By: Employees at the Tucson Citizen and Tucson Newspapers have been told that some 30 jobs will be eliminated.
Jennifer Boice, the Citizen's interim editor, sent letters to employees Friday after Gannett Co. Inc., its parent corporation, said it will reduce costs by cutting 3% of its work force in its main newspaper division.
Boice said two to four Citizen employees will be laid off.
The remaining layoffs will come from TNI, the subsidiary of the afternoon Citizen and morning Arizona Daily Star that handles circulation, advertising and other non-editorial functions through a joint operating agreement.
About half the TNI jobs will be cut through layoffs, the rest through eliminating open positions.
Boice said no specific jobs to be slashed have been identified yet.
Meanwhile, two of Florida's four Gannett daily newspapers announced staff cuts Friday as part of a corporate plan to eliminate 1,000 jobs nationwide. The Tallahassee Democrat and Pensacola News Journal plan to cut jobs, officials said.
"To maintain the financial health of our business and to ensure we remain positioned for the future and the inevitable rebound of the economy and our business, we must be proactive in responding to negative conditions. Unfortunately, that means we are going to have to reduce positions," Patrick Dorsey, president and publisher of The Tallahassee Democrat, said in a statement posted on the paper's Web site.
Dorsey said his newspaper laid off eight people and would eliminate other positions through attrition. Kevin Doyle, publisher of the Pensacola News Journal, said the newspaper laid off two full-time employees, but did not reduce its reporting staff.
Gannett Co. said the cuts would affect 84 daily newspapers and nearly 900 non-daily publications nationwide. Terry Eberle, executive editor of The News-Press in Fort Myers, said the paper would not be impacted by the layoffs at Gannett. He noted that the paper laid off 35 employees a month ago and froze 10 positions due to the declining economy in South Florida.
"We saw what was happening and moved a little quicker," Eberle said.
Messages left at Melbourne-based Florida Today were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
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