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Affected staffers are being told today and Thursday that they will be laid off, The Register's publisher Terry Horne announced today. They will get the company’s standard severance package of two weeks’ pay for every year of service.
Horne said the layoffs were part of an on-going effort to tailor the newspaper’s business model to a media environment that has been hard hit by a loss of employment, auto and real estate advertising; a drop in readership; a sour economy and increased competition from the Internet. “This isn’t necessarily just to improve profitability, we have to become a different kind of company,” Horne said. “We will be more focused on Interactive and make more of an effort in the print business.”
About 30 of the cuts will come out of the newsroom. This is the fourth round of staff cuts in Orange County this within a year — so far. Earlier this week, the Register reported a 15% drop in daily circulation.
Watch for: Sources say the Daily News is close to unveiling its latest layoffs.