Unprecedented Jobs Losses in the Newspaper Industry

I have been following Erica Smith’s Paper Cuts most of the year, to gauge the pulse of the newspaper industry, and that pulse has been getting weaker and weaker the last few months. Earlier this year Ms. Smith estimated just fewer than 6,000 men and women would be laid off or terminated within the newspaper industry, the 10,000 mark of job losses was surpassed last Thursday. Job losses at newspapers across the country have hit unprecedented proportions from CEO’s to printers, with no letup foreseen any time soon. No one is immune in today’s economic climate of downsizing and consolidation.

Kevin Roderick reports this morning that Los Angeles Times writer Josh Getlin has sent a farewell letter to his colleagues, but no one is reporting about the 50 Tribune Employees that lost their jobs last Monday September 8th in the Information Technology Department, 17 of them from the Los Angeles Times. How is it, some job losses fall under the radar and are not reported I wonder.

The Operations Departments at the Los Angeles Times Orange County and Los Angeles production facilities are wondering what their fate may be the next few months, as the Los Angeles Times will undergo a redesign within the next few weeks. I hear under the redesign the California Section will be consolidated into the main section of the Times, and the Business Section will be merged into the Sports Section. This is but speculation on rumors, but if this redesign pans out to be true, we may see the elimination of the second shift several days per week in the Production Departments at the Los Angeles Times.

If you know of any job losses not reported on Paper Cuts drop Erica Smith a note.