Times-Picayune Lays Off Nearly One-Third of its Staff

By: Jaquetta White | The Times-Picayune

Managers at The Times-Picayune are informing more than 200 members of the newspaper staff today that their last day at the company will be Sept. 30. The Times-Picayune, according to company executives, is shrinking its overrall staff -- including news, advertising, circulation and other departments -- by 32 percent, or 201 employees.

In the news operation alone, 84 of the 173 people currently employed in the Times-Picayune newsroom were notified Tuesday that they will lose their jobs and be given severance packages. Employees who were not laid off were offered new jobs beginning this fall with Nola Media Group, the new company that will oversee news coverage for The Times-Picayune beginning this fall.