Roanoke Times' Laid Off Employees Named
- Henri Gendreau, who covered Virginia Tech;
- Claire Mitzel, education reporter;
- Michael Niziolek, Virginia Tech sports;
- Sam Wall, Radford University.
That's a pretty wide swath of New River Valley coverage that The Times is losing.
Additionally, digital editor Stephanie Sheehan and copy editor Christina Koomen (my favorite ex-wife) have received layoff notices. Three editorial assistants who worked local sports have also been laid off.
The layoffs were announced one month after the paper's new editorial guild (a union) was officially sanctioned. During the intervening month, there was an agreement to avoid layoffs. These layoffs came quickly after the no-layoff period.
I am truly puzzled by the layoff of Ms. Sheehan because the future of the newspaper business--if there is to be one--is in digital presence, not the paper copy. Digital employees would represent the seed corn, in my view.
That drops the news staff at The Times from 46 to 37, covering an area of nearly 300,000 people, including the Roanoke and New River Valleys.
This is already scary. I don't know how much worse it can get. The people named here are fine journalists and I hope that finding "next" for them is quick, easy and painless.
this just makes me sad. The local newspaper is a fountain of information for the local population. It is a way to promoting all the good things (and bad sometimes) in our area. I worked summers and vacations at the Tampa Tribune through high school and college vacations..... The shrinkage of newspaper is most unwelcome and, in my opinion, not good for the area. How will one announce new events, theatre openings, bridal announcements and oh... right.... local NEWS.....
ReplyDelete