Down East 2013 ©
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 [1].
Links:
[1] mailto:aldiamon@herniahill.net