http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/media-rattled-by-possible-nyt-layoffs-86083.html
THE MEDIA IS WAKING UP TO THE FACT THEY ARE NOT SACRED COWS THEY CAN BE LAID OFF LIKE THE REST OF US LITTLE PEOPLE..
THE MEDIA IS WAKING UP TO THE FACT THEY ARE NOT SACRED COWS THEY CAN BE LAID OFF LIKE THE REST OF US LITTLE PEOPLE..
Possible NYT layoffs rattle media
In the news business, no one is safe - not even senior editors at The New York Times.
The media business was shaken on Friday when it was reported, first in New York Magazine and confirmed by POLITICO, that managing editor John Geddes, assistant managing editor Jim Roberts, dining editor Susan Edgerley, former Washington editor Rick Berke, and former Times Magazine editor Jerry Mazorati could all be casualties of the Times’ effort to cut costs.
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“It is hard to imagine there are too many sacred cows left in any newsroom, given the general state of our industry,” Raju Narisetti, the head of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network and a former Washington Post managing editor, told POLITICO, without specifically responding to the New York Times cuts but talking about ongoing cost cutting efforts across American newsrooms.
The Times underwent a round of buyouts and layoffs in 2009, but the possible departure of high-level Times staffers signals just how dire the current state of news media is.
“In today’s news environment, nobody’s job is safe. Not mine. Not yours. Not Marcus Brauchli’s, who was recently forced out at the Washington Post, which is reason enough for me to reiterate my maxim that everybody in our business should always be looking for their next job,” said Jack Shafer, the Reuters media critic who was fired from Slate last year. “I trust that the great people forced out at the Times will soon get the good jobs they deserve.”
Times executive editor Jill Abramson told staff in December that the paper had to cut 30 newsroom positions, but would be “forced to go to layoffs” if it could not secure enough voluntary buyouts. With the Jan. 24 deadline for those buyouts fast approaching, only two staffers — culture editor Jonathan Landman and reporter Jacques Steinberg — have publicly accepted the offer, though others are believed to have done so privately.
(In an email to POLITICO following publication of this article, Edgerley said she was not going to be asked to leave. “I am not leaving The Times. I love the work, the place and the people and plan to stick around,” she wrote. Roberts, who declined to comment when contacted by POLITICO, later tweeted, “I am not being laid off.”)
In a memo to staff on Friday, Abramson denied rumors that layoffs were imminent. “It is NOT true that we already know that interest in the buyouts won’t be robust enough to prevent involuntary measures,” she wrote.
Abramson also sought to temper some of the hype and the rumors. “We had buyouts and layoffs in 2009. These are not different,” Abramson told POLITICO Friday afternoon.
But sources at the paper, who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity, said this time feels different.
“Whatever sense of invincibility that Times employees still feel after the earlier rounds of cuts is being chipped away in this round,” said one Times guild member, who is not affected by the latest round of cuts.
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