Tribune cuts 14 percent of news staff
NEW YORK -- The Chicago Tribune carried out its plan to trim 14 percent of newsroom staff on Friday, as the Tribune Co.'s flagship paper moves to save $8.8 million in annual costs.
The biggest Chicago daily, with average circulation of 541,663, laid off 80 newsroom personnel, editor Gerould Kern said in a letter to staff, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"While painful, these staff reductions are necessary to establish the foundation for a sustainable future," Kern said in the memo.
Newspaper revenue and circulation have shrunk as readers — with advertisers in tow — increasingly move online. Advertisers spend online a small fraction of what they used to pay newspapers for prime ad space.
The Chicago Tribune now has 480 newsroom staff, which Kern said makes it the largest news organization in the city. The memo made no mention of specific people or jobs that were cut.
Publisher Bob Gremillion had announced to staff in July that the paper would slash 80 jobs, probably by late August, to trim $8.8 million in salary and benefits at the 161-year-old newspaper.
A week later, editor Ann Marie Lipinski resigned after seven years in that job, saying, "This position is not the fit it once was."
Her resignation came two months after George de Lama, the paper's managing editor for news, announced he was leaving the Tribune after 30 years.
Last December, Tribune Co. bought out its public shareholders in an $8.2 billion deal orchestrated by real estate mogul Sam Zell. Now, he and the company are struggling to service that debt with cuts at its newspaper properties, which also include the Los Angeles Times, the Orlando Sentinel and The (Baltimore) Sun.
Tribune is letting go of 250 LA Times staff, including 150 from the newsroom.
The employees who were dismissed from the Chicago paper will receive one week's pay for every six months of service, up to a maximum of one year's salary, Kern's memo said. They will also receive benefits at the same cost and level at the rate of one week for each six months of service.