“It’s a bloodbath.”
That’s how one shell-shocked staffer at the North Jersey Media Group reacted after new owner Gannett revealed on Monday that another 141 employees will be laid off this week.
In September, just two months after buying the privately held North Jersey Media Group, which includes the Record of Bergen County, the state’s second-largest paper, Gannett said it was laying off 426 people from the newsroom and sales departments but would allow 50 percent of those workers to reapply for their jobs.
It’s not clear how many newsroom staffers will be gone from Monday’s announced cuts. About 130 newsroom jobs were eliminated last time, leaving about 200 edit staffers as copy editing and design were consolidated.
NJMG president Nancy Meyer said an earlier estimate that only 70 newsroom jobs remained was “grossly inaccurate.”
“We have a policy not to discuss specific employee numbers but as members of the USA Today network we are part of the largest news team in New Jersey, and maintain our position as the second-largest newsroom in the state,” she said.
The latest round of cuts, according to insiders, included most of the staff of NJMG’s monthly magazine, called 201, as well as court reporters.
The company had already condensed its nearly 50 weekly newspapers to 30 and moved to common editing and layout for all Gannett papers in the state.
Gannett already owns the Asbury Park Press and six other dailies outside the NJMG.
“We remain committed to transforming the North Jersey Media Group into a digital powerhouse in response to the unprecedented change sweeping throughout our industry,” said Meyer, who was named NJMG’s president in September.
“The difficult action we’re announcing today will enable us to continue building on our strong foundation and enable us to continue to deliver award-winning journalist and highly effective sale and marketing solutions to the region,” she said.
The Borg family, which owned the (Bergen) Record, the Herald News of Passaic County and the weeklies, sold them to USA Today owner Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, for $40 million in July.