By: E&P Staff Matt Davies, the Pulitzer-Prize winning editorial cartoonist for Gannett's Westchester, N.Y. daily, the Journal News, has lost his position amid the cutback involving more than 25% percent of paper's newsroom--more than 50 jobs lost.
?As of August 28th, the position of editorial cartoonist at The Journal News is defunct,? Davies revealed on his Facebook page. ?Tonight, I cry into my beer. It?s been an amazing 17 years, but tomorrow - onto much bigger, and far better things.?
Davies won the Pulitzer and the Herblock Prize in 2004 and is former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
A memo to staffers, first posted at Romenesko, from President and Publisher Michael Fisch follows.
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I know the waiting has been difficult and I appreciate your patience as we finalized the details of the plans. Today we?ve announced the next step in the restructuring of the organization and how it affects positions in advertising sales and the Information Center.
Your position will be affected by these changes and you will need to apply for one of the newly defined jobs.
A major part of this restructuring will require different job skills and competencies in advertising sales and the Information Center. Positions in these two departments are being restructured to support future changes in The Journal News, the digital transition of our business, and to achieve a more sustainable cost structure.
To ensure that we have the appropriate people with the right skills for us to be competitive in today?s multi-platform environment, we will begin a process where employees in these two departments will have an opportunity to apply for these newly defined positions. These changes will result in a reduction of approximately 20 positions in advertising and 50 positions in the Information Center.
Attached to this email you will find a Westchester Interview Process Guide, which will explain the process you will go through to apply for one of the new positions. You may apply for up to two of the new positions and you will be interviewed at the same time for both of them. Read this process guide carefully before you begin the application process. It will explain how to access the SharePoint site that details all the new job descriptions, organizational charts, and defines the application process you must follow.
This SharePoint site is only accessible through the Gannett email system as it is a closed network so you need to go through this process at work. We have some private rooms set up for you to do this if you are not comfortable doing it at your desk. Human Resources can provide you access to these rooms if you call them at X5265.
If you have questions about the process there are two ways to get answers. First we have set up an email address specifically for this process. It is HR@lohud.com. You can use that or call Human Resources at X5265. Human Resources will be open until 8 p.m. tonight and on Thursday evening to assist you.
Important dates:
Application: You must process your application through the SharePoint site by 5 p.m. on Friday, August 14th. Once you process your application we will schedule an interview for you the following week. Human Resources will confirm your application with a follow up email that will contain your scheduled interview time and place. All the first interviews will be conducted by recruiters from other Gannett locations. The SharePoint site will guide you through the entire process.
Interviews: All interviews will be conducted the week of August 17th, unless you are on vacation or going on vacation during the time interviews are scheduled. Senior managers in advertising and the Information Center will be contacting employees scheduled for or on vacation to set up an alternative time for an interview.
Advertising interviews will be conducted primarily on Monday the 17th, and interviews for Information Center positions on Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th. Some employees may be scheduled for more than one interview depending on the position(s) selected.
Decisions: Local senior management will be making decisions on final staffing the week of August 24th. We expect to be in a position to announce the final staffing choices late that week. Employees who are not offered jobs in the new structure will be provided a transitional pay plan and their last day at The Journal News will be August 28th.
Please read the attached Westchester Interview Process Guide very carefully before you begin the application process.
This process impacts a large number of people and we fully understand how difficult a process it will be for everyone. If you have questions you can email us at HR@lohud.com, call Human Resources at X5265, or contact me.
Michael J. Fisch
President & Publisher
The Journal News
1 Gannett Drive
White Plains, NY 10604
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