USA Today to cut 26 newsroom jobs; 11 positions cut at USA Weekend magazine

New round of cutbacks coming at Gannett newspapers

NEW YORK — Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. imposed a new round of cutbacks Tuesday, with USA Today reducing its newsroom staff by 5 percent, as the industry continues to suffer through an extended advertising slump.

Along with 26 newsroom jobs at USA Today, 11 positions will be cut at USA Weekend magazine, a weekly insert in other newspapers. And nonunion workers at other Gannett newspapers will have to take more unpaid furloughs, after already taking forced time off this year.

USA Today, which sells many of its copies in hotels and airports, has been hit especially hard by the advertising slump and a falloff in travel, which knocked it out of the No. 1 position in U.S. newspaper circulation.

The Wall Street Journal has grabbed that spot, although that includes online subscriptions, as it is one of the few major newspapers that charges Web readers. USA Today still has the top print circulation.

Gannett shares rose 12 cents, 1.2 percent, to close Tuesday at $10.01.

Other media companies have been shedding workers as well. The New York Times, The Associated Press and Time Inc. have announced job cuts in recent weeks.

“While advertising is showing some signs of picking up, the economic outlook for 2010 remains weak and the decline in travel has contributed to a recent drop in circulation,” USA Today’s executive editor, John Hillkirk, told employees in a memo.

Hillkirk said the laid-off employees would get severance pay equal to the difference between their salaries and what they can get from state unemployment benefits. He said the severance would come for one week for each year worked at the company.

USA Weekend is cutting seven positions immediately and four more in March, according to a staff memo from Marcia Bullard, the magazine’s president. Its remaining staff is being combined with that of USA Today.

Bob Dickey, who heads Gannett’s U.S. community publishing unit, told employees at the division’s 82 newspapers that nonunion workers will have to take one unpaid week off during the first quarter of next year, amounting to about a 2 percent cut in pay. He said the company is asking union representatives to support furloughs as well. Corporate employees at Gannett are also taking the furlough, he said.

Gannett, which is based in McLean, Va., and also owns 23 television stations, eliminated 10 percent of its jobs in 2008. It also cut 3 percent, or 1,400 positions, last summer.