At the same time, the Journals managers told staff that the chain is restructuring its editions, and going from sixteen to ten. The South County Journal and the South Side Journal, for instance, have been condensed into one paper called the South Journal. Similarly, readers will no longer see a West County Journal and Mid-County Journal. Instead, the new edition will be called the West Journal.
All Journals employees this side of the Mississippi will now be working out of a lone office in Town & Country. (The chain has several Illinois editions. Not sure how they are affected.)
Lee Enterprises, parent company of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, owns Suburban Journals.
According to Leewatch, the Journals also laid off 28 employees last Friday, the same day cuts were announced at the Post.
Former Journals sports reporter Ron Clement, who was laid off yesterday, tells Daily RFT this is the first time sports writers have been cut. "I'm already applying for jobs, so I'm not bitter," says Clement. "What hurts me is that this will affect the kids. There won't be as much prep sports coverage -- in St. Louis city especially."
