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Monday, April 7, 2008

Details on Times Cuts: 49 Newsroom Jobs to Go

posted by on April 7 at 14:25 PM

The Seattle Times has announced that it will be cutting 200 jobs through a combination of layoffs, buyouts, and the elimination of open positions.

I’m told by a Times writer that 45 of those jobs will be cut from the newsroom staff. But I’m told by an internal memo (see below) that the number of newsroom cuts is 49. A Times spokesperson declined to clarify, saying it was “premature” to discuss specific numbers.

According to the memo and the staffer I spoke to, in order to get to the proposed number of newsroom job cuts: Nineteen open newsroom positions will be eliminated. In addition, the Times’ bureaus on the east side and in Snohomish County will be shuttered (so one would presume that a good number of the layoffs will come from those bureaus). After eliminating open positions and shuttering the bureaus, the rest of the job cuts will come through employees accepting buyout offers.

Not on the chopping block: The paper’s Olympia and D.C. bureaus. (Although: The D.C. bureau has been vacant for some time, and I’m told that at today’s meeting the Times’ Executive Editor, Dave Boardman, was asked about this and replied that the D.C. bureau will likely remain open for the rest of the year.)

The approximate department-by-department breakdown of the job cuts, from the memo I obtained, is in the jump. The only department not experiencing a “reduction in force”? New media.

Key:

Department
Frozen Positions
Reduction in Force
Total

Breakdown:

Advertising
16.5
24
40.5

Circulation
2
45
47

Corporate Marketing
4
3
7

Finance
1.5
5
6.5

HRG
1
3
4

Information Technology
6
12
18

New Media
5
-0-
5

Newsroom
19
30
49

Operations
5
9
14

Total
60
131
191

RSS icon Comments

1

In other layoff news, the WaMu LFC in Bellevue is being shut down. The death spiral continues.

Posted by laterite | April 7, 2008 2:45 PM
2

Eli,

To give us some context, How many newsroom employees does the Times have currently?

Posted by Yutang | April 7, 2008 2:50 PM
3

So, does this include Postman, since he has a blog (new media)?

Be a shame to see him go - about the only reason I bother reading the Times anymore ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 7, 2008 3:12 PM
4

"The only department not experiencing a “reduction in force”? New media."

You're being being smug, Eli.

You won't be laughing when a huge scandal goes unnoticed or unreported because there are no true journalists left.

Posted by Non | April 7, 2008 4:35 PM

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