Huntington Herald-Dispatch newspaper reportedly lays off emp

[SHADOW]

Friday May 22, 2009
Huntington Herald-Dispatch newspaper reportedly lays off employees
by George Hohmann

Daily Mail Business Editor
The Huntington Herald-Dispatch laid off some employees in its newsroom and several administrative offices today, sources within the newspaper company said.

One source at the newspaper said her superior told her she could not discuss the situation. Another source with ties to many who work at the newspaper said the layoffs included several young, recently hired reporters as well as at least one veteran writer.

Layoffs included employees in the information technology and advertising departments, among others, sources said.
The newspaper's Web site was offline for a while this afternoon.

Scott Parsons, a copy editor and page designer for the paper and a columnist for the monthly Tri-State Family Magazine, said that when he went to work Thursday, the managing editor asked him to come to a meeting at 11 a.m. today.

"I jokingly asked if I was in trouble," Parsons said. "He said, 'We'll talk tomorrow.'

"I really thought I was in trouble," Parsons said. "One of the sportswriters came over and said he heard I had a meeting today at 11 o'clock. He said his meeting was at 11:30. Then we heard about another meeting at Noon. I said it looked like we might be losing our jobs.

"It was a textbook situation," Parsons said. "An 11 o'clock meeting was so far out of left field from my regular work hours. And then to have others with meetings. And it being on a Friday before a long holiday. I said it was textbook. The sportswriter said I was being paranoid. Lo and behold, my bad feelings were correct."

Parsons said that at his 11 o'clock meeting, "They gave me a check for this week, a check for unused vacation days, and a two-week severance package.

"They shook my hand, said this was not a reflection on my job skills, and said if I needed a reference they would provide one. I packed everything in a box and walked out."

Parsons said the number of layoffs he has heard range from 30 to 50 altogether. "I know for sure out of the newsroom there are five, counting myself," he said.

"It was a textbook situation," Parsons said. "An 11 o'clock meeting was so far out of left field from my regular work hours. And then to have others with meetings. Parsons' wife is editor of non-daily publications. "So far she still has her job and we're keeping our fingers and toes and shoelaces crossed," he said.

On the one hand, "this is kind of sad because it's the first Friday I've had off in a long, long time," Parsons said. "I just wanted to take the baby for a walk in the park.On the other hand, "Maybe this will be the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.

Champion Industries, a Huntington-based printing and office furniture company controlled by entrepreneur Marshall Reynolds, bought the Herald-Dispatch on Sept. 14, 2007, for $77 million.
In order to buy the newspaper, Champion entered into a $100 million credit agreement with Fifth Third Bank and other lenders. In a March 27 filing with federal securities regulators, Champion said it was in default on some terms of the credit agreement.Reynolds said in an April 15 phone interview that the default "is technically a violation of a covenant, something 90 percent of the folks in America are in today. "We've since sat down and been forgiven, changed something, agreed to another deal. It's not a big deal. It's a technical violation of a covenant. It's been handled. It's not newsworthy, in my opinion."

It is not known if the default reported by Champion in March has any direct connection to today's reported layoffs.
Reynolds' secretary said he is out of town today and couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Toney Adkins, Champion's president and chief operating officer, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Ed Dawson, the Herald-Dispatch's executive editor, also did not immediately return a call.
The Herald-Dispatch has a daily circulation of about 28,000 and Sunday circulation of about 33,000.

It happens....

[The-Hammer]

"It was a textbook situation," ... I said it was textbook. ... "It was a textbook situation,"

[genlock]

Maybe the guy who is left can use spell-check.

[The Interpreter]

The Herald-Dispatch Eliminates 24 Positions:

May 22, 2009 @ 04:55 PM

2009/The Herald-Dispatch

Herald-Dispatch.com

HUNTINGTON -- Champion Industries Inc. announced Friday that The Herald-Dispatch has eliminated 24 employee positions.

Champion Publishing Inc., which publishes the newspaper, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Champion Industries.

The reductions represent a cut of approximately 15 percent of the work force of the publishing subsidiary, according to a company news release, which noted that the reduction represents the same percentage as the Lexington Herald-Leader announced previously this year.

"This restructuring is responsive to the overall national economic situation and its impact on the newspaper industry as a whole, as well as our internal evaluation of efficiencies we had identified as part of our acquisition of the newspaper,” said Marshall T. Reynolds, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Champion.

Champion is a commercial printer, business forms manufacturer and office products and office furniture supplier in regional markets east of the Mississippi.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/bri ... 4-position

[Mike]

To say that this was a very VERY bad day at work would be an understatement. I feel terrible that this happened and hated being anywhere near it.

The Daily Mail story was wrong in one respect, the website did NOT go down.

[Mr. Jones]

Anyone of note among the layoffs? I tried searching for the "Know It All" of the WV Newspaper message board, but to no avail on all fronts.

[genlock]

Anyone of note among the layoffs? I tried searching for the "Know It All" of the WV Newspaper message board, but to no avail on all fronts.

"WV Newspaper Message Board?"I bet Hallburn is there.

[The Interpreter]

Television stations have reported that Jim Ross was among those let go.