Digital First Media has informed Boston Herald employees that advertising design and news page layout for the paper will be handled at Digital First’s Boulder, Colorado, headquarters, CommonWealth magazine reports. The move will result in the loss of half or more of copy editor and designer jobs.
The advertising design work will be moved by August, staff was told and the page layout will move in October, according to CommonWealth. Digital First handles editing, design, and tech for its nearly 100 publications in Boulder.
Along with a few design positions, on the copy desk, 10 to 15 positions will be lost when Boulder assumes the workload. There will also be cuts in advertising, but CommonWealth said no details were provided.
Digital First, owned by Wall Street hedge fund Alden Capital, purchased the Herald for just under $12 million in a bankruptcy auction in spring. The staff then dropped from 250 to 175, according to CommonWealth. It’s now at around 150, a source told the magazine.
Meanwhile union members are scheduled to vote on a proposal from the trustees of the bankruptcy case former owner Patrick Purcell filed to adjust the severance package for employees. The severance package is included in the collective bargaining agreement. The proposed package would provide some 37 cents on the dollar.
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