The AP is reporting that the Philadelphia Inquirer will be laying off 68 newsroom employees. That's about 16 percent of the newspaper's editorial staff.
Several reporters at the Inquirer, Pennsylvania's largest newspaper, said they were told Tuesday morning that their jobs were being eliminated. The employees said that they were told to meet with personnel officials Wednesday to discuss details of their severance pay and health benefits.
All the affected workers will be notified by Wednesday, and their layoff dates and benefits will vary, said company spokesman Jay Devine.
The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, both long part of Knight Ridder Inc., were sold in March to McClatchy Co. In turn, McClatchy sold the papers three months later to Philadelphia Media Holdings, an investment group led by Brian Tierney, now the papers' chief executive and publisher.
Layoffs were called unavoidable in a memo from publisher Brian P. Tierney back in October. More details about layoffs can be found here in an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer itself.
