Los Angeles Times cuts 10% of editorial staff

by Staff, Brand Republic 28-Oct-08, 11:55

LOS ANGELES - Tribune Co's Los Angeles Times has cut 10% of its editorial staff, laying-off 75 employees as part of a 200-person reduction that began last week.

The staff cuts come on top of earlier reductions made this year, including 100 lay-offs in February, which included 40 editorial staff, followed by 135 newsroom lay-offs in July after the newspaper trimmed its page count.

A total of 660 employees are left in the Times editorial team, nearly half the amount it had seven years ago.

In a statement, publisher Eddy W Hartenstein, said: "The Times is no less immune to the twists and turns of the current economic situation than virtually all other businesses and institutions. As such, we continue to evaluate and realign our organisations and operations."

Since entrepreneur Sam Zell took over Tribune last year, the company has eliminated 2,000 jobs in an effort to cut sagging debt.

The announcement comes a week after the New York Times had its stock status downgraded to "junk", meaning that the newspaper would struggle to secure financial backing in the future. However, editor Bill Keller told The New York Observer today that there would be no immediate staff cuts at the NYT.

In the UK, the Financial Times is considering laying-off up to 60 staff.
Job losses are also on the horizon at the Daily Mail after Associated Newspapers announced that it would be merging its Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday sales teams last week.

Yesterday, Midlands News Association announced 120 lay-offs as it merged the business functions of two of its papers.