Gannett will shut its Nashville design studio and move the production work of its Southeast newspapers to other hubs around the country. It’s the second studio closed by the company in recent months after an Asbury Park facility was shuttered in April. The move will affect 88 people.
Managers at the studio, located in the same building at The Tennessean at 1100 Broadway, were told today that Gannett expects to transition all of the work from Nashville by Oct. 1. Studio staffers were told at 4 p.m. today. The design and page editing work for The Tennessean and other Tennessee papers — Commercial Appeal, Knoxville News-Sentinel, Jackson Sun, Daily News Journal, Leaf Chronicle and other, smaller titles — will now move out of state.
Studio staff were said to be shocked by the move.
Shuttering the hub leaves the nation’s largest newspaper publisher with three studios — Louisville, Des Moines and Phoenix — to produce more than 100 newspapers. Gannett began transferring production and design work from individual newspapers to the five hubs in 2010 as a way to control costs. It is unclear how many, if any, of the Nashville staff will be offered positions in other hubs. Staff were told that some jobs may be done remotely.
Some Tennessean staffers survived newsroom cuts in recent years by moving over to the studio. For example, Mike Jones, a longtime editor in the sports department, was spared in a recent round of layoffs by taking a job in the studio. That escape hatch is now closing.
