Gannett-the largest newspaper company in America and owner of USA Today-said today it plans to cut 1,000 jobs from its smaller local papers. That amounts to about 3% of the total workforce. Six hundred of those cuts will likely be in the form of layoffs. It's a rough message, coming on the same day that rival McClatchy announced a wage freeze, Cox announced its desperate newspaper fire sale, and Sam Zell's Tribune Company lost its daily $20 million. Nobody seems able to find a competitive advantage in their rivals' misfortune. A month ago, a rash of cuts at print publications made us declare Print's Black Wednesday; today, Black Thursday, has been even worse. Soon the newspaper industry won't have any days left.

• Yet another miserable day for people whose livelihoods depend on ink and paper: Gannett is cutting 1,000 jobs, McClatchy is freezing wages, Cox has put 29 of its papers up for sale, and Tribune is a mess as usual. [Gawker]

College classifieds site Uloop, the subject of a labor complaint filed by fired employees, previously had to settle a wrongful termination suit, according to a tipster. A marketer and founding member of the team was fired last fall, and filed suit arguing that it was discriminatory. Unlike the rest of the team, veterans of the dot-bomb who were churchgoing Christians, he was young and Jewish. Uloop settled the case, paying $50,000. As for any hints that company management may like unions even less than Jews, notoriously anti-union newspaper publisher Gannett made invested an undisclosed amount in December. Update: Turns out the marketer in question is "Silicon Valley Publicist" Denis Hiller, who can thank his lucky stars he won't have to spin Uloop's latest possible transgression.

An important ongoing story has come to our attention: the so-called Poopgate scandal of the Cherry Hill, NJ Courier-Post. It seems that newsroom morale has reached such a low level that an anonymous pooper or poopers has purposely pooped in both the men and women's bathroom—not in the actual toilet, so use your imagination. The excrement in the men's room sat for 13 hours before being cleaned up. Employees are using Poopgate as a rallying cry for their righteous indignation; management has sent in investigators to get to the bottom of the case [GannettBlog/ Philadelphia Will Do] Below, the entire protest letter from the newsroom to management, which portrays the errant poop as the embodiment of a "climate of crisis." We will keep you informed of the situation as it develops, obviously. [UPDATE: We hear that Mergermarket may also be experiencing poop issues. Anywhere else? E-mail us.]

Gannett, Hearst, the New York Times Co. and Tribune, in the grand tradition of doomed online-newspaper joint ventures, is creating an ad network, QuadrantOne. The new partners said QuardrantOne will reach more than 50 million monthly visitors through more than 120 papers. But not the New York Times or USA Today, which already have national sales operations. Yahoo launched a similar newspaper consortium last year, to no visible effect. [WSJ]

Yahoo's online advertising partnership with newspapers is facing a new threat — from the newspapers themselves. Five of the nation's largest newspaper companies — Gannett, Tribune, Hearst, MediaNews, and Cox Newspapers — are teaming to create a one-stop shop for online advertising. A single sales force will be able to sell ads across all major markets. Hearst, MediaNews, and Cox remain members of the Yahoo consortium, but the new partnership is foreboding, especially for Yahoo president Sue Decker, who helped engineer the deal and keeps holding it up as a totem of Yahoo's new partnership strategy.

• After two years of a sustained assault on the Sulzberger family, Morgan Stanley has sold its 7.2 percent stake in New York Times Co. this morning. Unfortunately for the Times—and for Morgan Stanley!—its shares happen to be trading at a 52-week low today. [NYT]

Despite what you might have heard, there's no one dumb enough to buy the Gannett newspaper company. [NYT]

The few good options left are Gannett and the New York Times Company, neither of which is a likely target. [NYT]

• First quarter recap: Bad news for Tribune, NYT, Gannett. Google, however, did pretty well! [MediaPost]