How much did all those�armed guards�and�hotel rooms�for executive editors cost the Journal News earlier this year, not to mention lost subscribers?

The newspaper had to go into virtual lock-down after giving law abiding gun-owners the �”offender treatment� following the Newtown massacre.�Journal News publisher Janet Hasson and editor-in-chief Cyndee Royle (alias) infamously published an�interactive gun-map�showing the names and home addresses of all pistol permit holders in the Rockland and Westchester counties, unexpectedly causing an international�backlash from gun owners,�law enforcement�and the�general public.

After receiving thousands of communications�from angry people, including some deemed to be threatening by the newspaper�s management,�armed guards were hired�to watch the offices of the newspaper, as well as for the homes of some staff. In addition, top executives were put up in hotels on the newspaper�s dime and an unconfirmed report said the newspaper paid for therapists to counsel any staff members disturbed by the letters, the attention or the fact that pr0-gun bloggers had published their names and addresses.

While the exact dollar figure for all that activity is not available, a Gannett mole told the Rockland County Times that four menial staffers were terminated this spring at the newspaper, and it�s likely that the cost incurred due to the�gun-map fiasco�was the justification for the layoffs.

What has bothered local Journal News staffers most about the termination of their menial coworkers is that Gannett has enjoyed a profitable year and could have easily stepped in and covered the cost for all the hub-bub. After all, the story was an international sensation and something certainly on Gannett�s radar.

Then again, perhaps�Gannett CEO Gracia Martore�is too annoyed that heat from the Journal News� gun-map led to her own family�s address in Great Falls, Virginia being published on a blogger�s map and consequently�armed men being hired to protect her house.

Last week the Rockland County Times revealed that the�Journal News filed new FOILs�with the County Clerk offices in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties,�requesting a list of all pistol permit holders�who did notopt to make their records private. The newspaper has not confirmed what they plan to do with the information.

(Source: Rockland Times)