Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

Star photographer axed as Daily News purge continues

The Daily News stunned staffers on Sunday with the axing of star photographer David Handschuh, who had been buried in rubble while photographing the 9/11 attacks for the paper.

The bloodletting at the tabloid is now believed to number at least two dozen, including nine from photo — the hardest- hit department.

“People were stunned,” said one insider of Handschuh, whose firing shook staffers already roiled by Friday’s cuts, which included Pulitzer Prize-winner Heidi Evans.

On Facebook, Handschuh called the paper, run by Editor-in-Chief Colin Myler and CEO William Holiber, an “insane asylum” and reflected on his drive past the World Trade Center site.

“For me, it was the place where my life was luckily spared while photographing for the Daily News. The ironic part, I was driving into the office to be fired from my job, a position I have so proudly held for 27 years this month … My co-workers who are the most dedicated of creative spirits who are living in an insane asylum.”

The layoffs mark the second downsizing at the paper in a year. Myler had laid off about two dozen editorial staffers last year.

Staffers worry that the paper’s owner, real-estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, wants to put more resources into the digital operation while letting the print side run down. The paper recently pushed through a 66 percent price hike, from 75 cents to $1.25, leading circulation to erode at a double-digit pace.

Deputy Photo Editor Jim Alcorn and Night Photo Editor Kevin Coughlin were also shown the door, along with photo editors Karlo Pastrovic and David Pokress and photographers Mark Bonifacio, Andrew Theodorakis, Enid Alvarez and Aaron Showalter.

“I will overcome this minor hiccup in life, much as I did 12 years ago when I was crushed under the fallen steel and concrete,” Handschuh wrote.