Democrat-Gazette Layoffs: Paper Slices NWA Sports Staff (UPDATE)

Northwest Arkansas

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) August 30, 2012 3:17 pm 153 views 

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has instituted another round of layoffs at its Northwest Arkansas operation.

Sources told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal that all NWA sports department staff members— with the exception of department head Steve Goff — were laid off Thursday.

That includes page designers Harold McIlvain and Neal Shulenberger and reporters Marty Cook, Lane Kramer and Rick Fires.

Goff, a longtime assistant sports editor who has headed the ADG’s sports department in NWA since its inception, will return to the paper’s Little Rock office.

Fires, according to sources, has been hired by Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC — the company formed when the Democrat-Gazette and Stephens Media Inc. entered into a joint operating alliance Nov. 1, 2009 — as a beat reporter for Springdale Har-Ber High School.

Arkansas Razorback beat writers Bob Holt and Tom Murphy — who are based in Fayetteville — are not considered staff members of the ADG’s local operation and were not affected by Thursday’s shakeup.

Earlier this month, five NAN photographers were laid off as a result of a merger between the photo departments of the ADG — owned by WEHCO Media Inc. — and area papers owned by Stephens Media Inc.

It’s unclear if the personnel moves in the sports department were part of a larger round of layoffs Thursday.

The company said in May it had hired CRG Partners Group, a New York-based consulting firm, to examine all areas of operations to identify ways to increase efficiency and grow revenue.

NAN and ADG executives could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

UPDATE: Six employees in the ADG’s Springdale newsroom were laid off, according to a story posted on the company’s online news site, nwaonline.com. Besides the four from the sports desk, two employees from the copy and design desk also lost their jobs.

NAN president Jeff Jeffus said the recession played a factor in the company’s decision. He went on to say that the company now has 283 full-time employees, 110 part-time employees and 350 independent contractors.