Sunday, February 21, 2021

2021 Newspaper Closings

• The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) and Herald-Sun (Durham) will move their printing to Fayetteville beginning in April, the News & Observer reported Feb. 2. The move will mean the loss of 48 full-time and 33 part-time positions at the production facility in Garner, the paper said.

McClatchy owns the papers.

“Shifting the printing to another company follows other McClatchy newspapers’ lead nationwide. It will save money on equipment and print volume without impacting readers,” said the paper.

• The Gannett-owned Jackson Sun (Tennessee) and sister paper the Memphis Commercial Appeal are moving printing to the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, starting Feb. 1, the Jackson Sun reported. Around 23 workers will be affected in the move. With the addition of these two papers, the Jackson, Mississippi, plant will handle seven dailies.

• Reid Newspapers has acquired the Miami News-Record, the Grove Grand Lake News and The Delaware County Journal (all in Oklahoma) from Gannett, Reid announced Feb. 3.

Reid Newspapers is a second-generation, family-owned newspaper company that owns seven other newspapers in Oklahoma and operates two large central printing operations in Weatherford and Vinita. Its newspapers include the Weatherford Daily News, the Perry Daily Journal, the Bethany Tribune and Country Connections. It also operates the Vinita Daily Journal, the Nowata Star, the Grandlaker and the Afton-Fairland American with business associates John and Janet Link of Vinita.

New Mexico-based media merger firm Dirks, Van Essen & April represented Gannett in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

• The Chicago Tribune and its parent company are moving out of Prudential Plaza at the end of January, the paper said. The move means the paper won’t have a downtown office. In 2018, the paper left the iconic Tribune Tower.

The Tribune newsroom will relocate to the Freedom Center printing facility along the Chicago River north of downtown, staff was informed in a memo on Jan. 11, the paper said.

Due to the pandemic, it’s not clear when many journalists will move into the Freedom Center, the company said, the paper reported.

The paper’s move will increase the large number of vacancies in the wake of the pandemic.

Alden Global Capital is the company’s biggest shareholder.

• Developer J. Brian O’Neill has purchased The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Montgomery County printing plant from the paper, the paper said Feb. 2. O’Neill paid $37 million for the Schuylkill Printing Plant at 800 River Rd. in Upper Merion Township, Publisher Lisa Hughes said in an email to employees.

• The San Antonio Express-News is shifting production to a Hearst Newspapers facility in Houston, the paper reported Jan. 19. Hearst owns the paper.

• Forum Communications is moving printing of The ForumThe Jamestown SunGrand Forks Herald and Agweek from The Forum building in Fargo to the Forum Communications plant in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, the Jamestown Sun reported Jan 5. The shuttering of The Forum’s press will affect 21 full-time and 14 part-time workers, the paper said.

These recent changes come on the heels of printing moves or planned moves at the Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Hartford Courant and elsewhere.

 

• The marketing and ad functions of four Pennsylvania papers are being merged, one of the papers reported Jan. 30. The Observer-ReporterThe Almanac, the Greene County Messenger and Herald-Standard in Uniontown are owned by West Virginia-based Ogden Newspapers.

• The Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) moved its printing to Woodward Printing Services in Platteville, Wisconsin. The move ushered in a new size for the Telegraph Herald, around 4 inches shorter and a little bit wider, the paper said Jan. 19.

• The Gannett-owned Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon) is moving its printing to the Columbian Publishing Company in Vancouver, Washington, and is shuttering its production facilities in Eugene, the paper reported Jan. 6. The change is happening in March and will affect 49 full-time and part-time workers.

• Times Publishing, publisher of the Tampa Bay Times, is outsourcing printing of its papers beginning in March, the paper reported Jan. 6. The company will shutter its production facility in St. Petersburg.

Times Publishing has a deal with Gannett to print the Tampa Bay Times at Gannett’s plant in Lakeland, Florida.

Some 90 full-time and 60 part-time employees will lose their jobs in the move, according to the paper. Gannett said it plans to add jobs in Lakeland, which could go to some of the Times workers, the paper said.

• The printing facility of the Gannett-owned Courier Journal in downtown Louisville will be shuttered in March, the paper reported Jan. 6 Printing and production of the paper will take place at the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star and Knoxville News Sentinel, the paper said. The plant also handles the Courier & Press (Evansville, Indiana) and The Gleaner (Henderson, Kentucky).

The change will mean 102 jobs lost, the paper said.

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