amNewYork Newsroom Gutted As Paper Changes Hands

NEW YORK — Most of the journalists at amNewYork were axed this week as the ubiquitous free tabloid changed owners.

Newsday bought out at least nine reporters and editors before Schneps Media took control of the paper on Friday, according to their labor union, Local 406 of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

About a dozen of the paper's 16 listed staffers announced on Twitter that they worked their last day this week. Many departed Thursday, about a week after Newsday Media Group announced it was selling the beloved daily to Schneps.

The Teamsters represent nine affected workers, but some other non-union staffers were also cleared out of the newsroom, Local 406 President Michael LaSpina said, adding that the decision was a "shock."

"It’s something that was just sprung on us the day they signed the agreement," LaSpina said. "I had no knowledge of this at all and neither did the employees over at amNewYork."

Newsday is providing at least six months of severance pay to all the affected employees, said Paul Fleishman, the company's vice president of public affairs. He declined to confirm how many staffers were bought out or how many remain.

"Newsday is offering generous severance to amNewYork employees who are not offered positions with the new owner or with Newsday Media Group," Fleishman said.

Some amNewYork staffers interviewed for positions at both Newsday and Schneps, LaSpina said, but he declined to say how many.

Schneps Media representatives did not immidately return requests for comment Friday afternoon.

The last issue of amNewYork under Newsday's ownership appeared in the paper's bright-red newsstands on Friday — 16 years and a day after its launch on Oct. 10, 2003. The paper grew to have the highest daily distribution in New York City and a website that gets 1 million unique visitors a month.

Newsday sold the publication so it could "fully focus on serving Long Island," where the company publishes its eponymous, Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper, Publisher Debby Krenek said last week.

"We are truly proud of the outstanding work done by the amNewYork team," Krenek said in an Oct. 2 press release. "We are confident that this tradition of serving New Yorkers will continue with Schneps Media, whose strong commitment to local media makes them the ideal new publisher for amNewYork."

Schneps has expanded its portfolio of metropolitan-area publications in recent years. amNewYork joins its 33 newspapers including the Brooklyn Paper, The Villager and Gay City News. It also has 28 magazines and specialty publications, 20 websites, 50 annual events and podcasts that reach 2 million readers each week.

It's uncertain how amNewYork will change now that it has come into Schneps's fold. But the outgoing amNewYork editorial board said the paper had sought to be a gadfly on behalf of New Yorkers — especially commuters, one of its primary audiences.

"New Yorkers do their best to keep going, and we have tried to keep an eye on public officials and the powerful to nudge them toward their better angels on behalf of the city they’re supposed to serve," the board wrote in a farewell editorial published Thursday.

"Mostly, we were fortunate to be a part of all this, and thankful to have a place in your commute or morning," it continued. "We know you are busy. Thanks for reading."