Post-Dispatch laying off newsroom employees
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Post-Dispatch laying off newsroom employees
Jun 26, 2015, 9:29am CDT Updated Jun 26, 2015, 11:04am CDT
Jacob Kirn
St. Louis Business Journal
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is laying off nine employees, including eight in its newsroom, a newspaper spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
The affected positions include four reporters, a clerk, copy editor, assistant editor and director. A maintenance employee is also being laid off.
The United Media Guild’s contract with Post-Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises allows employees not targeted for layoffs to voluntarily resign within two weeks, allowing those who were targeted to remain at the newspaper.
Layoffs, according to the contract, are made in inverse order of seniority. United Media Guild President and Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff
Gordon said he's confident some of the targeted reporters will remain at the newspaper as a few older individuals opt to leave.
Gordon said he learned of the cuts Thursday afternoon and that affected employees were notified Thursday night.
"They're in the content business and yet they keep cutting," Gordon said of Lee. "At a certain point you're a hamburger place putting lettuce on buns."
The United Media Guild’s contract with Lee expires Sept. 27, and guild President and Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon has said the guild will begin negotiating with Lee in July. He said the guild has two priorities: restore lost wages and protect salespeople from earnings losses.
Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), led by CEO Mary Junck, reported a second-quarter profit of $2 million, up from $1.7 million in
Print circulation at the Post-Dispatch has continued to decline.
For the six months ended March 31, the daily reported average weekday print circulation of 120,627, down from 142,944 during the same period the prior year, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.
Sunday print circulation was 195,595, down 14 percent from the prior-year period.
The newspaper’s website, stltoday.com, counted more than 5.4 million unique users and nearly 53 million page views in March. Yet in its fiscal second quarter, Lee Enterprises reported digital advertising and marketing services revenue of $38.8 million, or just 8 percent of operating revenue.
Lee plans to sell the Post-Dispatch’s headquarters, at 900 N. Tucker Blvd., and move to a new location. Lee said it would prefer to move the Post-Dispatch’s operations to another location downtown.
Post-Dispatch laying off newsroom employees
Jun 26, 2015, 9:29am CDT Updated Jun 26, 2015, 11:04am CDT
Jacob Kirn
St. Louis Business Journal
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is laying off nine employees, including eight in its newsroom, a newspaper spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
The affected positions include four reporters, a clerk, copy editor, assistant editor and director. A maintenance employee is also being laid off.
The United Media Guild’s contract with Post-Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises allows employees not targeted for layoffs to voluntarily resign within two weeks, allowing those who were targeted to remain at the newspaper.
Layoffs, according to the contract, are made in inverse order of seniority. United Media Guild President and Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff
Gordon said he's confident some of the targeted reporters will remain at the newspaper as a few older individuals opt to leave.
Gordon said he learned of the cuts Thursday afternoon and that affected employees were notified Thursday night.
"They're in the content business and yet they keep cutting," Gordon said of Lee. "At a certain point you're a hamburger place putting lettuce on buns."
The United Media Guild’s contract with Lee expires Sept. 27, and guild President and Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon has said the guild will begin negotiating with Lee in July. He said the guild has two priorities: restore lost wages and protect salespeople from earnings losses.
Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), led by CEO Mary Junck, reported a second-quarter profit of $2 million, up from $1.7 million in
Print circulation at the Post-Dispatch has continued to decline.
For the six months ended March 31, the daily reported average weekday print circulation of 120,627, down from 142,944 during the same period the prior year, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.
Sunday print circulation was 195,595, down 14 percent from the prior-year period.
The newspaper’s website, stltoday.com, counted more than 5.4 million unique users and nearly 53 million page views in March. Yet in its fiscal second quarter, Lee Enterprises reported digital advertising and marketing services revenue of $38.8 million, or just 8 percent of operating revenue.
Lee plans to sell the Post-Dispatch’s headquarters, at 900 N. Tucker Blvd., and move to a new location. Lee said it would prefer to move the Post-Dispatch’s operations to another location downtown.