Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg announced in an email to employees this afternoon that the newspaper is cutting 119 jobs in what amounts to the third round of buyouts, according to two newsroom sources.
The cuts are being made across the McClatchy Company, which in total is slashing 1150 positions across the chain.
Landsberg's explanation to employees, issued today at about 4:30 p.m., was dictated to the Pulp by one reporter.
"Today we are announcing plans to reduce our worforce by 119 full-time equivalents, or about 10 percent of all employees," Landsberg wrote. "About 80 full-time and part-time employees will leave the company as a result of this reduction, but we’ll also eliminate many positions that are already vacant. ... [T] he necessity of these painful steps is especially disappointing because we believed the cuts made two months ago would be sufficient to see us through the sharp revenue declines that have beset the newspaper industry."
Here Landsberg was referring to 250 job cuts made at the struggling newspaper in June. Just weeks before that, the newspaper gave buyouts to a small number of newsroom personnel, including veteran writer Martin Merzer.
Shortly after Landsberg's email was sent out, Editor Anders Gyllenhaal sent out his own missive that clarified that “in the newsroom, the reductions will mean the departure of 23 colleagues from positions spread across all desks and disciplines."
The newspaper will offer a buyout -- the same package offered in previous purges -- to about 200 employees, who will have until next Wednesday, September 24, to decided whether or not to take it. The newspaper is having staff meetings today at 5:45 p.m. to discuss this round of buyouts, but sources said they were unsurprised by the announcement.
"We’re past all the stages of death and mourning and denial and rage and we're now in the acceptance mode," said one reporter. "We’re building fucking Edsels in Detroit here. Some of us are going to do this until we die. Or until they kill us. And it looks they’re killing more of us now."