Cuts in Lynchburg, Va.

All:

We are reducing the size of the Lynchburg/Amherst/Nelson news staff by a total of three positions. This is part of a cost-saving effort going on not only throughout Media General but also throughout the newspaper industry.

The three positions include: 1) a frozen copy editor job that we have not been able to fill since last year; 2) another copy editor position, which we will not be able to fill; and 3) one reporter job at the Amherst-Nelson papers (that person has already been notified.) We also will not have a summer intern.

This will obviously require some reorganization over the next weeks and months. I welcome any suggestions you have on what we should do.

We will be talking specifically about what we can do to help out the Amherst-Nelson papers, especially with government coverage and features; and we cannot function without someone in the spot on the copy desk, so we will be working on a reorganization plan to fill that spot from within our existing staff. We will need to get something figured out to help out Amherst in the next couple of weeks. Caroline, Aaron and I have some ideas but want your input before deciding anything.

I know you are all aware that fewer people are reading newspapers these days and that is reflected in declining circulation and advertising revenues throughout the industry.

We also are trimming our freelance, syndicated, and mileage budgets.

I'll spare you any sappy commentary other than to say we have a great staff, the best since I've been here, and that we all need to work together even more closely than we already do as we move forward.

I will be answering questions about this today after the 4 p.m. budget meeting, and Monday morning at the reporters' meeting, and any other time you want to talk to me as time allows.

Thanks in advance to everyone for helping make this work out, and for all your good work all the time!

Joe