Detroit News to reduce newsroom staff

Newspaper offering buyouts due to "tight budget"

Staff must decide by Dec. 4

The Detroit News is offering buyouts to its staff as the daily newspaper said it plans to "realign our coverage and our resources" to prepare for "a tight budget in the year ahead," according to an email sent to employees obtained by Crain's.

The buyouts would go into effect Dec. 22 with health benefits through Dec. 31. Staff was given a deadline of 5 p.m. Dec. 4 to act on the offer, which was made to all newsroom employees.

The buyout offer includes one week of severance for every six months of service at a maximum of 26 weeks, the email read.

"Looking ahead, if the voluntary separation plan does not achieve our 2018 budget target, we'll have to consider newsroom staff reductions," Managing Editor Gary Miles said in the email to staff. "If that proves to be necessary it would likely occur in December."

It is not clear how many employees would be affected by the changes or how much the paper is looking to shrink its headcount.

"We recently received our budget for 2018 and we're in the very early stages of reviewing it," Miles said in an email to Crain's. "It's just too early to know whether — or to what extent — staffing levels may be impacted."

Late-year buyouts and layoffs have become common at both The News and the Detroit Free Press, which operate under a joint operating agreement that combines their business operations while retaining separate newsrooms for each paper.

The News laid off or bought out 19 newsroom employees last December.

The Free Press last month transitioned its copy editing and design to a corporate editing hub run by the newspaper's parent company, Gannett Co. Inc., in Louisville.

— Crain's Senior Reporter Bill Shea contributed to this report.

Editor's note: This version of the story corrects the number of Detroit News employees who were laid off or took buyouts last year.