Media Roundup: Gannett Sees Drop in Forth Quarter Profits, Cuts May Be Coming to the Wall Street Journal and More

(MoneyWatch)  Gannett sees drop in forth quarter profits -- Newspaper publisher Gannett announced a down forth quarter that saw the loss of 3,000 jobs, roughly $5 billion in write downs and a 36 percent drop in profits. The company was hit especially hard by the real estate collapse's effect on classifieds. [Source: paidContent]

Cuts may be coming to the Wall Street Journal -- Portfolio is reporting that the Wall Street Journal will announce cutbacks. The speculation comes after the paper named Gerard Baker its new deputy editor. The cuts are rumored to number around 50, but that number could be lower if employees take buyouts. [Source: Portfolio]

Disney, ABC lay off 400 -- Both ABC and Disney are set to lay off 200 employees each in order to help the company adjust to the weakening economy. The ABC News division will have 35-37 jobs cut across its newsmagazine programs. Last week ABC and ABC Studios were combined into ABC Entertainment Group. [Source: MediaWeek]

Baltimore Examiner to Close -- The last issue of the free home-delivered Baltimore Examiner will be February 15th. Publisher Clarity Media Group, who also owns publications in Washington D.C., blames the difficulty of running two papers in a 50-mile radius. All of 90 the Examiner's employees will lose their jobs. [Source: Editor & Publisher]

Sun-Times owes $41 million -- An arbitrator ruled that the Chicago Sun-Times owes $41.8 million over a disputed deal with Canada's CanWest Global Communications Corp. The Sun-Times sold CanWest newspapers and other publishing assets in 2000. By late 2003, CanWest grew unhappy with the transaction and filed for arbitration seeking $66.8 million. The Sun-Times had set aside $12.3 million in preparation for the ruling. [Source: Chicago Tribune]