Posted on 11/10/2008 2:48:24 PM PST by shortstop
TAMPA - The Tampa Tribune laid off 18 newsroom employees today as the newspaper works to reduce its costs and cope with a worsening advertising economy.
The job cuts included top managers, mid-level editors, photographers, reporters and some of the paper's most visible faces, including longtime columnist Dan Ruth, who has worked more than 36 years in the newspaper industry, and editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau.
"We have tried to make these cuts so the results are not so obvious to the reader," said Janet Coats, executive editor of the Tribune. At the same time, she said "We've tried to make these reductions early enough so they have an effect in 2009, because it has become clear the economy is not looking any better."
Media companies across the nation were already cutting back operations this year as advertising dollars shift to the Internet and other venues. Media companies in Florida are dealing with added problems, including the near collapse in the real estate market and the end of the political advertising season.
Employment in the Tribune newsroom has shrunk during the year from 265 in January to 193 after Monday, with about 16 employees accepting buyout packages.
Eighty positions were cut Monday across the Florida Communications Group, which operates the Tribune, including advertising, marketing, administration, I.T. and business operations. About a third of the cuts came from open positions – the remainder from layoffs. Current employment stands at about 1,150.
FCG President John Schueler said the organization continues to generate a profit, though he also told employees in a memo that further job cuts were likely.
Hey, don’t feel bad for them. Obama’s going to take care of them. Besides, now that they won’t have incomes coming in, they’ll be part of the masses that receive wealth redistribution.
In the future, please remember the Announcements sidebar is reserved for FR business. Not this.
Dan Ruth is a partisan idiot. Many won’t miss him.
Daniel Ruth has finally achieved his Marxist utopia.
All this sounds good, but aren’t we overdue for more layoffs at the New Dork Times?
Daniel Ruth wasn't that bad. I think he intentionally wrote stuff to get under the skin of the many conservatives in his Tampa Bay audience.
Unfortunately, Ruth was the only voice in Tampa Bay who wrote about corruption in local government on a regular basis.
“I’m glad to see that the Tampa Tribune has dumped that liberal Garrison Keillor wannabe, Daniel Ruth. He was unreadable.”
The local am radio station that carries Rush Limbaugh used to give Daniel Ruth a saturday morning whining/talk show. This guy was the poster child for Bush Derangement Syndrome and was on during the Presidents weekend address.
He got to do a childish rebuttle every weekend.
I was glad to hear he had been cancelled a few months ago. I guess his fishwrap job is gone too.
GOOD!
They cut the size of the paper in half, size and sections, and now adios to those who will not report the truth. Having been interviewed by the Trib, I have first hand experience with the twisting of words.
Daniel Ruth gone.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I could not be happier to see that chump dropped!
Daniel, sucks to be you, loser!
Hahahahahahahahaha!
That just made my day!
It has become absolutely useless unless you need birdcage liner.
Very little actual news, no organization, and everything jumbled into one section.
Subscribers are bailing out faster than the Trib can process the stop orders.
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