In the last two weeks, at least three publishers – BH Media Group of Omaha, Gannett and The Guardian – have announced staffing cuts to reduce costs to offset declining revenue from advertising and circulation.

BH Media Group of Omaha

Yesterday the Omaha World-Herald reported that its parent company BH Media Group of Omaha, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, would eliminate 289 jobs, including 108 vacant positions. This represents less than 1 percent of BH Media’s 4,450 employees. In addition to the staff cuts, some of the company’s 31 newspapers will also implement other cost-cutting measures, including reorganizing sections and reducing the number of printed pages.

In a memo to BH Media employees, president and CEO Terry Kroeger wrote, “While these actions are sad for all of us as colleagues, they are necessary to sustain the vital role our publications play in their respective communities.”

Kroeger said the need for cost savings results from the growing popularity of the digital environment compared to a print one. Specifically, regional and national advertisers are losing money to online retailers which has caused them to reduce their print advertising budgets.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia laid off 33 employees, including 13 newsroom positions, and it will leave other positions unfilled, reported the Omaha World-Herald. The Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina eliminated 36 positions and will make a number of key changes to its print publication. Tulsa World eliminated 28 positions in news, advertising, finance, circulation and corporate services.

Gannett

Gannett, who owns USA Today and publishes in 120 markets around the world, is also making staffing changes. According to Publishers Daily, the Virginia-based Gannett has started another round of reorganization with staff cuts to newspapers in Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Murfreesboro to create more of a statewide reporting structure.

Two of the newspapers – The Commercial Appeal and Knoxville News-Sentinel – were acquired last year from Journal Media Group for $280 million. Publisher’s Daily reports that Gannett agreed not to lay anyone off for one year following the close of the deal last April.

According to the Memphis Flyer, between 12 to 16 members of The Commercial Staff were let go last week, seven employees’ jobs were cut at the Knoxville News Sentinel, and three were laid off at The Tennessean. In an email to staff Laura Hollingsworth, president of The Tennessean and of the USA Today Network, wrote that the staffing cuts were “the first step as we re-secure and level-set our economic vitality to support our journalism.”

In its March 7, 2017 press release announcing its 2017 full-year guidance, Robert J. Dickey, president and CEO, offered insight into the company’s plans for the year:

“As we evolve the company toward a next-generation, digitally focused model, we anticipate realizing the benefits from our cost transformation projects, including continued synergies related to acquisitions. While we anticipate more challenging year-over-year comparisons in the first half of this year due to certain strategic investments and the negative impact resulting from the weaker British pound, we expect our cost operational improvements to more meaningfully impact the second half of the year,” Dickey said.

The Guardian

As part of its three-year cost-cutting and reorganization plan, The Guardian emailed staff in late March to update them on expectations for year two of the plan, reports the Press Gazette. According to that article, financial objectives for the first year of the plan were met and losses and costs were reduced.

The Press Gazette quoted from the staff memo sent by editor Katherine Viner and chief executive David Pemsel:

“Our operating costs remain too high, trading conditions remain tough, and further changes and cost savings will be necessary if we are to meet our target of breaking even at an operating level by 2018/19.

“We will therefore continue to identify cost savings and efficiencies in year two of our plan. Over the course of the next year we anticipate this will lead to some redundancies in the UK and any such proposals will be discussed within the relevant departments.

“We will also close vacant roles across the business, and we will continue to closely manage all recruitment,” Viner and Pensel wrote.

The Guardian has already cut 250 jobs as part of its reorganization with 100 of those positions coming from editorial staff and 150 from commercial departments like finance and human resources.

Insider Take:

These are only the latest in a long line of newsroom cuts and media company reorganizations in the last year. We’ve also seen cuts from Reuters, Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times, among others and there will continue to be others as media organizations find the right balance between print and digital revenue and other sources of revenue (e.g., events, merchandise, memberships, etc.) We can also expect to see mergers and acquisitions.

There is good news though. Publications like the Washington Post and the New York Times are experiencing success. The Post is adding staff and expanding their newsroom, while the New York Times is looking to the future and building on its successes with digital advertising and subscriptions.