One former LSJ employee, who was laid off June 21 amid news that LSJ’s owner Gannett would be shrinking its U.S. newspaper employment by about 2 percent, said the board is meant to keep things lighthearted and fun around the office.
“The last note I saw was from late 2007,” the former employee, who asked not to be identified, said. “Fun was one of our core values. It hasn’t been fun for years. The fun has died.”
On June 21, Bob Dickey, Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing division president, sent out a memo to employees that the U.S. publishing division would be shrinking by about 700 employees, or roughly 2 percent of Gannett’s work force. The decision was all economics. Citing a slow national economic recovery, a week real estate market and “soft” national advertising and “auto ad demand,” “we need to take further steps to align our costs with the current revenue trends,” the memo reads.
The message was quick to reach LSJ employees, who received layoff notices that same day.
Local news reports, including the LSJ’s, said 15 employees were laid off “across all departments.” However, the former employee was told by an LSJ human resources employee that it was 19. The Gannett Blog, which is run by former USA Today reporter Jim Hopkins and tracks news about Gannett, also reports it was 19.
“There’s cutting fat and there’s cutting muscle,” the former employee said. “They’re cutting muscle now. When you cut muscle, you atrophy.”
The former employee said layoffs include: sports editor Mike Meyer; sports writer Bill McLeod, sports writer Neil Koepke, General Motors Co. and business writer Barbara Wieland; the regional director of digital media and marketing development, Kevin McFatridge; and information technology employee Dave Folmsbee.
The former employee wished to remain anonymous out of fear of losing “unemployment assistance” by speaking out. The employee was “totally surprised” to find out about losing a job. “I didn’t wake up that morning thinking that was even a likelihood.”
The employee recalls starting at the LSJ when the newsroom had “24 or 25” reporters. Now the local news desk has two editors, eight reporters, a columnist and a multimedia assistant. The LSJ’s online staff list does not reflect the recent layoffs; its last update appears to have been Feb. 25.
“There were 25 reporters doing a story a day on average. They just can’t do what they used to do,” the employee said. “You can’t cover the community like you could with 24, 25 reporters.”
Gannett is an international media company that owns 82 daily newspapers in the U.S., including USA Today, and 23 television stations. It also owns Newsquest Media Group in the United Kingdom, several military trade publications and investment websites like apartments.com and cars.com. In Michigan, the LSJ, Battle Creek Enquirer, Detroit Free Press, Port Huron Times Herald and the Daily Press & Argus in Livingston County are all Gannet-towned. According to figures on the Gannett Blog, the LSJ took the hardest employment hit in Michigan.
The LSJ layoffs are a continuation of a trend that started in 2008. Between August 2008 and July 2009, the LSJ cut 46 positions. The former employee said the staff total at LSJ is now around 300.
The former employee said the “tide started turning before” the 2008 layoffs.
“(Before then) I remember they showed us a video about the future of news and how by 2011 The New York Times goes to online only. It seemed like disaster scenarios.”
Looks good to Wall Street and the future of journalism
“Evidently they (Gannett) don’t value local reporting. The community needs that (local reporting),” the former employee said, adding that Lansing can expect to see less of it. “Through no fault of the people left there (at the LSJ), it’s not their fault (the reporting will decrease), it’s up to corporate.”
LSJ executive editor Mickey Hirten referred questions about the layoffs to LSJ publisher Brian Priester. Priester did not return a message seeking comment.
The former employee said “I don’t believe” the LSJ can remain a viable source of news if more layoffs come. But then again: “I don’t even know that Gannett wants to (remain a news company).”
Kate Marymont, vice president of news at Gannett who spoke to City Pulse two weeks ago about the LSJ’s weekly publication NOISE going to an online-only format, did not return a message seeking comment.
While local reporters, editors and other newspaper staff are given layoff notices and unemployment assistance, those at the top of the chain are earning more.
A proxy report filed in March with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Gannett CEO Craig Dubow took home a $1.75 million cash bonus last year, which was part of his $9.4 million total earnings (which includes base salary, bonuses, stock options and other compensation) — double what it was the year before. Chief Operating Officer Gracia Martore’s earnings more than doubled from 2009 to 2010: from $4 million to $8.2 million, which included a $1.25 million bonus. Dickey, who issued the June 21 memo, was paid $3.4 million (with a $600,000 bonus) last year. His 2009 earnings were $1.9 million.
Joe Grimm, a journalism professor at Michigan State University who also writes a column for the journalism-oriented Poynter Institute’s website called “Ask the recruiter,” was a Gannett employee at the Detroit Free Press for 18 years until 2008, when he took a buyout.Support City Pulse - Donate Today!
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here