Tallahassee Democrat shuttering press; print operations will be moved to Panama City

The Tallahassee Democrat is closing its production facilities in May and will begin printing and packaging the newspaper at the Panama City News Herald.

The move affects about 46 employees at the Gannett Co.-owned plant. Some of those employees may be considered for Panama City News-Herald open positions.

The move is not expected to significantly change delivery times of the Tallahassee Democrat publications.

Printing the daily paper from its 1968 Goss press, the Tallahassee press team has consistently ranked in the Top 3 in overall quality and efficiency within surveys of all 109 Gannett newspapers.

The move is the latest for an industry where production consolidation has become part of the business, and press operations have become centralized. Gannett has adopted the strategy as a way to preserve newsroom resources and journalism jobs.

The Nashville Tennessean recently moved operations from its downtown plant to Knoxville. The Pensacola News Journal, also a Gannett property, moved its printing operations from Mobile to Panama City in January.

There will be a transition period of about one month, with the first Tallahassee Democrat rolling off the Panama City press on May 20. The Democrat will be printed on the News Herald’s 2005 Goss press – an upgrade from its press that was installed in the early 1970s.

“While Gannett has made a logical business decision, it is still painful because of the production employees in Tallahassee who have been best in class,” said Democrat Publisher Skip Foster. “The team of journalists here remains deeply committed to serving Tallahassee and the Big Bend as we have for 114 years. We’ll continue sharing the stories of our communities, holding the powerful accountable and delivering the news and advertising solutions for North Florida – in print and online.”

Founded in 1905, the Tallahassee Democrat has been serving the community for more than a century. The first paper rolled off the Democrat’s current press in 1979 at 277 N. Magnolia Drive.

Since then, the Democrat has become an online news leader at tallahassee.com. In 2018, the website pulled in almost 110 million page views, a 51 percent jump year over year from 2017.