Local & State Headlines

TCM reduces its work force

Staff Reports

ALBANY — Triple Crown Media Inc., which operates six daily newspapers and one weekly newspaper in Georgia, announced Friday a company-wide work force reduction of 5 percent as the company contends with the national economic downturn exacerbated by skyrocketing paper and fuel costs.

"The credit crunch coupled with an economic slump of this magnitude has put pressure on our industry," TCM Executive Vice President Michael J. Gebhart said Friday. "In difficult times like these, we have to batten down the hatches."

Newsprint is in the middle of a steep increase in pricing and gas costs have soared well above $3 per gallon in a three-month period in which the economy continued to struggle with recessive numbers.

"We're dependent on our newsprint supplier and they have continued an ongoing strategy that began in December of raising rates," said Gebhart, who also is publisher of The Albany Herald. "Unfortunately, over a period of about six months, our newsprint cost will be up nearly 25 percent."

Triple Crown management took other proactive steps to streamline operations in an attempt to offset spiraling expenses, but determined that a work force reduction also would be needed, he said.

Triple Crown Media (Nasdaq symbol: TCMI) operates six daily Georgia newspapers – The Albany Herald, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Rockdale Citizen, the Newton Citizen, the Clayton News Daily and the Henry Daily Herald – and a weekly, the Jackson Progress Argus.

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