Although you’d think this is an easy question to answer, for the country’s largest local news company it is apparently not.
As of today, the paper’s print masthead still says that Andrea Rich is news director of the paper. Yet LebTown has heard from multiple sources that Rich is no longer with the company, one of the many nationally let go in last month’s corporate layoffs.
Gannett’s Pennsylvania group has been led editorially by longtime York editor Jim McClure and includes the Chambersburg Public Opinion, the Hanover Evening Sun, and the York Daily Record.
Consecutive emails sent by LebTown to Gannett’s local leadership in York on January 24 and January 31 went unanswered. Weeks after this round of layoffs was announced, York Daily Record editor Jim McClure announced his own imminent retirement.
York Daily Record second-in-command Randy Parker has apparently been doing double duty in recent weeks as not only York’s news director, but Lebanon’s too: He is listed as news director on the paper’s digital staff directory. This job has apparently extended to some on-the-ground coverage as well, with Parker actually covering a Richland borough council meeting himself earlier this month.
We’ll update this post if we hear back from Gannett.
The Lebanon Daily News discontinued walk-in service at its Poplar Street office in December. Gannett is currently being targeted by the Daily News’ former owner, Digital First Media, for a possible acquisition or merger.
