The staff layoffs are tentatively set to take effect Jan. The deadline for Free Press staffers to volunteer for layoffs is next week. Before that he was at The Oregonian for more than 20 years and an editor there. He arrived in Detroit from Ohio, where he had been editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer since 2015. The award is bestowed by Kent State University and honors the late Bob McGruder, who was the first Black executive editor of the Free Press and a longtime champion of newsroom diversity.īhatia has decades of experience in the news business. McGruder Distinguished Award for his commitment to media diversity. "I love the Free Press, but I think it’s in everybody’s best interest that I do so." "I didn’t want to leave − I love Detroit," said Bhatia, who lives in the city. I am really going to miss that," he said.Īsked about the reaction at the corporate level to his decision to leave Gannett and the Free Press, Bhatia said, "I think it’s safe to say that my bosses didn’t want me to leave." The staff has done an amazing job, and our success in digital (subscriptions) and in journalism in general has been fantastic. The move was aimed at bringing more financial sustainability for the organization, and the Free Press has since exceeded company expectations in gaining paid digital subscribers. Some of Gannett's financial challenges relate to debt from its 2019 merger with rival newspaper chain GateHouse Media.ĭuring Bhatia's time in Detroit, the Free Press rolled out in summer 2020 an online paywall for some stories after years of all-free reporting on its website. To generate money, the company recently did a sale-leaseback deal for the printing press site in Sterling Heights that prints the Free Press and the Detroit News. Gannett has done layoffs and other cost-cutting measures at its news properties in the wake of big back-to-back quarterly losses, including a $54 million net loss in the three months ending Sept. This staff reduction will cut into what the diversity and skills gains achieved during that time." "Of those 30, 27 are people of color or women. "Since the beginning of 2020, we have made 30 hires," he wrote in a staff email. Earlier this month, Gannett named him its 2022 top employee. daily newspaper, which he did at The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon, from 2010 to 2014.īhatia was the 2020 recipient of the Ben Bradlee editor of the year award from the National Press Foundation. In his own career, Bhatia was the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major U.S. The Free Press employs a total of 110 people. “I do have other opportunities that will probably come to work out at some point," he said, "but if by getting my salary out of the budget it saves some jobs of people on the staff, I think that’s the right thing for the Free Press.”Īt the time he announced the staff layoffs last week, Bhatia said the downsizing would be an unfortunate step back in the Free Press' efforts to diversify its hiring. "The company is going through a layoff process and I essentially made the decision to lay myself off in the interest of saving other jobs.”īhatia said his last day at the Free Press − and Gannett − is Jan. “We’re in a difficult period economically," Bhatia said in an interview.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |