Daily Voice Shutters 11 Central MA Local News Sites
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
On the homepage of the company's central website, the column under the heading "Massachusetts" is now empty.
As of Monday morning, the Daily Voice sites for Auburn, Grafton, Leicester, Millbury, Milford, Northbridge, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Upton and Westborough are no more.
According to one now-former Daily Voice reporter who asked to remain anonymous, he and six other reporters, one editor and three sales people only learned of the decision to close the Massachusetts sites during their weekly meeting on Monday morning, at which a couple representatives from the company's headquarters.
"We stopped working as soon as they told us," he said. "And we're only getting paid until Wednesday."
The Daily Voice, originally dubbed Main Street Connect when it got its start in 2010, will continue to operate its combined 41 other news sites in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, NY.
Former Daily Voice editor Jennifer Lord Paluzzi took to her Greater Grafton blog to recall the launch of GraftonTimes.com four years ago which ultimately led to an expansion and then purchase by the then-Main Street Connect, who would in turn lay her and the rest of their Massachusetts staff off on Monday.
"I am once again unemployed," she wrote. "That isn’t the part that hurts, though. I hired a fantastic group of reporters. I tried to be the best boss to them that I could — doing everything the opposite of bosses I didn’t like — and now my awesome crew is out of work."
The future for those reporters, at least if they hope to stay in the Worcester area, remains uncertain.
The Worcester Telegram, along with the Boston Globe and the two daily papers' attendant websites, were put up for sale by the New York Times Co. late last month. And while this has happened before to no avail, observers say this time around a deal seems much more likely to become a reality.
The Bay State dailies are on the auction block as a package deal, but whether or not they'll remain as one once potential buyers begin to emerge--if potential buyers begin to emerge--remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Paluzzi appears poised to restart her Greater Grafton blog after a brief rest.
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