Madison papers announce buyouts, merge departments

The Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times are cutting 15 positions. Buyouts have been offered; if there are not enough takers, layoffs will follow.

The papers operate under a joint operating agreement: Lee owns the State Journal, and Capital Newspapers owns the Times. Their JOA is getting very close. The papers will now merge several newsroom departments: Features, sports, photography, multimedia, design and production. Only news and opinion remain separate, although breaking news coverage is already a joint operation.

(Via e-mail)

Tucson Citizen to close

Gannett's Tucson Citizen will close March 21, which could help Lee's Arizona Daily Star. The two papers have been in a joint operating agreement since 1940, and have split costs and profits 50-50. (The Star is the bigger of the two papers.) That JOA continues through 2015, meaning Gannett will share the costs and profits until then.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently got out of its JOA with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which closed in 1986.

Layoffs at Wisconsin State Journal

At least five employees were laid off at in the Wisconsin State Journal newsroom on Monday. Twelve positions were expected to be cut from Capital Newspapers, the JOA entity of the Journal and non-Lee The Capital Times.

Tucson Citizen could close, jeopardize JOA

Gannett says it will close the Tucson Citizen on March 21 unless it finds a buyer. The Citizen is an afternoon paper, and operates under a joint operating agreement with Lee's Arizona Daily Star. Production, distribution and sales for both papers operate under the name Tucson Newspapers Inc. The Citizen is much smaller than the Star (17,000 circ vs. 117,000), but TNI profits are split equally between Gannett and Lee.

Chances of finding a buyer aren't high: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News are also for sale.