Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Gannett Blog has been documenting how Gannett-owned newspaper and television companies have been weathering the tough economic times, especially in terms of declining newspaper revenues.
In this post from Wednesday, Gannett Blog hints that a new round of aggressive budget cutting could hit Gannett-owned properties. Several newspapers have offered buy-outs to employees, but so far, the buy-out offers haven’t been widespread. Meantime, the company is cutting jobs by consolidating work at service centers and hiring cheaper contractors to perform the same work. I blogged here about how the Citizen-Times is outsourcing some work to India.
In reading some of the comments on Gannett Blog, I found a couple from people talking about Asheville:
That is the way the Asheville Citizen Times does it. They do not want you to quit so they just lead you on like a big tease. Just ask anyone in the Ad Services Dept. They are all losing sleep because of the fear of being next. Come on, just say it!!! Your next on the list. Do they train the Operating Committee to be big teases at the expense of productivity.
Here’s another:
Interesting dynamic in Asheville: Ad Services jobs are being cut, newsroom positions are running dark (Ex: Executive Editor was removed in a company-wide email in May with no public announcement – and no replacement yet), and “Citizen Journalists” and “Correspondents” bylines are filling the news pages more often than staff bylines. Oh, by the way, they sent the sports editor who has never actually covered (or written about) SEC football or ACC basketball in 4 years to Beijing Freaking China for two weeks.
Here’s a comment about Gannett’s newspaper in Tallahassee, where former Asheville Citizen-Times Executive Editor Bob Gabordi now works:
Word has quietly been circulating at the Democrat (Tallahassee) that the ax will be swinging this week or next. It would be a shock since we just went through a round of layoffs earlier this year and buyouts shortly after. We were lead to believe that all the necessary fat had been trimmed, not that there was much to begin with…
