Loveland - April 12, 2011 (updated with new information April 13, 2011)
The Loveland Reporter Herald will be operating on a skeleton staff by mid-summer if the new owner, Dean Singleton's MediaNews which
also owns the Denver Post, continues a second round of layoffs in Loveland scheduled next month of key personnel throughout Loveland's
only daily newspaper.
Early last December LovelandPolitics reported that longtime owners of the Loveland newspaper were in talks to sell their media group,
Lehman Communications, which owned and operated the daily newspapers of Loveland, Longmont and Canon City, Colorado along with
a state of the art printing facility in Berthoud, Colorado to the owner of the Denver Post. The Lehman family operated the Longmont
newspaper since 1957 and acquired the Loveland Reporter Herald in 1967 which they continued to operate until only a few months
ago.
By January 21, the Reporter Herald and Denver Post finally confirmed our controversial story by acknowledging the acquisition in
news stories that closely resembled MediaNews' press release announcing the acquisition. Ed Lehman, the longtime Publisher of the
Loveland Reporter Herald, was quoted in the press release saying, "We look forward to great things ahead for the newspapers
and the communities we serve as our company joins Prairie Mountain Publishing." Prairie Mountain Publishing Company is
a subsidiary of Denver based MediaNews Group which bought Lehman Communications.
Unfortunately, the acquisition hasn't brought "great things" for the community. The remaining people in the circulation department
who survived the first round of layoffs are reported to be losing their jobs by May or June while six more people from the newsroom
will be losing their jobs by the end of June according to a source at the newspaper. Apparently, the newspaper's design staff is being
consolidated as is the Longmont Times-Call design staff with the Daily Camera in Boulder. Page designers were given the option to
apply for a job in Boulder.
Some readers of the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald already have noticed an increase in news stories that appear to be written for
readers living in Longmont or Boulder. This type of regional reporting is likely to increase dramatically as each publication begins
sharing stories from a sister publication. The reason people are seeing stories that appear to be written elsewhere is because they
likely were written for another audience. All the newspapers now under the Prairie Mountain umbrella are sharing stories so the
Reporter Herald is publishing more stories (and some photos) written by Camera and Post reporters. Another curious trend has been
stories like that covering last Tuesday's Loveland City Council meeting are missing by-lines. Instead of a reporter's name the by-line
indicates it was written only by "staff."
One Reporter Herald employee also alleged that it appears the Marketing Representative, Human Resources personnel, two website
administrators and possibly even some top editors could be cut at any time.
No word yet on whether the location of the newspaper will change since so much of the building will be empty by mid-summer. If the
Reporter Herald drops to a staff of only 20 it is unlikely they will remain in the building currently housing the newspaper in downtown
Loveland.
Please feel free to comment on our blog.
The Loveland Reporter Herald will be operating on a skeleton staff by mid-summer if the new owner, Dean Singleton's MediaNews which
also owns the Denver Post, continues a second round of layoffs in Loveland scheduled next month of key personnel throughout Loveland's
only daily newspaper.
Early last December LovelandPolitics reported that longtime owners of the Loveland newspaper were in talks to sell their media group,
Lehman Communications, which owned and operated the daily newspapers of Loveland, Longmont and Canon City, Colorado along with
a state of the art printing facility in Berthoud, Colorado to the owner of the Denver Post. The Lehman family operated the Longmont
newspaper since 1957 and acquired the Loveland Reporter Herald in 1967 which they continued to operate until only a few months
ago.
By January 21, the Reporter Herald and Denver Post finally confirmed our controversial story by acknowledging the acquisition in
news stories that closely resembled MediaNews' press release announcing the acquisition. Ed Lehman, the longtime Publisher of the
Loveland Reporter Herald, was quoted in the press release saying, "We look forward to great things ahead for the newspapers
and the communities we serve as our company joins Prairie Mountain Publishing." Prairie Mountain Publishing Company is
a subsidiary of Denver based MediaNews Group which bought Lehman Communications.
Unfortunately, the acquisition hasn't brought "great things" for the community. The remaining people in the circulation department
who survived the first round of layoffs are reported to be losing their jobs by May or June while six more people from the newsroom
will be losing their jobs by the end of June according to a source at the newspaper. Apparently, the newspaper's design staff is being
consolidated as is the Longmont Times-Call design staff with the Daily Camera in Boulder. Page designers were given the option to
apply for a job in Boulder.
Some readers of the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald already have noticed an increase in news stories that appear to be written for
readers living in Longmont or Boulder. This type of regional reporting is likely to increase dramatically as each publication begins
sharing stories from a sister publication. The reason people are seeing stories that appear to be written elsewhere is because they
likely were written for another audience. All the newspapers now under the Prairie Mountain umbrella are sharing stories so the
Reporter Herald is publishing more stories (and some photos) written by Camera and Post reporters. Another curious trend has been
stories like that covering last Tuesday's Loveland City Council meeting are missing by-lines. Instead of a reporter's name the by-line
indicates it was written only by "staff."
One Reporter Herald employee also alleged that it appears the Marketing Representative, Human Resources personnel, two website
administrators and possibly even some top editors could be cut at any time.
No word yet on whether the location of the newspaper will change since so much of the building will be empty by mid-summer. If the
Reporter Herald drops to a staff of only 20 it is unlikely they will remain in the building currently housing the newspaper in downtown
Loveland.
Please feel free to comment on our blog.
| Substantial Layoffs At The Loveland Reporter Herald Only A Skeleton Staff Will Remain By Summer |
| Key Moving Dates Provided to RH Employees by Prairie Mountain Publishing March 22 Announce change to affected staff of ad design, news side page production and layout team in Longmont and Loveland. March 25 Deadline for those affected to apply for openings - 4 ad designers, 7 to 7.5 page designers, 1 layout person - Boulder. May 9 Last day of news side page production in Longmont. June 12 Tentative date for last day of news side page production in Loveland. |
