Oregon Public Broadcasting

Eugene’s Register Guard Newspaper has laid off 21 employees, eliminating 35 jobs. The publisher informed staff Monday morning. KLCC’s Rachael McDonald reports.

The paper will lay off 13 full-time and 9 part-time workers, the rest of the cuts are open positions that will go unfilled.

Eugene Newspaper Guild co-president Randi Bjornstad says she didn’t have any advance knowledge of the layoffs.

She says she’s surprised there was no mention of concessions. She says 9 guild members lost their jobs including 3 in the newsroom. One is a photographer who started 7 or 8 months ago.

Randi Bjornstad: “And the guild is obviously very sorry to see Amanda Smith go because she’s a fabulous person and easy to work with and I think members of the community really responded to her manner and her work.”

In Tuesday’s paper, Publisher Tony Baker said the Register Guard doesn’t suffer from lack of readers, but revenue. Advertising has dropped since late 2007.

The Register Guard is one of the few family-owned newspapers in the United States.