McClatchy Pares Bee & Observer Staffs

Image via WikipediaToday's announcement that Democrats will hold their 2012 presidential convention in Charlotte, N.C., was the only bright spot in the Charlotte Observer newsroom as publisher Ann Caulkins laid off 20 employees, including five newsroom positions, in the face of continuing declines in circulation and advertising.

Before the latest round of job cuts, the Observer boasted 530 full-time employees, including 150 newsroom slots. The Observer also plans to have workers take a one-week unpaid furlough during the first quarter of 2011 in another cost-cutting move.

The Observer wasn't the only McClatchy Co.-owned daily to receive bad news today, as the Sacramento Bee slashed 32 staffers, including nine editorial jobs.  The Bee has endured six staff reductions over the past three years that have eliminated 360 positions, roughly 30 percent of the paper's workforce.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy chain owns 30 newspapers nationwide, including The Wichita Eagle, The Anchorage Daily News and The (Tacoma) News Tribune.

Bad Day for Southern Journos with Layoffs at Two Dailies

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The continuing loss of advertising lineage and shriveling circulation among newspapers means more layoffs in the newsroom.


Trade publication Editor & Publisher reports that The Florida Times Union, owned by Augusta, Ga.-based Morris Publishing Group, this week laid off 6 percent of its work force, or 26 workers, a third of whom were editorial staffers. Editorial cartoonist Ed Gamble's position was one of eight newsroom slots eliminated. Morris Publishing Group last spring emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.


The news isn't any better at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, which underwent its second round of layoffs this year. The paper this week eliminated 20 positions through layoffs and voluntary buyouts, and is mandating that remaining workers take an unpaid week-long furlough in the fourth quarter of 2010.  In January, the paper trimmed 11 newsroom jobs among 25 staff cutbacks overall.