After almost three years of relative calm, the Tampa Bay Times completed a new round of newsroom layoffs this week.
In a message to the company obtained by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Executive Editor Mark Katches said two full-time and two part-time staffers “have been notified.”
It’s not clear who was let go, and a spokesperson for the Times told CL that the paper has no comments on the layoffs.
Katches—who took over the Times newsroom in August 2018—lamented saying goodbye to the journalists who “devoted themselves” to the paper and community, then referenced how “financial challenges in the news business” have impacted other publications. “This is yet another painful reminder,” he added.
In his message, Katches told employees at the nearly 120-year-old paper that heading into 2023, the Times tightened up its expenses and reduced the news budget about 5% compared to 2022. Cost cutting measures include “reducing syndication costs, curbing some of our travel spending and relying less on freelancers and contractors,” he wrote.
Katches said that going forward, the Times has “a budget that is frugal, manageable and achievable,” adding that when job openings happen, the paper will “assess when or if” it can fill them.
Back in the beginning of 2021, the paper announced plans to close its printing plant and the loss of 150 jobs. The plant was sold, then shut down two months later.
The new job cuts come nearly three years after the Times’ last layoff of 11 employees, plus the announcement of pay cuts that have since been restored. The paper also laid off seven journalists in October 2019, cut 16 newsroom jobs in November 2018, and eliminated off 50 jobs company-wide in April 2018.
The public staff reduction is also the first since longtime Times Chairman and CEO Paul Tash stepped down in January 2022, making way for Conan Gallaty to assume the role.
In a message to the company obtained by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Executive Editor Mark Katches said two full-time and two part-time staffers “have been notified.”
It’s not clear who was let go, and a spokesperson for the Times told CL that the paper has no comments on the layoffs.
Katches—who took over the Times newsroom in August 2018—lamented saying goodbye to the journalists who “devoted themselves” to the paper and community, then referenced how “financial challenges in the news business” have impacted other publications. “This is yet another painful reminder,” he added.
In his message, Katches told employees at the nearly 120-year-old paper that heading into 2023, the Times tightened up its expenses and reduced the news budget about 5% compared to 2022. Cost cutting measures include “reducing syndication costs, curbing some of our travel spending and relying less on freelancers and contractors,” he wrote.
Katches said that going forward, the Times has “a budget that is frugal, manageable and achievable,” adding that when job openings happen, the paper will “assess when or if” it can fill them.
Back in the beginning of 2021, the paper announced plans to close its printing plant and the loss of 150 jobs. The plant was sold, then shut down two months later.
The new job cuts come nearly three years after the Times’ last layoff of 11 employees, plus the announcement of pay cuts that have since been restored. The paper also laid off seven journalists in October 2019, cut 16 newsroom jobs in November 2018, and eliminated off 50 jobs company-wide in April 2018.
The public staff reduction is also the first since longtime Times Chairman and CEO Paul Tash stepped down in January 2022, making way for Conan Gallaty to assume the role.
