Long Beach Press-Telegram employees spoke Tuesday night at a city council meeting to plead their case against Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group, which is consolidating the Long Beach daily newspaper with the Torrance daily newspaper, the Daily Breeze.
“If we are so horrible, then why is Dean buying papers and not selling them?” said Keith Higginbotham, a former Press-Telegram reporter.
Higginbotham also said that although readership has been in decline since 1977, advertisement revenue is up 600 percent and daily circulation is up one percent.
Many of the Press-Telegram’s employees will find out Wednesday if they have a job. Those who get a position will be working out of the Daily Breeze office in Torrance.
“I do not know what to say except to applaud my staff,” said Rich Archbold, executive editor of the Press-Telegram. “We are going to keep our mission alive, which is to be the dominant provider of news and information in this city.”
Robin Deemer, a copy editor at the Press-Telegram for 30 years, said, “It’s like being stabbed in the back. They gave us five days notice.”
The Press-Telegram employees found out last Friday that their jobs were in jeopardy. They were told that they didn’t have to apply, but had to go to the Daily Breeze to be interviewed. Many have voiced their concern, including city council members who are worried about the idea of having a Long Beach news organization based outside the city.
The census of Long Beach City Council was for keeping the Press-Telegram in Long Beach. They voted unanimously to investigate the advertisement revenue the city is currently investing in the Press-Telegram and where it is going.
