CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gazette-Mail Publisher Susan Shumate says there would have likely been deeper cuts in the news staffs at the Charleston Gazette and Charleston Daily Mail if the two would have remained separate newspapers.
“We would have been able to run two newspapers but they probably wouldn’t have been as strong as our readers are used to reading,” Shumate said Friday on MetroNews ‘Talkline.’
The publications combined forces earlier this week to form the Gazette-Mail what Shumate said Friday was a combination of the two papers, not a merger. She said without the decision deep cuts were likely.
“We had lost staff due to attrition but we had never lost staff due to significant cutbacks in the newsroom and we didn’t want that to happen,” she said.
The papers, like others across the U.S., have lost readership in recent years while trying to adjust to the impact of the internet and social media. The combination will result in savings in production costs and other areas, Shumate said.
The staff is now at 77 with interviews scheduled in the weeks to come. The new staff will be 65.
The combination was announced to employees Sunday and explained during a meeting Monday. The first edition of the Gazette-Mail was Monday. The very nature of the newspaper business made a quick announcement the best option, Shumate said.
“We have a staff of excellent news reporters and to go into a staff of news reporters and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s happening here but make sure you don’t report it,’ really isn’t a realistic expectation on our part,” she said.
Shumate did confirm liens had been filed against the newspaper company by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. because of missed pension payments over the last few years of more than $1 million.
“This lien was filed by the PBGC and it will remain until the agreement is reached and we hope to have an agreement completed in the next few weeks,” Shumate said.