The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, whose reporters organized one of the industry’s most active opposition movements against its parent company’s plans for cutbacks, will trim home delivery to three days a week and create a new digital company, the owner, Advance Publications, said on Thursday. The paper is also expected to cut more than a third of its newsroom staff.
The announcement was made to the newsroom Thursday morning at the same time it was posted on The Plain Dealer’s Web site. According to the announcement, the company is creating a new digitally focused media company called the Northeast Ohio Media Group. It will continue to print a daily newspaper that readers can buy on newsstands and elsewhere. These changes will start to take place this summer.
“These actions are aimed at driving innovation, capitalizing on the tremendous strengths of our existing organizations, preserving high-quality journalism and marketing solutions, and providing greater efficiency and flexibility in serving Northeast Ohio through print and digital applications,” Terry Egger, The Plain Dealer’s president, publisher and chief executive, said in the statement posted on the Web site.
John Mangels, a science writer and 22-year veteran of the paper, who worked with the union during negotiations, said 53 of the newsroom’s work force of more than 160 people would be laid off, in addition to members of management. He said earlier plans to start layoffs on May 1 had been delayed until this summer.
Mr. Mangels helped organize a campaign late last year that called on readers to join the effort to preserve Cleveland’s daily newspaper. Some Plain Dealer employees were determined to avoid the fate of other Advance papers like The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, The Press-Register of Mobile, Ala., and The Huntsville Times in Alabama; Advance announced last May that it would cut back the print editions of those papers to three days a week.
It seemed almost inevitable that Advance would follow the same path in Cleveland. But the paper’s employees began a campaign to spare it. That effort, financed partly by Local 1 of the Newspaper Guild and a grant from the Communications Workers of America, included a television commercial, a Facebook page and a petition. At the time of Thursday’s announcement, the Facebook page had attracted 5,373 likes and the petition had received 7,377 supporters.
Mr. Mangels said he was both relieved and disappointed by the news. It was still unclear whether he would keep his job.
“We were expecting that the paper would be reduced to three days a week,” he said in an interview. “We’re glad that the paper listened to the campaign and the voices of Cleveland to keep the paper a daily, to keep it publishing seven days a week. But that victory is tempered by a lot of things. The cuts in home delivery and the layoffs are going to reduce our ability to cover news in Cleveland.”
One supporter wrote on the Facebook page: “Soldier on, ladies and gentlemen. Soldier on and best wishes.”