THE BOSTON HERALD is putting up a paywall and continuing to reduce its payroll.
Two long-time employees recently filed posts on Facebook indicating they will be laid off in June along with a number of coworkers. The Facebook posts said their jobs are being outsourced to Michigan. At least one editorial employee is also being let go.
Kevin Corrado, the publisher of the Herald, and Joe Sciacca, its editor, did not respond to emails seeking information.
Jerry Sharp, a 25-year employee who works in the ad layout department, said he and three of his coworkers were notified that their department was being outsourced to Michigan on June 15.
Steve Bowden, a nearly 32-year employee who works in information technology, said his job is also ending in mid-June. “The downward spiral of the newspaper industry has claimed another,” he said in his Facebook post.
Sources say at least two reporters have also been told they are being let go.
The continued downsizing comes as the Herald attempts to bolster subscription revenues. The newspaper raised its print subscription rate last year and recently erected a paywall on its website, requiring readers to purchase a digital subscription to continue reading stories. A woman in the paper’s circulation department who answered the phone on Thursday confirmed digital content is no longer free.
The Herald was purchased out of bankruptcy by Digital First Media in March 2017. Jobs were offered to 175 of the Herald’s 240 employees, according to Boston.com, but it appears staff reductions have continued since then. The Boston Business Journal reported in August that nine advertising jobs were being eliminated, reducing the payroll to 110. It reported in October that 14 jobs were being eliminated, reducing the payroll to around 100.
Digital First Media, which in turn is owned by Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund, owns about 100 newspapers across the country, and is known for relentless cost cutting.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
In an editorial this week, the
Herald urged readers to subscribe to the publication. “Our goal is to continue to provide the great work you’ve come to expect from our reporters and photographers, our columnists and sportswriters, and to keep Boston a two daily newspaper town – a rarity in America,” the editorial said. “Your subscription is an investment in local journalism. Your support will keep the
Herald’s voice alive. If you believe in our cause, join us in our mission.”
The editorial did not mention the staff cuts at the newspaper.
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