I’m sorry to report that Creative Loafing Tampa has had to make layoffs in its editorial, advertising, circulation and operations departments. I can speak only for edit decisions, as these were the ones in which I was involved. Staff Writer Alex Pickett, Music Critic Wade Tatangelo and Copy Editor Anthony Salveggi were the editorial employees laid off today, their departures effective at the end of this month.
Creative Loafing Tampa has in recent months seen a steady decline in print advertising revenues — a trend that has affected media organizations across the country. Accordingly, we have been looking at ways to adjust: finding ways to lower print publishing costs while planning for a future that acknowledges the primacy of the Web. Our parent company, as has widely been reported, is also in the throes of restructuring its debt under Chapter 11 — debt that has mounted as a result both of the current financial climate and the company’s purchase last year of Washington City Paper and Chicago Reader.
The options we face are grim: If we don’t streamline and refocus our newsroom operations, we won’t survive.
And unfortunately, that means we have to make equally grim choices.
My task, as envisioned by CEO Ben Eason and Tampa Publisher Sharry Smith, was to build a newsroom that would reflect the company’s digital media strategy — one that could broaden our online outreach to the community, and entail a smaller full-time staff and greater use of freelancers and user-generated content.
While I see the need and the potential for such a change, figuring out where to make cuts from a full-time staff of eight was extremely painful — especially a staff that works together as closely as ours.
In the end, I have faith that our restructured newsroom can maintain and even increase the excellence and creativity that our readers have come to expect in print and online; and I am hoping that Alex, Wade and Sal can maintain a relationship with the paper as contributors once their full-time status ends. Whatever happens, they deserve thanks from everyone at Creative Loafing. They are our friends as well our colleagues, and the newspaper has benefited enormously from their talent and their hard work.
[Addendum: I was remiss in not namin the staffers from other departments who were affected by these changes; they are Melanie Rice, Elke Lockert, Ken Rogers and Gabe Loewenberg, friends and colleagues all, and also deserving of our gratitude.]
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2008.