Westport’s two newspapers, the Hearst Corp.-owned Westport News, and Journal Register Co.-owned Westport Minuteman, are targets of their out-of-town corporate owners to reduce expenses.
Employees of the Westport News, which publishes on Wednesdays and Fridays, were among those sent letters today warning of job cuts in the first quarter of 2009, according to a story published on the Web site of the Hearst-owned Connecticut Post.
Meanwhile, Journal Register this week laid off the publisher of the Westport Minuteman and Fairfield Minuteman, which publish Thursdays, following an earlier reduction of the Westport reporting staff to one. A publisher of one of its Litchfield County newspapers has assumed the Westport and Fairfield publisher duties.
And on Thursday Journal Register informed employees it was shutting down 16 of its other Connecticut weekly newspapers affecting 21 editors and reporters, according to the New Haven Independent Web site. Eight are in the company’s Shore Line division and the eight in its Elm City chain.
The Connecticut Post said in the letter to employees, the publishers of Hearst’s various Connecticut newspapers wrote, “The current economic downturn has exacerbated an already challenging year for our newspaper and our industry, forcing us to eliminate duplication of work across the Connecticut Media Group. As a result, there will be a reduction in staff in the first quarter of 2009.”
In addition to the Connecticut Post, Hearst owns the daily newspapers The Advocate (Stamford), Greenwich Time and The News-Times (Danbury). In addition to the Westport News, it owns the weekly newspapers Darien News-Review, Greenwich Citizen, Fairfield Citizen-News, New Canaan News-Review, New Milford Spectrum, and Norwalk Citizen-News.
Hearst spokesman Paul J. Luthringer said the company was not disclosing any information beyond the letter to employees at this time, including how many positions Hearst is looking to trim or the total employment within the Connecticut group, the Connecticut Post said.
In an earlier cost-cutting move, the Westport News shut its Westport office and moved into the offices of its corporate owner just over the town line in Norwalk. (See WestportNow June 27, 2008)
Journal Register earlier said it will shut down two Connecticut dailies, the Bristol Press and New Britain Herald, as well as the 11 weeklies in its Imprint chain if no buyer is found by Jan. 12.
