The death watch

[Tom Petty]

instead of mucking up the gannett thread, i wanted to ask: how many folks have been cut from our profession this year and in the past two years?

are there any estimates out there?

 

[Joe Williams]

Let me pour myself a stiff drink before someone posts a number, OK?

 

[JayFarrar]

The number of full-time journalists working at America’s daily newspapers shrank by 4.4 percent in the past year, the largest decrease in the past 30 years according to the annual census conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
...
An estimated 2,400 journalists left newsrooms in 2007 through a combination of buyouts and layoffs. Since 2001, newsrooms have lost an estimated 3,800 professionals, a 6.7 percent decline. But the largest loss came last year.

 

[Fredrick]

It truly is a death watch, hastened by the rise of the unprofitable Internet.

 

[Tom Petty]

Let me pour myself a stiff drink before someone posts a number, OK?

that's fair. i poured one after reading through the gannett thread.

 

[Angola!]

wow. 2,400 in the last year? that's nuts.

 

[Cadet]

http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

 

[Tom Petty]

wow. 2,400 in the last year? that's nuts.

in 2007. 2008 will smash that number.

 

[spnited]

I believe it's already more than 3,000 this year.
Not quite the equivalent of Citi Group's 50,000!

 

[JayFarrar]

http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

From Cadet's site ...

2008 total: 14,061+ jobs

Drink now, don't stop.

 

[spnited]

14,061 and Gannett isn't done yet.
Holy ****!

 

[Tom Petty]

jay - your 2007 numbers come from newsroom cuts. cadet's 2008 numbers are overall newspaper cuts, correct?

 

[Cadet]

Correct.

 

[JayFarrar]

If Jim Hopkins is right, Gannett has about 2,500 more people to layoff.
And as already noted, that's the entire newspaper business, not just the newsrooms.

 

[NoOneYouKnow]

And these numbers grow even more when you consider how many people have left newspapers on their own free will.

 

[Bullwinkle]

That 2007 number is a bit misleading. Those 2,000+ job cuts were only from June to December, whereas the 2008 job cuts (14,000+) span the entire calendar year.

So, yeah, the newspaper industry isn't as bad as ya'll are making it out to be.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/

From Cadet's site ...

2008 total: 14,061+ jobs

Drink now, don't stop.

I'd like to think I'm the 1

 

[Mark2010]

Your ego becomes you!!

 

[Mizzougrad96]

14,061 and Gannett isn't done yet.
Holy ****!

That sounds accurate.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Add me to the list.

I just found out a few hours ago. Went to sign my termination papers, and will get a little something for not being litigious.

I'm almost certain it wasn't performance-based. Luckily for me, it also wasn't my bread-winning job, either. Still, it hurts. And FWIW, I believed my departure saved someone whose likely only source of income and benefits was there.

People there are classy, and it's never comfortable or easy. It doesn't make it hurt much less.

Carry on.