The state’s largest newspaper, the Arizona Republic, plans to lay off 7 percent of its staff in the coming days as part of new round of cuts ordered by its parent company, Gannett, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
The source said executive editor Randy Lovely plans to break the bad news to staffers in a series of meetings today. Employees are expected to be told their fates individually by sometime next week.
The pink slips are the first handed out this year by the newspaper, one of the 10 largest in the nation by Sunday circulation. However, it will be at least the third time in 2009 the Republic has made painful cutbacks. During the first two, the newspaper forced employees to take at least a week off without pay.
Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the nation, ordered the layoffs to its newspapers nationwide this week, just two weeks before the company plans to discuss its second-quarter earnings with investors.
Heat City will publish more information as it develops.