• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 19, 2024

Gannett may be showing the way for other publishers with its workplace policies. It is closing newsrooms in some locales and apparently letting journalists work offsite.

For instance, The Patriot Ledger, a South Shore Massachusetts paper, has no newsroom. It’s 11 employees now work remotely, The Boston Globe reports. And several dailies throughout the state are in a similar situation.

You can criticize Gannett for this, as some employees have. Or, you can look at the positive side of it.  

Businesses of all types adopted a hybrid work plan during the pandemic, and have had mixed results getting people to return to the office.  

A “newsroom” staff that works totally offsite provides many small benefits. 

For one, publishers and owners save on rentals, no small expense. And, of course, there can be no misbehavior when there isn’t even an office.

On a lesser note, reporters don’t have to be well dressed unless they’re having a Zoom meeting (and probably not even then) or interviewing someone in person. And there are no exhausting commutes on subways or cars. 

When queried, a Gannet spokesperson sent this statement: "We’re embracing our flexible working model by investing more in our people and technology — rather than real estate. We remain firmly committed to the sustainable future of journalism as we adapt to a progressively digital world."   

As part of this plan, Gannett recently moved out of its old headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia, preparing to a relocation in New York City. The company plans to open its new headquarters, a 24,000 square foot space in New York, on March 31.

Pending that change, employees will work remotely or in the publisher’s Washington, DC bureau, which will survive, the report states. 

The Boston Globe and several other dailies have adopted hybrid schedules.  

But you need technology to achieve this, and first-rate techies to run it. Offsite reporters have to be able to get into tools that load copy, and art directors have their own special needs. And everyone needs training. 

Moreover, all parties have to contend with the changing information ecosystem. The journalistic profession has seen dozens of papers close, accompanied by staggering layoffs. It is fast becoming a digital industry. 

In 1966, a time when most businesses rented timeshares when they needed a computer and journalistic stories were hand-set, Marshall McLuhan predicted the future. 

“’Books and newspapers will no longer exist,’ he said, according to the Jan. 24 1966 issue of Newsweek. “Publishing will become an active serving of the human mind. Instead of a book, people will get a research package done to suit their own needs.”

That seems to be coming true by degrees. Whatever the plan, publishers must hang on to the most precious resource of all: the employees.