Update: The Newspaper Guild, a part of the Communications Workers of America, lists one Raleigh-based employee among its members laid off by the AP.
Update: From Editor & Publisher Friday morning: “The count of Associated Press union employees laid off this week has risen to 90, which, according to the news cooperative, meets its goal of cutting annual payroll costs by 10 percent. It is the AP’s largest cut in newsroom layoffs in memory, roughly 2 percent of its workforce.”
Update: From the News Media Guild Web site Wednesday — “The Associated Press informed the Guild late Tuesday evening that 57 employees received termination notices earlier in the day. The list includes 33 newspersons, 19 editorial assistants, and five photographers.”
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If we covered everyone in the news media making job cuts, that could be a whole other blog. But the Associated Press’ commitment to “lower its payroll costs by 10 percent by the end of 2009″ has a wide reach, with the cuts beginning Tuesday.
The Gawker is compiling a list of casualties. “From a tipster: They hear that ‘a high percentage’ of the editorial assistants nationwide are being let go, as well as a National Photo Editor. In all, they hear, the layoffs will total 80-90 people,” the blog says.
Anyone in the Raleigh AP bureau want to drop us a line?
“The AP, a nonprofit corporation controlled by United States newspapers, said it had about 4,000 employees worldwide a year ago,” according to The New York Times. “It reported labor expenses of $418.8 million in 2008, or 58 percent of total operating costs.”