Paper Cuts Tracks Layoffs and Closures
Every industry in crisis needs a good Obit site and since 2007 the newspaper industry has had one -- Paper Cuts by Erica Smith. She uses Google Maps to graphically track layoffs, buyouts, and the eventual closures of newspapers around the U.S.
Smith has been able to document at least 26,075 layoffs and buyouts during the present crisis -- 2,112+ in '07, 15,866+ in '08, and 8,097+ already this year. Her numbers are conservative because, increasingly, newspapers are not announcing job reductions, leaving those of us covering the industry to fend for ourselves.
In 2009, according to Smith, there have already been 89 newspaper closures (some of these papers have migrated to web-only) by 64 publishers. The soundtrack as you read this list should be Taps:
- Algonquin Countryside, Cary-Grove Countryside and Wauconda Courier
- American Fork Citizen, Lehi Free Press, Lone Peak Press, Orem Times and Pleasant Grove Review
- Ann Arbor News
- Arlington Heights Post, Elk Grove Times, Hoffman Estates Review, Palatine Countryside, Rolling Meadows Review, Schaumburg Review and Wheeling Countryside
- AsianWeek
- Baltimore Examiner
- The Bethel Beacon, The Brookfield Journal, The Kent Good Times Dispatch and The Litchfield Enquirer
- Bloomfield Free Press
- Bloomfield Journal, Windsor Journal, Windsor Locks Journal
- Carson Times
- Christian Science Monitor
- Coatesville Ledger
- The Daily Reporter
- Dakota Journal
- The Democrat
- Dennis Pennysaver and Yarmouth Pennysaver
- Des Plaines Times and Mount Prospect Times
- Donegal Ledger
- Douglas Times
- Downingtown Ledger
- Doylestown Patriot
- East Bridgewater Star, West Bridgewater Times and Whitman Times
- East Hartford Gazette
- East Iowa Herald
- Elizabethtown Chronicle
- Fallon Star Press
- Gazette Advertiser
- Germantown Courier and Mount Airy Times Express
- Hanson Town Crier
- Hardee Sun
- Harlem Valley Times, Millbrook Round Table, Voice Ledger
- The Hershey Chronicle
- Hill Country View
- Hyde Park Townsman
- The Independent
- Iraan News
- The Journal-Messenger
- Kansas City Kansan
- LA City Beat
- Lake Norman Times
- Lakota Journal
- Maricopa Tribune
- McCamey News
- Ming Pao New York
- Ming Pao San Francisco
- New Hope Gazette
- The Newton Record
- Northern Star
- Oak Cliff Tribune
- Oxford Tribune, Parkesburg Post Ledger and Solanco Sun Ledger
- Pawling News Chronicle
- Petoskey Citizen-Journal
- Plymouth Bulletin
- Putnam County Courier
- Quakertown Free Press
- Register Herald
- The Rockingham News
- Rocky Mountain News
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- The Town Meeting
- Tucson Citizen
- Vail Sun
- Valley Journal
- The Weekly Almanac