Here's a staff memo from USA Today editor which was sent to Jim Romensko at Poynter Online:
To: The Newsroom Staff
From: Ken Paulson
We had a full auditorium at today's staff meeting, but I wanted to follow up with a brief note for those who were unable to join us in person or by phone.
At today's meeting, we discussed the economic realties that will require elimination of 45 newsroom positions.
It's unfortunate that we have to take these steps, particularly when our newspaper circulation is growing and USATODAY.com has been named the top news website in the country by the Online News Association. Unfortunately, revenue has not kept pace and we're now facing the same cutbacks that so many other news organizations have already experienced.
The job eliminations will be done on a voluntary basis in the form of buyouts for staffers with 15 years or more of Gannett experience and less than five years of online experience. Departments will exclude certain key positions based on strategic needs in 2008. We hope to achieve all job reductions through voluntary buyouts, but job eliminations are possible if we don't have enough applicants.
We'll meet with every department today to provide details on eligibility for the buyouts and answer any questions you may have.
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Three days prior to this announcement, layoffs occured throughout the rest of the paper, including three in the Information Technology group, where two senior analysts working for the group that directly supports the paper's publishing system were cut, with no buyout offered (both had under 15 yrs with the paper). The other IT layoff was in Planning and Fulfillment; that person had over 17 yrs with the paper and was also NOT offered the buyout, though by Editorial standards he was eligible.
Furthermore, the two managers whom these employees reported to directly were NOT informed of the layoffs until AFTER they occured. Real classy!
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