'The Sun' No Longer Shines on Two Foreign Bureaus

By: E&P Staff The Sun in Baltimore announced today it is shuttering its London and Beijing bureaus.

In a memo to Sun staffers, executives cited a weak advertising environment affecting not only the Sun but other big city papers, such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Jose Mercury News, all facing layoffs or buyouts.

?Our stark choice was either to resort to layoffs, cut the newshole, or reduce expenses in other substantial ways,? said the memo first posted on the media Web site Romenesko. ?Our goal was to avoid layoffs and any reduction in space devoted to content.?

In addition to closing the two bureaus, the paper will leave open some unfilled newsroom positions.

The Sun plans to use content from other Tribune papers that have correspondents in London and Beijing. The Sun's other foreign bureaus in Jerusalem, Moscow, and Johannesburg will remain open. The memo read: ?This was a difficult decision, and not one that we made lightly. Through previous rounds of budget cuts, we were able to preserve all of our foreign bureaus. This time we had nowhere else to turn.?