GateHouse Media cuts jobs in restructuring

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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