The province’s largest newsroom is a little smaller after the Winnipeg Free Press laid off seven of its staff on Tuesday.
Five reporters, an online editor and a copy editor were let go in the layoffs, which were first made public on Twitter late this afternoon.
“Well, the newspaper layoff party train just moved into the Winnipeg Free Press, and I got a front row seat. So uh, anyone want to hire me?,” former reporter Melissa Martin tweeted.
The news kept getting worse from there, as social media reporter Lindsey Wiebe, music writer Rob Williams, sports writer Adam Wazny, deputy online editor John White, arts writer Alison Mayes and web paginator Mark Lowe.
The cuts, said to be based on seniority as outlined in an agreement within the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, account for about an 8% reduction to the newsroom’s staff.
A request for comment from Free Press publisher Bob Cox wasn’t returned.
