America’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett, has furloughed employees to part-time status at its newspapers across the country, including 21 properties in Texas.
The furlough amounts to one week a month without pay, according to a memo from the CEO that was leaked to several national publishers, including the Daily Beast. Journalist will work part-time in this manner at least through June, the memo says.
Journalists making under $38,000 will not be affected.
The reason for the furloughs is the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on advertising revenues. Although news traffic and online subscriptions have increased in recent weeks, direct advertising has slowed as marketers have halted campaigns, according to the CEO.
Bascobert said that Gannett expects revenue to “decline considerably during this period.”
“A mandatory unpaid week-long furlough every month is essentially a 25% pay cut. Terrible,” commented Katey Psencik, a former Statesman employee. Gannett executives will take a 25% pay cut directly, and the CEO said he’d take no salary.
Gannett’s properties in Texas include the Amarillo Globe-News, Austin American-Statesman, Brownwood Bulletin, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Smithville Times, and El Paso Times. The chain is also the owner of USA Today.
Andrea Ball, a long-time Statesman reporter and now regional investigative reporter at USA Today Network, said that she was one of those affected: “I have lived a charmed journalism life. I didn’t really know what furloughed was until it happened to me today.”
“One week a month for three months. I am so proud to work with my colleagues at USA Today and the Statesman. We’ll get through this together.”
Mark Lisheron, a 30-year newspaper veteran who has written for Reason.com, Texas Monitor, and other Texas publications, commented on Gannett’s move, saying, “Systematically ruining your credibility while insisting you’re needed now more than ever is not a sustainable business strategy.”
