HARTFORD, CT (July 1, 2008) – About 60 jobs and nearly 25 percent of its news pages will be cut by The Hartford Courant, the country's oldest continuously published newspaper, as the decline in advertising revenue continues to hit newspapers hard across America.
The Courant reports that by July 31 the newsroom staff will be cut from 232 to about 175 people, the "deepest cuts in the news operation since the Internet began challenging newspapers for advertisers."
Additionally some sections of the paper will be combined, and a re-design of The Courant will be launched in September that's part of "reinventing" the newspaper.
A story in the Courant says the move is part of "right-sizing" the paper on orders from the parent company, Tribune Co., a sweeping change that is taking place across all Tribune newspapers to better balance expenses and revenue.
Courant publisher Stephen D. Carver told employees the paper continues to suffer from double-digit declines in advertising revenue, and that the Tribune Co.'s $13 billion in debts are also fueling the cuts.
"We've got to get the business down to a size that we can support," Carver said. "We've got to change."
In 1994 the newsroom head count was just under 400 and has been steadily declining ever since. The number of news pages in the paper will be reduced from 273 a week to 206. The paper says that means the new Courant will have more maps, charts, lists, and shorter stories produced by the reduced staff.
Courant employees have been offered a voluntary buy-out, and the company says that if enough people take the buy-outs there will not be layoffs, but that layoffs will happen if necessary to reach the company's new desired number of employees.
