Baltimore Sun cuts 61 from newsroom

The Baltimore Sun this week laid off 61 newsroom employees, or nearly a third of the total newsroom, according to an article on the paper's website.

The reductions hit nearly every type of job in the 205-person newsroom, including top editors, news photographers, critics, columnists, sports reporters, copy editors, page designers and graphic artists, according to The Newspaper Guild, which was notified of the union-represented layoffs. One news reporter was laid off as well, after leaving voluntarily. Most employees were notified Wednesday, with others laid off late Tuesday.

According to Poynter's Rick Edmonds, Ted Venetoulis, who has been trying to buy the Sun for years, thought that a deal was close at hand. However:

[...] by ditching so many experienced print editors, Tribune Co. could be signaling that it plans to continue running the operation itself rather than selling it.

A Baltimore Sun Media Group representative said the cuts were part of the paper's transition to a 24-hour multimedia news operation.
Click here for the article on the cuts, and here for the Poynter article.