Cause you can't fit as many people into a smart phone

As Gannett goes mobile with USA Today as part of a massive restructuring plan, it is also going smaller in terms of staff. As AP reports:

The makeover outlined Thursday will result in about 130 layoffs this fall, USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke told The Associated Press. That translates into a 9 percent reduction in USA Today's work force of 1,500 employees. Hunke didn't specify which departments would be hardest hit.

The reorganization plan aims to make the paper more adaptable to smart phones and iPads. These changes will also create a different way of organizing news production and bring advertising into the room. Again, from AP:

The newsroom instead will be broken up into a cluster of "content rings" each headed up by editors who will be appointed later this year. The newly created content group will be overseen by Susan Weiss, who had been managing editor of the Life section. As executive editor of content, Weiss will report to USA Today Editor John Hillkirk....

In a move that may raise conflict-of-interest questions, Weiss will have a "collaborative relationship" with USA Today's newly appointed vice president of business development, Rudd Davis[.]

I don't know what a content ring is, but I do know that everyone is collaborating these days. Competitors collaborate. News and salespeople collaborate. Media owners are hoping the collaboration orgy produces enough new streams of revenue that a sustainable business will emerge. It is, of course, ugly to watch.

Earlier: Gannett announced new copy desk hubs for its other newspapers and the launch of a new high school sports site.