“Our colleagues get side gigs and put off home repairs as they go without raises. Now journalists have to lose their jobs because Gannett didn’t meet its goals?”
That’s a tweet from the Milwaukee News Guild yesterday, announcing the “local news lunch out” in opposition to staffing cuts threatened by newspaper conglomerate Gannett last week.
Gannett, which owns the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in addition to ten other newspapers in Wisconsin and about 200 dailies across the nation, reported a $54 million loss in revenue in its second quarter. So, they’re threatening to fire journalists as a “cost-saving measure.”
But journalists employed by Gannett are questioning why its top executives make so much at the same time they’re planning to cut jobs.
Devi Shastri is health and medicine reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She is also the president of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, which represents journalists at the Journal Sentinel and was part of the action on Thursday opposing the layoffs.
Shastri joined 8 O’Clock Buzz host Jonathan Zarov on the line to talk more about the cuts, and why journalists are speaking out.
If you are interested in giving community aid (in any form!) to Gannett employees affected by layoffs, fill out this form.
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