True to CEO Bob Dickey’s word, Gannett began laying off staffers at papers across the U.S. today, including several in the Middle Tennessee group. Nationally, the cuts represent two percent of Gannett’s total workforce, or about 350 people.
Sources at The Tennessean tell Pith that several cuts fell on the news side. They include:
- Neighborhood reporter (and sometime food writer) Jen Todd
- Community content specialist Jonathan Houghton
- Longtime sports reporter John Glennon
- Longtime deputy sports editor Mike Jones
- Editorial writer and columnist Frank Daniels III
- Gallatin reporter Dessislava Yankova
- Daily News Journal editor Sandee Suitt (Murfreesboro)
- Daily News Journal breaking news reporter Mary Reeves (Murfreesboro)
Additionally, an unknown number of business-side staffers lost their jobs as well.
There may be others, but that’s what Pith could confirm. Glennon, you may remember, was a part of a package of cuts at least once, but escaped. Suitt’s position was eliminated altogether. Jones is one of the last ties, along with Mike Organ, to the John Bibb and Jimmy Davy-era Tennessean sports section.
The galling part is why the ax fell. While cuts in the fourth quarter are a tried-and-true Gannett tactic, these may have an added significance beyond the company’s stock price being down and print revenues declining — the company’s chase for Tronc (the former Tribune newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times) may be coming to a close. Politico reports that analysts will be listening to Thursday’s earnings call to see if Gannett is finally ready to say whether it has an agreement to buy Tronc. With institutional investors in revolt against the Tronc board, Gannett’s purchase appears imminent.
Several current and former Tennessean staffers expressed exasperation to Pith over the cuts, saying that they had been led to believe by Gannett that the company was past annual cuts.
