West Virginia newspaper’s new owner to retain most employees

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The new owner of a Pulitzer Prize-winning West Virginia newspaper is retaining most of its employees following the buyout, a publisher said.

New Charleston-Gazette-Mail publisher Jim Heady said 168 workers at the newspaper were offered jobs by HD Media on Monday, the Gazette-Mail reported . HD Media bought the bankrupt Gazette-Mail at an auction earlier this month.

Heady was the Gazette-Mail’s vice president of circulation before being promoted by HD Media to publisher effective April 1.

The Gazette-Mail said 11 employees who filled out applications did not receive job offers. The newspaper did not name those positions.

Meanwhile, 29 other positions will not be filled. Those positions were either vacant or involved employees who did not apply for jobs with HD Media, which also owns The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington.

The Gazette-Mail’s coverage includes the Huntington area, and the change means some beats will be consolidated, including sports beats. HD Media’s publications have been printed since 2016 at the Gazette-Mail building in Charleston.

Among those leaving the Gazette-Mail is Executive Editor Rob Byers. He oversaw reporter Eric Eyre, who won a Pulitzer Prize last year for investigative reporting of the state’s drug crisis.

“From intern to executive editor,” Byers wrote on Twitter. “From Charleston to Columbia for the Pulitzers. Certainly been an enjoyable quarter-century-long ride at this paper. But all rides must end, and I guess my stop is next. “Carry on, colleagues. WV needs you more than ever.”

Huntington-based HD Media also owns The Wayne County News, the Logan Banner, Williamson Daily News, the Coal Valley News and The Pineville Independent Herald.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.