HR Issues

The Sacramento Bee is giving buyouts to 87 employees, including 23 in its newsroom, the Associated Press (AP) has eported. It's the second time this summer the newspaper has shed jobs, as it faces significant declines in advertising revenue. The buyouts will eliminate about 7 percent of the newspaper's overall work force and 10 percent of the newsroom staff, the Bee reported Thursday. The paper...

Australia's second largest press group Fairfax Media announced Tuesday it would slash five percent of its workforce, or 550 jobs, as part of a plan to save 50 million dollars (43 million US). Unions said the redundancies in Australia and New Zealand would affect around 180 journalists in the group that publishes the flagship Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspapers, Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

Gannett Co Inc plans to eliminate 1,000 positions from its local newspapers around the US because of declining advertising and circulation revenue, and may cut more if those conditions persist, says a Reuters report. The largest US newspaper publisher said the cuts equal about 3 per cent of the positions in its Community Publishing unit, according to a memo obtained by Reuters on Thursday. The...

The Labour Court has ordered the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to reinstate immediately, without loss of salary or benefits, six journalists who were suspended in June 2008, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. The six - Lawrence Maphosa (television production manager), Patrice Makova (news editor), Sibonginkosi Mlilo (executive producer, Nhau/Indaba), Monica...

Only about 13 percent of the Washington daily newspaper press corps are journalists of color, according to a study on diversity by UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. There were slightly more journalists of colour covering the US capital in 2008 than there were four years earlier when UNITY conducted its...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported an 8 percent reduction in its workforce, cutting 189 jobs, according to the Atlata Business Chronicle website. The staff cuts among its 2,300 full-timers will come between August and October and will include a combination of voluntary buyouts, involuntary layoffs and position eliminations, AJC said in a press release. AJC spokesperson Jennifer Morrow...

The Chicago Tribune will cut 80 of its 578 newsroom jobs by the end of August, joining other Tribune newspapers that are laying off staff and trimming the size of their papers as they try to save money, according to a report on the paper's website, says Reuters. A spokesman for the paper declined to comment on the report. The cuts amount to nearly 14 per cent of the paper's news staff, and come on...

Wage board Saturday recommended an interim relief of 30 per cent of basic salary for journalist and non-journalist newspaper employees with effect from January 8, 2008. Briefing reporters after a meeting of the board under the chairmanship of Justice Narayan Kurup, board members said the decision was taken through voting after a detailed discussion. While representative of employees and...

The (Baltimore) Sun will cut about 100 jobs, including 55-60 in the newsroom, through buyouts, layoffs and the closing of open positions, says an Associated Press (AP) report. The latest in a series of cuts to the venerable newspaper were announced Wednesday in a memo from publisher Tim Ryan to the newspaper staff. "These actions are necessary for us to remain competitive and win in the future...

The Boston Herald announced plans on Tuesday to lay off 130-160 workers under a plan to outsource printing operations following a drop in circulation, says a Reuters report. Press workers, mailers, engravers and paper handlers would be affected by the cuts, the Herald said in a story on the cuts posted on its website, www.bostonherald.com. According to Reuters: A Chicopee, Massachusetts, plant...