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The Milwaukee Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal will merge April 2 into one morning paper offering about 40% more weekday news and features than either now provides, it was announced Tuesday.
Faced with a 30% rise in newsprint costs and a national trend against afternoon delivery, executives of Journal Communications said they decided to publish one "superior" morning paper the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel rather than two newspapers offering declining space and quality.
"We'll keep the best from both newspapers and build from that," said Robert A. Kahlor, chairman and chief executive officer of Journal Communications. "It will be a superior product and a tremendous force in the marketplace."
Journal Communications is the parent company for Journal / Sentinel Inc., publisher of the Journal and Sentinel.
While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will have more writers and editors than either existing newspaper, employee-owned Journal Communications will cut the equivalent of 500 to 550 full- time jobs, mostly in the production, circulation and editorial departments.
Journal / Sentinel Inc. employs about 3,500 full-time and part- time workers.
Company executives anticipate that most, if not all, of the work force cuts will be made through the voluntary acceptance of early retirement packages for employees 55 and older, the elimination of many part-time positions, the slashing of budgeted overtime hours and the voluntary acceptance of severance packages by "people who just want to go out and do other things," said James C. Currow, president and chief executive officer of Journal / Sentinel Inc.
Details of retirement and severance packages are subject to union negotiation and won't be available until later in the week, Currow said.
Mary Jo Meisner, editor of the Journal, was named editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tuesday. Keith Spore, editor of the Sentinel, was named editorial page editor of the new paper. Both Spore and Meisner will report to Kahlor, who took on the added title of publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Eight unions representing Journal / Sentinel workers issued a joint statement against the merger Tuesday.
"The impact of the loss of up to 200 full-time jobs and...