Sun cuts 27 percent of newsroom by Andy Rosen Daily Record

Baltimore Sun cuts 27% of newsroom

ANDY ROSEN

Daily Record Business Writer

April 29, 2009

The Baltimore Sun has laid off 61 newsroom employees this week, in a round of job cuts that has claimed some of the longest tenured journalists at the paper.

The Sun Wednesday confirmed the number of layoffs, but did not provide a breakdown of what positions were affected. Officials with the Baltimore-Washington Newspaper Guild said that 40 newsroom members were losing their jobs — one voluntarily. Those reductions were in addition to at least 18 top and mid-level editors, and three others, who were laid off.

The reductions amount to about 27 percent of the Sun’s newsroom staff, according to the guild, hitting several long-tenured editors, photographers, designers and other staff.

“People are devastated,” said Gus Sentementes, a guild mobilizer in the newsroom and a general assignment reporter, who said these were some of the most severe reductions in memory. “We are changing the way we do our work.” Sentementes will remain on staff, he said.

The magnitude of the reductions left many wondering whether they’d be able to recognize the Sun in coming days and months.

Publisher Timothy E. Ryan and Editor J. Montgomery Cook did not respond to calls seeking comment Wednesday. Spokeswoman Renee Mutchnik confirmed that the paper had informed the guild of layoffs.

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The Sun is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., which filed for bankruptcy in December.

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People who were in the newsroom Wednesday described an emotional scene, with staff members being called into offices to get the news that their jobs were gone.

Bill Wachsberger, a designer who was laid off Wednesday, said staff members had widely anticipated the job reductions and the atmosphere was tense when he arrived around 1:45 p.m. At 2 p.m., management began informing employees.

“You could hear a pin drop in the newsroom,” he said.

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Eileen Canzian, a metro desk editor who was laid off Tuesday, said she was glad to have spent 30 years at the Sun, but wonders what it will look like in the future. She said the cuts severely reduced the number of editors on the metro desk.

“When I realized that they felt that they didn’t need my skills anymore, I thought, ‘Well, the paper’s in a new place, and that is a very sad place,’” Canzian said. “I feel even worse for the young people who didn’t get to spend their lives doing this.”

The Baltimore Sun Media Group has also made cuts in the past few weeks to many of the newspapers it owns throughout Central Maryland in its Patuxent Publishing chain. Last week, the Northeast Booster in Perry Hall and the Northeast Reporter in Parkville said they would combine and publish as a monthly paper. Both outlets had been weeklies. The Owings Mills Times and the North County News in Baltimore County will shift to monthly production as well.

The company has also stop publishing the Eldersburg Eagle in Carroll County, which came out on Wednesdays, and will combine some of its elements into the Sunday Carroll Eagle.

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Read the entire story here: Sun cuts 27 percent of newsroom by Andy Rosen Daily Record

20090429 Sun cuts 27 percent of newsroom by Andy Rosen Daily Record

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