Greenspun reorganizes local media operation, cuts staff

By Sun Staff (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009 | 12:45 p.m.

The staffs of the Las Vegas Sun and its Web site, LasVegasSun.com, will merge and move into the same office as part of a plan to reorganize the local operations of The Greenspun Media Group, the company announced today.

The company will align into one team the editorial, advertising and support staffs of the daily newspaper and its Web site, along with the staffs of Las Vegas Weekly, LasVegasWeekly.com, In Business Las Vegas, Las Vegas Magazine, Vegas Magazine and Vegas2Go, said Brian Greenspun, chairman of The Greenspun Corporation and editor of the Las Vegas Sun. Greenspun announced the changes today at a companywide meeting in Henderson. Until now, the newspaper was produced out of one building while the Web staff largely worked out of another and the advertising and editorial staffs of all publications were separate.

“Today's move reflects our commitment to traditional media and our increasing commitment to the potential of the digital age,” Greenspun said in a press release announcing the changes.

The reorganization involves an unspecified number of layoffs. Affected employees were to be informed today. The changes were prompted, Greenspun said in the press release, by the need to better meet the information and marketing needs of the Las Vegas area and to create a sustainable business model in the face of the continued recession.

“Our new sales structure, which will be in place shortly, will converge all of our product lines and make us better able to serve all our customers,” said Bruce Deifik, president of The Greenspun Corporation. “We believe this restructuring will put us in the forefront of media companies as we move through and out of this recession.”

The reduction in the company's workforce comes on the heels of the closure of its community newspapers and a Web and broadcast TV program, 702.tv. These steps mirror what has happened at newspapers, magazines and TV news operations across the country.

The recession, combined with the audience shift to the Internet, has led to dramatic declines in advertising revenue. The Associated Press recently reduced its staff and The New York Times is doing the same thing.

Click here for the company’s press release.