Ala. Parent Co. Slashes 36 Jobs at Mass. Dailies

Image via WikipediaThe North of Boston Media Group has eliminated 36 full- and part-time positions at area daily and weekly newspapers, member paper The Newburyport News reports.

Declining ad space and a dropoff in circulation are to blame for the cutbacks that affect the News, The Eagle-Tribune, The Salem News, The Gloucester Daily Times and weeklies The Andover Townsman, Derry News, the Carriage Towne News and The Haverhill Gazette (full disclosure: the tireless staff of "TUOL" toiled at the Haverhill Gazette back in the day when it was a daily newspaper, part of the Scripps League chain).

The Mass. papers are owned by Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. ("CNHI"), a media conglomerate that serves 150 communities in 24 states, according to its Web site.  Coincidentally, the grim news in the Bay State comes the same day as CNHI announced the upcoming relocation of its headquarters from Birmingham, Ala., to a 12-story office building under construction in the state capital of  Montgomery in the historic downtown district, which is expected later this year or in early 2012.

Must be a nice building, as CNHI already bled 52 jobs from The North of Boston Media Group as part of a 2008 restructuring.