L.A. Times to cut 250 jobs
By Erina Lin, Thursday 3 July 2008 at 17:49 :: Labor & Employment :: #1875 :: rss
The Los Angeles Times Wednesday announced its plan to cut 250 jobs across the company, including 150 editorial positions, or 17 percent of newsroom jobs. According to the newspaper’s Web site, the move is "a new effort to bring expenses into line with declining revenue. In a further cost-cutting step, the paper will reduce the number of pages it publishes each week by 15 percent," Editor and Publisher reported.
"You all know the paradox we find ourselves in. Thanks to the Internet, we have more readers for our great journalism than at any time in our history. But also thanks to the Internet, our advertisers have more choices, and we have less money," according to Times Editor Russ Stanton in a memo to the staff.
"The cuts reflect conditions across the newspaper industry, which is confronting sharply deteriorating print advertising revenues," Stanton added in the memo. "Although online ad revenues are rising, they have not made up for the losses. Amid the current nationwide economic slowdown, the prospects are for continued revenue shrinkage through the end of this year."
David Hiller, Times Publisher, told L.A. Times the goal of the cuts, which was to "get to where we need to be for the long term. We want to get ahead of the economy that's been rolling down on us and get to a size that will be sustainable."
The cuts will be across all departments of the paper, including circulation, marketing, and advertising, according to Hiller. After the job reductions, overall companywide employment will be around 3,000, E&P reported.
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