Three Top Editors at 'Chicago Trib' Agree to Buyouts

By: Three Chicago Tribune editors are leaving the newspaper, among the first exits related to cost-trimming at the Tribune Company's flagship.

The staff reductions announced Friday are a mix of voluntary and involuntary departures, says Tribune spokesman Michael Dizon, who declined to release numbers.

A blog post by Tribune columnist Manya Brachear gives more than 20 names of employees leaving and called Friday "the saddest day yet."

The three editors requested and received buyouts. They are: Hanke Gratteau, managing editor for news, public editor Timothy J. McNulty and Washington bureau chief Michael Tackett.

Tribune is cutting costs to offset declines in advertising and circulation revenue that have sharpened this year for most newspapers.

Dizon says most of the staff members leaving Friday "expressed willingness to do so."