The Daily News said today that publisher Tracy Rafter, who is among four department heads laid off from the Woodland Hills-based newspaper, will be replaced by John McKeon. McKeon is president and CEO of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, Daily News’ parent company. The Daily News is part of an eight newspaper chain owned and operated in Southern California. As part of the staff reduction at the Woodland Hills-based LANG, four editorial department jobs were cut, along with the heads of the circulation, finance and human resources departments, the Daily News reported. The newspaper quoted George Riggs, president and chief executive officer of the California Newspaper Partnership, as stating the changes at the Daily News are “part of an overall plan to better adapt our business cost structure to the fundamental changes that are under way in the publishing industry.” “I’m deeply grateful to Tracy Rafter and the other Daily News executives for the great contributions to the newspaper’s development in recent years but the pressures on the news and information industries have forced us to consolidate functions so that we can maximize our resources,” Riggs said.
