Gannett Outsources Westchester Printing to Garden State

By: E&P Staff Mike Fisch, publisher of The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., disclosed in a memo last night further operating changes at the Gannett paper -- including outsourcing of printing to North Jersey Media Group's Rockaway, N.J., plant in March.

First reported on the Gannettoid blog, the printing plant's closing will end 166 full- and part-time production and packaging jobs. The paper has shed some 200 jobs since last fall. The Westchester County plant early this year also began printing the Poughkeepsie Journal, Gannett's daily three counties to the north.

NJMG has for many years been a print site for Gannett's USA Today. Its modern, multi-press Rockaway plant, with a recently expanded and upgraded packaging center, is 55 miles from White Plains and 90 miles from Poughkeepsie.

Fisch wrote that the move will save operating expenses and avoid big capital investments, and that the paper will try to sell its large building on 25 acres, with the possibility of a partial lease-back.

In the memo, copied on the blog, Fisch wrote that the actions "complete the restructuring of the Westchester newspaper operations which we began earlier this year. This approach will allow us to refocus our capital priorities on our journalism, our products, our sales strategies, and re-energizing our franchise."