Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News to consolidate, cut jobs

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, will merge newsrooms but continue to put out two separate newspapers, leading to an unknown number of job cuts, the owner announced Friday.

Publisher Terrance Egger said the digital operation, Philly.com, would also be part of the consolidation.

He told employees the move to a single newsroom will save Philadelphia Media Network $5 million to $6 million.

Chairman H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, the principal owner, said the newsroom merger will make the company more streamlined.

"It's more efficient. Rather than have a reporter from each of the three entities to cover an event, we now can send one," he said.

The challenge will be to assure the tabloid Daily News and the Inquirer, a more restrained broadsheet, keep their distinctive voices.

"That will be the trick, because the Daily News is a different format than the Inquirer," Lenfest said.

Egger did not give a job cut estimate, but told staff at a meeting Friday that the company would begin talks with the union next week.

The company is also considering charging for its digital products to boost revenue, Egger said, according to the Inquirer.

Egger took over Oct. 1 as the publisher of Philadelphia Media Network. At the time, he said the coming year promised to be difficult financially and the company might have to make adjustments.