[G]annett, the owner of the Burlington Free Press, Vermont’s largest daily newspaper, has agreed to merge with the parent company of GateHouse Media, another newspaper chain.
If the merger is approved by regulators, it could mean more layoffs and efforts to reduce costs at the Free Press and other local papers around the country, which have faced drastic cuts in recent years.
GateHouse and Gannett are the two largest newspaper chains in the country, and together would manage 263 daily publications around the U.S.
In a statement Monday, the companies said that the merger, which would involve GateHouse’s parent company purchasing Gannett, would create an opportunity to save up to $300 million in costs each year, “while continuing to invest in newsrooms.”
But media experts have said the deal could easily lead to more cuts in the newsroom or other parts of the businesses, particularly because the new company will have to pay off close to $2 billion in debt to finance the deal.
“I would say that the bad news is not necessarily that GateHouse is moving into town, it’s simply that the combined company is going to have this massive amount of debt that it has to service,” said Dan Kennedy, a professor of journalism at Northeastern University.
“And that would suggest that if they can’t figure out a way to boost their revenues very quickly, then there will have to be further cuts,” he said.
The Free Press newsroom has seen a steadily shrinking in recent years, and now has an editorial staff of about 15.
Just before the merger was officially announced Monday, Emilie Stigliani, the Free Press’ executive editor, said she could not comment on the possible deal, or its impact on the paper.
“No matter what, we are a resilient crew,” Stigliani said. “Whatever we’re faced with, I feel like we can handle it and beyond that I really can’t speculate about what’s going to happen.”
After the deal was announced, she referred a reporter to a Gannett spokesperson who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Kennedy, GateHouse has “hollowed out” newsrooms at many of the papers it owns in New England, including the Providence Journal in Rhode Island and the Worcester Telegram in Massachusetts.
But he said that GateHouse would likely be a more stable owner than another company that had attempted to buy Gannett earlier this year, MNG Enterprises — also known as Digital First Media.
Gannett rejected Digital First’s bid to take over the company in May.
Digital First has a reputation for making dramatic cuts to newspaper staff. In 2018, it sparked protests from staffers at the Denver Post where it laid off one-third of the newsroom that year.
“I think both Gannett and GateHouse, neither of which are any day at the beach, are better than MNG Enterprises,” Kennedy said.
“I do believe that GateHouse and Gannett are trying to figure out a way to be in business for the long term, granted with as little journalism as they can possibly get away with.”