Maryland Newspaper Cuts 111 Jobs, Outsources Printing & Mailing

 

ANNAPOLIS, MD (January 28, 2009) – During a meeting Wednesday employees of The Capital learned that many of their coworkers were being eliminated when the company distributed a list of names of more than 100 people and jobs that were being cut.

The paper reports today in a story about itself that some reporters and others left the room in tears as the group simultaneously read the list, some looking at each other in disbelief as they learned of each other's fate.

Capital Gazette Communications, the parent company and publisher of The Capital, yesterday slashed 111 full-time and part-time jobs and announced that they are going to outsource their printing and mailroom.

Employees who were spared from the job cuts were told that they'll be taking off 5 days without pay sometime this year.

The layoffs and changes in the way the newspaper does business includes a restructuring of the newsroom. Reporters were informed yesterday that they'll be taking on a heavier workload and that they should expect more job sharing in the future.

The job cuts make up about 29 percent of their workforce, Capital staff writer Katie Arcieri reported. Included in the cuts were two Capital editors, photography editor Bob Gilbert, a copy editor, and a graphic artist, the paper said. Gilbert has been at the paper 28 years, and was photography editor for 15 years, the newspaper said.

The Capital had been for sale by its owner, Landmark Enterprises LLC, of Norfolk, VA, but they dropped any plan to sell the paper when the credit crisis hit late in 2008.

 

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