The Times, They Are A-Laying Off...

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Bloodied by the precipitous decline in advertising revenue that has beset the newspaper industry, The New York Times will slash its newsroom staff by 100.

The reduction, which amounts to 8 percent of newsroom personnel and will result in a newsroom staffed by 1,150 reporters and editors, will be accomplished initially by voluntary buyouts, followed by layoffs until the 100 slots are eliminated. Union and non-union workers agreed to a 5 percent pay cut earlier this year to stave off layoffs, which have arrived nonetheless.

The newsroom already was reduced by 100 positions last year, mostly through buyouts. The business side of the The Grey Lady also lost 100 staffers last spring and now employs about 1,850.  The shrinking payroll at the Times is in response to the steep drop-off in ad revenues. 

The New York Times still has the largest news staff of any newspaper in the country. This development can't be good news for The Boston Globe, which is owned by the Times.  The offers of two prospective buyers of the Globe were rejected by the Times, which told Globe staffers last week that it couldn't guarantee that the Globe would not experience additional staff layoffs.