New York Times Cutting 100 Newsroom Jobs

Posted on October 19, 2009

The New York Times Media Decoder blog is reporting that the Times is cutting 100 newsroom jobs, about 8% of the total newsroom jobs. The job cuts will happen by the end of the year, which is not far away.

The program mirrors one carried out in the spring of 2008, when the paper erased 100 positions in its newsroom, though other jobs were created, so the net reduction was smaller. That round of cuts included some layoffs of journalists - about 15 to 20, though The Times would not disclose the actual figure - which was the first time in memory that had happened.
The paper has made much deeper reductions in other, non-newsroom departments, where layoffs have occurred several times. But the advertising drop that has pummeled the industry has forced cuts in the news operation as well. The newsroom already has lowered its budgets for freelancers and trimmed other expenses, and employees took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year.

Media Decoder says the Times is mailing buyout packages to the entire newsroom staff on Thursday and employees have 45 days to decide whether to apply for it. A lot of newspapers and magazines are struggling right now because of the recession and the switch to from print to online news. It reduced advertising dollars from the recession came at a terrible time for the newspaper industry.

Reuters has published a memo about the job cuts from New York Times Executive Editor Bill Kelle here.