Journal Sentinel to lay off 10 percent of workers
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Journal Sentinel Inc., publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said Wednesday it will cut about 10 percent of its 1,300 full-time employees due to continued industrywide declines in advertising sales.
Journal Sentinel, a unit of newspaper publisher and broadcaster Journal Communications Inc., said the layoffs will be complete by the end of the year. Employees departing voluntarily and as the result of targeted cuts will receive both cash severance and health care benefits.
"Our advertising customers -- especially car dealers, real estate agents, hiring officials, retailers and financial institutions -- have been battered by a perfect storm of deteriorating credit conditions, slowing home sales, contracting company size and higher gas prices," said Elizabeth Brenner, president and chief operating officer of Journal Communications' publishing group. "As a result, Journal Sentinel ad revenues are running more than 12 percent below last year through May."
The company said the declining ad sales come as it is struggling to weather rising newsprint and fuel costs.
The job cuts are just the latest in a string of bad news for newspaper journalists.
Last week, half a dozen newspapers said they would slash payrolls, including deep staff cuts at The Hartford Courant and The Sun in Baltimore -- two Tribune papers -- as well as at The Palm Beach Post and the Daytona Beach-Journal in Florida. The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press plan to reduce head count in their joint operations by 7 percent through buyouts. And The Boston Herald will lay off up to 160 employees as it outsources printing operations.
Earlier in June, McClatchy Co., publisher of the Sacramento Bee and other papers, said companywide staff cuts of 10 percent are in the works.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
