AJC will cut news staff, trim distribution area

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution plans to cut its full-time news staff by about 90 people, or 29 percent, to lower costs as it works to regain profitability amid a severe revenue slump.

The company also said Wednesday it will eliminate distribution to seven more counties outside Atlanta, including the Macon and Athens areas, as of April 26. That will reduce print distribution to 20 metro Atlanta counties and pare circulation 2 percent.

The news staff will drop to about 230 full-time positions by May, from about 323 now.

Staff members with five or more years’ seniority are being offered buyouts, with layoffs to follow if the target isn’t met.

Most cuts “will be in production and management, allowing us to keep as many news reporters as possible,” AJC and ajc.com editor Julia Wallace said in a memo.

The company laid off 48 part-time news staffers Tuesday.

The distribution area cuts will eliminate another 107 full- and part-time circulation jobs.

“Like most metro newspapers, the AJC is experiencing unprecedented pressures on advertising revenue and given the overall economic crisis, we don’t anticipate much relief in 2009,” Publisher Doug Franklin, installed at the AJC’s helm in January, said in a memo. “We must reduce costs and become a smaller organization.”

Franklin said the AJC’s goal is to regain profitability in 2010. Other upcoming changes include a narrowing of page width, which will save $2 million annually, the launch of a print redesign April 28 and a new marketing push for the Sunday paper, which generates a large chunk of revenue.