Half of newsroom staff cut

84 will lose jobs as Times-picayune trims print, focuses on online news

NEW ORLEANS — The Times-Picayune said Tuesday 200 employees will lose their jobs when one of the nation’s oldest daily newspapers shifts its focus to online news and publishes just three days a week beginning this fall.

The newspaper said 84 of the newsroom’s 173 employees were cut at the 175-yearold newspaper. Advertising, circulation and other depart- ments also were affected. The change means New Orleans will become the largest metro area in the nation without a daily newspaper in the digital age.

In Alabama, three major daily newspapers laid off about 400 employees. It wasn’t immediately clear what departments were hit hardest at The Birmingham News, the Press-Register in Mobile and The Huntsville Times.

All four newspapers will continue to publish on their websites, and online access will remain free.

The moves come as the newspapers’ parent company, Advance Publications, is shifting its focus in the digital age.

In New Orleans, the announcement has been greeted with dismay. A rally in support of keeping The Times-Picayune a daily drew hundreds of people outside a popular restaurant last week.

The staff reductions in New Orleans are effective Sept. 30. It was not clear when they would take effect at the Alabama newspapers.

The Times-Picayune is laying off columnist Peter Finney, who has written sports for New Orleans newspapers since 1945; managing editors Peter Kovacs and Dan Shea, among the newsroom leaders during the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize -winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath; and Brett Anderson, the current restaurant critic for the food- obsessed city.

The Times-Picayune was acquired by the Newhouse - family run Advance chain in the 1960s.