Union leader: Philly.com 'gutted' by layoffs

More than half of Philly.com’s editorial staff and 25 percent of Daily News editorial staffers were among the 46 people laid off by Philadelphia Media Network, according to the employee union head.

Emerging from a meeting with PMN management Wednesday afternoon, Howard Gensler, a Daily News columnist and the president of the Newspaper Guild Local 10, which represents more than 400 employees in editorial, advertising, circulation and finance, said Philly.com was “gutted.”

More than half of Philly.com’s editorial staff and 25 percent of Daily News editorial staffers were among the 46 people laid off by Philadelphia Media Network, according to the employee union head.

Gensler said 17 of 29 Philly.com editorial staff were laid off, while 17 of 60 Daily News editorial staff were affected and 12 members of the Inquirer editorial staff — estimated to be between 150 to 200 people — lost their jobs.

“That tells you who still has the juice in this company,” said Gensler, referring to the Inquirer. “I don’t understand who the company thinks will put out Philly.com and the Daily News. I guess we’ll find out on Dec. 5, when everything becomes effective.”

Gensler said the company said it was not yet prepared to discuss how its plan to combine all three newsrooms into one would work, so it remains unclear if content will be shared among the two newspapers.

In a prepared statement, PMN Vice President of Human Resources Keith Black said it’s a difficult day for everyone at the company, especially those losing their jobs.

“Like every media organization in America, we are going through a necessary restructuring to meet the realities and demands of a changing market,” Black said. “Out of respect for the individuals impacted, we will not be commenting further on this internal, personnel-related process. We have contracted with a highly-respected outplacement firm to help these good folks find work as soon as possible.”

At Philly.com, Gensler said the company spent 18 months rebuilding the website after the departure of its former leader, Lexie Norcross, and her senior editors, who left in summer 2014 after her father, George Norcross, was outbid for control of PMN by Gerry Lenfest and the late Lewis Katz.

“And now they are gutting it again,” Gensler said. “We have heard all of this talk from management about being a digital news organization and then they get rid of the bulk of the digital side.”

As for the Daily News, cuts included 10 reporters spread over sports, news and features. While names have not been released from either side, several staffers went to Twitter to reveal that they were among the casualties.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal