News Blog

This post has been updated.

In tweets that have since been deleted, Messenger Post reporter James Battaglia says that GateHouse Media has laid off its Monroe County reporters.

He tweeted that five reporters, including him, were notified of the layoffs this morning. In his case, he'll still be on the job for two weeks, he said.

A receptionist at GateHouse forwarded my call for comment to the company's human resources director, who was not immediately available.

GateHouse bought the Messenger Post papers, which include several Monroe County weeklies and the Daily Messenger in Canandaigua, from the Ewing family in 2006. In recent years, the reporting staff at the suburban weeklies has shrunk.

Recently, a judge granted GateHouse permission to emerge from a prepackaged bankruptcy, which it entered at the urging of its largest debtholder, Newcastle Investment Corp. GateHouse will be rolled into a new holding company, New Media Investment Group, along with the 33 former Dow Jones Local Media Group papers Newcastle owns. Newcastle will be the majority owner in the new holdings company.