'Orlando Sentinel' Lays Off 21 in Cutting 54 Positions

By: E&P Staff In am memo to staffers at her paper late Tuesday, Kathy Waltz, publisher of the Orlando Sentinel, described how the previously announced job cuts broke down as the dust settled. In the end, the paper lost 54 positions in the general Tribune Co. cutbacks, with 33 being open positions, plus 21 layoffs. "Never before has our industry faced greater changes than we do today," Waltz said.

Nearly 2,000 newspaper jobs have been eliminated in 2005. For a list of previous cuts, see this Nov. 17 story.

Ashley Allen, a Sentinel spokeswoman, told the Associated Press that some of cuts "did include some newsroom staff members. The small work force reduction [about 20 positions]a little over a year ago was mostly people on the business side."

Here is Waltz' memo, as first posted at the Romenesko site at www.poynter.org:

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To: OSC DL All Employees
Sent: 11/29/2005 4:30 PM
Subject: An important message from Kathy Waltz

Dear Colleagues,

As I noted in my email dated November 16th, we are faced with important business decisions that will help position Orlando Sentinel Communications for future growth. I want to inform you of some actions announced today in departments across the company as a result of product changes and cost-cutting measures. All affected employees have been notified.

Never before has our industry faced greater changes than we do today - fundamental changes in consumer and advertiser behavior and media technology. This has put enormous pressure on "traditional" media companies to compete for consumer time and advertiser dollars. All of Tribune faces these same economic realities and is taking steps to improve financial performance.

Here at the Sentinel, we eliminated 33 open positions and separated 21 employees from throughout the company today. Those employees leaving the company will receive separation benefits. As our products continue to evolve to meet our readers' and advertisers' needs, our work and staffing levels have changed. We have identified areas where work could be done differently, consolidated or stopped altogether. We also have some retirements and other voluntary departures. In some of these cases, we will not fill the positions as a means to achieve further cost savings.

We will continue to innovate and change our newspaper to stay important and interesting. We are in the process of redesigning several newspaper sections to give the Sentinel greater functionality and efficiency for our readers and advertisers. You will hear more about these innovations in the coming weeks.

I know this kind of change is not easy. As always, I encourage you to talk to your manager or director. And though challenging times such as these stretch each and every one of us, it is also a time of great opportunity. We will continue focusing on what's important - expanding our audience, being innovative in the way we serve our readers, advertisers and communities, and growing revenue. Our company is strong and successful, and together we will evolve and change to adapt to new market realities.

Kathy Waltz