UPDATE: 'Baltimore Sun' Lays Off Almost 60 -- Guild Leader Calls Cuts 'Shocking'

By: Joe Strupp The mass exodus of editors at The Baltimore Sun is expected to approach 20, according to Newspaper Guild leaders at the paper, who said the layoffs are part of a shift away from traditional newspapering and toward multi-platform content.

They also fear that more cuts, to guild members, are looming with as many as 20 rank-and-file jobs expected to go.

"They are clearly trying to move to be an information producer, not a newspaper publisher," said Angie Kuhl, Guild unit chair at the Sun. "It is a flattening of the newsroom."

Her comments followed Editor Monty Cook's meeting with newsroom staffers late Tuesday, in which he announced at least 15 of the editor-level layoffs, which included both top editorial page editors.

"This is really a devastating hit," she said. "These are experienced journalists with a wealth of knowledge."

UPDATE: The Associated Press now reports the Sun has laid off nearly 60 people in its newsroom, including (besides top editors) columnists, photographers and designers. A spokeswoman for the newspaper says managerial-level employees were laid off at the end of the day Tuesday, and union-represented employees were informed Wednesday afternoon. The Sun did not disclose how many people lost their jobs, but the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild says 37 people were let go Wednesday. Staffers who were laid off Tuesday say about 21 managers were let go.

Brent Jones, a Sun reporter and vice-chair of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, told E&P after this report that at least one-quarter of the layoffs affected copy editors and other production staffers, noting only one news reporter had been among the departed, so far. He said the cuts also drop the newsroom population from about 200 to some 140 staffers. "We've lost a wealth of experience," he said.

Cook and other Sun officials have not returned calls seeking comment.
Jones agreed with Kuhl that the cutbacks are apparently part of a shift away from a traditional newspaper structure to a more multi-platform approach: "They are more about distributing content through many forms."

He said it remains unknown what the structural changes will mean to daily reporting or sections like the editorial page. "Hopefully, we can get some clarification," he added. "We had no idea this was going to happen yesterday, it was shocking."