Wednesday heralded some bad news for editorial staffers at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Associated Press reports, as 71 employees were laid off, effective January 17.
As we see more and more of these layoffs showing up, I’m wondering if it will herald the start of new daily publications of some note in these marketplaces, as it is obviously easier to “staff up” to production level, add in the AP-like service of your choice, and keep your focus to the Web. Think about it this way - the newspaper layoffs are not forcing these publications out of business (at least not for the most part), but are getting them into a position where they are “realizing” the streamlining of newsgathering, printing, etc. etc. Additionally, they’re in the unfortunate position of having senior people making money in excess of what newer, even online-only, publications are offering - or need to offer.
