In more depressing news for a journalism major, it was reported yesterday that the New York Times will be cutting 100 positions before the end of the year. That represents about 8 percent of the newsroom. The Times had already slashed a similar amount of jobs in 2008, and issued a 5 percent pay cut for the beginning of this year. Additionally, its budget for freelancers was trimmed considerably as well. This all contributes to the general sense that newspapers are dying and journalism is shifting onto the Net, where independent sites can provide similar (or even superior) coverage for a fraction of the cost of a major operation like the Times. Layoffs like these are disheartening for someone like me, who likes having the physical print product to take with me and read over lunch, on the bus or elsewhere without being tied down by a computer. Newspapers need to find a way to turn around this terrible trend.
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