EVERETT — The Herald laid off 10 employees Tuesday as the company deals with a steep decline in advertising revenue and a challenging environment for newspapers.
Herald Publisher Allen Funk said the job cuts are part of a restructuring in response to double-digit percentage declines in advertising revenue. In addition to the layoffs, about 15 empty positions company-wide will not be filled anytime soon.
“The kind of pressure we’re under as a newspaper requires us to carefully examine our costs,” Funk said, adding that the company, unlike many newspapers, still is profitable. “With these kinds of cost reductions, we’re trying to maintain some financial flexibility so we can remain strong for the long term.”
Funk said he doesn’t anticipate the need for another single layoff of this size at The Herald in the foreseeable future.
Half of the layoffs announced Tuesday are coming from The Herald’s advertising department, with the rest spread across other departments. None of the layoffs affect The Herald’s newsroom, which has lost a number of reporters through retirements and job changes in recent months. In fact, at least two vacant reporting positions will be filled in the coming weeks.
“In areas that are strategically important to us, such as news and our online operation, we’re trying to hire,” Funk said.
He noted that while the circulation of the printed newspaper remains static, page views at Heraldnet.com have grown 30 percent from a year ago.
Newspapers across the country have dealt with sagging revenue as changing reading habits and a sluggish national economy have hit at the same time. The Washington Post Co., which owns The Herald, reported revenue for its newspaper publishing division fell by 10 percent during the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2007.
With a work force of more than 300, the operations of The Daily Herald Co. include not just the Everett-based Herald daily newspaper and Heraldnet.com, but also the Enterprise weekly papers in south Snohomish County, the Spanish-language La Raza weekly, the Snohomish County Business Journal and Seattle’s Child, a free monthly parenting magazine distributed in the Puget Sound area.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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