By Matthew Holloway |
In an announcement on Tuesday, Gannett Co., Inc., the parent company of the Arizona Republic, revealed that the newspaper will no longer be printed at the company’s Deer Valley Printing Facility in North Phoenix. The facility will be shut down with its 117 employees laid off.
According to AZCentral, the last copies of the Arizona Republic will roll off the presses at the 300,000-square-foot plant on October 5th, and the newspaper will be printed, packaged, and distributed from the company’s Las Vegas facility.
Lark-Marie Antón, Gannett chief communications and brand officer, explained in a statement, “Where our newspaper is printed does not impact our ability to deliver outstanding journalism. The Arizona Republic will continue to provide readers with quality, local content that matters most to them, and to connect our valued advertising partners with the customers they want to reach.”
Antón did not address the impact on Phoenix except to say that all of the facility’s employees involved in printing and packaging would receive severance packages: “We deeply appreciate the years of service our knowledgeable, skilled staff has dedicated to our Phoenix facility and the local community.”
The outlet reported that the 20-acre property where the plant stands has been acquired by Atlas Capital Partners of Scottsdale and New York-based DRA Advisors, with Atlas CEO Chris Walton saying, “The location, distinctive building characteristics, lower coverage and proximity to TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) all added to the allure of this acquisition.”
One employee who spoke to Fox 10 said, “After Oct. 1, it’s no longer a local paper. The amount of papers that we were doing, the amount of work we were doing for the 117 people there, it doesn’t make sense why they would cut our positions.”
The anonymous employee with almost 15 years at the facility told the outlet, “I’ve held almost every position they’ve had from an insert machine…to maintenance machinist supervisor,” he added that the announcement was “jarring.”
According to KTAR, the Deer Valley Facility also printed the Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), the Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff), as well as out-of-state publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, and other newspapers delivered in Arizona, New Mexico, and California. The move by Gannett will leave the Yuma Sun as the largest daily newspaper by circulation still printed in Arizona.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
