Two veterans of the Burlington Free Press’ newsroom say they have accepted retirement packages from the company’s corporate parent.
Michael Townsend, the executive editor of the paper, and Mike Donoghue, known for his statewide coverage of the criminal justice system, announced they would leave the company in an article posted on the newspaper’s website Friday.
Both will retire at the end of the month, according to the article. Townsend, 63, has been with Gannett Co. for 27 years and spent 14 in Burlington. Donoghue, 65, grew up in South Burlington and has worked for the paper since 1968.
Their retirements are part of a “veteran” incentive program that Gannett, the Virginia company that also owns USA Today, announced in August. The “Early Retirement Opportunity Program” was open to anyone over age 55 who had been with the company for 15 years or more.
The retirement incentive program came about a year after Gannett announced it would create a “newsroom of the future” that focused the company’s papers on competing in digital media and using reader feedback and click metrics to inspire their stories.
Retirement buyouts have also been a trend in the Vermont economy. This year, about 300 state employees applied for retirement incentives meant to cut the state’s budget. GlobalFoundries, which recently took over the IBM plant, also offered buyouts in September.
Vermont political blogger John Walters has been writing opinion pieces on the Gannett issue. The deadline to apply for the retirement buyout was 11:30 p.m. on Monday, according to Walters, who cited that the buyout was meant to save the company money.
“We hope that those of you who have not accepted are giving careful consideration to this offering,” a Gannett official wrote in an Oct. 2 email. “If we don’t achieve our goals, we will need to re-evaluate where we stand and we can’t rule out implementing other actions in the future.”
In a statement, Townsend praised a “talented and nimble staff” and called the one-year’s worth of vacation time awarded in the deal “the nicest going-away gift any company has given me in the 40 years in the business.”
Donoghue said: “It has been a treat to come to work every day at the Free Press, because it has always been the No. 1 source of news in Vermont. There is a buzz here every day. There has been no better profession.”
Three non-newsroom employees also accepted the early retirement offers, the Free Press said.
