UPDATE June 20, 3:56 p.m.: The Daily Herald republished the article in question on June 20 at 3:33 p.m. on the heraldnet.com website. The republished version can be read here:
‘This breaks my heart’: Roughly half of Everett Herald news staff laid off
UPDATE June 20, 12:03 p.m.: 12 workers at The Daily Herald instead of previously reported 10 were laid off.
EVERETT June 20: Roughly a week ago Carpenter Media Group, one of the new owners of The Daily Herald in Everett, informed the Herald union that they would be laying off workers. Yesterday they began. As to why is still unclear.
Yesterday Herald reporters Janice Podsada and Andrea Brown reported on the layoffs, stating that 10 reporters, photographers and designers were laid off. 62 overall under Sound Publishing.
The article has since been deleted as of 10:30 a.m. this morning, as reported by the Everett NewsGuild on X, formally Twitter. To read the article, see here: ‘This breaks my heart’: Over half of Everett Herald news staff laid off | HeraldNet.com (archive.org)
Black Press Media, the parent company of Sound Publishing filed for bankruptcy in January. Black Press sold The Herald in March to “Canadian institutional investors Canso Investment Counsel and Deans Knight Capital Management, as well as local media company Carpenter Media Group.” Sound Publishing and Carpenter Media Group, in coordination with the above, have assumed operations over the Herald.
The layoffs come at a critical time for local journalism. By the end of this year, the U.S. will have lost one-third of the news publications it had in 2005. There are a multitude of factors for the decline of newsrooms, those being ad budgets, inflation, and distrust in the media.
Company executives cited Carpenter’s “operating principles” for the layoffs, the Everett NewsGuild said in a statement. Otherwise, executives have offered little detail.
Vice President of The Daily Herald, Rudi Alcott wrote in an email to The Everett Post Tuesday that, “We will not be commenting on our operational details.”
In 2022, journalists at The Herald formed The Everett NewsGuild to represent workers at the Herald, saying that Sound Publishing was not paying fair wages. In a Mission Statement, signed by the newsroom employees in 2022, they wrote, “We believe our job is more important now than ever as newsrooms are slashed in the name of corporate profits and journalists are forced to leave this profession for other industries that offer better pay and benefits.”
Sound Publishing and the union have been working on a contract since March 2023. Kaitlin Gillespie, executive officer of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild said that negotiations have been disrupted by the sale and recent layoffs, Podsada and Brown reported.
Earlier this month, Portland’s largest newspaper Pamplin Media, sold to Carpenter Media Group. Carpenter Media Group owns more than 160 media properties according to their website.
A former journalist for the Everett Herald said that they are “devastated” for their former employees. Journalists at the Herald have also taken to X, formally Twitter, to express how they feel and some even sharing they have been laid off.
The Herald will continue to report with half of its staff. In the now-deleted article, many journalists expressed concerns for the future of local journalism.
This story continues to develop.
