It will offer early retirement and the cuts will not affect Free Press or Detroit News staffers. Gannett Co. Inc. -owned Detroit News. Because Knight Ridder is responsible for half of Detroit Newspapers' employees, the 100 cuts will help Knight Ridder's bottom line, Meriwether said. However, he noted that if economic conditions continue to sour, additional cuts may be necessary at the Free Press. At the same time, Knight Ridder's newsprint expenses are up 20 percent from the same time last year.
Newsprint typically represents a newspaper's second-largest expense after labor.
I don't know anyone who is confident of a near-term, or a dramatic, uptick.