Largest news media company in CT offers employee buyouts
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Hearst CT Media Group offices
Hearst Connecticut Media Group, the largest owner of newspapers in the state, has offered buyouts to multiple employees.
The company, owned by media conglomerate Hearst Corp., publishes eight daily and more than a dozen weekly newspapers around the state.
On Monday, Leeanne Griffin, a senior food reporter at Hearst CT, announced on LinkedIn that she accepted a voluntary buyout after nearly four years with the company. She has worked in daily journalism as a website producer and reporter, including at the Hartford Courant, for more than 20 years.
“I am immensely proud of the work I've done for the past two decades, particularly as a food and dining writer covering the excellent (and extremely underrated) culinary scene in Connecticut,” Griffin wrote. “It has been a privilege to tell these stories, and to meet so many innovative, talented and passionate people through the process.”
Griffin will leave Hearst CT on Nov. 1. In the post, she said that she is looking for new opportunities in the fields of communication and storytelling.
It’s unclear how many buyouts the company has offered, the number of buyouts that were accepted or how many workforce reductions are planned.
Hearst CT and Hearst Corp. representatives did not immediately respond to inquiries from the Hartford Business Journal.
However, it appears that buyouts occurred at newspapers across the company, not just in Connecticut.
The workforce reductions come as Hearst’s Connecticut news staff members are working to form a union.
The Connecticut News Guild, which is composed of reporters, photographers, editors and digital producers, announced in August that about 85% of its 110-person unit had signed union cards with NewsGuild-CWA.
Employees are seeking higher pay, better working conditions and the ability to participate in newsroom decisions.
The union issued the following statement Tuesday morning in response to the buyouts:
“The Connecticut News Guild regrets to see many of our talented, diligent and professional colleagues leaving the company. This only underscores our need for a union, and we look forward to voting for one as soon as we have the opportunity.”
Hearst CT, headquartered in Norwalk, has been growing and last year acquired two daily newspapers, the Journal Inquirer in Manchester and Meriden-based Record Journal. It also owns Connecticut Magazine along with the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, News-Times in Danbury, New Haven Register and The Advocate in Stamford.
Hearst Corp., a privately held company, does not report its earnings publicly.
President and CEO Steven Swartz said in a February 2024 letter to employees that the company achieved its second-most-profitable year ever in 2023.
The company saw growth in digital subscription sales in 2023 and plans to offer new subscription products, he said.
“Thus, we believe most of our businesses have a very good chance to grow in 2024 and we will give them all the support they need to do so,” Swartz wrote.
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