Los Angeles Times: 75 More News Jobs Axed
LOS ANGELES, CA (October 27, 2008) – Monday morning started for Los Angeles Times staffers with a memo from editor Russ Stanton announcing that 75 more news jobs would be cut by the end of the day, about 10 percent of the newly-redesigned newspaper's remaining editorial staff.
"The growing economic downturn is forcing us to undergo another round of job reductions and cost cuts," Stanton wrote.
"I deeply regret to report that today, 75 of our friends, colleagues and capable staff members in Editorial will be told that they are losing their jobs. This is about 10% of our total staff and these cuts are comparable in scale to those made on the business side of The Times last week."
Recently-appointed publisher Eddy Hartenstein sent out a memo of his own today, one that veteran newsroom citizens might call "optimistic" to the point of being less about reporting the facts and more about public relations.
"The last couple of weeks have been tough and we've had to say goodbye to some talented colleagues and friends. It was not how I wanted to start the fourth quarter, but the deteriorating business climate is something that cannot be ignored," Hartenstein wrote. "The good news, however, is that we are continuing to reinvent this fine company so it will be around long into the future.
Kevin Roderick reported a list of confirmed staff departures on his blog LA Observed today including photojournalist Annie Wells, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 before joining the Los Angeles Times' staff 11 years ago. Wells won the Pulitzer for her spot news photograph of a firefighter rescuing a young girl from a raging California flood when Wells worked for the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa.
Last summer the Times trimmed 250 people from the payroll, including 150 from the newsroom.
The Los Angeles Times is the largest daily newspaper owned by the Tribune Co. The Tribune Co. was bought last year by real estate mogul Sam Zell, who now is looking for ways to pay back billions of dollars in debt by cutting staffs and slashing spending at Tribune-owned newspapers.
Carrying an estimated $13 billion in debt hasn't stopped Tribune Co. from considering the purchase of the Orange County Register in a possible move to consolidate production and distribution operations in Southern California, the Financial Times newspaper reported last week.
Also this week the Las Vegas Review-Journal offered buyouts to between 50 and 100 employees, citing the bad economy and a desire to cut payroll costs, and earlier this month at the East Bay Business Times – one of American City Business Journals' newspapers – 15 staffers including photography editor Stephanie Secrest were laid off.
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