I heard today from an reliable Anon Tipster that the News Journal may be making its staff re-apply for jobs like some other Gannett newspapers have earlier this month. There may be even more (!)layoffs coming as they re-organize. If you’ve been following the Gannett news, they acquired a broadcasting company last year. Gannett is creating what they call the “Newsroom of the Future” (even though Jim Romanesko notes that they did this in 2006, too). Re-applying for their jobs has been done or in progress at other Gannett newspapers.
Then, there’s the new job descriptions. I’m not sure where news gets covered here — anyone know? (And the parody of the job descriptions.)
I don’t know how the News Journal is doing financially, but they do have some good people who need to be able to cover Delaware stories. Reducing this crew is about reducing your *news*, in favor of fluffy stuff that isn’t likely to sell any more papers. I don’t know if they are doing this becuase they are losing money here in DE, or if they are just trying to re-orient themselves to more video and broadcasting content. Content that is typically turned up by the reporters, I expect. In the meantime, I’m still paying $15.00/month for the NJ online edition and I pay about $20.00/month for the New York Times electronic edition.
So anyone have any better information or ideas? Post them in the comments below, if you can, or send it in via the Tip Line anonymously and we’ll post it for you in the comments.