Gannettblog's count of Gannett Layoffs pegs the count at the combined Elmira/Binghamton operation at 40.
Also, WXXI says that the D&C's cut of 59 positions hit 12 in the newsroom (via Rochesterturning).
Yesterday, one of the sports reporters laid off at Gannett's Courier-Post property, which covers South Jersey, revealed in his last blog post that the newsroom there had shrunk to 107 70 people. That newspaper now employs about 425, according to Gannettblog. That means that the D&C newsroom has about 160 106 employees, if staffing patterns at both papers are comparable.
I'd link to that blog post, but it's been removed from the Courier-Post's site.
Update: But Google never forgets. I used the wrong number, and fixed the post.
Comments
I love this comment left on RT by Andrea:
"I’m a local college student — a journalism major and an editor of a college newspaper. While the college newspaper continues to thrive, with students more than willing to pick up the hard copy, the Internet is swallowing the newspaper industry, with hardly anyone caring about the impending journalistic crisis. When is enough, enough? There’s something about holding a newspaper in your hands, it almost makes the news more real. Anyone can post on the Internet, but it definitely takes a special group to make a newspaper. With all of the citizen journalism going on with blogs filled with complete crap (this one is clearly an exception — it’s one of three blogs I read), journalism is going to morph into gossip. Where are all the traditionalists wanting that paper in their hands? While the newspaper won’t entirely collapse, I’m sure it’s just started on it’s downfall … which will mean real news is going to take a turn too. The TV and radio stations will have noone to pull their news from. This is too bad. With the elimination of these local jobs, it looks like I’ll definitely be moving out of state next year when I graduate."
There are good blogs and bad - how do you make sure people only read blogs with truthful facts and don't mix facts with opinions.
BTW - this blog is the most impartial fact filled blog I have found - thanks Rotten!
I think Anna's been reading E&P:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
It's looking very grim out there.
To answer your question about blogs, really, the only way to tell is by reading for a while and comparing what's said there with other sources. Most blogs are crap, she's right about that.
Thanks for the compliment.
Small town dailies are still highly profitable and will continue to exist with or without corporate ownership. The big city papers are another story.
There's got to be some business structure where a big-city daily makes money.
In other words, there's some middle ground between a 690-person money losing operation and nothing. I'm not worried -- there's a business opportunity there, and someone will take it.
BTW - when will Eric open up his massa.house.gov website?
The earliest would be Jan 2, when he's sworn in. To paraphrase someone famous, "There's only one representative of the 29th district of New York at a time"
My 2¢...
Gannet publishes the Elmira Star-Gazette in Chemung County, which is the next county to the east of Steuben County. So presumably they cover Steuben County going-ons. Yet go to Hornell in western Steuben County, and the Gannet paper on the street is the Rochester Democrat 7 Chronicle. The D&C seems not to care about anything that happens outside Monroe County (or maybe the next few towns over the county line?). So what's going on there?
Good riddance to Gannet newspapers!!!
From what I've seen, the Gatehouse newspapers in the Southern Tier (Corning Leader, Hornell Evening Trib) do a much better job of covering local politics than the S-G.
There was a time when the Star-Gazette and The-Leader were afternoon papers. The Hornell paper was also, and still is, an afternoon paper. This left a void for the D&C to fill especially in western Steuben County. The Elmira Advertiser, which was a morning paper, filled the void in Eastern Steuben County. The Star-Gazette merged the Advertiser into itself in the early sixties and became what was then known as an all day paper. I think it went totally morning in the 80's.
"All Day Paper" -- sounds like a blog.
I'd never known that the D&C was circulated in the Southern Tier. It certainly doesn't cover much from that area today, but I suppose it was bigger and covered more years back.
You can still buy a D&C in three outlets in Corning (Wegmans and two newsstands).
An all day paper was similar to the D&C and Times Union - a morning and an afternoon paper - but in the case of an "all day paper" the morning and afternoon papers carried the same masthead.
I didn't know what an "all day" paper was. That's interesting -- I've never seen one.
The T-U closed its doors soon after I arrived in Rochester, so I don't remember it at all. I just googled it -- I never realized that it won a Pulitzer for the Attica Riots coverage. I guess it was a good paper at one time.
Newspapers are, just like any other business, a bottom line operation. A Pulitzer Prize and $1.89 will get you a large cup of coffee at Wegmans :).
Here is how a paper is doing that has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081207/ARTICLE/812070347/2055/NEW...
I find it interesting that they seem to think that the ad revenue from real estate is coming back someday. In big cities, that's probably gone forever to online sites.