Gannett laid off 198 employees at 43 of its newspapers yesterday (December 5th), but none of them work in the newsroom at The Commercial Appeal.A statement released by Memphis Newspaper Guild president Daniel Connolly said: “This afternoon, management informed The Commercial Appeal staff about layoffs within Gannett. Our newsroom in Memphis is untouched. We still do not have concrete information from the company about potential job cuts in other departments, including advertising, or among managers not covered by the Guild.”
The Knoxville News Sentinel, which lost one business reporter, is the only Tennessee paper so far affected by the layoffs.
In November, GateHouse Media Inc., which published 144 daily newspapers, merged with Gannett, which made the company — which kept the Gannett name — the largest newspaper corporation in the United States. It now owns 263 local dailies across 47 states, as well as Guam, including Gannett flagship, USA Today.
For a breakdown of all Gannett layoffs nationwide, and the papers affected, go here.