var addthis_product = 'wpp-263'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true,"data_track_addressbar":false};if (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}The latest bad news for the state’s newspapers comes in the form of mandatory furloughs at three east-side papers. The Clovis News Journal, Portales News-Tribune and Quay County Sun in Tucumcari are the New Mexico newspapers owned by Freedom Communications, Inc., which announced Friday that all company employees have to take five days off without [...]" />

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Furloughs spread to additional NM newspapers

By │ 3/24/09, 2:46 pm │

The latest bad news for the state’s newspapers comes in the form of mandatory furloughs at three east-side papers.

The Clovis News Journal, Portales News-Tribune and Quay County Sun in Tucumcari are the New Mexico newspapers owned by Freedom Communications, Inc., which announced Friday that all company employees have to take five days off without pay between April 1 and June 30.

“We need to continue to reduce expenses while delivering our valuable products and services to our customers and advertisers. Of the many options we considered, a furlough provides the savings we’re seeking while still allowing us to maximize operations,” Freedom CEO Scott Flanders said in an article published in the Sun.

Earlier this month, the Las Cruces Sun-News laid off three staffers. The layoffs came as all employees of the paper’s parent company, Denver-based MediaNews Group, are taking weeklong, unpaid furloughs before the end of this month to help the company make ends meet for the quarter. In addition to the Sun-News, MediaNews owns or is the majority stakeholder in eight other New Mexico papers.

New Mexico has been no stranger to newspaper cuts in recent years. It has lost the Albuquerque Tribune and the Lordsburg Liberal, and several other papers, including the Albuquerque Journal and Santa Fe New Mexican, have cut positions. MediaNews also eliminated its capitol bureau a few years ago.

Around the nation, several major newspaper companies have declared bankruptcy in recent months, and some newspapers, including the Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have shut down or are in the process of becoming online-only publications.

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1 Comment

  1. El Politico
    March 24, 2009 • 7:14 pm

    It is unfortunate that people are losing their jobs in the newspaper industry.

    However,because of the rapid news reporting on the internet and TV it in inevitable that this was going to happen.

    I have noticed with our local newspaper that they are usually more than 24-36 hours in reporting news that is already old.

    They can take a lesson from you and have constant updates on their webpage and keep the news fresh and relevent.

    I seems that they are becoming like the dinasaurs of the past…heading for extinction. It’s really kinda sad. In order to survive in this high-tech society, you need to adapt and embrace it. I hope they can survive and keep up with the changes.

    It would really be quite different without print media and not being able to read the funny pages on the weekends.

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