More Layoffs at Miami Herald, English and Spanish Editions
Categories: Business, Fish Wrapper
The Daily Newspaper Death March continued with yesterday's announcement of 49 jobs cut from the Miami Herald. Of those, nine positions were eliminated in the Herald newsroom, and six were sliced from the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald.
This is worrisome on a number of levels, not least because of the doomsday tone of the memos Publisher David Landsberg and Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal sent to the staff yesterday. They both blamed the economy for the cutbacks.
"It's disappointing and frustrating to be in this position after many months of progress,"
Gyllenhaal wrote. "But it's obvious that the economy has stalled and we've been feeling the impact through the summer and early fall."
In the past few years, as more than 1,000 jobs have been cut from South Florida's daily newspapers, layoffs at the Herald have often been accompanied by further bleeding at the Sun-Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. Volatility at all three papers has become the norm.
This March, the Post gave its disheartened employees raises. But four months later, the paper shut down its Spanish-language weekly, La Palma.
El Nuevo Herald has also been steadily shrinking, running more Miami Herald stories translated into Spanish instead of reporting original news in a town full of Latin American immigrants.
Last year, a beleaguered Miami Herald staffer described a "post-apocalyptic" newsroom full of mysterious editor meetings and fear. The latest cuts surely won't help lift the mood.
This is worrisome on a number of levels, not least because of the doomsday tone of the memos Publisher David Landsberg and Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal sent to the staff yesterday. They both blamed the economy for the cutbacks.
"It's disappointing and frustrating to be in this position after many months of progress,"
Gyllenhaal wrote. "But it's obvious that the economy has stalled and we've been feeling the impact through the summer and early fall."
In the past few years, as more than 1,000 jobs have been cut from South Florida's daily newspapers, layoffs at the Herald have often been accompanied by further bleeding at the Sun-Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. Volatility at all three papers has become the norm.
This March, the Post gave its disheartened employees raises. But four months later, the paper shut down its Spanish-language weekly, La Palma.
El Nuevo Herald has also been steadily shrinking, running more Miami Herald stories translated into Spanish instead of reporting original news in a town full of Latin American immigrants.
Last year, a beleaguered Miami Herald staffer described a "post-apocalyptic" newsroom full of mysterious editor meetings and fear. The latest cuts surely won't help lift the mood.
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