Several local newsrooms owned by Tribune Publishing, including the Manhattan headquarters of the New York Daily News, will be permanently shut down, the company announced Wednesday, citing economic concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the closures are several historic local news outlets, including the Capital Gazette’s Annapolis Newsroom, which was the site of a mass shooting in 2018 and is the only major daily newspaper publication in the city. All papers are set to report and publish now.
“From a lot of overview, we do not predict that we will have employees who can work remotely will return for the rest of the year and in 2021. With no clear path forward in terms of returning to work, and if the company evaluates their needs of real estate in light of health and economic conditions caused by the pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to close the office permanently, “the company said in a statement to CBS News’s WBS branch in Baltimore.
A reporter for the Baltimore Sun, which owns the same company, added on Twitter that the closures would also extend to the Carroll County Times newsroom in Westminster, Md., As well as the Morning Call morning room in Allentown, Pa.
Remember when I told you @tribpub has not paid for his hair? ⬇️
Now we are told that the company is shutting us down permanently @capgaznews office in Annapolis and us @CCTNews office in Westminster. https://t.co/AmyDHKxrv7
– Pamela Wood ☀️ (@pwoodreporter) August 12, 2020
Our sister paper in Pennsylvania, @mcall, also closes the downtown newsroom. Here is a thread from my colleagues in the @mcallguild: https: //t.co/pcsvy7IzTf
– Pamela Wood ☀️ (@pwoodreporter) August 12, 2020
The city of Orlando’s most important newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, said Wednesday that it’s permanently relocating the newspaper’s headquarters on Orange Avenue, where it has served for more than half a century.
“After careful consultation, we have decided to permanently unlock our Office,” said publisher and general manager Nancy Meyer in an email to staff, according to the newspaper. “This decision was not made lightly or almost. Instead, amid a pandemic that prevents us from safely returning to the office for an indefinite period of time, the company decided to formally close the Orange Avenue office on October 30, 2020. “
The New York Times reported that the company told employees of the New York Daily News that the company had made a similar decision to permanently shake the paper’s headquarters in Manhattan.
“We have determined that we do not have to open this office to maintain our current operations,” Tribune Publishing staff manager Toni Martinez said in an email to staff received by the Times. “With this announcement, we are also looking at strategic opportunities and alternatives for future occupation.”
Tribune Publishing did not immediately return a request for a full list of The Hill closures. In an email, a spokeswoman shared a generic statement for the closures referring to individual offices.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we do not expect employees who can work remotely to return to the office for the rest of the year and in 2021. With no clear path forward in terms of returning to work, and because the company is evaluating real estate needs in light of health and economic conditions caused by the pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to close the office permanently, “said Max Reinsdorf, the company’s chief of staff.
Updated at 4pm with a statement from Tribune Publishing.
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