The Advocate to lay off 49

• Advocate staff report
• Published: May 20, 2009 - Page: 6B

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The Advocate will lay off 49 employees on Thursday, Publisher David Manship said Tuesday.

Manship said he wishes the layoffs could be avoided but that economic conditions, particularly those associated with the national recession, forced the cost-cutting move.

Manship said the layoffs will be felt in every department of the newspaper and will involve full-time and part-time employees.

He said individuals who are affected by the reduction in force will be notified Thursday.

“We are one of the few major newspapers in the country that had avoided this unfortunate step for as long as we did,” Manship said. “Our two biggest expenses are newsprint (paper) and people. We are trying to manage our newsprint usage, but that is not enough by itself.”

Manship said unlike many newspapers, The Advocate’s circulation and readership have remained strong and have been growing slightly in recent years.

“No one provides news about Baton Rouge and the surrounding area like we do,” Manship said. “We have been doing that for over 100 years, and we plan to continue doing that.”

Manship said he expects the layoffs will be followed by internal shifts aimed at minimizing the impact of the layoffs on readers.

“While this is painful for us internally, we hope that readers will see little change in our daily coverage of the news that is important to them,” the publisher said.

Manship said revenue from local advertisers is holding up well and The Advocate continues to be an excellent advertising medium for local retailers to get their messages in front of potential local shoppers.

However, The Advocate’s revenue from national advertisers has suffered with the closure of some major national retailers and cutbacks by others still in the marketplace. Manship said classified advertising also has been hurt by the economic downturn.

The situation is further complicated by the fact the newspaper made a major capital investment in a new production facility and printing press several years ago, and that debt must be serviced.

The publisher declined to say how many people are being laid off in each department, saying that is an internal personnel matter.