Update: Stephens Media Layoffs Hit Arkansas
We reported last night that the Stephens Media Washington D.C. bureau was bracing for cutbacks, as two of the bureau’s three reporters were being laid off. The news today is equally grim for some Stephens workers in Arkansas:
Arkansas Project commenter “Ink-Stained” reports that the layoffs hit Fort Smith (Stephens owns the Southwest Times Record newspaper there) today, with at least five employees being let go, maybe more. (Update: A commenter adds that the Fort Smith hit totals 16 individuals.)
Over at the Arkansas Times blog, Max Brantley reports that the cuts are hitting the Little Rock Capitol Bureau as well.
If you’ve got more information, feel free to leave it in the comments section. All comment submissions can be anonymous, if you so choose.
The reduction in force is being felt companywide.
Between 50 and 100 people were asked to accept buyouts in Las Vegas. The buyouts in Washington – where Aaron Sadler and a Nevada beat reporter were let go – were mandatory, as were those at news bureaus in Little Rock, Honolulu and Carson City, Nevada.
By comparison, the Little Rock office fared the best among the bureaus. It lost one of several reporters. Carson City went from two to one and Honolulu’s one reporter is gone.
The only Washington reporter will now be expected to cover federal news for 11 daily newspapers in eight states.
It was 14 people cut at Fort Smith (no reporters), not the 16 as originally posted, as if it matters. Some folks that have been at that paper for a long time are now looking for new work. The other papers in Arkansas will also have casualties.