Job cuts are once again coming to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Chief Executive Steve Grove announcing last night the decision to eliminate 65 jobs, shrinking the newspaper's overall workforce by 15% through buyouts and layoffs.
25 of those cuts will impact the paper's newsroom, shrinking it to about 175 people.
“This is a day that is really challenging,” Grove is quoted as saying in the Star Tribune. “But I am optimistic about our future.”
Just last year, 125 employees were laid off by the Minnesota Star Tribune which closed its downtown Minneapolis printing plant, outsourcing the work to Des Moines.
The union that represents most of the Star Tribune newsroom said it would be fighting the cuts.
In addition to the cuts, the Minnesota Star Tribune says it plans to explore placing the company under foundation ownership, similar to other for-profit newsrooms owned by foundations. That would make it a for-profit business, but operated under a not-for-profit foundation. The Star Tribune is owned by billionaire Minnesota businessman, and former Timberwolves owner, Glen Taylor.
The cuts come on the heels of the Star Tribune winning a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Annunciation Church and School shooting.
The Star Tribune is far from the only newspaper in the industry to face cuts and financial issues, and the broader media landscape is also facing a loss of jobs, as readers, viewers and listeners continue to turn to digital sources and social media.
The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, cut roughly one-third of its workforce - over 300 journalists - and completely eliminated its sports desk, books section, and several signature podcasts in a major strategic restructuring.
The Associated Press has reduced its editorial staff by 60 people through a mixture of voluntary buyouts and layoffs this year.
CBS News previously said it would lay off about 66 people, or 6% of its staff, including the closure of CBS News Radio, which aired for nearly a century on WCCO Radio, and forcing the station to align with ABC News going forward.
Other layoffs so far this year have taken place at the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and ABC.
