By: (AP) The New Hampshire Union Leader, the largest newspaper in the state, is looking to cut its payroll by 9% and is offering employees a voluntary buyout plan in an effort to avoid layoffs.
"We need to get our numbers in line in order to build for the future," Union Leader publisher Joseph McQuaid said in a story carried in Wednesday's edition of the newspaper. "A changing retail market and changes in how some consumers get their news and information requires us to rethink how we do business."
McQuaid declined to comment beyond the statement in the paper.
The New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News have more than 300 full-time employees. Pending agreement with their unions, all full-time employees would be eligible to submit buyout requests.
The papers are owned by a nonprofit organization, the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications. Loeb, who died in 2000, was the papers' publisher.
Newspapers across the country have been cutting staff and other expenses in recent months in an effort to remain profitable in the face of rising costs, declining circulation and stagnating growth in their main source of revenue -- advertising -- as more readers and advertisers move to the Internet.
The Union Leader's average weekday circulation declined 2.8% in the six-month period ending in September to 57,753, according to the most recent report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
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