RG loses more employees as GateHouse slashes jobs

At least three more employees of The Register-Guard have lost jobs, apparently as part of a new round of layoffs by its new corporate owners, GateHouse Media.

Sources tell Eugene Weekly that those dismissed include Paul Johnson, a copy editor; Collin Andrew, a photographer in the Niche Publications department; and Babs Ford, who worked in the business office. We’ve also heard that marketing director Sally Wickes and newsroom reporter Miles Oliver were recently let go.

GateHouse, which bought the then-locally owned daily from the Baker family last year, slashed an unknown number of jobs from its 156 dailies and 328 weeklies around the country on Thursday, May 23. GateHouse CEO Mike Reed told Poynter Media the total number of people affected was “a couple hundred,” but then said the number losing jobs as opposed to being reassigned was about 10 out of the chain’s 11,000 employees. Reed later told Business Insider that the actual layoff count was “immaterial.”

Poynter said that from social media posts and other sources the number of layoffs seems to be greater than 10 but did not specify a number.

This week’s layoffs follow a previous round of job cuts by the chain in January and February, when about 60 employees were let go.

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