Black Monday

Russ Stanton has just announced that the firings will commence immediately. As in today. He says the best way to "honor" our colleagues is to stay focused on our work.

To which the Retch says: Bullshit. We've been focused on our work for the past five years. We've won Pulitzer prizes, brought down politicians and alerted our readers to corruption, crime and fast breaking news. What has that nose-to-the-printing-press work ethic brought us? The departure of 150 of our colleagues, beginning today.

Continuing to do so does not honor our colleagues, or our community. It's suicide.

Full memo below.

Colleagues:

Earlier this month, I promised to give you details of the job cuts when I had them. Here they are:

Today, editors will begin notifying most of the 150 people who will be leaving us, and we hope to complete that process within a matter of days. Some of our co-workers will be leaving today, many at the end of this week, others in the weeks to come. Those leaving will be given detailed information about the severance package they will receive, which includes one week of pay for every six months of service, up to one year. All of those directly affected by this cutback will have departed by Friday, Aug. 29.

The days and weeks ahead will be difficult ones, filled with pain, anger and sadness. All of us need to respect the feelings of those who are leaving us, and the editors who are being asked to handle duties they did not seek. As I've said before, I deeply regret that these cost-saving moves will result in the loss of work for the many people who have served this company well. The best way we can honor them, and to show our readers and our peers that the Los Angeles Times will continue to produce first-rate journalism, is to stay focused on our work.

Russ Stanton
Editor
Los Angeles Times