In less than 30 days Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida
(one of my stops in my 43-year newspaper career was at Poynter’s St. Petersburg
Times) reported this cutbacks, print suspensions because the coronavirus and
normal attrition that has been going on for years now collided:
On March 9, The Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer announced it would cut 22 newsroom employees.
On March 13, The Stranger in Seattle temporarily suspended print and laid off 18 staffers.
On March 14, the Portland (Oregon) Mercury announced it was temporarily cutting print and had
temporarily laid off 10 staffers
On March 16, DigBoston suspended print publication.
on March 17, salaries were cut at the Phoenix New Times,
Denver’s Westword, Dallas Observer, Houston Press and Miami New Times.
On March 18, the Tampa Bay Times, which Poynter owns, laid off 11 journalists
on March 18, Monterey County Weekly in California announced it had laid off seven employees. Three other
staffers had salaries reduced
Texas’ San Antonio Current laid off 10 employees.
Riverfront Times in St. Louis laid off seven.
Shepherd Express in Milwaukee suspended its print edition.
The Pulse in Chattanooga, Tennessee, suspended publication.
CityBeat in Cincinnati, Ohio, had furloughs and pay cuts.
MetroTimes in Detroit laid off eight staffers.
Creative Loafing in Tampa laid off seven employees.
Cleveland Scene in Ohio laid off five staffers.
Orlando Weekly laid off 13 people.
Oklahoma Gazette in Oklahoma City paused print publication.
On March 19, Isthmus, a weekly in Madison, Wisconsin, announced it
had to “go dark for an undetermined amount of
time.”
On March 20, Austin Chronicle in Texas went to an every-other-week print schedule.
Mountain Xpress in Asheville, North Carolina, laid off seven and had pay cuts.
On March 23, Trent Stephens reported for The Durango (Colorado)
Herald that it had laid off five people
on March 23, Trib Total Media in Pennsylvania combined
two print editions and laid off staff
The Times-Picayune/nola.com/The Advocate in New Orleans announced a
temporary furlough of 10% of its workforce.
On March 25, The Warwick Beacon in Rhode Island cut one
publication day to become a weekly and had eight layoffs
On March 26th, the 13-year-old Waterbury (Vermont) Record reported it
printed its last edition.
on March 30, the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,
announced it’s cutting print on Saturday, Monday and
Tuesday.
The Henrico Citizen in Henrico County, Virginia, announced it was stopping its twice-monthly print edition
for April “and possibly beyond.”
Adams Publishing Group, which operates dailies and weeklies in 20
states, announced a cut in workforce hours
on March 31, The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, announced furloughs and pay cuts.
San Francisco Examiner and SF Weekly announced cuts in hours and pay to staff.
On April 1, 22nd Century Media, which published community
newspapers in the Chicago suburbs, went out of business,
On April 2 and 3, newsrooms that are part of Alden Global Capital’s
MediaNews Group learned of layoffs and furloughs. Newsrooms include
The Denver Post, the Boston Herald and several in California.
On April 6, Poynter’s Tom Jones reported temporary pay cuts at The Dallas Morning
News.
This is just the Cliff’s Notes version. If you want to read the
entire sorry report by Poynter, click on
My advice to college journalism students: Not a good time to look for a newspaper job. Duh!
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