Layoffs at Free Press
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Vermont Press Bureau - Published: December 4, 2008
MONTPELIER – The Burlington Free Press cut nine jobs and eliminated five other open positions at the newspaper Wednesday as the economic recession continued to shake the state's media organizations.
The daily newspaper published out of Burlington was under order by parent company Gannett Corp. to cut positions as part of a company-wide workforce reduction of about 10 percent. This was the second round of cuts at the paper this year. The cuts at the Free Press were announced Wednesday afternoon at the newspaper's Web site in a short article that quoted Publisher Brad Robertson. The names of the laid-off workers were not released, but the cuts do include newsroom staff.
"Every account line item of our non-payroll expense was examined and we have made several changes to our 2009 budget," Robertson said in an e-mail to employees, according to the Free Press article. "But even with these expense reductions we are left with no choice but to eliminate about 6 percent of our work force."
Robertson told the Vermont Press Bureau on Tuesday that the company was considering a cost-savings plan from Gannett, but could not say when or if there would be further cuts. A decision was imminent, he added.
A laid-off reporter at USA Today, Gannett's flagship newspaper, has chronicled the cuts at the media company at an independent blog. Jim Hopkins wrote on his Gannett Blog Wednesday that the company has cut 734 jobs this week alone and that the final tally "could run into the thousands."
The layoffs at the Free Press – which followed six earlier cuts at the paper in August – comes just days after WCAX-TV, Vermont's oldest television station, cut five jobs, including on-air talent, due to drops in advertising revenue.
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