PROVIDENCE – The Providence Journal is scheduled to announce a redesign of the newspaper in its print edition this Sunday, the head of the newspaper’s biggest labor union said yesterday.
John G. Hill, a veteran Journal reporter and president of the Providence Newspaper Guild, told Providence Business News the redesign would emphasize the paper’s coverage of Rhode Island and make the newspaper more “Rhode Island-centric.” A full explanation will be published in Sunday’s Journal, he said.
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Journal publisher Howard G. Sutton said in February that a redesign would debut later in the year. He also said it would not reduce the amount of content in the paper.
The Journal has had four rounds of staff reductions since last September, reducing its work force by about 150 to 562 full- and part-time positions as of March. The paper’s revenue was down 13.3 percent in 2008 and plunged by 30.5 percent during the first three months of this year.
Both Hill and Tim Schick, the Providence Guild’s administrator, said there has been no indication from Journal management or its parent company, A. H. Belo Corp., that the latest round of changes at the paper would result in further job cuts.
“I’ve not heard anything about that,” Schick said. “No one is mentioning layoffs.” The Guild represents roughly 300 editorial and advertising workers at The Journal.
In May, Journal editor Thomas E. Heslin said the newsroom had been reorganized into five desks. A Commerce and Consumer Desk staffed by 11 reporters was given responsibility for business coverage. The desk’s editor, John Kostrzewa, declined to comment on the redesign or other changes.
Alison K. Engel, A. H. Belo’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, told PBN rumors that The Journal planned to eliminate its business section as part of the redesign were “not correct,” and said the paper would maintain its commitment to business coverage.
Engel directed further questions to Mark T. Ryan, The Journal’s executive vice president and general manager. Ryan, who The Providence Phoenix has reported will leave the company next month, did not return a phone call requesting comment. Barbara J. Nauman, the paper’s vice president of circulation, also failed to respond to a phone message.
Hill said he did not want to comment on internal discussions prior to the redesign’s announcement on Sunday, but did say, “We will still cover business.”
A. H. Belo has not yet announced when it will release its financial results for the second quarter, which ended June 30. Last year, the company’s second-quarter earnings report was released on July 28. A. H. Belo released its earnings report for the first quarter of this year a little more than a month after the period ended.
An earlier version of this article misspelled Barbara J. Nauman’s last name and gave an outdated title for her. She was promoted to vice president of circulation in May.
