The new owner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, one of Tennessee’s largest newspapers, acknowledged looming changes would be "chaotic" after cutting more than 42% of its staff.
Knox News has obtained an audio recording of a July 30 meeting between Times Free Press staff and Craig Fuller, the newspaper's new CEO and owner.
“It's going to feel tough. It's going to be uncomfortable,” Fuller told the staff. “Frustration is going to continue to build.”
Staffers said they were alarmed by the layoffs of over 50 staffers, including editors and reporters. They said the cuts cast doubt on the newspaper's ability to publish the following day's edition. The paper's sale to Fuller was announced July 30, the same day as the layoffs, and July 31 marked the first
day under new ownership.
Fuller, who also owns logistics company FreightWaves, said in the recording he hoped discomfort would subside and put the newspaper in a position to grow again.
“We’re coming in blind,” Fuller said in the recording. “We learn a lot, we make mistakes, as I said this morning, but we need your feedback.”
Staffers offered their perspective during the meeting, asserting the cuts he'd made would hurt the business he just purchased.
“We lost people today that are pivotal to the way that we do business,” a Times Free Press staffer said during the meeting. “There are huge gaps that now exist from an advertising perspective.”
Fuller responded before telling the staffer to speak with a member of his leadership team: "I told you we were going to make mistakes."
Among the positions cut were reporters, editors, page designers and the people involved in print production of the newspaper. Some of the layoffs were effective immediately, while some staff members are being retained for 90 days.
When a staffer suggested the newspaper is "in trouble for a little bit" when it comes to advertising, Fuller told the person not to panic − "at least, not yet."
Craig Fuller: 'We literally know very little about your business'
Fuller is the son of Xpress Trucking founder Max Fuller, the only other person with an ownership stake in the Times Free Press after the deal closed. Max Fuller told staffers June 30 he had financed the newspaper's purchase.
“We literally know very little about your business,” Craig Fuller said during the meeting. “You understand your business better than we do.”
To produce a July 31 paper, one staffer said, "We need the designers you fired."
The new ownership team confirmed they'd work on getting out a July 31 edition, which ended up publishing with two front-page stories from the New York Times News Service and one from the Associated Press. Fuller said during the meeting he disliked the practice in some newsrooms of using wire reporting pulled from national news outlets, specifically referencing the New York Times and the Associated Press.
The only local story was the centerpiece about the sale, which included a photo of Craig Fuller speaking to the newspaper's staff.
Craig Fuller also owns Firecrown Media, a group that publishes lifestyle magazines including Boating, Yachting, and Salt Water Sportsman.
Craig Fuller says Times Free Press 'fortunate' cuts didn't come sooner
The Fullers bought the paper from WEHCO Media, which owns daily newspapers including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The company had owned the Times Free Press for nearly 30 years.
Chattanooga has a population of more than 194,000, according to July 2025 figures from the U.S. Census. The newspaper’s coverage area includes the city and Hamilton County (the fourth-largest county in Tennessee), as well as smaller counties stretching across the southeastern part of Tennessee and North Georgia.
The Times Free Press is the city’s only daily newspaper.
Newspapers are an expensive business, Craig Fuller said in the recording, and printing is responsible for a lot of high costs. But the Times Free Press will continue printing papers, he said.
"The newspaper is fortunate," Craig Fuller said, that WEHCO Chairman Walter Hussman Jr. "really believed in the mission for many years and was willing to allow the newspaper to lose money for many years.”
Revenue is down 80% over 2016, he said, which led him to announce the layoffs. From his perspective, "The only way this newspaper would survive is to make those cuts."
People who resign with a 30-days' notice, he said, will be paid through Oct. 31.
Mariah Franklin reports on technology and energy for Knox News. Email: mariah.franklin@knoxnews.com. Signal: mariahfranklin.01
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Inside Chattanooga newsroom meeting with new owner: 'We're coming in blind'
