Arizona Republic and Channel 12 News Employees Forced to Take an Unpaid Week Off

Gannett employees, including those at the Arizona Republic and Channel 12 News (KPNX), are being forced to take a mandatory week of unpaid leave between now and March in an effort to cut costs and avoid layoffs. It's the latest piece of bad news in an industry that's had more...

By Ray Stern

January 14, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

Gannett employees, including those at the Arizona Republic and Channel 12 News (KPNX), are being forced to take a mandatory week of unpaid leave between now and March in an effort to cut costs and avoid layoffs.

It's the latest piece of bad news in an industry that's had more than its fair share in this awful recession. Just a few weeks ago, the Republic laid off dozens of workers.

Ironically, the first to report this news locally appears to have been Nick Martin, a former East Valley Tribune reporter who got laid off this month and started his own news blog. (It was also covered in Gannett Blog). If daily newspapers go under, it could be sites like Martin's that Phoenix residents will turn to for news.

But if times are tough at a big newspaper like the Republic, they're even tougher on entrepreneurs like Martin, who's forced to scrounge for the few dollars to make his tiny operation work.

Worse, if the Republic and other dailies don't pull up from this nosedive, Martin's one-man news outlet is going to have an awful lot of competitors.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.

Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.