Layoffs at the Portland Press Herald
MaineToday Media, owner of the Portland Press Herald, notified employees today of layoffs at the paper. It’s not yet clear how many people are affected, but Tom Bell, a staff writer at the Press Herald and president of the Portland Newspaper Guild, said in an email that “numerous” union members were losing their jobs. Bell said the Guild would be issuing a statement “later.”
Bell also confirmed that Tom Atwell, a staff writer at the paper since 1974, has accepted the company’s buy-out offer. Bell said Atwell will continue to write his weekly column, but didn’t specify if it was the Sunday piece on gardening, the Thursday piece on beer, or both.
Other sources say several long-time writers at the paper have also taken the buy-out deal, but that could not be confirmed. There are also unconfirmed reports that a number of Press Herald photographers will lose their jobs.
Al Diamon can be emailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
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More details
The Oct. 14 Press Herald has a story setting the total number of layoffs and voluntary departures at sixty-four, company-wide. It's at www.pressherald.com/news/Newspaper-announces-reductions-in-staffing_10-1....
Jeff Inglis at the Portland Phoenix has additional information, including a confidential memo sent out by the union, the Portland Newspaper Guild. It indicates the bulk of the layoffs are in the newsroom. It's at http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/abouttown/archive/2011/10/13/33-layoffs...
From other sources, I've learned that all part-time photographers have lost their jobs.
Al Diamon
Sad news, poorly forecast
No one relishes what's going on at Portland or Bangor. It's sad. But let's at least stop bragging about our newspaper's profitability in the weeks before these things occur. And let's not keep recruiting young (and older) journalists, who get their hopes up and change their lives, only to lay them off or compel their ouster a few months after their arrival. Say what you want about the Blethens, they were more careful -- and humane -- than that.