Newspaper publisher John Howell didn’t think he would ever have to lay himself off.
But when COVID-19 hit the United States, that’s exactly what he had to do to save his Warwick-based newspaper company, Beacon Communications Inc., which publishes the Warwick Beacon and other small newspapers.
As advertising revenue quickly evaporated during the economic shutdown in March, Howell cut eight positions,
including his own, to keep the doors open. A plan to install a website paywall to raise revenue was delayed; sports and entertainment pages were slashed; and the Warwick Beacon eliminated one of its twice-weekly print editions.
The Beacon obtained a $190,000 forgivable federal loan that allowed the company to recall the laid-off workers, including Howell. But it isn’t out of trouble yet. The Beacon is still printing once a week, and advertising revenue remains tough to come by.
The money obtained through the federal Paycheck Protection Program will eventually run out – and then what?
Newspaper publishers across the nation are in a similar situation. The new coronavirus has exacerbated the economic decline of many local newspapers, sapping precious advertising dollars that are no longer coming from small businesses undergoing their own struggles. Furloughs and layoffs have followed.
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SEEKING SUPPORT: Beacon Communications Inc. owner John Howell has been calling on government to come to the aid of newspapers. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
The Rhode Island Press Association said it hasn’t formally tracked the damage the pandemic has wrought on the local news media, but there have been disruptions.
Jody Boucher, regional publisher of R.I.S.N. Operations Inc. – which owns several small Rhode Island newspapers, including the Westerly Sun, Narragansett Times, Woonsocket Call and Pawtucket Times – confirmed the company laid off four reporters, two administrative staffers and two classified-sales associates in March. Three reporters have since been recalled, but all employees are now on a one-day-a-week furlough.
At Providence Media Inc. – publisher of several magazines, including Providence Monthly and East Side Monthly – 75% of the staff was laid off in March and print editions were halted. In May, after the company received a PPP loan, the entire staff was recalled and the publication of some print editions has resumed.
And at The Providence Journal, owned by Gannett Co., employees are being furloughed on a rotating basis and three newsroom positions were cut in April.
Such reductions have led some newspaper industry leaders to make the unprecedented step of asking the government for help and taxpayer support.
“If we don’t do anything, [newspapers] will go away,” said Jon Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, which represents about 24,000 journalists in North America. “Without them, our democracy suffers and our country suffers.”
SAVE THE NEWS?
The NewsGuild launched a campaign in May seeking public financing for journalism called “Save the News.” Union leaders are asking for relief measures such as direct grants to journalists and an expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program loans so more local publishers can receive help.
At the same time, the union is seeking assurances that journalists and news organizations can maintain their independence even if they receive public financial assistance.
The organization wrote to congressional leaders in April to express the urgency of the financial challenges that news publications across the country face, calling news coverage of the coronavirus crisis “life-saving information.”
“Continuing news coverage through this pandemic must be a priority in the next stimulus package,” Schleuss wrote.
The campaign has found supporters among the Rhode Island delegation.
Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse signed on to a letter to the Senate leadership and top appropriators in support of local journalism, asking for federal funding for local newsrooms to “help save jobs, keep Americans informed, and hold those in power accountable.”
Nineteen senators have supported the letter, according to Whitehouse’s spokesperson.
“We can’t allow this pandemic to kill off local newsrooms,” Reed said in a statement. “These small, local news outlets are critical to keeping people informed and vital to our democracy.”
It’s unclear whether the lobbying effort will be successful – legislation has yet to be introduced – but in journalism circles, the discussion of government assistance has touched off some handwringing.
Linda Lotridge Levin, professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Rhode Island, said that before the crisis she would have steadfastly opposed publishers getting financial relief from the government because it would blur the line between journalistic independence and government influence, and damage news outlets’ credibility.
“It’s just wrong and it would go against everything that journalists believe in,” Levin said.
But now things have grown complicated, and the issue is no longer as clear cut for Levin, who acknowledges that if she were a struggling local publisher, she isn’t sure what she would do. Nor is she sure aid would help keep local newspapers afloat beyond the immediate crisis.
Yet the news hasn’t been all bad.
The public’s hunger for information about the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred some Americans to be more tuned in than ever, particularly with a presidential election just months away.
News organizations with a larger scope are seeing advertising revenue plummet, but many are holding on and adding to already hefty digital subscriber counts.
The Boston Globe reached 200,000 subscribers in the middle of May – up 65,000 from before the pandemic – while The Atlantic magazine added 90,000 subscribers since the beginning of March (although the magazine still laid off 68 staff members in late May, according to news reports) and The New York Times reported 600,000 new subscribers in the first quarter.
SHRINKING RESOURCES
Bruce Butterfield remembers being a reporter at The Providence Journal when the newspaper “did it all.” In addition to a bustling downtown newsroom, the Journal staffed numerous suburban bureaus in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There were also three reporters in the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., office.
That was when the paper was locally owned. Now it’s owned by mass media holding company Gannett, which controls more than 260 U.S. newspapers and reported an $80 million loss in the first quarter of this year. Its local holdings include The Newport Daily News, The Taunton Daily Gazette, The Herald News in Fall River, and The Standard-Times in New Bedford.
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REDUCED STAFF: Gannett Co., owner of The Providence Journal, has instituted rotating furloughs since the coronavirus pandemic started in late March and cut three positions in April. A Gannett spokesperson said the layoffs were not related to the pandemic. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ARTISTIC IMAGES[/caption]
The Journal’s coverage capabilities have shrunk over the years as resources and jobs have been cut, including the layoffs of sportswriter Kevin McNamara, editorial writer Ed Achorn and an editorial assistant in April. That’s on top of rotating furloughs instituted by Gannett when the pandemic started. The Journal also announced it would no longer produce editorials.
“The Journal is an invaluable resource – still,” said Butterfield, an adjunct journalism professor at Suffolk University in Boston. “But it’s not what it used to be.”
Journal Publisher Peter Meyer did not respond to requests for an interview for this story and Journal Executive Editor Alan Rosenberg declined to comment.
Gannett spokesperson Chrissy Terrell said the latest layoffs were not due to the pandemic.
“We remain steadfast in our efforts to integrate our new company in order to realize the full potential of our combined resources and scale to sustain and preserve quality journalism for the long term,” Terrell said.
Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, has followed developments at Gannett and its predecessor Gatehouse Media. He said corporate-owned newspapers receiving taxpayer dollars is like rewarding bad behavior.
“These corporate chains have been hollowing out papers for years,” said Kennedy, who nonetheless acknowledges he would rather see funding go to corporate-owned papers than for more layoffs to occur.
“But [I] want this money to go to an independent and innovative startup [news organization],” he added.
Kennedy says he has long opposed government funding for journalists for ethical reasons. But because of owners relying on advertising dollars that have dried up during the pandemic, he says there may be no other choice in order for newspapers to survive, as long as they continue to report independently.
“[Gannett] built their chain on a mountain of debt and now the bill is due and they have no way to pay it,” Kennedy said. “We may have reached a point where we need to [have government funding], but it needs to be as indirect as possible.”
‘PAIN THRESHOLD’
Providence Business News Inc., an independent niche publication, hasn’t been immune to the pandemic’s effects.
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CUTTING COSTS: Beacon Communications Inc. owner John Howell, left, speaks with Cranston Herald Managing Editor Daniel Kittredge. Howell laid himself off recently before securing a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan of $190,000, which will temporarily help his payroll. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
A sales representative was laid off shortly after Gov. Gina M. Raimondo issued a stay-at-home order in March. The weekly print edition was temporarily stopped because most of those papers would have been delivered to offices that had been emptied.
Publisher Roger Bergenheim said PBN received a $320,000 PPP loan in April that allowed him to keep the editorial staff intact.
“I truly believe at the end of the day that the content is the most important,” he said. “If you cut that, it’s a slow death. I do think that journalism is an important watchdog and source for people to get their news. If newspapers are dying left and right, it’s going to hurt society.”
At the same time, Bergenheim says he does not agree with bailing out news media chains that pay bonuses to top executives but cut other jobs.
Robert Berczuk, publisher of The Jamestown Press, which is owned by Write Way Media Inc., acknowledged that his newspaper received a PPP loan but wouldn’t specify the loan amount. He said it wasn’t enough to cover the 33% decline in ad revenue he’s seen since March.
And he suspects the numbers might get worse if local restaurants and other small businesses that normally would advertise in the summer hold back because they’re struggling.
That said, Berczuk isn’t sure newspapers should get government help if the business model is broken.
“Just because we are doing a public service doesn’t mean that it’s worth public dollars,” he said.
“I am fortunate that I have some revenue,” added Berczuk, who has assured his staff of six that there will not be pay cuts, layoffs or furloughs. “I’m not worried about stock prices or investors yelling at me for my profit margins to stay at a certain percentage. The money I am losing now is coming out of my pocket. I can decide what my pain threshold is for that.”
But some local papers have been hurting more than others during this pandemic. Howell, at Beacon Communications, has been calling for government officials to come to the aid of newspapers.
“[Government funding] doesn’t take away our ability to be an independent voice,” he said. “I don’t feel like our ability to cover anything is compromised because of our grants. Just because they give us money, now we can’t criticize them for something else they are doing? I don’t think so.”
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com.
