For the second year in a row, Pittsburgh-based Trib Total Media announced a round of buyouts aimed at sharply reducing newsroom headcount, the latest phase of its “strategic growth plan.”
About 100 of the company’s 585 full-time employees are expected to accept the buyout offer, which comes less than a year after the company laid off 153 employees, according to an unbylined report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The company’s plan, as outlined in November: Close or consolidate its newspapers, reduce circulation and invest in digital ventures.
The new phase includes the consolidation of the Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Valley News Dispatch into one paper, the Tribune-Review. The consolidation will result in the closing of TTM’s Greensburg printing operation and a reduced home delivery footprint in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties.
Pittsburgh is a relatively rare two-newspaper town which is also home to the Block Communications-owned Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A new website, The Incline, is preparing to launch in the city with the backing of newspaper company Gannett.
