The Sun-Times laid off its entire photo staff of about 20 employees this morning. Instead of full time photographers, the paper will go with more cost-effective freelancers and reporters armed with iPhones. The paper also cited the lure of video and multimedia as reasons for the layoffs. Read More
The Village Voice‘s editor in chief Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig met with staff late this morning to announce they are leaving the paper rather than lay off any more of their already skeletal staff, The New York Times reported.
Voice Media Group executive editor Christine Brennan had told Mr. Bourne and Ms. Lustig that they would have to eliminate or drastically reduce five of the 20 postions at the paper. Read More
Today is layoff day at The Daily News, reports Capital NY, who put the number at around 15–columnists Albor Ruiz and Joanna Molloy and reporters Christiana Boyle and Robert Gearty among them.
Rumors have been circulating for some time that a round of pink slips was imminent at the News. Although this is the most significant number of layoffs since editor in chief Colin Myler took over in November 2011, there has been a slow trickle of departures over the past months. Features editor John Oswald left in March, and features reporter Jacob Osterhout vented his rage in a goodbye email after he was let go earlier this spring. Read More
The New York Times has replaced newly named tech editor Glen Kramon with deputy technology editor Suzanne Spector.
Mr. Kramon, who was formerly the assistant managing editor for enterprise, was named as Damon Darlin’s replacement on January 16 and was to relocate to San Francisco for the gig. The Times top brass has decided that Mr. Kramon is “needed for an assignment in the newsroom in New York,” according to a newsroom memo obtained by Business Insider. Read More
The Washington Examiner will become a weekly instead of a daily, the newspaper announced this morning. The decrease in publication, which is being called a new business strategy, will go into effect in June. Web-only reporting will continue, although some employees will be let go.
The Washington City Paper reports that up to 30 staffers are being laid off. Examiner staffers were “told that the paper would become a center-right version of political publications like The Hill” during a meeting this morning, The Washington City Paper reported.
[UPDATE 2:26 p.m.] Clarity Media Group, which owns the Examiner, emailed to clarify that 87 staffers have been laid off, not 30 as previously reported.
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The New York Times named Dick Stevenson the new Europe Editor, based in Paris, and Alison Smale as the new Berlin Bureau Chief, they announced today. The appointments come after the recent announcement that the International Herald Tribune will be renamed the International New York Times. Read More
The Department of Justice is investigating allegations that WSJ‘s Chinese bureau has bribed Chinese officials in exchange for information used in news articles, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. However, a search by the Dow Jones, WSJ‘s parent company found “no evidence to support the claim.” Read More
The Boston Phoenix, an alt-weekly popular for it’s political and arts coverage, is shutting down, they announced today. Next week will be the last print publication, and the following week will bring the last online edition. Before releasing a statement, the magazine announced their closure on Twitter, writing “Thank you Boston. Good night and good luck” earlier today. The post has now been retweeted 639 times. Read More
In a memo that went out this afternoon, The New York Times confirmed that they are planning to sell The Boston Globe.
“This was not an easy decision as the New England Media Group has, for many years, brought tremendous value to our Company,” publisher Arthur Sulzberger and CEO Mark Thompson wrote in the newsroom memo. ” While part of the Times Company, The Boston Globe has been awarded 10 Pulitzer Prizes and many other professional awards.” Read More
The Chinese government blocked The New York Times website after the paper published an article about prime minister Wen Jiabao’s family’s hidden fortune, the Times reported.
The English- and Chinese-language websites went down just a couple hours after the story went up on Friday morning there. When the article was mentioned on the BBC, the station suddenly went black, tweeted Louisa Lim, NPR’s Beijing correspondent. The topic has been banned from Weibo, a Chinese social network similar to Twitter. Read More
