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Associated Press Financial Wire

April 29, 2009 Wednesday 9:31 PM GMT

The Baltimore Sun lays off 61 employees

BYLINE: By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer

SECTION: BUSINESS NEWS

LENGTH: 405 words

DATELINE: BALTIMORE

The Baltimore Sun has laid off 61 people in its newsroom, including veteran editors and managers, columnists,

photographers and designers.

Maryland's largest newspaper laid off managerial employees at the end of the day Tuesday, and notified

union-represented employees Wednesday afternoon, said Renee Mutchnik, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Sun

Media Group.

Twenty-one managers and 40 staffers represented by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild were laid off,

Mutchnik and union leaders said. The union cuts included one employee who volunteered to be laid off. The cuts

represent about 27 percent of the newsroom staff at The Sun, which is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co.

Among the managers who lost their jobs were one of the deputy managing editors, the opinion page editor, the op-ededitor and the copy desk chief. Many had decades of experience at The Sun.

Tribune is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Real estate mogul Sam Zell took on a $13 billion debt

load when he purchased the company in 2007. Union leaders and staffers said the debt was the motivation behind the

cuts.

"Sam Zell took a gamble when he bought the Tribune Company," said John McIntyre, the laid-off copy desk chief. "He

thought he could handle all that debt and could bring a fresh approach that would make the deal work, and it was a

miscalculation."

Mutchnik said the cuts were part of a broad reshaping of The Sun's newsroom that's meant to eliminate distinctions

between print and online content.

"We are repositioning our newsroom to be a 24-hour, local newsgathering media company. We will be more effectively

gathering our content and distributing it across all our platforms," she said. "This is our plan for the future, for our

success, not just for our survival."

She stressed that few reporters were laid off. "We are committed to having the same number of feet on the street as we

had before," Mutchnik said.

But some in the newsroom said the cuts would irreparably damage the product.

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"The newspaper is just imploding," said Chuck Weiss, a photo assignment editor who was laid off. "They're getting rid

of everybody who has institutional knowledge. The paper has been diminished over the years, and I think this time they

really cut it to the bone."

The Sun has reduced its newsroom staff by about 60 percent in the past 10 years, according to the union, but most of the

cuts were accomplished through buyouts and attrition.

LOAD-DATE: April 30, 2009

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newswire

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Page 2The Baltimore Sun lays off 61 employees Associated Press Financial Wire April 29, 2009 Wednesday 9:31 PM GMT