Gannett, the Register’s master, just merged with GateHouse.
Last week, shareholders at Gannett and GateHouse, the nation’s two largest newspaper chains, voted to approve the merger of the two companies. Gannett, which publishes USA Today, owns just over 100 newspapers while New Media Enterprises, GateHouse Media’s parent company, owns nearly 400 American newspapers across 39 states. When combined, the new company will own one out of every six newspapers in the United States. The deal is expected to close November 19th and has left many already concerned about
America’s local journalism crisis afraid of what lies ahead.
Both Gannett and GateHouse have a reputation for cutting staff across their newsrooms. In the past two years alone, the number of employees at Gannett has fallen by
one-fifth. The merger will likely entail another round of layoffs for local newspapers across the country to achieve the aggressive cost savings put forward by the companies’ executives. No one knows for sure just how many employees will be laid off in the wake of the merger, but
estimates put the number between 3,500 and 4,000. There are 37,900 newsroom employees employed by U.S. newspapers today. If the expected layoffs occur, that will mean a significant reduction of the nation’s total newspaper workforce.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixg...rger-could-deepen-americas-local-news-crisis/