The Minnesota Star Tribune is expected Monday to carry out layoffs and announce buyouts that will shrink its newsroom staff by 15%.
Why it matters: The cut raises questions about the coverage readers can expect after the newspaper that drives the entire Twin Cities media market — as a competitor, talent magnet and incubator of prize-winning journalism — scales back.
- “This newsroom is about to take a serious hit. … We aren’t going to try to do more with less. We’re going to have to do less,” courts reporter Jeff Day, the Star Tribune Guild’s co-chair, told Axios last week.
Yes, but: Star Tribune management frames the cuts as a one-time “right-sizing” that will put the newspaper on firmer financial footing long-term, spokesperson Chris Iles told Axios.
What we know: The anticipated cuts target front-line editors — known internally as “team leaders” — print designers, the copy desk and news assistants. Reporters and photographers are protected, Day said.
- The layoffs and buyouts will eliminate 25 newsroom jobs and reduce the newsroom to about 175 journalists, down from 230 three years ago, according to Twin Cities Business.
The big picture: For years, good stewardship of the Star Tribune has helped shield the newspaper — and, by extension, the Twin Cities media market — from some of the devastation seen in local journalism nationally…