Hearst Corp., publisher of The Westport News and other local newspapers as well as dailies in Stamford, Greenwich, Bridgeport and Danbury, eliminated 44 jobs at the company’s Connecticut newspapers today, according to a Web report by The Advocate of Stamford, one of Hearst’s Connecticut newspapers.
The company plans to eliminate another 80 positions within three months as part of a consolidation and cost-cutting effort, the report said. It said the affected employees met with management throughout the day.
The rest of the workforce at Hearst’s four daily newspapers, the Connecticut Post, The Advocate of Stamford, Greenwich Time, The News-Times of Danbury and the six weeklies of the Brooks Community Newspaper group, including The Westport News, was told of the plan in an e-mailed letter, The Advocate said.
“Beginning today, we will take the first step toward structurally changing the cost base of our business to ensure its long-term viability,” Mark E. Aldam, senior vice president and group publisher of Hearst Newspapers, said in the letter.
Aldam cited the need to cut 20 percent of the Connecticut group’s costs as it deals with the fallout from the recession, according to The Advocate.
