EVERETT—Editors of The Everett Daily Herald, one of Snohomish County’s longest standing publications, threatened to walkout on Thursday over the removal of the paper’s reporting on its own layoffs. The article concerned 12 newsroom employees, 10 of whom were unionized, who were given pink slips on Wednesday, June 19.
According to news editor Caleb Hutton, who was among those laid off, the article was taken down from the paper’s website on Carpenter Media Group (CMG) orders.
Yes, this story has been unpublished from @EverettHerald, by order of Carpenter Media Group.
Just spoke with the publisher, Rudi Alcott, who said it was not his decision, but that the article "smacks of an incredible hit piece." I told him I respectfully disagree.
More to come. https://t.co/UwA5fMPlaB
— Caleb Hutton (@snocaleb) June 20, 2024
In a tweet, Herald reporter and union member Jordan Hansen called the removal “evil and an insane business practice.”
A heavily edited version of the article was republished as of Thursday evening, June 20.
An archived version of the original article read that the “operating principles” of CMG were used to “justify the layoffs.” A statement by the publisher, meant for subscribers, reads in part: “Due to recent industry challenges and our responsive restructuring efforts, we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce our staff… This decision was not taken lightly, and it deeply affects our dedicated team who have worked tirelessly…”
Carpenter Media Group purchase of Black Press Media
Sound Publishing, the Herald’s publisher since 2013, is bracing for 62 total layoffs across its various regional papers. The move, announced to Herald union Everett NewsGuild by the newspaper’s ownership company, Carpenter Media Group (CMG), on June 19, can be observed as a symptom of a bigger industry issue that affects even large, national outlets.
In 2024, analysts and economists have pointed to a trend of journalist layoffs, and post-COVID flux combined with social media’s dominant market share have given the news industry overall a reputational sense of riskiness. But where individuals see uncertainty, corporations may see opportunity.
This past March, CMG also became the owner of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the Juneau Empire, and “about 100 newspapers, almost all weeklies, in western Canada,” Chuck Taylor reported for Seattle’s Post Alley. It seems that at a time of particular precarity in the industry, this media group based out of Mississippi and Alabama has elected to make big moves in ownership and changes in management – including the Herald’s major layoffs.
But CMG may simply be another player in a larger game. The March sale, in which prior Herald owner Black Press Ltd. was deemed insolvent and its subsidiary newspapers changed hands, gave CMG administrative control over these many papers. However, as further reported by Taylor, CMG is not the new primary owner, but instead a minority partner.
Documents from KSV Advisory, a Toronto-based corporate restructuring firm, mention CMG in relation to a “Stalking Horse Transaction Agreement,” which refers to the bidding process on a bankrupt company’s assets. However, the actual “Purchaser” of Black Press named in these documents is a holding company called 1000817790 Ontario Ltd., registered in Toronto. As its less-than-catchy name indicates, this is a company of convenience: it was created on March 1, 2024, evidently for the purposes of the Black Press sale, which was approved by the Supreme Court of British Columbia on March 11, 2024.
This holding company is itself owned by two private equity firms, named by Taylor as “Canso Investment Counsel, a brokerage in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and Deans Knight Capital Management, a private-equity firm in Vancouver.” Black Press owed these firms $6 million (Canadian) by way of unpaid loans; it seems the March 11 deal squared the debt, with a bankrupt Black Press giving up ownership entirely to avoid default.
These investment firms and their holding company are not a media organization. The businesses are private equity firms, not newspaper publishers. This is where CMG’s minority partner role comes into play, as its responsibility is to oversee the acquired Black Press assets: papers like the Herald, the Juneau Empire, and over 100 more. As Wednesday’s layoffs in Everett show, part of the CMG strategy to generate profit from these new assets seems to be cutbacks and austerity.
What are some staff members saying about the layoff?
Several of the laid-off Herald staff members took to social media to express their disappointment in the new ownership. “I feel for my coworkers who are staying and will have to do the work of 6 cut reporters,” state government reporter Jenelle Baumbach tweeted.
I was just laid off at the @EverettHerald. I feel a lot of things right now. I'm so thankful for my editors and coworkers for helping me grow over these past 11 months. I feel for my coworkers who are staying and will have to do the work of 6 cut reporters.
— Jenelle Baumbach (@jenelleclar) June 19, 2024
City Hall reporter Sophia Gates commented, “Getting caught in a wave of layoffs feels like a journalistic rite of passage, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”
Anybody who knows me knows how much I love my job. Getting caught in a wave of layoffs feels like a journalism rite of passage, but that doesn't make it any easier. At least I'm in good company. So many brilliant journalists lost their jobs at the @EverettHerald today.
— Sophia Gates (@SophiaSGates) June 19, 2024
Modern journalism faces several challenges: low attention spans and short-form social media, developments in AI leading to cheaply computer-generated content, and profit-minded corporatism, as practiced by many publishing companies and media conglomerates. It’s threatening enough that some are leaving the industry altogether – as former Herald reporter Ashley Nash stated, “I make more money scooping ice cream.”
Editor’s Note: [11:59 p.m., June 20, 2024] Corrected Caleb Hutton’s title to local news editor from reporter and noted that both Jenelle Baumbach and Sophia Gates are still employed with the Everett Herald for a few more weeks.
