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Update this morning.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/03/22/globe_cuts_24_jobs_in_newsroom_via_buyouts/?page=full

Globe cuts 24 jobs in newsroom via buyouts
By Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | March 22, 2007

The Boston Globe reduced its newsroom staff by 24 people, or 6 percent, through a buyout that included several of its most prominent and longtime journalists, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, columnist Eileen McNamara and investigative reporter Stephen Kurkjian.

The buyout program was an effort to cut costs but avoid layoffs in the face of some of the harshest conditions for newspapers and other mass media in years. Staffers seeking a buyout had to apply for it. Most were notified yesterday that their applications were accepted, and their departures will occur over the next few months.

"It is always difficult to say goodbye to co-workers and friends," Globe editor Martin Baron wrote in a memo to the staff yesterday. "Wonderful people who have dedicated themselves so fully to the success of the Globe will no longer be working with us side by side. I know that all of us wish them well."

Other writers familiar to Globe readers who are leaving include restaurant critic Alison Arnett, religion reporter and former Middle East bureau chief Charles A. Radin, Bogota bureau chief Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, and outdoors writer Tony Chamberlain.

"It's very bittersweet," said Chamberlain, 64, whose nearly three decades of covering sailing, skiing, and other sports included Olympic games and the America's Cup. "This is not the typical job that you just want to escape from."

Two staffers from the editorial page also took buyouts, including longtime deputy editorial page editor and columnist Robert L. Turner.

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Related story.

URL: http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/business/article/0,1375,VCS_128_5433861,00.html

22 Star employees offered voluntary separation packages
By Allison Bruce, abruce@VenturaCountyStar.com
March 22, 2007

Hit by an advertising revenue decline that is affecting the entire newspaper industry, The Star has turned to cost-cutting measures, including a plan announced Wednesday that would offer severance packages to certain employees if they decide to leave the newspaper.

"I've been in the business 29 years, and I've never seen a slump come on as quickly as this one in advertising dollars," Star Publisher and President Tim Gallagher said Wednesday.

The company already has made some adjustments, such as instituting a hiring freeze and re-examining some vendor contracts.

"We're finding ways to operate more efficiently," Gallagher said.

Twenty-two of the paper's 404 employees were offered voluntary separation plans Wednesday.

The employees are age 55 and older who have worked at least 10 years for E.W. Scripps, parent company of The Star. The package includes a week's pay for every six months an employee has worked for the newspaper, for up to a year's worth of pay, and 18 months of health benefits covered by the company.

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