For the US news industry, a tough summer draws to a close with McClatchy chain's cuts

NEW YORK (AP) — Closing out a turbulent summer for the news industry, the McClatchy newspaper chain has made deep cuts at The Miami Herald and other papers it owns across the nation.

The union that represents McClatchy journalists said Friday that more than 90 unionized journalists and media workers across 17 publications had been laid off, accounting for about 30 percent of all McClatchy workers unionized with The NewsGuild-CWA. The layoffs have impacted news outlets including The Sacramento Bee, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and others.

“We are waist-deep in the quicksand and we are still sinking,” Carol Marbin Miller, deputy investigations editor of The Miami Herald, said in a phone interview.

Marbin Miller, who was not impacted by the layoffs, told The Associated Press she was speaking out to stress how dire the situation was at her paper, where a total of 32 jobs were cut. Those included 28 lost jobs and four positions that were frozen, according to a person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity. They included the entire writing staff of El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language publication.

“Miami is the biggest city in Florida,” Marbin Miller said. “Florida is a crucial state. I can't imagine any scenario in which Miami no longer has a vibrant, powerful news outlet. It’s just too important.”

A McClatchy spokesperson did not respond to an email requesting comment or information.

The U.S. newspaper industry has been contracting for two decades, pushed first by the rise of the internet and the decline of classified advertising, then by the fragmentation introduced by social media and evolving user consumption habits. More recently, many newspaper operations have reduced or cut print editions. Media advocacy groups warn that fewer eyes of accountability are on U.S. communities and their governments and institutions.

All those laid off from McClatchy were informed on Thursday. Later, an internal memo from Greg Farmer, executive vice president of local news, seen by the AP, told staff: “For the past five years, McClatchy made a deliberate choice to maintain our investment in local news reporters. We believed continued investment in our journalism would strengthen our relationship with subscribers and our business."

“We measured the results,” Farmer added. “The results are clear and require us to make a different choice ... We are making these changes because the status quo no longer works. We cannot continue investing where subscriber interest does not support the investment."

The union said four McClatchy papers in Washington state had lost seven reporters in total. “Tacoma will no longer have even a single dedicated journalist tracking city hall, Pierce County government or local schools,” it said. Other cuts included the only two investigative reporters at The Charlotte Observer, and a team of government accountability reporters at The Kansas City Star.

Other news organizations have taken similar action recently, including USA Today Co., formerly Gannett, earlier this month. It was not immediately clear how many staffers were affected.

“We will continue adapting our business to evolving audience behaviors, changing market dynamics and advances in technology,” spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón said in an email to The AP.

“These decisions are never made lightly,” she wrote. “They are intended to position USA TODAY Co. for long-term success and maintain our ability to invest in innovation, products and experiences that best serve our audiences.” Antón declined to give further information, including numbers.

In an internal memo, Senior Vice President Michael Anastasi told staff: “The challenges we face are not temporary. Rapid shifts in audience behavior, technology and innovation, and continued pressure on advertising and revenue models are changing the economics of journalism at a pace our industry has not experienced before."

Also affected this summer: The Associated Press, where 19 U.S.-based video producer jobs were recently relocated to India, according to their union, with another 10 photo editors told they will lose their jobs sometime this year.

Those cuts come just under four months after the news cooperative laid off 20 U.S.-based journalists, part of a restructuring that pivoted away from print and toward visual journalism “to align our operations with what our top customers need from us today,” an AP spokesman, Patrick Maks, said at the time. He did not immediately respond to an email Friday.

Kimberlee Kruesi, acting president of the News Media Guild, said the union “remains shocked and alarmed by AP’s decisions.”

“Coverage of the U.S. should be done in the U.S.," Kruesi said.

In a June 30 email to staff, executive editor Julie Pace wrote that the new hub in India would “increase the size of our production staff to scale both our video and photo capabilities while improving speed and quality."

“Our ability to sustain world-class reporting depends on adapting to changes in the industry, thinking strategically about where to allocate our resources and investing in the areas where we can grow and best serve customers," Pace wrote.

At the Miami Herald, the union noted, layoffs will leave the paper without a City Hall reporter. Also cut were its only female photographer, the entire audience team, the sole video producer and "all reporters covering an entire South Florida county, Broward.”

In a post on X, Marbin Miller likened the impact of the cuts to a surgical operation.

“We long ago cut past the skin and the bone and the muscle and the tendons and the ligaments,” she wrote. “We are now slicing out the vital organs.”