Newspaper Layoffs Spike in December

Employees in the newspaper industry took another hit over the holidays as 752 people lost their jobs in December 2009. That brought the total number of people who lost their jobs in the industry in 2009 to 15,114, according to News Cycle's survey.

That means December was the worse month since July.

Leading the charge was a major shake up at The Washington Times, where an estimated 148 people were let go. Other heavy hitters included The Oregonian, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Journal News of Westchester, N.Y. The New York Times completed its job reduction process in December by laying off 26 people. Those people were counted in October's figure when the buyouts were announced.

We also said good bye to Editor & Publisher, which for a century was the industry's leading trade journal.

Here is December's rundown:

Dec. 21: Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, five people.
Dec. 18: Los Angeles Times, at least nine people as reported by laobserved.com here and here.
Dec. 15: Jacksonville Business Journal, an online editor, the paper's third layoff this year.
Dec. 10: Editor & Publisher, the trade journal of record will cease publication at the end the year, 10 editorial people.
Dec. 10: Hopi Tutuveni, which covered the Hopi lands of Arizona, will cease publication on Dec. 18, two people.
Dec. 9: Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. of Rockleigh , N.J., a newspaper delivery company, 96 people. The layoffs are the result of a decision by The New York Times Co., one of its clients, to shift customer service and other functions to another vendor.
Dec. 7: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 39 non-newsroom employees. The layoffs come from advertising, circulation and other business departments.
Dec. 7: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 53 people through a consolidation of REACH production operations.
Dec. 7: The Oregonian, 70 people will be laid off.
Dec. 7: The New York Times announced that 74 people took the buyout offered on Oct. 19. Gawker.com is publishing the list of names. That means 26 people will be laid off on Dec. 31.
Dec. 5: Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, four non-editorial employees.
Dec. 4: San Fransico Chronicle, 12 circulation, finance and internet employees.
Dec. 4: Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star, 11 people.
Dec. 3: The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y., outsource its printing to Rockaway, N.Y., 166 people.
Dec. 2: Las Vegas Sun, 30 people.
Dec. 2: Miami Herald, 24 people.
Dec. 2: Washington Times, at least 40 percent of its staff of 370 people. That would total 148 people.
Dec. 2: The Journal Times of Racine, Wisc., at least three people in billing.
Dec. 1: USA Today and USA Weekend, 37 people.
Dec. 1: The Washington Post, three news aids.

Here are News Cycle's month-by-month lists of newspaper job cuts this year:

December -- 752 people.
November -- 293 people.
October -- 375 people.
September -- 347 people.
August -- 425 people.
July -- 2,505 people.
June -- 318 people.
May -- 1,084 people.
April -- 1,350 people.
March -- 3,943 people.
February -- 1,492 people.
January -- 2,256 people.

Email me to report any job cuts in the newspaper industry.