5 Layoffs At Danbury Paper

By: The News-Times laid off five employees Thursday in a corporate restructuring that eliminated their positions.
The newsroom lost three staffers -- two reporters and a photographer -- and it will be reorganizing over the next few days to fill in any gaps in coverage.

Also, one Internet post and one circulation job were eliminated. Those two positions will be filled through cooperation with The Connecticut Post in Bridgeport or through MediaNews Group, the Denver-based company that owns both newspapers.

"These were painful business decisions," said News-Times Editor Art Cummings. "This had nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the individuals' work. We feel deeply for the employees whose lives were so drastically affected."

Publisher John Dunster said the employees were given severance packages.

Eliminating the jobs is the local outcome of an industry-wide restructuring in the face of declining revenues and changing technology, he said.

"Other companies have already taken these steps," Dunster said.

"These people were terrific," he related. "We're losing good people."

Dunster said the company needs to align its expenses and its revenues.

He said he would not rule out future layoffs, although none is anticipated at this time.

"We have to constantly look at our revenues and align our resources with our strategic goals," Dunster said.

MediaNews bought The News-Times on March 30 from CNHI, an Alabama-based newspaper group that had purchased the paper from Ottaway Newspapers last December.