Landmark papers to furlough staffers for five days

Newspapers of Landmark Communications, including the dozens operated by Landmark Community Newspapers Inc., will put staffers on furlough for five days this year to protect jobs and profitability, the company said yesterday. Landmark's metropolitan papers, in Norfolk and Roanoke, Va., Greensboro, N.C., and Annapolis, Md., will also freeze wages.

"All Landmark newspaper offices will be closed during the furloughed days, though the papers will publish, employees were told," Editor & Publisher said in a staff report. "Vacation days cannot be used for these days since our intent is to reduce payroll expense," Greensboro News & Record Publisher Robin Saul said in a memo quoted by Ed Cone, a Ziff-Davis managing editor who writes a column for the paper. (Read more)