BOULDER — Nearly all newsroom staffers employed by Prairie Mountain Media, owner of the largest newspaper chain in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, will be furloughed without pay for three of the next six weeks.

Newsrooms leaders informed staff of the furloughs Friday, the same day those newsrooms were hit with a fresh round of layoffs and editors were forced to take 10% pay cuts.

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Staffers were told the cuts were necessary due to ad-revenue declines resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. Newsrooms across the nation, including at the Denver Post, have been slashed in recent weeks as businesses cut their advertising budgets.

“I knew this was coming,” Daily Camera crime and breaking news reporter Mitchell Byars told BizWest. “It wasn’t a shock, but it was still disappointing.”

Prairie Mountain Media, the trade name for Prairie Mountain Publishing Co. LLP, owns the Boulder Daily Camera, Longmont Times-Call, Greeley Tribune, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Broomfield Enterprise, Estes Park Trail-Gazette, Fort Morgan Times, Cañon City Daily Record and others. Prairie Mountain, like the Denver Post, is owned by MediaNews Group, which is in turn owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

As of Friday afternoon, the company had yet to release, even to its own newsroom staff, the full extent of the layoffs. BizWest, through social-media posts and sources within PMM, can confirm the layoffs of at least one Daily Camera sports reporter, a Reporter-Herald arts and entertainment reporter, a Daily Camera and Times-Call Boulder County reporter, a Daily Camera and Times-Call newsroom support staffer, and a Cañon City Daily Record reporter and advertising representative.

Prairie Mountain publisher Al Manzi declined to comment.

Reporters and editors took to social media Friday to decry the furloughs and layoffs and to offer support for current and former colleagues.

“I usually keep my mouth shut about this kind of stuff but I’m angry. This morning I learned that the editors (including myself) at Daily Camera/Times-Call and PMP publications will all be taking a pay cut for the foreseeable future,” photo editor Matthew Jonas tweeted.

He added: “This is added to furloughs in the newsroom, a reduction in hours for the photo staff and an elimination of columnists. While I am angry about the loss of income, I am most worried about the loss of a valuable source of information to our community.”

Daily Camera Boulder city reporter Sam Lounsberry echoed Jonas’ concern in an interview with BizWest.

“It just hurts my heart that we’re going to have less of a presence around town rather than more of a presence during this absolute tragedy of a crisis,” he said. “We know the city of Boulder and everyone across Northern Colorado is looking for information right now about how they can get help and where they can go for resources if they need them. It was really an honor to direct people to those [resources] as a full-time job.”

Lounsberry applauded the paper’s editors “for being straight-up with us on this announcement” but called for more transparency from corporate leadership.

“I feel for our editors who care deeply about journalism in our communities, and I know that this announcement wasn’t easy for them to make — maybe one of the hardest things they’ve ever done,” he said. “I wish there was more accountability and transparency from the higher-ups in the company about exactly who in Prairie Mountain Media was furloughed and laid off today.”

Lack of transparency not only bruises newsroom morale, it’s detrimental to the papers’ mission of keeping the community informed, Lounsberry said. If readers don’t know which reporters are working and which are furloughed, they won’t know who to contact with questions or tips.

“As more people turn to their trusted news outlets that have been serving their communities for more than a century in many cases, I feel for them right now,” Lounsberry said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that nearly all, rather than all, newsroom staffers will be furloughed and the laid off arts and entertainment reporter works for the Reporter-Herald and not the Daily Camera.