“We remain highly confident that we will complete the implementation of measures in 2020 corresponding to more than half of our $300 million synergy target related to the acquisition of Legacy Gannett,” Reed said.

In addition to The Record and the Asbury Park Press, Gannett owns the Herald News, Daily Record, Courier News, Home News Tribune, Courier-Post, Daily Journal, Burlington County Times and New Jersey Herald newspapers.

Lack of Washington presence

Gov. Phil Murphy met with New Jersey’s congressional delegation on Capitol Hill Thursday to discuss federal and state priorities.  U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker and nine House members were there, but just three reporters.

The Star-Ledger’s Jonathan D. Salant, the only Washington-based New Jersey reporter, was there, along with two journalists who went directly from the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Walk to Washington to the Rayburn House Office Building to cover the news: Daniel Munoz of NJBIZ and Nikita Biryukov of the New Jersey Globe.

None of the Gannett reporters who were in Washington for the chamber trip made the one mile trek to the hill.  NJTV also did not cover the governor’s delegation meeting.

Gannett has been without a Washington correspondent since Herb Jackson took an early retirement package from The Record on January 2, 2019 and moved to Roll Call.