While buyout talks continue, it currently looks like the number of editors who will be given pink slips at the New York Times will be around 60, sources tell Media Ink.
The seven two-person teams of editors breaking the news to those who are staying and to those who are going are being referred to in the newsroom as “death panels,” insiders said.
As part of a streamlining process unveiled by Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Managing Editor Joe Kahn, the title of copy editor and backfield editor is being eliminated.
The Times has not disclosed how many jobs that involves — but the News Guild of New York puts that number at around 110 people.
Roughly 65 new editors who will supervise video and copy will be hired — up from an earlier estimate of only 50 new jobs.
Copy editors can apply, but there is no guarantee they will be offered new jobs.
News Guild of New York president Grant Glickson, who has blasted the cutbacks, is holding a meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday with union members at the Times.
Many copy editors who were called into second interviews last week expecting that they were “call back” interviews leading to a new job were instead encouraged to take a buyout package.
Insiders have until July 20 to decide to take the buyout.
“Some of the people being let go are top-notch editors who have given decades of their lives to the Times,” said one insider. “And obviously, they’re devastated. But the morale of the people who are staying isn’t much better.”
“It’s not just that they’re sad to see talented colleagues laid off, they also have zero confidence in management and in the latest reorganization of the newsroom,” the insider said.
The Times’ downsizing is the second reorganization to hit the editorial ranks in less than a year.
“If that doesn’t amount to an obvious management debacle, I don’t know what does,” said our source.