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Saturday, May 02, 2009

122 newspaper jobs lost in one day

I don't know of any newspapers that haven't cut jobs in the past two years, but to lose 122 newspaper jobs in a single day is devastating news for a struggling industry. And to have those jobs cut in the same geographic area (Berks and Lehigh counties) is even worse.

The Reading Eagle announced Friday it was cutting 52 jobs, including 18 in its newsroom. This is a family-owned newspaper that has had at least two rounds of layoffs that I know about in the past year, but that many jobs in one day is remarkable. (Ironically, the job cuts were announced after the newspaper ran a four-day series entitled, Newspapers: An uncertain future)

Later in the day, The Allentown Morning Call announced it was eliminating 70 jobs. It did not say how many were in the editorial department. This is one of several layoffs the Morning Call has had in recent years as its parent company, Tribune, sruggles with massive debt.

I know some bloggers are happy to see newspaper people lose their jobs, but let's face it: The day newspapers stop publishing is the day bloggers will have nothing left to write about.

1 comment:

Joe Zlomek, The Sanatoga Post said...

"The day newspapers stop publishing is the day bloggers will have nothing left to write about."

Oh, Tony, such generalities are beneath you. Next you'll claim Arlen Specter was a Republican ... ;-)

Possibly true of some bloggers; certainly not all.