More Media News

• The Economist has laid off 90 out of a workforce of about 1,300 and the company’s bi-monthly lifestyle publication titled 1843 will move to a digital-only format, a company spokesperson wrote in an email to News & Tech. 1843’s shift to digital will start with the August/September issue. There have been no changes to the company’s editorial team.  The CEO, editor-in-chief, leadership team and board have taken a voluntary cut in pay. COVID-19 was cited for the moves. The Economist Group’s parent company is The Economist Newspaper Limited, registered in England. 

• The Boston Globe now has over 200,000 digital subscribers, editor Brian McGrory mentioned on a Society of Professional Journalists’ Zoom gathering, WGBH reported. The number of digital-only subscribers has gone from around 145,000 just before the pandemic to some 205,000 today, McGrory wrote in an email to WGBH. Interest in the COVID-19 pandemic was cited for the growth.

 • The Association for Print Technologies  (APTech) is hosting a free 60-minute webinar, “An Introduction to Managing Transformation in the Printing Industry," on May 21, at 1 p.m. EST. This event is being presented by George Mason University School of Business professors as part of a collaboration between APTech and the university. 

• The Pella Chronicle and the Knoxville Journal Express  (Iowa) have merged with their sister paper, The Oskaloosa Herald. The Daily Iowegian (Centerville), meanwhile, will merge with its sister paper, the Ottumwa Courier. The final  issue of the Daily Iowegian will be May 22. Effects of the current pandemic were cited in the changes. CNHI owns the papers.

 • Salt Magazine (Wilmington, North Carolina) is ceasing publication after seven years, StarNews reported. Editor Jim Dodson said that The Pilot, the Southern Pines paper that put out Salt, will go on publishing magazines in Charlotte, Greensboro and other spots.

• Vice said last week that it’s laying off 55 employees in the U.S. and about 100 more around the world. 

• Quartz announced last week that it’s laying off 80 staff members (about half of its workforce) and is shuttering its offices in London, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Washington, The New York Times reported. COVID-19 was cited as behind the moves. Japanese media business firm Uzabase  owns the business news outlet.

• BuzzFeed said another 19 positions are going on furlough, according to Nieman Lab. The Australia office has been shut down. 

• Conde Nast is laying off some 100 U.S. employees and furloughing around another 100, CNN reported. The company owns Vogue, Wired, GQ, Architectural Digest, Teen Vogue and The New Yorker.

• A number of papers in Minnesota have shut down, the Star Tribune reported. The Bulletin (Woodbury, Cottage Grove) the Hastings Star Gazette, the Eden Prairie News, the Lakeshore Weekly News, the Lake County News Chronicle in Two Harbors, the Jasper Journal in southwestern Minnesota and the Osakis Review in central Minnesota have closed, the paper reported, citing the Minnesota Newspaper Association for much of the info.

• Beginning last week, the web size or width of the Missouri Valley Times-News was reduced. The paper width had been 12.5 inches and was changed to 11.25 inches. Enterprise Publishing Company, headquartered in Blair, Nebraska, owns the paper.

• Tri-County Newspapers, including the Belle Banner, Bland Courier and Maries County Gazette (Missouri), changed ownership on May 1 from Craig and Nichoel Snodgrass, CNS Holdings, back to Kurt Lewis, who had owned the paper previously. Lewis reportedly informed staff that after the May 6 edition, the papers would stop publishing. More details were reported by the Gasconade County Republican.

• The Circleville Herald (Ohio) has cut print days in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The paper will now be printing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Adams Publishing Group owns the paper.

• The Journal-World (Lawrence, Kansas) will cease producing a Monday print edition starting May 25, the paper announced. The final Monday print edition of the paper will be on May 18. The Ogden Newspapers owns the paper.

• The Financial Times is cutting its spending on non-staff contributors and instituting other reductions in pay and working hours, Press Gazette reported. The paper has gotten 50,000 new digital subscribers as the COVID-19 crisis took root.

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