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San Diego Union-Tribune announces second round of cutbacks, 112 laid off


By Staff, SDNN

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 5 comments  |  read comments  |  post a comment

The San Diego Union-Tribune Wednesday announced 112  layoffs, leaving the news organization with an undisclosed amount of employees.

In their press release touting new advertising offerings and a redesign of SignOnSanDiego.com, the Union-Tribune euphemistically said it plans a “reduction and realignment of staffing levels.”

Sources said staffers were being informed of the news individually Wednesday afternoon.

Feature writer Jennifer Goodwin, sports innovation editor Chuck Scott, web application developer Jay Wood and senior web designer Noah Albrecht were among those let go Wednesday, sources said.

Opinion page editor Bernie Jones and editorial page editor Bob Kittle have been laid-off, as well as Night & Day section editor David Coddon, photographers David Poller, Laura Embry, Rick Nocan and Yvette de la Garza, reporters Mark Arner, Rick Rodgers and Zach Woodruff, according to published reports.

“These initiatives, taken as a whole, strike a balance between our short-term economic reality and our long-term aspirations for growth and re-invention of our product,” Ed Moss, president and publisher of the Union-Tribune, said in a statement.

“We are not commenting on specific personnel issues, including how many and which positions have been eliminated,” U-T spokesperson Drew Schlossberg said in an email to SDNN.

It is the second round of layoffs at the Union-Tribune since 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 May — leaving the newspaper with 850 employees.

Platinum has made a $35 million offer to buy the Boston Globe, it was reported last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comment by: Nancy Hylbert Posted: August 13, 2009, 9:56 am

I’m just a little confused as to why our newspaper is diminishing in size by the week (a one-page business section–c’mon!), we are being asked to pay $3 a month for a TV section that formerly was included, the Travel section is almost non existent, half the writers are gone, and yet the owners are offering $35 million to buy the Boston Globe. Am I missing something here? Maybe it has something to do with outsiders owning the San Diego paper.

Comment by: mama Posted: August 13, 2009, 11:37 am

your first line is interesing - when did the UT announce 112 people let go? did they announce that number? who gave you that number? interesting news coverage

Comment by: Newsjunkie Posted: August 14, 2009, 3:53 pm

Tom and Alex or Alec poor Palestinians from Nazareth Israel, The have very little little compassion for the employees. what goes around comes around

Comment by: Jonh Doe Posted: August 15, 2009, 8:29 pm

Working more and getting paid less then what we use to is the new trend. We have to adjust and some aren’t ready jet, this is why some are getting laid off. Another reason is we are loosing customers and the demand for writers, artist etc is low. Some contractors are getting paid to much. To Newspaper carriers it isn’t even worth it anymore, especially with gas prices going up, car maintenance, aside the 10-15% cut given to carriers from the contractors.

Comment by: Jim O'Connell Posted: November 7, 2009, 9:18 pm

As a former employee of the U-T (6 years in editorial and 10 years in advertising) I can say that the management of the paper has never cared about its readers, its advertisers or its employees. Let’s face it, what in the world could Helen Copley, former secretary to owner James Copley, or her alcoholic, 500-pound son Dave possibly have known about the newspaper business. All they ever cared about was the money. As a former publisher of two newspapers myself, I was constantly amazed by the ineptitude, mediocrity and lack of professionalism the Union-Tribune represented. Piss-poor ownership hiring a piss-poor senior management who in turned hired piss-poor legions of writers, managers and editors. It’s no wonder the paper is on the verge of collapse.

Pity really, because even now the paper still has potential. Unfortunately it would take a complete lobotomy to change the direction in which the paper is heading. The new owners will have to make a clean sweep of management and staff if they are to have any chance of succeeding.

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