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Hundreds of journalists for Gannett, the country’s largest newspaper chain, walked off the job on Monday, accusing the company’s chief executive of decimating its local newsrooms.
The walkout was the biggest labor action in Gannett’s century-old history, the union representing the journalists said. It included workers from about two dozen newsrooms, including The Palm Beach Post, The Arizona Republic, and The Austin American-Statesman. The demonstrations were expected to continue on Tuesday for some newsrooms.
The collective action was timed to coincide with Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting on Monday morning. The NewsGuild, which represents more than 1,000 journalists from Gannett, sent a letter to Gannett shareholders in May urging a vote of no confidence against Mike Reed, the chief executive, and chairman.
In the letter, the NewsGuild criticized the company’s merger with GateHouse Media in 2019, saying it “mortgaged the future of our company” by loading it up with debt.
The letter also criticized Mr. Reed, who was previously the chief executive of GateHouse Media and took over Gannett after the merger. The union said his compensation — $7.7 million in 2021 and $3.4 million in 2022 — was far too high for a company shedding jobs and paying what the letter said were “depressed wages” to the remaining journalists. Gannett’s share price has fallen about 70 percent since the GateHouse merger.
“Gannett has created news deserts everywhere you look,” said Peter D. Kramer, a reporter for the USA Today Network. “That’s Mike Reed’s Gannett.”
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Peter Kramer, a reporter at the USA Today Network, joined Gannett colleagues on Renaissance Plaza in White Plains, N.Y., to voice grievances on Monday. Credit…Karsten Moran for The New York Times
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