Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News Announce Layoffs As Dinosaur Media Dies A Slow Death

(Joel Mathis) As expected, layoffs were announced at Philadelphia Media Network on Wednesday afternoon — nearly 50 journalists and other workers at the Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com told they will lose their jobs as the company restructures.

The Newspaper Guild said Philly.com and the Daily News were the most heavily hit, each losing 17 staffers — the website losing roughly half its production staff — while the Inquirer was slated to lose a dozen people. The list of journalists losing their jobs included a number of familiar bylines, as well as behind-the-scenes staffers.

“I think it devastates the whole operation,” said Bill Ross, director of the guild, which represents journalists at the papers. “They wiped out the whole Daily News copy desk. It’s ridiculous.”

A Daily News journalist added: “DN is left with literally a handful of people. It’s staggering.”

“A blood bath,” added a Philly.com staffer.



“It’s a difficult day for everyone in our organization, most of all those who will be losing their jobs,” Keith Black, PMN’s vice president of human relations, said in a statement. “Like every media organization in America, we are going through a necessary restructuring to meet the realities and demands of a changing market. Out of respect for the individuals impacted, we will not be commenting further on this internal, personnel-related process. We have contracted with a highly respected outplacement firm to help these good folks find work as soon as possible.”

Ross declined to give the names of journalists who had lost their jobs. Philly Mag reached out to some of the journalists Wednesday afternoon, but those who responded said they weren’t ready to talk.

Some, however, took to social media to acknowledge they’d been let go.

The workers were given 30 days notice, Ross said. In the meantime, the guild will decide whether to challenge some of the layoff decisions.

The newest contract between PMN and the Newspaper Guild allows the company to partially disregard “last hired, first fired” seniority rules and save up to 25 percent of the employees in groups targeted for layoffs, provided those employees were deemed “essential to the company’s operations.”

Ross said the guild may challenge the company’s determination of who was deemed “essential.”

“We’re not sure how we’re going to proceed. Some senior employees were laid off, some junior employees were saved,” he said. “We’ll see. We’re not there yet. We have 30 days to work this out.”

Ross added: “To put people on the street at Christmas, at Thanksgiving, to risk people’s health care and their children’s health care, it’s an absolute disgrace.”

The layoffs, he said, are supposed to become effective December 4th.

[Update] The Guild sent out this message to members on Wednesday night: