5 Massachusetts GateHouse Journalists Lose Jobs

Struggling media giant GateHouse laid off at least five Massachusetts journalists this week, according to reports. Worcester Telegram & Gazette columnist Clive McFarlane, who worked at the paper for 26 years, was among those to lose their jobs.

"I was unceremoniously shown the door today by Gatehouse, deprived even of the long-established protocol of allowing a columnist to bid farewell to his readers," McFarlane wrote in a Facebook post. "So I’ll say it here. It has been a long, rewarding trip, during which my life was made richer by so many of the people I’ve had the pleasure to write about."

A courts reporter and a sports writer at the Cape Cod Times were also laid off, as were two others at the Fall River Herald News, according to Poynter's Tom Jones. Both newspapers are owned by GateHouse.

GateHouse owns nearly 100 publications across Massachusetts. Its proposed merger with Gannett, publisher of USA Today, would create the largest newspaper company in the country. Regulators have yet to approve the deal.