Gannett laying off 700 more workers amid ad slump

[marmar]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. is laying off 700 workers, or 2 percent of its work force, in the latest cutback triggered by a relentless advertising slump.

The layoffs Tuesday affected most of Gannett's 82 daily newspapers in the U.S., including The Indianapolis Star and The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., but not USA Today, Gannett's largest. Gannett would not say how many of the cuts were in the newsroom.

The cuts marked the company's largest round of layoffs in two years and the latest in a string of austerity measures imposed since print advertising, its main source of revenue, began to fall in 2006.

Like most newspaper publishers, Gannett has been hurt by technological and cultural shifts, which have driven readers and advertisers to the Internet. Newspapers have been attracting more online advertisers, but not enough to offset erosion in their print editions, where ad rates typically have been 10 times higher than on the Web. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gannett-laying-off-700-more-apf-322602217.html?x=0

[customerserviceguy]

1. Who reads newspapers any more?

If they didn't stick USA Today in front of my door at a motel, I'd have never picked one up for the past ten years.

[IamK]

2. What's a newspaper?

[Politicalboi]

3. Well it's an early version of a throw away iPad

But then newspapers have more uses. Like lining a bird cage, or a puppy cage. Repairing a hole in your shoe, and packing when moving.

[LiberalEsto]

4. Does Gannett have any employees left?

Probably 2 or 3, not counting the execs.