The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week is laying off two of its four remaining employees in the Flagler County bureau–Aaron London, who’d been briefly laid off last year and brought back, and Nick Klasne, a managing editor in charge of the Flagler bureau. That leaves just one reporter covering Flagler, Matt Bruce, and puts in question the future of the bureau itself and the Flagler Tribune, to which London had been the primary contributor.
“Apparently double jeopardy doesn’t apply to corporate layoffs,” the ever-wry London tweeted after the layoffs were announced. “It’s been a good run in a shrinking industry but my number is up. Again.”
“Perhaps we’ll meet again,” Klasne tweeted London, “in the unemployment line.”
In 2017 the Flagler bureau had four reporters. One quit early that year and was not replaced. Last year Shaun Ryan, who had been covering education in Flagler, was transferred to the St. Augustine record, now down to just five reporters–including a sports writer–where he covers entertainment. Ryan was not replaced.
The News-Tribune was a twice-weekly broadsheet serving Flagler until 2016, when publication was reduced to once a week, on Wednesdays, and the product itself was reduced to a tabloid, which saves newsprint. The weekly is distributed free to households around the county, like the Palm Coast Observer, also a weekly. The News-Journal had shuttered its Flagler bureau in 2009, then reopened it in 2012. With Klasne’s and London’s layoffs, the bureau is left with just an office manager, aside from Bruce, who lives in St. Johns County and often works away from the bureau.
Klasne referred questions to Pat Rice, the News-Journal editor, who said on Monday that “we’re going to cover Flagler County as we always have. Beyond that I’m not the person to discuss coverage.” He referred further questions to Bill Offill, the “group publisher” for the News-Journal, the St. Augustine Record and the Jacksonville Times-Union, saying he’d pass along the message. Offill did not respond. His contact numbers or email address are not listed on the contact pages of any of the three newspapers he oversees.
Gannett and GateHouse Media merged late last year in a $1.4 billion deal. Gannett at the time owned 110 dailies, including USA Today, GateHouse owned 156. GateHouse actually bought out Gannett, but took Gannett’s name. The deal made Gannett the largest newspaper chain in the country. Like most newspaper companies, Gannett has been struggling, its post-recession stock price peaking in early 2015 at $25, then sliding since to just over $6 before the last few days’ stock selloff, which may hurt the company further (it was trading at just over $4 today).
Last week the company reported that its Gannett papers had seen revenue decline 9.4 percent in 2019, while GateHouse papers’ revenue declined 8 percent.
Gannett CEO Michael Reed predicted coming cuts in a statement last week, and suggested that there would be more cuts ahead: “By the end of the first quarter of 2020, we expect to have implemented measures that will result in over $60 million in annualized savings. As a result of these measures, we expect to realize $10 – $15 million of savings in the first quarter, and we expect the savings in subsequent quarters to increase as we continue to implement synergies throughout the year.”
In media companies, “synergies” has generally been a euphemism for layoffs and retrenchments, such as the elimination of bureaus, special sections, supplements and the like. Poynter.org’s Rick Edmonds reported in December that when Reed addressed the newsroom at the Tennesseean in Nashville soon after the merger, his projections suggested a coming loss of 4 percent of the company’s employees, or 960 out of 24,000.
He also addressed the company’s debt load: ““We are also happy to report that we are ahead of schedule in paying down debt. As announced earlier in January, we paid down $35.8 million in principal on our credit facility during the fourth quarter. Subsequent to the quarter, we have paid down an additional $9.4 million. Real estate sales have driven $8.9 million of the repayments, and we anticipate an additional $100 – $125 million in real estate sales by the end of 2021.”
When asked during the meeting with Tennesseean employees what worried him most, Reed responded: “A recession next year. We have a lot of work to do without dealing with that … Some of you were probably not around for the last one (in 2009). It was just awful.”
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Dennis says
The Daytona newspaper is a lot of money fir not much news. Prices kept going up, we dropped them over a year ago. Same as Spectrum TV. We dropped them too
palmcoaster says
Very sad to say the least to be laid off at this age …just one more proof that they economy doing so great is BS. Not for the middle class or lower income Americans. There were times in my life when the economy was really great back then when buying the newspaper was not financial burden even if we read it in totality here and there… we had to had the paper! Now we all have to tighten the belt so the rich can have more and we have to cut down in the newspaper, spectrum and so many more things that made the real fabric of our good old times in our American life! This is just all that we have to give up to satisfy others greed with tax cuts.
Outsider says
Newspapers are going under all over the country. It’s a technology issue, it an economic indicator. By the time a newspaper comes out, it’s not news anymore. All the information has been online for hours or days by the time it is printed in the paper.
Grandpa says
The Daytona Beach News Journal is way over priced and all we see are ads, junk and opinions…..very little news!! I wouldn’t mind it a bit if this operation closed its doors permanently and went on their way. They sneak inserts like puzzles and games in the paper and raise your bill without telling you why your bill is raised. With so much news available on the internet who needs paper newspaper anyway. Save the tree! See you later News Journal….I give you an “F”.
Mary Fusco says
The News Journal is outrageously priced for what you get. 4 or 5 pages and most of that is advertising and obituaries. I had home delivery for almost 20 years before I stopped last year. The price kept going up and up and there was less newspaper for the $. After I cancelled, they hound you for months by phone. I miss having a “real” newspaper but I get the news online as well as sales.