The Seattle Times on Monday announced plans to cut its staff by 10 per cent through a combination of layoffs and buyouts, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The cuts of 130 to 150 jobs are the third staff reduction announced by the 112-year-old, family owned newspaper this year. The company hinted in an email to staff Monday morning that there could be further cuts as the 2009 budgeting process continues. [Link]
The newspaper told its employees that the tough economy and dropping advertising revenue are forcing the layoffs. "We have made progress in adapting to the loss of advertising revenue. ... Now, we are faced with a highly volatile national economy which has caused a significant cyclical downturn," said company spokeswoman Corey Digiacinto.
Because some of the job cuts will be voluntary buyouts, Digiacinto said it would be unclear for at least another month which departments the job reductions would most affect. A majority of those leaving the company will do so by the end of the calendar year, she said. "There are a lot of moving pieces right now because of the expression of interest process, so we don't anticipate having all of the specifics before mid- to late December," she said.
The rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer had some background details: [Link]
Earlier this year, The Seattle Times Co. cut 277 jobs by freezing positions, voluntary separations, layoffs and elimination of its north suburban bureau team.
The company also put two of its four downtown properties up for sale, put its Maine newspapers up for sale and signed a deal to outsource trucking for newspaper delivery.
Both of Seattle's daily newspapers have been grappling with the worsening economy and cutting expenses. They are not alone -- newspapers across the country have been laying off workers and restructuring because of rapidly decreasing revenue from print advertising.
Meanwhile, soaring numbers of visitors to seattletimes.com and seattlepi.com have not translated to sufficient boosts in revenue.
Despite cuts, The Seattle Times' network, which includes both those Web sites, remains the area's largest provider of news and information, reaching 70 percent of adults in King and Snohomish counties, according to the company.
