The New York Daily News announced on Monday plans to eliminate half of its newsroom as part of a broader effort to refocus the newspaper.
Former New York Daily News editorial staff members Carla Roman and Reggie Lewis leave the newspaper’s office on Monday.Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The New York Daily News announced on Monday plans to eliminate half of its newsroom as part of a broader effort to refocus the newspaper.
Daily News staff members were notified of the cuts in an email sent by the company’s human resources department. The note also detailed a new direction for the paper, with an increased focus on breaking news, particularly stories about crime, civil justice and public responsibility. The paper will still cover local news and sports, the email said.
Robert York will be the new editor-in-chief. He was most recently the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Morning Call, a newspaper serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.
York, speaking to Gothamist, a website that writes about New York, said that the news of the layoffs had caught him off guard
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Various Daily News journalists tweeted that they had been let go from the paper, including Zach Haberman, who had been breaking news editor. In response, staff reporter Chelsia Rose Marcius posted a video that appeared to Haberman being clapped out of the newsroom, a tradition at many newspapers when a colleague departs.
Haberman told NBC News he hoped for the best for all his colleagues who had been laid off.
“This is a loss for New York City, for journalism, and on a smaller scale there are a lot of really good people going to be looking for work,” Haberman said. “I will be cheering their success in other newsrooms.”
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