GateHouse Media cut jobs around the country May 23,
Poynter and others reported.
The number of positions affected is unclear, according to Poynter, but a count from
journalist Andrew Pantazi puts the number at more than 150.
“We are
doing a small restructuring — at least that’s what I would call it — that I’m
sure will be misreported. We have 11,000 employees. This involves a couple of
hundred,” Mike Reed, CEO of New Media Investment Group, told Poynter analyst
Rick Edmonds. New Media Investment Group is GateHouse’s parent company.
Reed said
that of the around 200 affected employees, most “are moving from non-reporting
to reporting jobs,” Poynter said.
Reed told
Poynter the number of news staff being downsized is “more like 10.”
“But
numbers far exceeded 10 when journalists impacted took to social media and
reached out to Poynter,” Poynter said.
Among
affected organizations were the Columbus Dispatch, Providence Journal,
Tuscaloosa News, Herald-Journal in Spartanburg (South Carolina), Peoria Journal Star (Illinois)
and Rockford Register Star (Illinois),
according to Poynter.
Six were
cut from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts). Worcester Magazine’s Bill
Shaner tweeted that Walter Bird, the magazine’s editor, and Josh Lyford, arts
editor, were cut, making Shaner the sole full-timer, Poynter says.
In a memo given
to Business Insider by staff at the Worcester Business Journal, GateHouse CEO
Kirk Davis mentioned “sizeable reductions to staff.”
“I don't
take these reductions lightly; many committed colleagues, who played important
roles in our company, were impacted,” he wrote.
After the Business Insider article, Mike Reed
sent a memo to GateHouse employees calling the article“misleading” and saying “nothing is more
important to our future than preserving high quality local journalism,”
Business Insider said.
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