The Los Angeles Times is eliminating about 190 jobs at its newspaper and community publications as part of a cost-cutting plan ordered by its corporate parent, Chicago-based Tribune.
The Times said on Tuesday that 42 editorial employees accepted voluntary buyouts offered by the paper while another 20 newsroom staffers were laid off. A Times spokesperson declined to describe those staffers’ jobs.
The Times also cut 30 jobs at its weekly and community publications. As part of those cuts, the paper closed two community
papers in Claremont and Rancho Cucamonga.
”All of the people who are leaving have made meaningful contributions to the paper and to life in the newsroom,” Times editor John Carroll wrote in a memo to staffers. ”We are sorry to be losing them. This is a wrenching time for them — and also for those who are staying, some of whom are taking on more responsibility.”
Carroll credited his staff with making the Times stronger in recent years. The newspaper won five Pulitzer prizes in April, the second most won by a newspaper in a single year.
About 100 positions will be eliminated from the Times‘ business operations, including circulation, advertising, administration and similar departments.
Times spokesperson Martha Goldstein said slightly more than half of all the affected employees accepted the Times‘ buyout offer.
Earlier this month, Tribune announced it was cutting more than 200 jobs at its 14 newspapers. The cuts represent about one percent of the company’s 20 000 employees.
Tribune has not yet announced where else it will eliminate jobs, Tribune spokesperson Gary Weitman said.
A sudden drop in advertising revenue, particularly from the retail sector and movie industry, started in April and led to the decision to cut jobs at the Los Angeles Times. – Sapa-AP