By: E&P Staff In another move to overcome its current circulation scandal, Newsday (Melville, N.Y.) on Thursday fired five supervisors and brought in two interim executives. In a letter to staffers, Publisher Timothy P. Knight said the firings were "part of our commitment to ensure the integrity of our circulation practices." He did not identify the terminated employees.
Reporters at the paper, however, in a story on Friday identified those fired as Robert Bergin, director of New York City circulation; Robert Garcia, circulation manager for the city; Dot McKillop, director of single-copy sales on Long Island; Dennis Springer, manager of home delivery on Long Island; and Gerry Schultz, manager of single-copy route operations.
In all, nine Newsday executives and other employees have left their jobs since the paper admitted in June that it had inflated circulation numbers going back to 2001.
Knight, who has been publisher for about three weeks, named two interim circulation supervisors from other Tribune papers: David Bennett, circulation director at the Hartford Courant, and Paul Barbetta, circulation services director at the Baltimore Sun.
In his letter to employees, Knight said, "we believe that establishing a new management team in that department is an essential step toward creating successful, credible circulation programs." He also urged workers to report "suspected illegal or unethical behavior" to Tribune's Confidential Ethics telephone line.
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