Freedom Communications is making about 100 staff redundant at two California titles, the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
The Register itself reports the decision to “restructure”, which will not affect the newsroom, according to publisher Rich Mirman, who took over in mid-October.
He is quoted as saying: “The motivation for this change is the fact that we need to make it (the company) profitable. It needs to be a business that sustains itself.”
The company will eliminate unprofitable publications, such as OC Register Magazine. It closed OC Metro magazine last month.
Mirman said: “It is very important to note today’s restructuring will not impact the newsroom, and thus it will not impact readers or the overall quality of the newspapers.
“It is critical that we maintain the same standard of excellence in our journalism that our customers, advertisers and community have come to expect.”
Freedom has gone through dramatic changes since co-owners Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz and their 2100 Trust bought the privately held firm in 2012.
As I reported recently, Freedom is struggling to deliver newspapers to certain subscribers following a business dispute with its former delivery contractor, the Los Angeles Times.
In October, it was sued by the LA Times for alleged breach of contract and failure to pay more than $2m in delivery fees.
Source: OC Register
