Executives overseeing the publication of the Asheville Citizen-Times decided it is more cost-effective for the paper to be printed in Greenville, SC. Sixty jobs will be cut. No information is available on whether or not the paper approached city council requesting local government to serve as a pass-through agency for voluntary contributions from independent newspapers to create an economic incentive package to keep the printing operations afloat.
Meanwhile, the independent Mountain XPress reported that the Citizen-Times is beginning a ten-part story on how the economic downturn is affecting jobs in Western North Carolina.