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Layoff/buyout blog hits 10,000

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It’s a day no one really wanted to see, but the 87 buyouts at the Sacramento Bee pushed this year’s total of layoffs/buyouts at U.S. newspapers above 10,000. That’s 39.39 jobs per day.

The total doesn’t tell the full story, though: More layoffs and buyouts have not been reported.

Earlier this week, the Billings Gazette laid off two reporters One of them, Luella Brien, was told not to tell her co-workers that she’d been laid off. The paper, owned by Lee Enterprises, did not report the layoffs on its Web site or (that I’ve found) in print. In July, Tribune Co. did the same thing but on a larger scale at the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Officials at both papers eventually released statements after bloggers and professional organizations called them on it: The Sentinel laid off 52 employees; the Sun-Sentinel laid off 58 employees.

(Update: On Sept. 11, The Billings Gazette published a story confirming the paper had laid off nine employees, the Montana Standard had laid off seven employees, the Casper Star Tribune had laid off four employees. But also on Sept. 11, Lee-owned Western World in Bandon, Ore., laid off one employee and has not published or acknowledged it.)

The following papers have laid off employees or offered buyouts:
(Any help filling in missing numbers is appreciated.)

Even if each entry is just one layoff or buyout, and that’s still 124 more jobs. No matter what, our industry has lost a lot of jobs, and a lot of great journalists.

See the map and more information at Paper Cuts. If you know of a layoff/buyout that’s not included, or can help track down some numbers, send me an e-mail.

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2 comments and counting

  1. Pingback - 2008 newspaper buyouts/layoffs > 10,000 « PostResearch   /   September 11, 2008    #

    [...] 11, 2008 in JournalismTags: Journalism graphicdesignr reports that her Paper Cuts blog has counted more than 10,000 layoffs and buyouts at U.S. [...]

  2. Pingback - Gossip and you » Blog Archive » Layoff/buyout blog hits 10000   /   September 11, 2008    #

    [...] Erica Smith wrote an interesting post today on Layoff/buyout blog hits 10000. Here’s a quick excerpt: [...]

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