Got word that the Palm Beach Post jolted the newsroom yesterday with a bulletin-board announcement that it is cutting costs in the next few weeks, including eliminating an unknown number of newsroom staffers through "early retirement" packages.
Post management will also reduce the size of the newspaper by cutting pages, combining sections, and axing some sections altogether, according to a source.
It's another chilling sign of the severe contraction of the newspaper industry, and the method used to convey the potentially life-changing cuts only added to the jarring nature of the news. The announcement was made via letter-sized memos from the desk of Publisher Tom Giuffrida that were posted on bulletin boards around the newsroom.
"No newsroom meeting, no department meetings, no e-mail notice, no first-hand delivery whatsoever to newsroom employees," wrote the source. "How utterly classless is that?"
More on this later, I'm sure.
