The effects of a slow economy and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have hit the Orange County Register.
The Santa Ana-based newspaper, OC’s largest, last week eliminated 105 positions, 85 by layoffs and the rest by not filling job vacancies.
The majority of layoffs were in operations (57 people). Other departments that lost employees were human resources, finance, OCR Magazines, information technology, sales, marketing and the Register newsroom, which lost seven people, including reporters and copy editors. While positions have gone unfilled in the past couple of years in the Register newsroom, this is the first time in several downsizings that the news-gathering side of the business has experienced layoffs.
The reductions are a result of decreased revenue and circulation, said Register Publisher and CEO N. Christian Anderson III.
“While advertising revenue has been declining all year, the events of Sept. 11 caused a dramatic and immediate shortfall which has continued to deteriorate. As the economy continued to worsen, we took a closer look at our expenses and made the painful decision to eliminate positions so we can keep our business sound,” Anderson said.
The Register saw a drop in circulation after it stopped home delivery to areas outside of OC. Figures are expected to drop again with the paper’s recent move to also cut newsrack and store sales outside of Orange County.
Circulation figures for the most recent period are not yet available. But for the period ended March 31, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that the Register’s total paid circulation was 356,079 daily and 413,727 Sundays,down slightly from the previous period. n
