Chicago paper lays off staffer whose job was to spin news of cuts

Michael Miner | Chicago Reader

It was Tammy Chase's job to make layoffs at Sun-Times Media sound good. But now the company can't afford that either.

It was a small story on Orland Park Patch, one of about 500 hyperlocal websites that AOL hopes to have up and running across the country by the end of the year. "A Few More Cuts at the SouthtownStar," said the October 5 headline. The local daily was trimming its staff yet again; the latest to go were reporter Stephanie Gehring, described as a "well-liked 20-year veteran of the newspaper," and Rex Robinson, a community news editor. More cuts were said to be a possibility.

"We will continue to look for efficiencies as the situation warrants," Sun-Times Media spokesperson Tammy Chase told Patch, "but we won't speculate now on whether there will be any more reductions."

At Sun-Times Media, "efficiencies" have recently been made right and left. About 50 drivers were laid off when the job of delivering the flagship Sun-Times was turned over completely to the Tribune in September. This month the Sun-Times laid off sports columnist-turned-features writer Carol Slezak and three editorial assistants. Across the 59 daily and weekly papers held by the company, jobs have vanished in editorial, advertising, marketing, and circulation. Last week the bell tolled again at the SouthtownStar, for two receptionists and two salesmen.

Efficiencies? "That was the general message the company wanted me to put out there," says Tammy Chase. "When you're a journalist you want to tell the whole story. Even if you're not dumping your notebook, you don't want to not cover something if it's really important. In PR you need to be truthful, but you can't say whatever. You need to project the message your company executives want to project. It's a different way of thinking."

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