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Union-Tribune announces 192 layoffs across company


By William Yelles, SDNN

Thursday, May 7, 2009 8 comments  |  read comments  |  post a comment

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The San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday said it is eliminating 192 positions at the newspaper across all departments. The staff reduction comes after the sale of the paper to Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity Partners was finalized Monday.

Newsroom staffers let go, according to sources inside the paper, include Family editor Jane Clifford; longtime sportswriter Tom Krasovic; former arts editor and current critic-at-large Lee Grant; Night & Day editor Mike Crowell; Margaret King, who edited the Food and Quest sections of the paper; reporters Ray Huard, Greg Gross, Jennifer Vigil, Penni Crabtree, Jonathan Sidener and Lola Sherman; North County bureau chief Janet Lavelle; editorial writer Beth Barber; photographers Crissy Pasqual, Nancee Lewis and Dan Trevan;  lifestyles and entertainment general manager Chris Lavin; the entire staffs of Today’s Local News and SD Backyard; and three staffers from Enlace, the U-T’s Spanish-language weekly.

Positions were eliminated across the company including advertising. Seven janitors were let go, sources said.

The moves come after employees of the paper were asked last week to sign documents from Platinum informing them that if they continued in their roles, they might be laid off at any time.

Positions are being eliminated effective July 6. Staffers are being given 60 days notice, the minimum California requirement when a company terminates more than 50 employees at once.

The newspaper industry nationwide is under increasing financial pressure due to the current economic downturn and eroding advertising fortunes as readers increasingly turn from print to the Web.

Speculation as to the likelihood of layoffs have been rampant since La Jolla-based Copley Press announced the sale of the paper to Platinum on March 18. Terms were not disclosed.

“We will be working diligently to make the transition for those affected as easy as possible,” Drew Schlosberg, director of community and public relations, said in a statement. “We thank all of these employees for their years of service. Their dedication in making the Union-Tribune the region’s leading local media company is - and always will be - highly appreciated and regarded.”

Schlosberg wouldn’t comment as to how many of the 192 affected employees were from the newsroom.

“The Union-Tribune does not discuss specific personnel matters, including which positions have been eliminated,” he said. “I can tell you, the affected employees come from all departments of the Union-Tribune.”

William Yelles is SDNN managing editor.

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READER COMMENTScomment rules | moderation | privacy

Comment by: valerie.brown Posted: May 7, 2009, 5:28 pm

The slow death of the newspaper industry is sad but inevitable. It’s a whole new world of information and communication that is connecting people.

Comment by: Watcher Posted: May 8, 2009, 11:04 am

We’ll know that the paper is finally beginning to turn around when they lay off Bob Kittle. As much as anyone else, he’s been responsible for the papers demise.

Comment by: Jeff M Posted: May 10, 2009, 10:39 pm

While the economic disaster has hastened the destruction of printed media, these cutbacks and gutting of what makes newspapers different, will be the last nail in the printed coffin.

Comment by: Jim O'Connell Posted: June 4, 2009, 4:45 pm

As a former employee of the Union-Tribune I am not surprised that it is dying a slow death. I worked in the newsroom for 6 years and in advertising for 10 years. The newsroom was full of big egos with little talent for chasing down a story. Those reporters that excelled at their jobs were stolen away by other news organizations - people like Walt Baranger (now with the NY Times); Mark Kreidler (now with the San Francisco Chronicle and a nationally syndicated columnist); and Buster Olney and Ric Bucher (now with ESPN). When these top caliber reporters were being courted by these other media groups the Union-Tribune never made any attempt to keep them on board. Management, led by Karin Winner, was pretty much worthless when it came to realising the true value of these former employees.

When I moved into advertising as a sales rep the some bonehead management prevailed. In fact, one of the most ignorant and abhorrent things I heard came from the mouth of Advertising Manager Scott Whitley shortly after the atrocity of Sept. 11th, 2001. Our advertisers were hurting badly due people’s cut back in traveling and spending habits after the attack. In October, during a staff meeting at which Whitley was announcing the advertising rate increases for the coming 2002, he was asked if the management had considered not raising rates for 2002 as the advertisers were hurting financially in the wake of 9/11. He said now they hadn’t. I personally asked him why they felt they had to raise the rates. His reply, “because we can.” This reflected the newspapers attitude towards its customers - both the advertisers and the readers.

I left the paper shortly afterwards as I felt that this kind of attitude was extremely high-handed and crass. (It is my fervent hope that Whitley falls victim to the next round of UT layoffs which we all know is coming.)

Comment by: Union-Tribune owner makes bid for Boston Globe Posted: August 7, 2009, 10:17 am

[...] days after Platinum closed its deal for the U-T, the paper laid off 192 employees, or 18 percent of the [...]

Comment by: San Diego Union-Tribune announces another round of layoffs Posted: August 12, 2009, 4:24 pm

[...] the sale of the newspaper to the Beverly Hills-based investment firm Platinum Equity. The paper cut 192 positions three days after the paper’s sale was finalized in [...]

Comment by: sdfisherlady Posted: August 23, 2009, 1:21 pm

Too bad they didn’t lay off Karen Winner too and why is she not publishing her real/full name salary since subscribers contribute to her income. As a former city employee after 37 years, I cancelled my subscription and encourage(d) all other city employees to cancel theirs.

Comment by: William Yelles: It’s back to the future at the Union-Tribune Posted: October 9, 2009, 9:21 am

[...] the headlines out of Mission Valley have been different: Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity cut 192 employees within days of closing on its purchase of the U-T in May, followed by a second round of 112 cuts in [...]

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