Daily News Cuts Half of Staff

Diane Lilli
Posted

This new round of cuts at The Daily News is nothing new, since newsrooms have been desiccated for years. But the true tragedy here, along with so many talented people losing their jobs, is that this story will be replaced by thousands of other stories clamoring for your attention today, and the real, growing threat to our freedom, which has been protected by the free press that is now disappearing, remains ignored.

Another massive round of cuts hit the Daily News yesterday, as half of the staff were laid off. Photographers, reporters, columnists and editors were let go during the emotional cuts by Tronc, the parent company based out of Chicago.

Cuts included the photo desk, social media department, the sports department and senior editors including the Editor-in-Chief Jim Rich, Political editor Dareh Gregorian, Managing editor Kristen Lee, and Breaking news editor Zach Haberman.

Sources on the scene reported many cut employees leaving the offices crying, and a security team on site during the terminations.

Real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman sold The Daily News last fall for $1 to Tronc.

These cuts, as many others before it across the nation, are yet another reminder that news is not being covered as it was only a year ago, or a year before that, or a year before that, and so on. The continuous cuts of experienced - along with new, passionate journalists and photographers - in journalism has created a chasm in the reporting of news.

Without the press our democracy is in imminent danger.

The lack of coverage on a daily level of mayors and council members and board of education teams, all the way up to regional, state, and national news, has created a reality where citizens are no longer being informed and educated.

This new round of cuts at The Daily News is nothing new, since newsrooms have been desiccated for years. But the true tragedy here, along with so many talented people losing their jobs, is that this story will be replaced by thousands of other stories clamoring for your attention today, and the real, growing threat to our freedom, which has been protected by the free press that is now disappearing, remains ignored.

What will you read to know what is really going on? With ads dressed as articles clamoring for your attention, knowing your truthful local and national news is being buried by tons of conflicting articles.

Updates to follow.