N.Y. Daily News hit with layoffs reducing editorial staff by half

Mike Snider | USA TODAY

The New York Daily News has had its editorial staff cut in half after layoffs announced Monday by publisher Tronc.

Among the employees departing are editor-in-chief Jim Rich and managing editor Kristen Lee. Robert York, currently the editor at Tronc-owned The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, will become the new editor-in-chief July 30, employees learned from an email sent by the Chicago-based media company.

Tronc, which also owns the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel, acquired the Daily News last year for one dollar. The tabloid, founded in 1919, faced "significant financial challenges," said the Tronc email to employees.

As a result, the Daily News would see its editorial team reduced by 50 percent and coverage would refocused on "breaking news--especially in areas of crime, civil justice and public responsibility," employees were told.

More: Publisher Tronc acquires storied tabloid New York Daily News

The Daily News, which once had hundreds of staffers had already been reduced to 75 to 100, according to The New York Times. The New York Post put the Daily News' current staff at 85.

"The decisions being announced today reflects the realities of our business and the need to adapt an ever-changing media environment," the email sent to employees said. "They are not a reflection on the significant talent that is leaving today. Let there be no doubt: these colleagues are highly valued and will be missed."

The news led to an outpouring of concern. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo encouraged Tronc to reconsider the layoffs and offered state help to keep its staff intact in a note posted to Twitter. "This will undoubtedly devastate many households and hurt an important New York institution and one of our nation’s journalism giants," he said.

My statement on the layoffs at the @NYDailyNews: pic.twitter.com/R1FflH98DX — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 23, 2018

The New York Times’s Glenn Thrush called the tabloid an "essential institution," in his own tweet. “Can’t overstate the role it plays in holding accountable an increasingly unscrutinized, aloof city government. Its slow strangulation is already hurting New York. Its demise would be a disaster.”

The @NYDailyNews is an essential institution. Can't overstate the role it plays in holding accountable an increasingly unscrutinized, aloof city government. Its slow strangulation is already hurting New York. Its demise would be a disaster.https://t.co/1wYgkw9rLj — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) July 20, 2018

Over the years, the Daily News has won 11 Pulitzers, including one in 2017 with ProPublica for a project about evictions. Among its luminaries were columnists such as Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill and Liz Smith.

The Daily News has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump including cover stories calling his tax reform plan "the art of the steal," and showing the president clapping for himself during the State of the Union speech.

TODAY'S FRONT PAGE:

“I can’t believe Michael would do this to me." https://t.co/EVnvcdT5Re



PLUS: The cop who caused the chokehold death of Eric Garner gets hit with NYPD charges https://t.co/JRZpDCpCgz pic.twitter.com/3ZBpmcmjms — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) July 21, 2018

Earlier this year, Tronc sold the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune and several other California newspapers to investment firm Nant Capital, founded by billionaire investor Patrick Soon-Shiong for $500 million in cash. Nant Capital also assumed $90 million in pension liabilities in the deal.

The layoffs at the Daily News came the same day a new Pew Research Center study revealed that more than one-third (36 percent) of the largest U.S. newspapers, and at least 23 percent of the most popular digital news sites have had layoffs between January 2017 and April 2018. Between 2014 and 2017, the number of newsroom employees at newspapers fell by 15%, from about 46,000 to about 39,000, the study says.

Rich, the departing editor-in-chief, let his thoughts be known about the move in a tweet early Monday morning. "If you hate democracy and think local governments should operate unchecked and in the dark, then today is a good day for you."

If you hate democracy and think local governments should operate unchecked and in the dark, then today is a good day for you. — Jim Rich (@therealjimrich) July 23, 2018

He changed his Twitter profile to: “Just a guy sitting at home watching journalism being choked into extinction.”

here’s the full email to NYDN staff about deep cuts at the paper. EIC Jim Rich and managing editor Kristen Lee are both departing pic.twitter.com/7EEDDxOKmE — kelsey sutton (@kelseymsutton) July 23, 2018

More: Publisher Tronc acquires storied tabloid New York Daily News



More: New York Daily News declares tax bill 'Art of the Steal'

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.