Ampersand Publishing makes more staff cuts
The parent company of the Santa Barbara News-Press said Dec. 3 that it is eliminating 17 positions and consolidating operations of two other publications it owns.
Ampersand Publishing LLC, which owns the News-Press and other publications, said that its Valley Living and Goleta Valley Voice editions will be “incorporated into the daily pages” of the News-Press.
The News-Press said it will continue to cover the Santa Ynez Valley, Goleta, Montecito and Carpinteria areas with a single news-gathering operation. “The economic forces affecting the newspaper industry are not limited to the News-Press or Santa Barbara,” co-publishers Arthur von Wiesenberger said in a statement.
In recent weeks the Ventura County Star has announced a major round of job cuts and the parent companies of the Santa Maria Times and the San Luis Obispo Tribune have seen their stock prices plunge this year amid a downturn in advertising revenue.
Problems at daily newspapers, which have struggled for years with competition from the Internet, have been exacerbated by the deep woes affecting the automotive industry, a key source of advertising revenue.
Ampersand Publishing, which is owned by Wendy McCaw, said the reorganization would affect its printing, production and sales departments as well as newsroom operations.
