Hundreds of journalists from the country’s largest newspaper chain left their jobs on Monday, accusing the company’s CEO of decimating local newsrooms and demanding a change at the top.
The strike was the largest union action in Gannett’s history, the union representing the journalists said. It included employees from about two dozen newsrooms, including The Palm Beach Post, The Arizona Republic, and The Austin American-Statesman. The demonstrations are expected to continue in front of some newsrooms on Tuesday.
The class action coincides with Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting, which will be held on Monday. The NewsGuild, which represents more than 1,000 Gannett journalists, sent a letter to Gannett shareholders in May urging a vote of no confidence against Mike Reed, the CEO and chairman.
In the letter, the NewsGuild criticized the company’s 2019 merger with GateHouse Media, saying it had “mortgaged the future of our company” by burdening it with debt.
The letter also criticized Mr. Reed, who was previously the CEO of GateHouse Media and took over Gannett after the merger. The union said its compensation — $7.7 million in 2021 and $3.4 million in 2022 — was far too high for a company cutting jobs and paying the remaining journalists what the letter described as “low wages.” Gannett’s stock price has fallen about 70 percent in the years since the GateHouse merger.
“Gannett has created news deserts everywhere you look,” said Peter D. Kramer, a reporter for the USA Today Network. “That’s Mike Reed’s Gannett.”
Mr Kramer, who lives in Westchester County, said some Gannett reporters had to take second jobs to supplement their paychecks or simply left the profession altogether.
Lark-Marie Anton, a spokeswoman for Gannett, said in a statement that while the company disagreed with the recommendation to remove Mr. Reed, “Gannett remains committed to our shareholder engagement process and takes all feedback seriously.”
“During a very challenging time for our industry and economy, Gannett is committed to providing competitive wages, benefits and meaningful opportunities to all of our valued employees,” said Ms. Anton. “Our leadership is focused on investing in local newsrooms and monetizing our content while continuing to negotiate fairly and in good faith with the NewsGuild.”
Ms. Anton said there would be no disruption to Gannett’s reporting during the work stoppage this week.
Gannett became the largest newspaper publisher in the United States after merging with GateHouse, a deal the companies said at the time would result in annual cost savings of up to $300 million and help them survive the headwinds plaguing the news media industry.
The merged company, which took the Gannett name, owns USA Today and more than 200 daily newspapers in 43 states, though it has closed dozens of publications since the 2019 deal.
Like many local news publishers, Gannett has struggled with declining advertising and print revenues. The debt burden of the GateHouse merger has also weighed on the company. Gannett said in its first quarter results this year that it had $1.2 billion in outstanding debt.
It has spent the past year trying to pay off the debt with a series of widespread cost-cutting measures, including laying off about 6 percent of its roughly 3,440-strong media division in December. According to the securities filings, Gannett’s workforce has nearly halved since November 2019.
The NewsGuild said the Austin American-Statesman newsroom had 41 employees this year, up from 110 in 2018. During the same period, the Arizona Republic newsroom in Phoenix had shrunk from 140 to 89, while the Milwaukee Sentinel was down to 82 from 104.
“You have communities that come to light, and when things come to light, people can abuse their position,” said Kaitlyn Kanzler, a reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record in Northern New Jersey.
Jon Schleuss, the chairman of the NewsGuild, said in a statement that Mr. Reed “doesn’t care about a long-term strategy of investing in the business by investing in journalists.”
“They need support and resources to ensure our communities have the local news needed for our democracy to flourish,” said Mr Schleuss. “Instead, Reed’s sole focus was on lining his own pockets.”
Gannett said this year it had crossed two million digital subscriptions. In its first quarter 2023 earnings report, Gannett said it generated earnings of $10.3 million, compared to a loss of $3 million in the same period last year, and expected revenue of $2.75 billion to $2 .8 billion for the year.
