Thursday, January 15, 2009, 3:56pm The Business Review (Albany)
The Daily Gazette has reduced its staff by another 16 people.
The Schenectady newspaper had laid off six people in June, and another 12 a year earlier.
In an announcement on the Gazette Web site, general manager Dan Beck said the cuts, which included newsroom staffers, “were prompted by adverse business conditions, particularly by declines in advertising revenue and the high cost of newsprint.”
He said that in the past six months the paper has taken other steps to boost revenue and reduce costs, including eliminating the weekly TV supplement.
Gee, the way that the Gazette has been saving money laying off people so much recently, it makes you wonder...why did they need to raise their price on weekdays 50%?
Gazette cuts 20 more jobs, 10 in newsroom Posted on January 15, 2009, 3:29 pm, by Times Union
By Chris Churchill, Business writer
SCHENECTADY - The Daily Gazette newspaper in Schenectady is today laying off as many as 20 workers, according to sources at the company.
Ten of those cuts are in the papers’s newsroom, a source said. Many of the cuts affected the Life & Arts section.
Sources said the reason for the cuts is unclear, although the declining economy and sinking advertising revenue are likely culprits.
Dan Beck, general manager at the independently owned newspaper, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Daily Gazette, which is not unionized, had at least three rounds of job eliminations last year, including six jobs cut in June and eight jobs cut in September. Management at the paper blamed economic conditions for those reductions.
At the time of the September cuts, the paper said it had 151 full-time workers and 85 part-time workers.
If Judy Patrick is on the list, I'll re-subscribe post haste.
Good one Ock! First 16 now possibly 20 layoffs. Attention Schenectady Sheeple-have you called the TU yet? Hope the laid off find suitable positions and not at the terrible Spotlight.
Too many newsroom staff {already weak as water} and not enough in the looney left editorial office. As far as the TV listings, they could also use a new editor. They separate topics; sports, news, premium cable and color code them. Even with the colors they haven't figured out that YES {Yankees Entertainment and Sports}- is a sports network.
The future is HERE I've had the opportunity over the past 24 hours to read lots of feedback to the latest round of the layoffs - including my own - at The Daily Gazette, as well as more than a year of comments from people professing to know what's wrong with the Gazette.
Many are warning that the end of newspapers as we know them is not too far off, and I can't totally disagree.
Excellent commentary by Mr. Robarge. I and others on this forum have repeatedly mentioned how the Schenectady Gazette changed to the Daily Gazette. And how we are now reading about the goings on in Gloversville, Jonesville and other areas as well that we don't really have an interest in.
There is MORE than enough stuff going on in Schenectady County to fill the newspaper. Not everything is ever printed. (wonder why?) I actually find the opinion section to be more informative than what I read in the rest of the paper. May I also say that there are people who will not speak to certain reporters of the gazette do to the spin and lack of accuracy that ends up in print.
So I do hope that they can re-invent themselves and perhaps going back to basics may be key. The gazette has also been know to obviously be bias in their reporting. Not only in their reporting but also in there placement of certain stories in the paper. They seem to pick and choose who and what gets front page status. They seem to bury relevant stories in small blurbs if it does not place a positive light on some of the 'powers that be'. Perhaps they can raise the bar and set a higher standard for journalism.
As far as the Spotlight...I personally like it. I deals with small town issues that also impact our lives. They are not an 'investigative reporting paper'. They just 'tell the story' so to say. And ya can't fault them for that. IMHO
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Coping with layoffs By Judy Patrick Saturday, January 17, 2009
The people who work here at The Gazette took a big hit this week as we once again laid off employees. The pain was considerable, both for the people who lost their jobs and the people who were left behind. We know we're not alone in coping with this kind of anguish. The plummeting economy has forced thousands of companies around the world to reduce the number of people they employ. Layoffs have also become commonplace in our industry, which relies heavily on advertising revenue. As that revenue has shrunk, newspapers and other kinds of media outlets (TV and radio stations, for example) have been forced to cut costs. In the newsroom, 10 people lost their jobs. Many had worked here for 10 years or so. A couple had been with us for 20 years or more. From a newsroom of more than 100 a decade ago, we have shrunk to about 50. But 50 is a fairly healthy number by industry standards, and it's one that will enable us to continue to do honest journalism that reflects the diversified communities we serve. We will, however, need to be more efficient in our use of manpower and more judicious in our use of space on our news pages. Tomorrow, for example, we'll stop publishing the lengthy Week In Review that has been a part of The Sunday Gazette since its inception.While the page provided a good synopsis of the week's stories, it was time-consuming to..........................http://www.dailygazette.com/weblogs/editors/2009/jan/17/0117_jpatricklayoffs/
Stepping up or stepping in new challenges? The week in review was a complete waste of newsprint. Try doing some "honest reporting" of Schenectady County issues starting with the Metrograft Authority.
Logged
Good one Ock! First 16 now possibly 20 layoffs. Attention Schenectady Sheeple-have you called the TU yet? Hope the laid off find suitable positions and not at the terrible Spotlight. 
