The Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville will lay off its four-person copy desk in early October, as Iowa-based owner Lee Enterprises eliminates local jobs in favor of a consolidated copy desk in Indiana or Wisconsin, according to a memo sent to affected employees Friday.
The cuts at The Daily Progress are possibly just the beginning of eliminating copy editing and page design jobs at all of Lee Enterprises’ Virginia newspapers, according to members of two newsroom unions and other Lee employees.
The company did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A union member at The Roanoke Times, where 10 copy desk positions are on the chopping block, said the company has not informed editors at his newspaper of its plans to move the jobs to design hubs in the Midwest, although Lee did confirm it with union negotiators.
