Boston Globe Plans to Trim Its Newsroom by 12%
The New York Times
Published: Jan 16, 2009
The Boston Globe will reduce its news staff by 12 percent through buyouts and possibly layoffs, the paper announced on Thursday, part of a sharp contraction in the size of American newspapers as they grapple with falling advertising and circulation.
The Globe wants to lower its newsroom headcount by 50, said Robert M. Powers, a spokesman for the paper. In all, he said, it has a news staff of about 433 “full-time equivalents,” including 379 full-time employees.
Only full-time workers will be eligible for the buyout, he said, and if there are not enough voluntary takers, the paper will resort to layoffs. The Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Company, did not disclose the buyout terms it will offer.
Like most papers around the country, The Globe has endured multiple rounds of newsroom cutbacks; earlier in this decade, it had well over 500 people on its news staff.
The Globe’s weekday circulation of 324,000 ranks 14th in the country, and its Sunday sales of 504,000 is 11th. But those figures are down 30 percent since 2000.
The Times Company has reported that through November, advertising revenue from its newspapers and related Internet sites was down 14.1 percent in 2008. The company’s New England segment, which includes The Globe and the much smaller Worcester Telegram & Gazette, was down 18 percent.
© The New York Times. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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