BJ to downsize by 6

Facebook posting by a BJ employee:

The Beacon Journal announced that 6 people will be cut from the newsroom through buyouts or layoffs because of decreased revenue. We're hoping enough people take buyouts that no layoffs are needed. We've been down this road twice before. It's a sad day. Either way, we will lose good people.

The BJ laid off 25% of its newsroom staff -- more than 40 people -- in 2006. In 2008 the BJ lost about 350 combined years of experience in one day. 

And the reductions have continued since in the David Black era as newsrooms shrink nationally. 

At last count, there were fewer than 70 in the newsroom. The latest reduction may get the total under 60. 

If this keeps up maybe the BJ will follow the lead of the Plain Dealer and just send all its reporters and editors home with laptops and backpacks and shutter the newsroom, with editors handling page layouts from home, too.