Washington Post Staffers Take Early Retirement (about 70 let go)

About 70 reporters, editors, photographers and newsroom administrators have taken early retirement offers from The Washington Post Co., as the company's flagship newspaper works to contain costs while circulation continues a slow slide.

Some familiar and veteran bylines will exit The Post's pages, such as those of political writer Thomas B. Edsall, science writer Guy Gugliotta, foreign correspondent Daniel Williams, Metro reporter (and panda chronicler) D'Vera Cohn, and business columnists Jerry Knight and Leslie Walker.

Staffers age 54 and older with 10 years of service were eligible to receive up to two years of full-time pay and benefits in exchange for leaving the newspaper before retirement age. Some, such as television critic Tom Shales and Metro columnist Courtland Milloy, are taking the offer but will keep writing for a period under contract. Others will become Post freelancers.

The deadline for taking the early retirement offer, known colloquially in the industry as a "buyout," was Tuesday, but those who took it have a week to change their minds, so the final number of employees taking it is not set. Many have left The Post or will exit this week; others will stay on for a few months. About 100 Post employees outside the newsroom, such as those in the newspaper's pressrooms or on the advertising staff, took the offer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/31/AR2006053102206.html

seeing a "slide" in its revenues. gee, novel thought, that!!

...of the road for actual Newsprint Newspapers.

I hope someone figures out a way to organize some of these people into a money making, on-line newspaper soon, or all we'll be left with is bogus news sites like UPI and News Corp.

to my local mullet wrapper, a NYT's subsidiary.

It felt good to write on the bill, 'please cancel, I get my news from the Internet'.

I figured why continue to contribute to global warming for something I hardly even read anymore before I throw it away.

...Atlanta Metro. I don't get the Newspaper for the same reason (plus the AJC sucks), but on Thursday they deliver a mini version of the AJC to every household, except it's just the "Buyer's Edge" section (basically all ads) and lately the Classified Ads section for Thursday too. But mostly, those Newsprint sections are just a wrapper for about 2 to 3 dozen slick paper, color ads for Walmart, Target, Kroger, Publics, etc.

Isn't that thoughtful of them? But at least I don't have to pay for all those ads, but they still add tons of garbage to my trash.:banghead:

...every other corporate media outlet. Offer nothing unique, and your product becomes dispensable.

It hasn't been a paper for the people for a long time IMHO.

Being a former long term subscriber and DC resident I watched the change take place. Gone are the giants of Kathrine Grahm and Ben Bradley.

Just another propaganda rag suitable for wrapping animal waste only.

that these professionals might get together and begin a paper of their own, one that tells the truth?

LA Times, now owned by the Tribune Corp. Had finally concluded that the challenge is just too daunting in LA, where most people don't read much anyway, and where alternate news channels compete for reader-\viewership.

The LATimes has seen its circulation dip beneath 900,000 (I think in the latest audit) but, nonetheless, has seen its profits soar. Not well-schooled in business, this seems kind of counter-intuitive to me. However, the LA Times has been busy down-sizing and restructuring so maybe despite the decline in circulation it has reduced costs even further, creating higher profits.

At any rate, if you think morale is bad among U.S. soldiers, that's nothing compared to morale at the LA Times. One staffer there told me, "It's a soul-sucking enterprise."

Nothing going on there anyway.

The paper's lost all its credibility- it's gotten to the point where people roll their eyes at what they publish- so I expect the trend to continue.

Kind of sad, really- though given what the Post chose to become- well deserved.

WHEN are businesses going to start demanding universal health care?

And I've only been getting it on Sundays for the last few years...even the sections that should be "fun" are snarky, like it's written by snotty 14 year olds.

At the subway stations here, they hand out a free "Mini" version of the Post, called the Express, and it's got the same snotty attitude when it comes to the pop culture stuff.

There's a rival mini paper called The Examiner, that is stated to be a "conservative" rag, (I can't remember who the publisher is), but to tell you the truth, I like the music reviews in that better, and it even surprises me with a left-leaning article/editorial every now and then.

Although I do miss the comics...I know, I could get the comics online every day, but it's just not the same.