Knight Ridder chief executive Tony Ridder said in a statement Friday that the number of jobs lost will vary from paper to paper, based on local market conditions. Knight Ridder will offer early retirement packages in an effort to avoid layoffs. This is a difficult time in so many ways, but in no way greater than having to disrupt the lives and trust of Knight Ridder people with whom we have worked so closely. The cuts, mostly affecting jobs outside the newsroom, have been made in the past few weeks. After enjoying several years of increasing profits since Ridder became CEO in 1995, Knight Ridder expects earnings to decline this year because of an advertising slump and a sharp increase in the cost of newsprint.
Newsprint typically represents a newspaper's second-largest expense after labor.
I never have seen a fall-off as sudden or as steep as this one. Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.