The New York Times Company announced Monday that two of its publications, The Gainesville Sun and the Ocala Star-Banner, will merge several operations.
Copy editing, design and page layouts for both newspapers will be done in Gainesville, and Jim Osteen, the executive editor of The Gainesville Sun, will now act as executive editor for both papers.
Robyn Tomlin, former executive editor of the Star-Banner, recently accepted a position at another New York Times newspaper in Wilmington, N.C.
There were two motives behind the merge, Star-Banner Publisher Allen Parsons said - to cut costs and to be more efficient and competitive.
Tom McNiff, the managing editor for the Star-Banner, said the change was not unusual.
"We're not the only two papers in the nation to do this," McNiff said. "Producing both papers with one desk will achieve some cost efficiencies and will leave us both very strong papers."
Each staff's reporters will continue to gather news, and the newspapers will retain their separate titles and personalities.
"The Gainesville Sun has a much younger audience, and we'll try to reflect the news to the very different readerships," McNiff said.
Learning how to produce two newspapers in one place may be a challenge, he said.
"Any time you make a significant change, there are questions and uncertainties," he said. "But so far, so good."
