An anonymous source supplied three names that I won't repeat until further word, but they are all three very high-profile journalists. The faces of the newspaper, in fact. I'm afraid tomorrow is going to be Black Thursday.
UPDATED: Okay, this is now from multiple sources (including a comment below): Yesterday the Sentinel let go Palm Beach County columnist Ralph De La Cruz and former Palm Beach columnist Howard Goodman, who I believe has been working on the web side, though I'm not certain.
I never thought I'd be writing that De La Cruz was leaving the Sentinel. Before he was unceremoniously shipped to Palm Beach, De La Cruz was in the Features department for several years, writing Ray Recchi/John Grogan-style columns, many of them about his family. He spent months reporting on bullies at school. He's been the journalistic equivalent of a warm blanket -- and his departure signals just how cold the current newspaper climate really is.
Howard Goodman has worked in Palm Beach for many years and, in my view, has always been a very good dependable journalist and writer. I think he may be a victim of geography as much as anything else. The Sentinel has been scaling back in Palm Beach County and both of these losses are more of that.
(Actually the purge began last week with the loss of deputy managing editor Pat Thompson and design director Paul Wallen. Now it's beginning in earnest.)
